Do you know if that holds true for other Eastern European countries? Could it be because of the import taxes in Poland? I'm not trying to oppose you here. I find the situation appalling but would like to know more before I say something.It was cheaper for me to buy a bunch of computer parts in Germany and get back than getting them locally, so there's that. Same goes for used cars. Some of the medications are a lot (I'm talking up to 70% in my case) cheaper when bought online from the Czech Republic, but it doesn't hold in general.
I haven't lived over there for more than a decade, but I purchased all my electronics and musical gear outside Hungary to avoid paying a 50% - 500% markup. The Apple laptop I bought visiting my family in Seattle was $1500. In Hungary it would have been $3500. The bass guitar I had made for me in Dublin was 1200EUR. It was cheaper for me and my girlfriend to fly to Dublin for the weekend, pay for and pick up the guitar, and fly home to Budapest, than it was for me to get a similar instrument in Hungary. At every level, this played out the same way for electronics and "finished" goods. But I bought all my produce, meat, sparkling water, and other foodstuffs directly from local farmers at the markets, as I walked home from work each day. Lunch meat, cheese, sausage, beer, fruit and vegetables... everything I ate was pretty much local. Dunno what it is like today, but I hear it is just as expensive as western europe for everything, now.