In the current global economic model, you would expect the prices of items and services to be the same all over the world. But this isn’t the case for many products. Many companies practice regional pricing, where customers pay different prices depending on their location.
This is a common practice in all industries, but it is more prevalent in tech and travel.
If you happen to be a customer located in a region allocated higher prices, the system may appear unfair to you. The disparity is even more pronounced if you are buying in bulk. For instance, if you are buying software for your office or making travel arrangements for your staff.
Using proxies, you can make your purchases as though you were in a different location with better prices. Over time, this will save your business a significant amount of money.
Why Prices Differ with Location
Most of the differences in prices are due to deliberate regional pricing by the manufacturer. Companies that carry out this practice take into consideration several factors when setting the price:
- Average income and purchasing power: Countries with lower purchasing power usually get lower prices.
- Cost of doing business: If the company has physical shops or offices in a country, the prices of their products will take into consideration the cost of running those shops. This favors countries with a lower cost of doing business.
- Popularity: A product may be popular in one region and not so popular in another one. The country in which the product is less popular may get lower prices as the company tries to woo customers.
- Socio-political factors: Products are more expensive in countries with political and socio-economic turmoil.
Other external factors, such as sales taxes, VAT, tax waivers, and customs duty, may also make some areas have higher prices than others.
Using Proxies to Get Better Prices
Companies that practice regional pricing have designed their sites to identify your location based on your IP address. The website then presents to you the items and their prices based on your location. In some instances, you might even notice the products that are offered in one location are not offered in another one.
If you live in an area that is charged a higher price, the solution is to make sure the website does not identify your location via your IP address.
Proxies hide your real IP address and present their own IP to the website you are visiting. Most proxy providers today allow you to choose a proxy-based on location. If you want your IP to show you are in Japan, for instance, you can shop for Japan proxies.
When you visit any website, the system will then identify you as a user located in Japan. You will then get the products at prices that they offer to Japan customers.
How Proxies are Used to Get Lower Prices in Some Industries
- Products
Motor and tech companies are some of the most common users of regional pricing. This usually happens where the companies ship the parts and assemble the products in regional assembly plants. The prices of medical supplies also differ significantly between countries because of government subsidies.
Trying to use proxies to purchase such physical products at lower prices, however, may not be as beneficial. You must pay the shipping fees to your country. It might also be illegal for medical supplies and other subsidized goods.
The perfect products for price proxies are, therefore, those that don’t require shipping, such as software and games. Movie-streaming sites also have disparities in the price or content offered in different locations. With a proxy, you can get either better prices or better shows at the same price.
You, however, want to be extra careful because tech companies have quite strong systems to detect and block proxies.
Also, don’t make assumptions that products are cheaper in certain countries without verifying.
It is common, for example, for people to use Japan proxies trying to buy Nintendo games. They assume they are cheaper there because Nintendo headquarters are in Japan. In reality, the prices are quite similar to those in the US and other developed countries.
- Travel and Hospitality Industry
Tickets for air travel are often priced based on the location of the user booking. You can use a proxy with an IP from a specific location to enjoy their cheaper rates. Using an IP for the airline’s home country, for example, will usually get you lower rates.
Hotels and digital car rentals also have similar strategies, and you can get better deals by simply changing your IP address using proxies.
Final Words…
You can get many products and services at a cheaper price by just changing your location using a proxy.
Before doing so, carry out adequate research to determine first if the practice is legal in your area. It may be illegal to buy some items, such as subsidized products. You also need to consider any extra costs that you may incur, especially if you must ship the item back to your location.
