Why Australians Pay More for Astronomy Equipment - Everything Explained

[admin]

Joe its true some items are extremely cheaper elsewhere, to the point its crazy one example is medication. In Cuba for example, cigars and medicine is 1-10% what it can cost in the USA or Australia. Companies/Distributors and retailers know they can charge extremely high prices and still turn a product around as long as customers are willing to pay.

However why SkyWatcher is competitive in Australia, and for example Vortex/Yukon/Pulsar gear (US manufactured products) at AustraliaTelescopes.com.au can be lower than Amazon in the US, whereas Celestron is sold at 2-6X the price of the US price is a matter of the distributor and retailer plain and simple.

Our dollar (AUD) went up over 60% relative to the USD in the past 5-7 years, but prices on most items good example Celestron and Meade have not improved whatsoever, you could say some went up!

Here, I refuse to pay for something that is even 1.2-2X the price. I'll just find a replacement, risk a bit with a lower price item from overseas ($1-60), or simply trip down to the US (LA is a quick stop from Australia) or visit Cuba some day I'll bring you a cigar

[duff50000]

Hi all,
I find it very interesting. I recently made some enquiries about a Celestron CGEM DX thru my supplier. While I was sniffing around on the web, looking for info about the mount, you can't help find info that makes you think. I noticed that on 4 major U.S. companies websites they were all selling the CGEM for under $2000.00. Here in Australia they want well over $3000.00. What is going on. Admittedly it was on special but they all had the same price,and for as long as I was looking. I inquired with these 4 major suppliers and all said that they were unable to supply because there was already a distributor in Australia. So I'm not sure how you bring something from a reputable U.S. supplier at a reasonable price OR at all it seems. In fact some top end Chinese mounts( U.S brands) are about the same price as a Japanese, Takahasi mount( world class stuff). Takahashi scopes here in Australia are very competitive with the U.S. prices, and when you take tax,transport and bank charges into account. "Keep looking up....and enjoy".

Have you had a look at http://www.shipito.com/

Lets you buy from places that dont ship to Australia. Remember you will have to pay gst on amounts over 1000

[werdna]

Australian prices are a joke.
Gerry Harvey needs to pull his head out of the sand.

I play squash. I wanted a new, good quality racquet. Prices here ranged from $220 to $250.
I looked on ebay, I could buy 2 racquets and have them delivered to my door for $205 from the UK. So it was $15 cheaper to get 2 racquets delivered from the UK than to buy one here in a shop.
If I had to pay gst, the price would be $20.50 more, still half the cost of a retail store.

Distributors and retailers have to wake up in Australia. The internet is here to stay. They can either get competitive, or close shop.

What really annoys me about Gerry Harvey though, 30 years ago when it was cheaper to buy TVs from overseas than Australian companies did Gerry Harvey make sure Harvey Norman kept buying from Australian manufacturers? Or did they buy off the overseas importers?
He is a hypocrit as far as I am concerned.

[admin]

I went to Dick Smith in a mall and was desperate to get 10 RJ adaptors to fix up my cable. I paid $10 (almost as much as my $30 kit that included 40 RJ adators, a tester unit, cable cutter, and stripper)!

On Ebay they are 40 for $1 delivered lol. On the other hand I would never buy a expensive electronics, cameras, telescope mounts, or even telescopes from overseas or grey market dealers, unless I am saving big money - SkyWatcher and iOptron prices are pretty good here - you really have no warranty or service/support if anything happens from overseas/grey market. If you can get support or try to return, it will cost more than what you shipped it to OZ to ship back, and retailers/mail forwarders may never ship it back to you or it may get stuck again in customs.

As you mention for a raquet as I used to play a lot of tennis it does not make sense to buy from Australian retailers. Even buy the strings from the US and get them strung up here.

I had to calculate the real cost for buying overseas to OZ:

- bank transfer or credit card charges for foreign exchange (~2-7% of transfer - heck Commonwealth even charges about 6-8% worse than Forex exchange)
- shipping cost with insurance
- possible customs/duties ~15% if over $1000 order
- possible cost to ship back or return - shipping/insurance cost back to store
- mail forwarding costs (monthly or percentage of sale)
- wait times greater for repairs/returns and delivery

For Celestron if you really need that 8SE it makes complete sense, but then again there are other options like iOptron and SkyWatcher.

[werdna]

Funny thing is, you can get a return flight to LA for $1700.
Buy the scope over there for $1000 and bring it back.
You would still have spare change compared to most Australian retail prices.

[Zombie]

intersting to see this happening in another country aswell in a compltely different hobby this time
In south africa for the marine hoby the same issues occured thats happening there with you guys with telescopes. All fish basicly came in to one distrubutor and depending on how well he gets bribed/likes etc the owner of the shop would depend on how much something would cost. The markups where even more scewed than with the telescope prices,a fish that almost anywhere else cost $100 would cost us in the region of $600- $700

Then a few okes decided to go against this and started importing and setting up shops to import from other sources and this in turn started dropping prices everywhere

The strangle monopoly hold that a few distrubutors have can send prices sky high,then when exhange rates change and it becomes more expencive they push the price up,when it comes down again it stays the same. Greed at the top level kills the hobby when there isnt alot of competition and its a small market. In the end voting with your wallet is the only way to stop this,unfortunatly like with marine keeping,most people dont go online to research first and do an impulse buy in a shop way overpaying for something

[admin]

Thanks Zombie, I agree. A few airlines have 1100 for return flight to LA, you can get that 8SE for a real bargain ($999), buy a bunch of eyepieces and visit Disney land too

[jenniferchristine]

If you buy from the grey market for 50% and the item dies (unlikely), you can still buy another one and not be behind so to me there's still no point in buying locally - I'm sad that it's hurting the retailers , but they need to tell the distributors to get it together, not just cry poor.

[samuelpkco]

I am a Chinese-Australian and I agree with Jennifer on the the selling off of our mining assets. It is something the Government should regulate! If the Government dont even give a damn to such a fundamentally important issue, I dont see how it would even try to help its people paying ridiculously high prices at the time. Say, electricity price rises recent, we all suffer! Just nothing we can do!

I am considering a CGEM 800 HD, but the celestron's pricing here makes me feel like an idiot if i decided to go ahead!

Clear skies for everyone!

[j.gardavsky]

Hello all Australians,

we have no mines to sell off, but many of the German goods can be purchased significantly cheaper abroad, including the cars. To compensate it, we get much cheaper the Italian, French and Spanish wines, including the sparkling Champagne.

Best

JG