I understand its tough in retail at the moment and I really want to support local businesses and I know its a smaller market here so the economies of scale dont exist therefore things cost a little extra. Fair enough.
But dont take the piss or you wont sell a thing..
Ocean rodeo Mako 2011 $985
Upgrade to king version 30
Freight to Perth from Melb $250 (Ocean rodeos price)
Thats a lazy $1265
For last years board with a new version out in weeks.
Cant be shifting many with pricing like that.
So I went on line and bought it from Texas. yes. Texas U.S.A
for $599 and $125 to mail it here. Thats $724 landed. Here in 10 days
$541 cheaper than buying local.
Yea this is a problem as I think our cost prices landed in Aust are way more than cost in the USA.
The shops really need to look at doing the same for them selves imo. Im not sure of the legalitys of this but if they can do it they should.
That then makes the suplier p!ssed of then they contact their suplier ect ect.
I dont really know the answer but in my line of work we need to get around the problem and we do with help from the manufacturer. (automotive)
At the end of the day we all need to make a bottom line 
That's a good price, thanks for the tip.
Does anyone know where you can buy a whole shipping container full of fake FCS fins for $2 a fin?
You could give them away at the beach in return for beer for the rest of your life, and be hammered after every session.
$90 for a set of fins is an absolute joke. Noone deserves those margins.
Being heavily into cycle racing for most of my wife, I notice on the Aus forums that most folk shop overseas now due to painful cost of stuff here. UK/ Ireland based shops like Chain Reaction and Wiggle even offer free postage to Aus, and the goods are considerably cheaper than anywhere you'll find here. Even if you get stung for import duty, you still save a huge chunk of wonga.
Sorry, but if people tell me to "support the local economy", and buy from "local", shops I tell them to stick it up their Botswana
Internet...internet...I love the internet and hate it too.
We need local shops.... local shops give us a whole range of benefits..... That list is too long for me to even fathom.
Who's gonna give you "after sales service?".
who's gonna give you the best tips on where to go and what to buy?
I've started...yes I know.... I'm paaionate about buying local.
who ya gonna go to for sponsoring yer kid when he needs it?
I can't stop myself.... God help us when we are internet buyers all!
50% unemployment is a starting point.
ok congrats but u could have bouth a north rebel 2011 that comes with a free board for the same price, or a naish that also comes with a free board and support the local shops, also how about warranty no kites bought overseas offer warranty, how about the after sales for ocean rodeo in australia??? a online shop dont have to pay higher rent, overheads, aftersales etc...i know in australia the prices are a bit more than overseas but if u spend a bit of time on the shop u can always walk with a good discount plus all the facilities that u also get, demos etc...ha dont forget over 1000 dollars u will have to pay 10% taxes on that..so resuming u didnt do a great deal and didn't support a local shop.
yeah i wanted to buy one but the ocean rodeo guy was some arrogant doctor who wouldn't consider his price was too high
I am also in the auto game and it takes 2 days to obtain parts from UK.sometimes 3 -4 from interstate au at around same trans costs
I'm still staring at myusername's picture...I think I have a serious problem.
I have bough over the net and local, not too sure where i stand. But $500 cheaper, that's almost 100% dearer, no-one can support that. But when our ability to demo stock is gone, mmmm that's a problem.
However the notion of unemployment due to the internet; the sooner we get off the drip of retail consumer economies the better. It's false and unsustainable, less shopping malls means we start to recognise the need for more education, especially in the technical innovative areas or go down in history as the the white trash sheep farming, dirt digging, retail buying - foreign owned Asian nation, that had so much potential.
But good deal on ya board mate, enjoy...
^^^ yeah , good deal on the board but it feels like a bit of a hollow bargain. I dont really want to support an American business direct. I want to buy local. But everyone of us is running their own business in a fashion and its hard to explain it to the board(wife and kids)that on principle I am going to pay an extra $500 to a guy I will never meet.I would have forked out $200 or so to buy local but $500 plus!! Come on!!!
I can't see how any retailer can expect a customer to carry that.
As for after sales service..You can only buy them in Melbourne and at $250 each way for post(not covered by any warranty) I am unlikely to be sending it back if i break a foot strap.
I dont know what the answer is but it seems like Australian retailers are getting shafted and passing it on. They need to do something about it.Collectively.
Going offshore for gear seems to make sense.
I'm in the middle of building a house.
Got a quote from the sparky. 14 grand. Rang a little guy Bali who wired my mate's resort. He can do it for 4 grand!! So I'm gonna fly him out for the week of the rough in and them fly him back to finish. Saving 6 grand.
Bricky and tiler the same. All up I'm gonna save nearly 40k on subbies!
The tradies here are so expensive. I contacted them and gave them the opportunity to match the price but they told me they couldn't. Something about insurances, taxes and overheads like food, rent, and a carbon tax.
We are getting ripped off bad. Where do they get off charging so much per hour?
Buying offshore seems to make sense but kiss goodbye to demos, warranties, repairs, spare parts etc
Did you ask the Aussie shop to match the price? Or even negotiate a little?
I can walk in to a store and get a new board for $750 by haggling. And freight for a board anywhere in Oz is only $30 on Star Track Express. Good luck getting a warranty claim on your board if you pull an insert or a strap becomes unstitched.
Wait til your boss replaces you with a recently migrated Afghani asylum seeker who will work for half your hourly rate.
Here is the ticket:
Evolve or die.
The world is no longer banging on the door, its kicked the bugger in and is sitting on the couch drinking your beer and shagging your sister. Its time for retailers to evolve to web based rather than shop front retail.
If you dont then you are going the way of the Dodo. Its just a fact.
Build a bridge and get over it.
Here we go ... as usual, this is turning into an consumer-vs-retailer war.
Sorry, topic locked.
Enjoy your kiting!
