Why such a price difference exists for Canon dSLR?

I want to buy a Canon450D (Digital Rebel XSi) DSLR in Australia. The Canon Australia quotes A$1149 for 450D Body only price. I called the leading stores by phone and the prices vary from A$1100 to 1150. The online stores quote A$815 to A$1050. In USA, the official Canon quote is U$ 800 (A$ 837 as of today)

Not only for cameras, even for Sony HD Handycams, the price difference is A$500.

Why such a price difference exists within Australia?
Price comparisons of Canon 450D in Australia

http://www.shopbot.com.au/default.asp?kw=Canon+450D&position=search

First of all – online quotes are not often accurate. There are some not-so-honest online retailers, who will never sell you a camera at the price they quoted. They’d just use that price to bait you into placing an order with them, and then they will contact you one way or another and will try to upsell you to a different model or sell you a bunch of overpriced accessories. If you refuse to do either, the camera will magically become “out of stock”… Aside from that there are those cameras that are “gray import”. That is cameras that were intended by manufacturer to be sold in a different country (see below), and priced respectively, but were routed to your country instead. This is called gray import, because while legal (for as long as all custom duties are paid) to import such cameras, it’s against manufacturers intentions. Usually manufacturers will not honor the warranty on any camera in the countries other than the one they were intended for, so be careful.

Now to price differences – there are two explanations.
First, camera manufacturers often price their cameras differently in different markets. That’s the core price.

Then, if the cameras are manufactured overseas (like most of them, that are built in China, Taiwan, etc, or even in Japan) there are importation taxes (duties) and local taxes (VAT). The price of the camera on any market will include at least the importation tax, and if it’s higher in Australia than in the US, there comes the difference. Then the sales tax. I’m not sure how it works in Australia, but US retailers usually (always, with rare exceptions) list the prices before sales tax. The sales tax varies anywhere from 3% to 10%, and is determined by each state. There are, however, ways American consumers may avoid paying the sales tax when ordering across state borders, though it’s not exactly legal… If you go ahead and order from an American retailer, you will also be exempt from the state tax (legally in this case, because you do not live in that state), however do expect to pay custom duties and any local taxes before you can get your hands on the package as it arrives!

LEM.

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