International on-line purchase restrictions.
Was recalling a few months back when media indicated one or two on-line groups had kowtowed to big international organisations, and started to restrict selling items to international buyers. Not all items, just those that some protection was thought to be a "bloody good idea"
Now I thought that trade restrictions were a thing of the past. But alas not so.
Here is a typical group, who just had its day in the sun with major TV station promoting the size and expanse of its on-line store. My purchase was for automotive items, part of my trade and background
Have now dropped this group from my preferred option list, and shop via another group.
The parts I was chasing was quoted local outlet $186+GST., Trade, $130 and was a cast styled exterior door handle for a popular 4x4. (these break when the corrosion gets into the retainer and expands the retention support and cracks it off.) Not unusual for this model.
International parts price, $30.
Wreckers (who can skin one alive if not diligent) $100.
I buy local when it's a reasonable price, but FFS that is typical of this industry in Aus. Skin the customer alive.
However, I did find a group that are Aus based, who I was fortunate to stumble across who's on line parts were, although a tad more than international but still reasonable.
The international on-line starts with A.
Anybody wants the local then PM me and I can send it on.
It goes a tad beyond that m1.
I try to get online content from the BBC and I am told that it is not available in the country I am in.
An expression I am loathe to use but here goes, WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then there are whingers who complain how selfish, short sighted and irresponsible Australian consumers are for buying goods overseas at cheaper prices.
The fact is many business models here are based on buying cheap overseas, keeping the Aussie customer in the dark, then jacking the price up to what the Aussie customer will bear.
They cry, complain and bluster to the government when finally Australians have an out from this trap. It would be cool if we could buy cheap electricity South Korea or somewhere like that. Ironic as they burn Australian coal to generate electricity.
Some motorcycle brands charge 300% in Australia compared to US or UK. Plus a 2-3 month wait (opposed to a 2-3 week wait from overseas), with the risk of the part being incorrect or defective. I try to beat the system where I can due to the above (mostly due to the last two points).
Bicycle retail in Australia has been turned on it's head in the last 4-5 years because of e-commerce. Cycling has grown in popularity, particularly in WA, however internet sales of everything bicycle related has meant that local bricks and mortar retailers are really struggling against US and UK based retailers. The advent of companies like shipto.com who can circumvent international distribution restrictions in the US seems to be giving Australian consumers a lot more choice.
The irony in this situation is that perhaps cycling has grown in popularity, particularly in WA, because consumers have greater access to internet based purchasing and the cost of participation has decreased. However, local retailers are not realising the full benefit from the increase in participation in cycling as they cannot hope to compete on price with on-line retailers. I suspect this is because of the size of the market and current business models adopted by distributors/ importers.
I recently brought a MTB on-line and was able to get around the distribution rules re: online purchase restrictions by getting the mechanic to test ride the bike, allow the bike to be used as a 'demo' model by another person in the store car park and then use shipto to have the bike sent to WA.. Bit of a 'phuck you' by the bike store to the distributor, however they were being shafted by being told they cannot sell outside of the US as this bike represents unbelievable value for money, and so was I in that this particular model is not to be released in Australia. The equivalent bike that is being sold in Australia costs a lot more and has a lesser spec for drivetrain/brakes/components. Go figure why a manufacturer would allow a distributor to do this?
That's a great example of how we are ripped off. The incredibly sad thing about it we are being ripped off by foreign companies on imported good and services. If the stuff was made in Australia there might be a bit of an argument to force Australians to pay more. However here we are talking about imported goods.
How can local retailers deal with it? Perhaps the only way is to join it. Tell the local distributor to be competitive with the price the stuff can be bought overseas and if they can't, just import it themselves.
Anyway the genie is out of the bottle and there is no way they are going to get it back in.
When it comes to actual complete bikes we get don't get it too bad particularly with some of the big brands, Giant, Spec etc. However when it comes to parts it's an entirely different story. I own four Bikes all of which I purchased at my local bike store, where I've had a long relationship. Even the latest edition, which is a Carbon Santa Cruz (US brand) I bought (frame and fork only) in Aus as the actual price difference compared to buying overseas wasn't huge. However, all the parts that went onto that bike I bought from one of the big online stores and saved a significant amount of money, i'm talking thousands...and to me that is ridiculous.
There are just too many middle men, importers, distributors etc in the Aus bicycling industry taking their cut to make them even remotely competitive with the big online stores. To be honest I don't really see what can be done about it, my LBS have long since resigned themselves to this and instead concentrate on offering the service and knowledge to the average punter. If you build your bikes yourself though you'd be stupid not to buy online, as bad as it is...you just can't justify that much money to support the local guy...well I can't anyway. Probably the same in much of retail now.
if the store gets them cheap do they say to themselves "oh I better look after my customers by only putting my standard markup on this" of course they dont. I don't know why people pull the big consumer guilt trip.
Some things simply cannnot be purchased in Oz, and then theres the possibilty that it can be supplied. With a 3-4 month wait with an authorised importer and incredible hike in $$'s. TBH i want to do the right thing but when my man in the UK can supply the same manufacturer item very quickly and at the best price. Its pretty obvious where my dollars are going..
If it's any consolation, there are ways around this.
If you wish to purchase from Amazon there are reshipping 'organisations' in America who you send the goods to (i.e. use their address in Amazon checkout) who in turn send the goods to Australia. Sure they charge a small fee but if you're getting multiple goods, or a heavy discount from Amazon, it's still very much worth it.
I think Amazon offers free shipping within America, so really you're only paying for the shipping once too.
There is also a great sense of triumph, beating a system that is so deeply screwing us. I say try it.
Your Aussie retailers are just dying to take on the o/s competition. The days of isolating and wrapping up the Aussie market are over, now it's a world thing. And good riddance to insane mark ups. Also it's mostly the overseas brands that wrapped up the market by clever strategy, not the Aussie retailer, they are the ones that made the super profits.
But the Aussie guys just are not being allowed to compete.
They have 5-10% duty, then 10% GST and say 5% compliance, roughly 21% extra on the overseas guys.
So who would then take those handicaps and try and compete in an open market. All that investment in marketing and website just to show everybody you are 21% more expensive. That's why they cling to the old model, it's all the've got.
I have never met a retailer who does not want to beat his competition.
On the bikes, if it was a level playing field a number of bike shops would fold into one (Bunnings style)in each city and take on the overseas giants. With some bulk sea shipments they would beat them too. Prices would stay low as the overseas guys will always be there.
Would have happened years ago, at the same time as overseas shops got big.
Level playing field, level playing field, level playing field, that's all retailers have ever asked for.
The ones who gouged you were not the individual shops, it was the big overseas brands who had the clout to set up a whole Australia wide network of shops and price control. They made sure they restricted product by only having a limited number of outlets (think Car Dealerships and Neil Pryde shops) and saying to the retailer, stick to that retail price or we will take our brand next door. That way they could then get a high wholesale price for their product.
So back to the on-line purchase restrictions that mineral started with, it is those big **** off brands that are putting those in, so that they can control the price into Oz, NOT the little shop down the road. Even massive shops like Myer and HN can't stop these brands gouging Australia.
You are still buying from that same brand that has always gouged you, but there is no way for the Aussie guy to go head to head, would you go into a business venture if you knew you were even 5% less competitive than your opposition?
That policy has slowed down the introduction of 'world prices' into Oz hugely. And to think the original idea was to save us income tax.
Be aware of the home grown ethic's too re-xs-ive mark-up...
Take Officeworks - mega-advertising - periodic loss leaders, and the guarantee to beat any genuine price on the same product by 5% - all to set the customer at ease... So check before U go in...
Brother colour laser toner... priced right now...
Officeworks CMY = $250 (=$750) + Black $171 == $921.00
Good (by local standards) price (ex-NSW)
Y = $101.14 M=$129.90 C=$122.85 Black=$84.54 == $438.43 Shipping $22 = $460
So Officeworks charges twice as much. Both are shop front stores in Australia both get supplied by the Brother importers - and one has way more buying power than the other.
To me that is bordering on immoral.
So if U can't wait for the courier delivery - go into Officeworks with your printout and save yourself a lot....
Cisco - if U want to watch BBC's equivalent of iview TV there are quiet a lot of how to guides for DIY or just sign-up for a pre-made set-up...
Cheers
AP
a year ago I needed some special bike tyres and my local shop was both expensive and didnt stock , and relied on 3-4 weeks delivery.
I got the tyres out of an online shop in belfast,Northern Ireland at a great price, in 10days. the price was great becaause they were having a freight free special to aus.
I do love my local bike shop but he just cant compete with this level of price and service. However, once I had the initial set of tyres ,I talked to the shop and he now keeps a set in stock. hes learnt that if a customer sees the product there in his face he will pay that bit extra for the convenience of walking out the door with it there and then
Was buying the Iphone proprietry 5starphillips head (don't go there) for my missus phone which shat itself overnight unused...... common problem it turns out 1 month from warranty...... anyway got the tool from a HK company and figured for the $2.50 with shipping better check out what else they had in their online store, well there was everything from slimming corsets to led tyre valve caps (kinda tempting in a whacky way) and on the last page of crap found a good looking anemometer for bugger all, I clicked to purchase and got a reply sorry Aus excluded. I'm betting they have a seller tied up here at triple the cost. It's probably Whatworths FFS. BAAAASTARDO.
Yes they pay rent etc but guess what I live in an area most stores don't service face to face so why should I pay for their friKken rent??
i can't believe someone like gerry harvey can have a whinge about consumers buying online and overseas, when his stores have hugely overpriced things for almost 2 decades 
Think I found a way around this. See Bongo International. Not real sure but it could be the answer, however some not so nice reviews
I'm trying to buy some tools out of the UK and the shops that sell them don't send stuff over here, the tools are not available here.
Does anyone know of a good shipping agent kind of thing in the UK?
I always try to support local but the added cost can be too much. The thing is the local retailers aren't the doing very well either. Maybe in an open economy only the most efficient business models will survive but to make it an even playing field then local retailers should be able to import their own labour and pay them what they like as well as not having to pay all the taxes etc.
Australia is expensive but thats what you get if you want hospitals, schools and good working conditions for all.
Is there some big international retailer that donates to the Labor party?
www.theaustralian.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes
Im sure the gov are getting there bit from international on line purchases via credit card companies, i'm fed up with crazy currency conversion fees.
everybody wants there piece of the pie from the consumer!
