Typically, most American firms wont ship to Europe. Indeed, many manafacturers have agreements with their dealers that prevent them from doing just that. Even if I had a friend pop down to Best Buy to pick up what I needed, he'd have to own it for 6 months prior to shipping (and be able to prove it) to avoid customs.
If it works out to be a large enough difference, I may go over and collect what I need but I suspect that I'll just bite the bullet and pay the extra. Fortunately, I do have a UK VAT number which will allow me to avoid the sales taxes... If I had to pay 17.5% on top of a 600 pound FireGL card, I think I would be tempted to jump off the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Welcome to the rest of the world.
It's welcome back for me... I was born and bred in the UK until I moved away in '95. I guess I was just a little over-optimistic that things had changed somewhat.
That'll do donkey... that'll do...