How can something like 500 can be considered expensive in foreign countries?

Maybe because 500 USD = 26, 362.88 INR

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/?Amount=500&From=USD&To=INR

well I get paid a little over $7 an hour right now, a teensy bit above minimum lol.

So that's a lot of work for me. I usually get close to 40 hours a week. 500 is two full weeks of work for me.

What I'm netting is actually less than that, because debts, bills etc.

500 USD = 6,897.15 Mexican pesos

To give you an idea many people here can't barely get over 3000-5000 pesos each month so yeah, it's expensive. Also, many sellers here love to overprice things so something like a GTX 580 can cost over 800-850 dollars or in the case of the PS3 it was being sold for over 700 dollars.

I make a good income, but I'm cheap and $500 is alot to me. It's like a month of groceries + a utility bill.

In a foreign country I can't imagine anyone putting down that kind of money unless they were in the top %1, $500 is like buying a car in some places.

Gaming is not a need, it's a luxury.

yeah but still if were to earn even 3000 usd a month i would easily and blindly spend the 500 on gaming luxury, cause i know i can feed myself easily with 1000 and then spend the 1500 on other things like clothes and might even save 500 too, its easy as far as i can see.ambitiousknight

But what about the possibility of being paid less in a few weeks or losing your job? You always have to consider those things.

Well - for one - most people in America do NOT earn $4000 a month, most earn half that if not less. And if they are earning that much on their own then they are usually adults living on their own - which means there is a rent/mortgage payment due every month.

Rent/Mortgages can be extremely costly - especially considering where you live - but you can say that those costs are around $1000-$2500 a month. And on top of rent/mortgage comes the monthly bills: Phone, electricity, gas, water, cable, trash pick-up - those bills all added together can reach $500-$600 a month as well. Then there are other monthly expenses like Car insurance ($100-$200 or more), car payments (another $100-$200), Gas which varies with how often you fill and what kind of car you drive.

Also when you hear that we make $4000 a month is that before or after income tax sweeps in and takes 35% of your check? Or medical insurance which is also taken from your check?

When you consider everything that your income has to cover from month to month, and even take into account surprise events (cars breaking down, medical emergencies, death in family, getting laid off) you quickly begin to realize just HOW EXPENSIVE $500 is for videogames.

But sure - if you live in that perfect little bubble of earning $4000 a month, living at home with your parents who pay for everything, then, sure, a spur of the moment $500 purchase on video games doesn't seem like that much.

i see i did not knew that then i am wrong sorry, but never then less, for those million dollar people out in the us i am sure 500 is but a joke.ambitiousknight

$500 is like $800 pre-tax

Less than %1 of Americans earn more than 100k per year.

30k is about average, which in some cities can be tough to live on, much less have anything left over for non-essentials.

Phone, cable, utilities, food, insurance, transportation, clothes, healthcare, rent or mortgage, kids, etc.

Then there's retirement to think about, and god knows if you will still have a job next month.

The hardware cost is bad enough, but $50 for a handheld game is plain f***ing stupid. I'd wanna shoot myself if I paid that kind of money for a handheld game.

When you consider everything that your income has to cover from month to month, and even take into account surprise events (cars breaking down, medical emergencies, death in family, getting laid off) you quickly begin to realize just HOW EXPENSIVE $500 is for videogames.

But sure - if you live in that perfect little bubble of earning $4000 a month, living at home with your parents who pay for everything, then, sure, a spur of the moment $500 purchase on video games doesn't seem like that much.

CrimsonpugTwo

Not to defend him but I still live with my parents and while they pay for almost everything (I repair computers and some consoles and cartridges as a small job) I still know that it's insane to spend large ammounts of cash for unecessary stuff.