I don't know where you saw the $1950 figure, but it's significantly
more than the official UK list price. There are three immediate
points:

1. As for many other imported technical items, the $/GBP conversion
rate is fixed for pricing purposes at a long-term average, which is I
believe roughly GBP1=$1.50 or just under. This makes the official UK
price around $1550. The list prices didn't go up when the pound spent
a long time approaching $1.40 some months back and the list prices are
equally maintained when the exchange rate goes the other way, for what
may well turn out to be just a brief period. It's a matter of choice
really whether customers might prefer that prices changed on a daily
basis according to today's exchange rate but it's really not a very
feasible way to do business.

2. Let's take VAT out of the equation to make a fair comparison, which
brings the long-term price down close to $1300.

3. Don't forget the cost of air-freighting plus insurance from
California to the UK. This is a non-trivial cost and because it's
based on weight doesn't AIUI carry much of a bulk discount. We've been
quoted $100 per station from a reputable carrier. I dare say it's
possible to do better than this but something in the range of $50-70
might still pertain.

Then there are a range of UK-based business reasons for the residual
difference, all of which translate to added cost and none of which
include extravagant margins. I won't take this thread probably further
OT than it is already by listing them here, but email me if you're
interested.

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk