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When comparing prices for products such as computer components for example, which exchange rate is recommended?
Say a component is AR$20,000 on Mercadolibre and US$170 on Newegg, how would one come up with a viable comparison?
Official at AR$75 or blue at AR$134?
Here's an example for two identical products.
Mercadolibre:
Newegg:
In my experience, the blue rate. Otherwise every imported product would be not so expensive given that what you lose with the import duty, you make up for with the blue rate.
When I recently bought the Amazon Fire Stick, I compared the price in Italy (€35) with the local price and used the blue rate. And yet, it was more slightly expensive than in Italy (the difference was about €5).
It must be said that I later realized that maybe my device didn't follow the proper import procedure but was smuggled in, because when I connected it to my TV, I started using it right away and only when I started fiddling with VPN I realized I was using the Amazon account of a certain Guillermo. The device was new because the remote had the plastic on, and so did the stick. But the security sticker on the package was neatly cut, the device had been evidently been plugged in somewhere and configured using Guillermo's account.
I bought it on mobile phone and small IT devices store on Santa Fe, which I found on ML with hundreds of positive reviews. Surely they can't smuggle in hundreds of products... Another Argentinian mystery!
Doing a search for the same item on ML today, the cheapest one is being sold at $5630. Yesterday we exchanged at $130, so the stick costs now 43 USD at the blue rate, which is €36+.
Display MoreWhen comparing prices for products such as computer components for example, which exchange rate is recommended?
Say a component is AR$20,000 on Mercadolibre and US$170 on Newegg, how would one come up with a viable comparison?
Official at AR$75 or blue at AR$134?
Here's an example for two identical products.
Mercadolibre:
Newegg:
I find this question confusing.
Shouldn’t the answer be... whatever rate you expect to get?
(Unless, like many people, you go ahead and max out your arg cc in order to get the difference.
In that case, the money you’re spending on the specific item should be assessed at the blue rate, to reflect the opportunity cost of using your card for that specific item.)
