• Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 days ago

      That very much depends on the country you’re in: @boonhet@sopuli.xyz found them at €0.13/watt sold to consumers in Estonia, which is an EU country which has 0% VAT on solar panels whilst the EU itself has 0% Duty Tax (aka tariffs) so there is no tax at all on them and their price is just factory price in China + shipping costs (probably by ship, which isn’t actually that much when shipping full container loads of them) + profit margin for importers and sellers.

      Even in the US, given that Duty Tax if applied to Purchase Price + Shipping Costs To US Border, if the purchase price of the panels goes down, the price in the US after Duty Tax will go down, though it’s ultimatelly bound by Shipping Costs To US Border (which aren’t actually all that much if shipping full container loads of them from Shenzheng by boat). The point being that the Duty Tax for solar panels would have to be many 100s or percent for them to never be lower than $0.35/watt when factory prices in China are already below $0.12/watt.

      I think that the reason for US prices is all the intermediaries adding their margins on top of the base product price.

      • fshagan@lemmy.today
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        9 days ago

        Yes, the US has a floor on panel prices coming that will fix the retail price at .35 per watt, if imported. It’s possible for a US manufacturer to sell for less, like .34.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 days ago

          I wasn’t aware the US had a Duty Tax for some things that was a fixed minimum price.

          Until now, all I had ever seen and learned about Duty Tax and Tariffs is that they’re a percentage on top of total price of a product delivered at the border (so basically factory price + shipping to border costs).

          Then again I’m in Europe and only ever imported consumer electronics in bulk here for a small business I had years ago.

          • fshagan@lemmy.today
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            7 days ago

            It’s a new policy that will take effect by the end of the year. It’s party of our current administration’s tarrifs efforts to boost American manufacturing. I disagree with it, like I do most of what our current government is doing.