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h IT purchasing responsibility who will admit to using the grey market is difficult, although one IT manager confided anonymously: 'Most of our procurement has to go through a centralised process. However, some stand-alone projects are bought on an ad-hoc basis and that's when buying on the cheap becomes a viable option.'

But why is any of this stuff priced so much higher in the UK in the first place? Almost all the major manufacturers operate different pricing policies in different countries, but few can explain why the UK gets clobbered quite so comprehensively.

As far as Microsoft is concerned, Gregory says: 'The majority of software originates from the US and there are certain unavoidable costs incurred when taking that software into other territories - local support services, language support, translating documentation and so on. Not to mention currency fluctuations.'

But with the world's foremost software vendor moving toward shipping single 'every-language' versions of its products, this position is set to become obsolete.

On the hardware front, the world's number one in PCs, Compaq, also varies prices between the countries that it sells to.

David Petts, Compaq UK commercial unit business manager, explains: 'Local pricing exists because different markets have different patterns of economic behaviour. In Europe, Compaq prices are set by the company's European HQ in Munich, and individual countries are then able to fix their own prices within a given range.

'So, if one were to charge at the top end of the range and another charged at the lower end, you could, in theory, see material price differences,' he says.

Why the UK is hit hardest by these price differentials is obviously a difficult subject for manufacturers to discuss candidly.

One source within a major hardware company begrudgingly admits: 'Lots of things are cheaper in the US and Japan. It's the way of the world - people just need to face up to it.'

So, there you have it - put up and shut up. If you don't put up, and instead succumb to the grey market, your warranties won't work.

However, there are ways to get around the warranty issue. In the case of Compaq, any warranty in operation in the UK will also cover the rest of Europe and vice-versa. You can buy Compaq kit in Holland, for example, and not have to worry about your warranty.

ProSource's Almond explains that it is important to keep geography in mind when venturing into the grey market.

'Manufacturers will claim warranties are not valid, but under EC law there is nothing to stop you buying things from any other EC country.

If we have a customer that is very sensitive about maintaining the warranties, we'll be careful to only buy from within the right region,' he says.

In the case of IBM, things are even more straightforward: good old Big Blue offers global support on all its products, so it doesn't matter if you bought your ThinkPad in Durban but you live in Doncaster.

A long-standing champion of the grey market is Cirencester-ba本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。