Almost everything I see here that is imported from Europe, th US, or Canada is way,way, overpriced. The government does add in a LOT of import duties. They know they can't handle the competition. If Ikea, Home Depot, Walmart's, AutoZone, and Best Buy came here and could sell at US prices, 3/4's of the merchants here would go out of business.
- Thread starter vandee
- Start date
IKEA prices
Ikea is here and the prices are stupid high. If the other businesses were here, their prices would also be ridiculous because of the DR government's policies.
Well, I should have said Ikea and other big furniture stores - and not just in S.D - Santiago, P.P., etc. Those and other stores I mentioned won't come here because the government will artificially make their prices too high to prevent competition. Protectionism.
No, it isn't. I was referring mainly to trade between the US and the DR. There's been probelms between CR and the DR, too. Others also, I'll bet(?).
There's no trade agreement between the DR and Europe that I know of, but I wonder if Europe hammers the DR with inport duties the same way most Europena goods get hammered with import duties here?
Yes, there is a trade agreement with Europe. Under the caricom flag (cariforum agreement). I looked it up: wooden furniture is excluded from the trade agreement. However DR has an exception on..............metal phone booth doors.
gotta love your lesson tell use more is your furniture growing larger....and btw i evan hate throwing it out when it is growing large in the trash...
IKEA is designed for a couple years at best, like most furniture nowadays. I spent $80 to re upholster a 60 year old oak office chair(curb find) with a new leather seat and now it will last another 60 years. Anything now has the hydraulic seats that always fail.
We still have a nice rocking chair my folks bought in the DR over 40 years ago. I think they got two for US$25. They can make good furniture if they have better designs. Some of the rattan pieces are quite nice, but that roccoco is hideous.
We still have a nice rocking chair my folks bought in the DR over 40 years ago. I think they got two for US$25. They can make good furniture if they have better designs. Some of the rattan pieces are quite nice, but that roccoco is hideous.
Ikea may be a Swedish company, but most everything I have seen in their store in Broward was made in China. I think Ikea designs it and gives it a strange Scandinavianoid name and commissions the Chinese to build it. Or actually to make and box the pieces. The customer ends up assembling it most of the time.
It isn't all that difficult. It can be a bit if a puzzle, as the instructions are in pictures, not words.
Some might even find it fun, like a puzzle. But it isn't for everyone.
I have a couple of Ikea kitchen cabinets. The model has since been discontinued. But they are in every way better than the usual mica and particleboard cabinets. The shelves and doorfront are glass and metal.
Some might even find it fun, like a puzzle. But it isn't for everyone.
I have a couple of Ikea kitchen cabinets. The model has since been discontinued. But they are in every way better than the usual mica and particleboard cabinets. The shelves and doorfront are glass and metal.
Made In China? Then it is not expempt from duty!
Pertaining to free trade agreements, people make the mistake of thinking that if a company like IKEA is from a country with a free trade agreement with the DR, then any import from that company/country is exempt from duty. The items exempt from duty have to be made in that (a free trade partner) country.
If the cheap quality crap IKEA sells is made in China or other non-free trade agreement country, then it is NOT EXEMPT from duty. That is one reason items at IKEA carry a high price.
The same misunderstanding happened when DR-CAFTA was started and people thought they could import TV's from the US duty free. Since no TV's are made in the USA, TV's are not duty free.
Even with that duty, there have to be additional reasons why products are so highly priced in the DR. Duty, ITIBIS, and I suspect a high retail mark up are factors.
Pertaining to free trade agreements, people make the mistake of thinking that if a company like IKEA is from a country with a free trade agreement with the DR, then any import from that company/country is exempt from duty. The items exempt from duty have to be made in that (a free trade partner) country.
If the cheap quality crap IKEA sells is made in China or other non-free trade agreement country, then it is NOT EXEMPT from duty. That is one reason items at IKEA carry a high price.
The same misunderstanding happened when DR-CAFTA was started and people thought they could import TV's from the US duty free. Since no TV's are made in the USA, TV's are not duty free.
Even with that duty, there have to be additional reasons why products are so highly priced in the DR. Duty, ITIBIS, and I suspect a high retail mark up are factors.
Even with that duty, there have to be additional reasons why products are so highly priced in the DR. Duty, ITIBIS, and I suspect a high retail mark up are factors.
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Judging from the ultra high prices I have seen for appliances and even ordinary stuff like mops, brooms, and plastic buckets in stores in Barahona, I conclude that the retail markup on these things is very high.
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Judging from the ultra high prices I have seen for appliances and even ordinary stuff like mops, brooms, and plastic buckets in stores in Barahona, I conclude that the retail markup on these things is very high.
Interestingly enough, IKEA has at least one furniture factory in the U.S. The article below is from 2008, but more recently I have read that they sometimes contract with U.S. producers to build their furniture - which means the place is not an IKEA factory, but the factory builds furniture under contract for IKEA. I know they did this with a company in the northwest for a while and may still have a contract with them. (There was a strike by northwest dock workers and this was interfering with shipping the furniture.)
national press releases - IKEA
Ikea produces a lot in Eastern Europe as well, it's all a matter of cost, when transport has a higher impact it might be better to produce in Poland than China.
IKEA is legally from the Netherlands though. (Head office is in Sweden of course, but selling to the franchises is done by IKEA Systems B.V. and to their own stores by INGKA b.v, both in The Netherlands. For tax reasons)
IKEA is legally from the Netherlands though. (Head office is in Sweden of course, but selling to the franchises is done by IKEA Systems B.V. and to their own stores by INGKA b.v, both in The Netherlands. For tax reasons)