Maybe I should jump in here and clarify things. Our policy has always been to offer the best product at the most affordable price that we can achieve. until recently, we have had no price increases for over a year. The last time was December 2006 when we were forced to change our default currency on the store to pounds from dollars because the dollar was sinking from 40 Baht to the dollar to 35. With pounds, we were at 68-69 and stable for a while, though customers paying in US dollars still suffered. However, the last six months have seen weakness with the pound and now it is down to 62. Clearly we can't absorb this kind of loss indefinitely and after waiting, hoping the trend would reverse (even a coup didn't help!) we have no choice but to raise our prices again across the board. For customers with currencies such as the Australian dollar and the Euro which have been rising against the pound our product was discounted every time we made a exchange rate update on our website. You always get winners and losers but obviously only the losers complain.

In addition to the above, there has been hyper inflation in all commodities, some blame the Chinese, some speculators who have nowhere else to put their money at the moment. The reality is that metals have increased anything from 50% upwards recently. The quick thinkers among you will have noticed that if the local currency is stronger then the imported material should be cheaper; that's the theory. Now go tell that to the aluminium and steel importers and dealer and see if they agree while demand is so high...This increase in material costs is passed on to us and we can not absorb this indefinitely either.

I hope the above explains the need for price rises in general. Now specifics.

The issue of the difference between our website prices and local prices is one which we have had to address for years. Our shipping costs are high in relation to the goods and this is anavoidable. Add import tax to some regions and our prices were already quite high and we are aware of that and don't want to raise them further. We don't have distributors in all territories so until we do, we need to keep our website prices keen.

We did narrow our dealer margin but only by a few percent and far less than we had been absorbing up to then. If split between the distributor reducing their margin and passing the rest on to the end user, the difference is hardly noticeable. (about the same as monthly fluctuations in prices on our website in other currencies caused by foreign exchange differences for example) I am frankly surprised that it is even being discussed and actually is supposed to be confidential in any case! However, seeing as it is public, I would like to make the point that it is up to all of us who have an interest in Tyga products, namely our suppliers, us and the distributors to all chip in and reduce costs so that you, the end user, can get good value for your money.

Finally, at the first opportunity, we'll bring our prices down but I wouldn't hold your breath seeing as the rate in USD was at 31.5 this morning and at the lowest it has been since the economic crash of 1997.