Brits pay "hundreds of pounds more" than US consumers for tech products

The research, undertaken by consumer organisation Which?, has compared the prices of a number of different tech products – excluding tax – and found that US consumers get more for their cash than people in the UK; a trend that extends to digital goods as well.

MORE: Best tech products to buy in 2014

Comparing the price of a Samsung UE65H8000 TV (above), in the UK and US, customers on the other side of the Pond shell out £402 less; a difference that rises to a whopping £755 if tax is added on top.

A Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 are both £57 cheaper in the US, with Beats Wireless headphones (above) costing £44 less – both excluding tax. Meanwhile, a 12-month Spotify subscription will set you back £29 more in the UK.

MORE: PlayStation 4 vs. Xbox One – comparison

The comparison was carried out by taking a US price and converting in to Sterling; prices rounded to the nearest dollar or pound; and based on the exchange rate of £1 to $1.694 as was the case on June 18th.

All the prices have come from manufacturers' websites, with US products subject to California state and local sales tax of 8.41 per cent – but there is no sales tax on digital goods such as Spotify and Amazon Prime in California. (See the above table, courtesy of Which?, for details.)

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "UK consumers are getting a raw deal by paying up to hundreds of pounds more for the same tech products on sale in the US. Manufacturers should play fair and explain why consumers are paying more for buying in the UK."

Before you start rushing to the US for tech products, however, the threshold for import duty on goods bought online is £135 – it's £390 if you bring products back yourself. Which? is now urging ministers to raise that online threshold to £390 too.

MORE: See all our Best Buys

Pete was content editor on What Hi-Fi?, overseeing production and publication of digital content. In creating and curating feature articles for web and print consumption, he provided digital and editorial expertise and support to help reposition What Hi-Fi? as a ‘digital-first’ title; reflecting the contemporary media trends. He is now a senior content strategist.