Sony Style site differences...

Wertz

Was just browsing a few items on the irish sony style site earlier and noticed a lot of *ahem* irregularities...
The most shocking was a HI-Minidisc walkman (NH-Z1) which on the irish site is retailing at €450 all in.
http://shop.sonystyle-europe.com/SonyStyle/b2c/init.do?shop=SST_IE_EN

But on it's UK sister site the same model is going for £95 (~€145)
http://shop.sonystyle-europe.com/SonyStyle/b2c/init.do?shop=SST_GB_EN

[BTW neither of those sites will work under firefox; IE only I think]

Both the units are the EXACT same and are refurbished and apparently selling for "Half Price" :rolleyes:
The same model was on Amazon up until last week for £99 brand new.

So I thought it was an anomaly or a typo till I looked at the selection of HDD players...NW-HD3 on the Irish site is €229, but on the UK site is £115 (~€170).
These too are refurbished models...

But upon further digging I found items that are cheaper on the Irish site...memory sticks, some of the laptop accessories...nothing too expensive mind.
So what's the deal here? I can't see why there should be more than a 4% price difference to account for VAT, and it's most likely that the UK and Irish site share the same physical distribution centre...is it a case of rip off, or just IT staff who can't use a currency converter?
I like Sony's products but I can't see myslef buying from their online shop if this is their idea of good marketing...

Guy:Incognito

This has been done to death with regard sites like cdwow and komplett. Different prices for different countries seems to be the norm.

€449 is the price of a new NH1 in Ireland so I'd imagine its incorrectly listed as refurbished.