4 ms·

This does not only go for airline tickets, it's very common in all transactions. Just need to go to the console market and compare the game prices between marke

by Moru 12y ago

This does not only go for airline tickets, it's very common in all transactions. Just need to go to the console market and compare the game prices between market. They extract whatever they think the customer is able to pay. There are people buying diapers and filling trucks with them going from one country to another because of the large price difference between the countries.

chiph 12y ago
They're doing that in Venezuela with food. The prices of staples are subsidized, so the citizens are buying locally, and reselling in neighboring Colombia. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/08/22/342422415/eggs-milk-and-ink-venezuela-wants-all-supermarket-shoppers-fingerprinted http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/08/22/342422415/egg...
emilga 12y ago
> There are people buying diapers and filling trucks with them going from one country to another because of the large price difference between the countries. See here for an amusing example of this: https://translate.google.no/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=no&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dagbladet.no%2F2014%2F07%2F08%2Fnyheter%2Finnenriks%2Fbleier%2Fsmugling%2F34230891%2F&edit-text=&act=url https://translate.google.no/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=y&prev=...
- dzhiurgis 12y ago
  It's funny that: Norwegians buy cheap booze from Sweden. Swedes buy cheap booze from Finland. Finns buy cheap booze from Estonia. Estonians buy cheap booze from Russia.
  - tormeh 12y ago
    Swedes also buy from Denmark and Danes buy from Germany. The entire thing is really fascinating.
    - grimman 12y ago
      Every once in a while, certain people in southern Sweden will go on a booze shopping spree in Germany. They'll drive south, take a ferry to one of the German coastal cities and fill their cars to the limits of what is legal (and oftentimes over that) from these so called border shops.
      - madcaptenor 12y ago
        This is also common in the United States. A couple examples I'm familiar with: - Pennsylvania has relatively strict laws regarding alcohol, so just over the Delaware border you'll find a lot of these "border shops" (although I haven't heard that word in the US); - my wife was born in a dry county in Arkansas. Just over the county line (which happens to be the state border with Oklahoma) there are drive-through liquor stores. You can go, get your booze, and turn right around and go home.
        bane 12y ago
        Fireworks runs into more permissive neighboring states were a big thing around the 4th of July (U.S. Independence day) when I was growing up.
        madcaptenor 12y ago
        This is still a thing, at least if the number of fireworks stores right at state lines are any indication. (I recently saw some along the Georgia-Tennessee border, although I can't remember which side they were on.)
        owenmarshall 12y ago
        Tennessee - the restrictions are very loose there.
        vonmoltke 12y ago
        It is even stranger in Texas, where the state says they are OK to sell at certain times of year but most large cities and towns prohibit them. Thus, you see seasonal roadside stands set up in unincorporated areas.
  - expr- 12y ago
    Eurostat[1] would suggest that booze is, on average, cheaper in Sweden than in Finland. [1]: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/File:Price_level_indices_for_food,_beverages_and_tobacco,_2012,_EU-27%3D100_p.png http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index....
    - tripzilch 12y ago
      Cheers for looking up the stats. But I suppose there might be more to it than just "average price of booze". For instance, when I (in NL) need some quantity of (cheap) vodka for a party, it pays to get them from Germany where most hard liquor[0] is roughly half the price than it is in NL. Other stuff, like beer, is about the same. [0] that isn't marked up for other reasons, such as Whiskey
- Moru 12y ago
  Yes, that was exactly what I was thinking of but was too lazy to find a link, thanks :-)
crazypyro 12y ago
People do this in America with tobacco cigarettes. In Missouri, the taxes are low so the price per pack spread can be pretty high when compared to NY state, so people illegally sell Missouri cigs to NY stores to avoid the high taxes. http://nypost.com/2014/07/14/state-confiscating-thousands-of-illegal-cigarettes/ http://nypost.com/2014/07/14/state-confiscating-thousands-of... tl;dr - Missouri $ .17 tax per pack, NY $4.35 (+$1.50 NYC) per pack.
- SheepSlapper 12y ago
  I do the same thing, but with booze. The Idaho border is 15 minutes away, and the amount you save (at least, if you drink as much as I do) is well worth the time spent getting there and back. Or if you're in my area and need cigarettes, you drive to the nearest reservation and buy them tax free (which like you point out, makes a huge difference). This one is a little bit more of a legal gray area, but that never stopped anyone.
  - imjk 12y ago
    This is also very common of people in Massachusetts who live near the NH border. The state run NH liquor stores are significantly cheaper than in MA. They also conveniently place their stores all along the border on major highways. It's less that an hour drive from Boston.
- doorhammer 12y ago
  My friend and I were hitchhiking through Ireland awhile back. We got a ride up into Northern Ireland with an older guy. A little ways before crossing the border he stopped to buy a trunkload tobacco so he could resell it up north. Good times all around.

by Moru 12y ago

chiph 12y ago

They're doing that in Venezuela with food. The prices of staples are subsidized, so the citizens are buying locally, and reselling in neighboring Colombia. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/08/22/342422415/eggs-milk-and-ink-venezuela-wants-all-supermarket-shoppers-fingerprinted http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/08/22/342422415/egg...

emilga 12y ago

> There are people buying diapers and filling trucks with them going from one country to another because of the large price difference between the countries. See here for an amusing example of this: https://translate.google.no/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=no&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dagbladet.no%2F2014%2F07%2F08%2Fnyheter%2Finnenriks%2Fbleier%2Fsmugling%2F34230891%2F&edit-text=&act=url https://translate.google.no/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=y&prev=...

dzhiurgis 12y ago
It's funny that: Norwegians buy cheap booze from Sweden. Swedes buy cheap booze from Finland. Finns buy cheap booze from Estonia. Estonians buy cheap booze from Russia.
- tormeh 12y ago
  Swedes also buy from Denmark and Danes buy from Germany. The entire thing is really fascinating.
  - grimman 12y ago
    Every once in a while, certain people in southern Sweden will go on a booze shopping spree in Germany. They'll drive south, take a ferry to one of the German coastal cities and fill their cars to the limits of what is legal (and oftentimes over that) from these so called border shops.
    - madcaptenor 12y ago
      This is also common in the United States. A couple examples I'm familiar with: - Pennsylvania has relatively strict laws regarding alcohol, so just over the Delaware border you'll find a lot of these "border shops" (although I haven't heard that word in the US); - my wife was born in a dry county in Arkansas. Just over the county line (which happens to be the state border with Oklahoma) there are drive-through liquor stores. You can go, get your booze, and turn right around and go home.
      - bane 12y ago
        Fireworks runs into more permissive neighboring states were a big thing around the 4th of July (U.S. Independence day) when I was growing up.
        madcaptenor 12y ago
        This is still a thing, at least if the number of fireworks stores right at state lines are any indication. (I recently saw some along the Georgia-Tennessee border, although I can't remember which side they were on.)
        owenmarshall 12y ago
        Tennessee - the restrictions are very loose there.
        vonmoltke 12y ago
        It is even stranger in Texas, where the state says they are OK to sell at certain times of year but most large cities and towns prohibit them. Thus, you see seasonal roadside stands set up in unincorporated areas.
- expr- 12y ago
  Eurostat[1] would suggest that booze is, on average, cheaper in Sweden than in Finland. [1]: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/File:Price_level_indices_for_food,_beverages_and_tobacco,_2012,_EU-27%3D100_p.png http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index....
  - tripzilch 12y ago
    Cheers for looking up the stats. But I suppose there might be more to it than just "average price of booze". For instance, when I (in NL) need some quantity of (cheap) vodka for a party, it pays to get them from Germany where most hard liquor[0] is roughly half the price than it is in NL. Other stuff, like beer, is about the same. [0] that isn't marked up for other reasons, such as Whiskey
Moru 12y ago
Yes, that was exactly what I was thinking of but was too lazy to find a link, thanks :-)

crazypyro 12y ago

People do this in America with tobacco cigarettes. In Missouri, the taxes are low so the price per pack spread can be pretty high when compared to NY state, so people illegally sell Missouri cigs to NY stores to avoid the high taxes. http://nypost.com/2014/07/14/state-confiscating-thousands-of-illegal-cigarettes/ http://nypost.com/2014/07/14/state-confiscating-thousands-of... tl;dr - Missouri $ .17 tax per pack, NY $4.35 (+$1.50 NYC) per pack.

SheepSlapper 12y ago
I do the same thing, but with booze. The Idaho border is 15 minutes away, and the amount you save (at least, if you drink as much as I do) is well worth the time spent getting there and back. Or if you're in my area and need cigarettes, you drive to the nearest reservation and buy them tax free (which like you point out, makes a huge difference). This one is a little bit more of a legal gray area, but that never stopped anyone.
- imjk 12y ago
  This is also very common of people in Massachusetts who live near the NH border. The state run NH liquor stores are significantly cheaper than in MA. They also conveniently place their stores all along the border on major highways. It's less that an hour drive from Boston.
doorhammer 12y ago
My friend and I were hitchhiking through Ireland awhile back. We got a ride up into Northern Ireland with an older guy. A little ways before crossing the border he stopped to buy a trunkload tobacco so he could resell it up north. Good times all around.