Pound's strength against dollar means vendors let rip

THE ARGUMENT BY US vendors that import duties and shipping justify a near £/$ parity are beginning to look ever more threadbare as the dollar continues to weaken against the pound.

Currency converter site xe.com reveals that £1 is currently equivalent to $1.77, but if you think that means you can buy cheaper computer kit, you'd better think again.

Take, for example, the Hewlett Packard iPaq H5550. This costs $649, according to the HP site, here.

The same machine on the HP UK site is listed at £423 excluding VAT, as you can read here. Add the VAT and the price is £508.77 including £9.99 delivery. That equates to a staggering $902.40. Without VAT, it's $750.25.

The US version of Crucial lists a 512MB DDR PC2100 184-pin DIMM at $69.99 - here. The UK site, which is a part of the US site, lists the same part as £43.99 excluding VAT, and £51.69 including this tax.

$69.99 is equivalent to £39.46, not £43.99. The same part including VAT costs $91.69.

Can these firms - and the above two are just chosen as examples - really justify these disparities, given the current state of the pound versus the dollar? µ