Tool Industry product mark-up

[John Saxton]

Been shopping around quite a number of sites and am a little dismayed on the mark-up on some items.

Now I don't particularly want to draw attention to any company or item (at least until I have what I want),however a product that can range from $379 to around $492 has me wondering whether this is because it may either be new stock bought at todays strong Oz $ or old stock that was purchased when the Oz $ was weaker.

Everyone knows that the tool market is readily upbeat in sales especially in the building industry.I reckon the smaller centres have the tradies at their mercy and you buy at the prices given or go elsewhere if you have the time and manner to.

I guess on a percentage basis I'd have to say that I investigate pretty close to 90% of purchase price on the net before either interacting with my local blokes for a deal or buying direck off of the net.

Wonder what other folks takes are on this.

Cheers

[tea lady]

I guess it depends if your time is worth money! Since I earn nothing I can spend some tiome finding a cheap thing and maybe even mucking around fixing it, but if you are costedc out at $50 an hour (Guessing here ) if its gonna take you more than an hour to save $50, and lose the earning time too then its economical to just walk in a buy something. You've got to know your market though.

[jimbur]

It's possible that the smaller outlets don't get the same wholesale price as the larger ones so they are not able to compete on price.
Jim

[Waldo]

Same problem goes with Macs as with tools, although some old stock on tools may have been bought on a lower $.

The Mac I need to buy will cost me $12.5K, from the US it would cost me $6.5K. Now with the $AUD at 92¢ something is out of whack there, more so when all custom built Macs are shipped from Singapore where they deal in $US.

It's cheaper for me to fly over to the US and buy it there and upon return pay customs and GST on it.

[Big Shed]

That's really no different to the difference between US pricing and Australian pricing of, say, Incra and Wixey.

[John Saxton]

Same problem goes with Macs as with tools, although some old stock on tools may have been bought on a lower $.

The Mac I need to buy will cost me $12.5K, from the US it would cost me $6.5K. Now with the at 92¢ something is out of whack there, more so when all custom built Macs are shipped from Singapore where they deal in .

It's cheaper for me to fly over to the US and buy it there and upon return pay customs and GST on it.

Thats one heck of a difference in pricing and tho we have GST and importation duties to contend with I still fail to see how this all adds up unless local on sellers are really making more than a quid despite all their denials!

Cheers

[Waldo]

Yeah, it has me angry too and if I had the money right now and a passport I would be on a plane for a quick visit to the US.

[jimbur]

Welcome to the level playing field
Cheers,
Jim

[Sturdee]

Wonder what other folks takes are on this.

Cheers

John, I agree that the cost of tools here compared to buying of the net from overseas is much too high but it isn't always the retailer/importer's fault.

We have a very small market compared to the US or Europe, so the quantities purchased from overseas is also rather small.

Also the retailer has to have a shop stocked with all the products, staffed by knowledgeable sales staff, despatch facilities etc. Often during the week they would have a limited amount of sales, yet be open in case. All of this cost money and must be factored into the sales price.

I think our beef must be with the overseas manufacturer or exporter who is screwing us.


Peter.

[John Saxton]

Peter I agree with most of those points you made however here in the local market I can't see why there are across the range fluctuations on product to the extent that was initially stated.

The particular item I was looking at, I would not call it a competitively priced item.
I can only assume that it may be stocked & sourced at current Oz dollar value.

Cheers

[Master Splinter]

...I just figure that Australians aren't very price aware - the last few months I've been watching ebay auctions for a particular model of camera I'm after, and I keep seeing the second-hand ones selling for pretty much the same price you can buy them new for (in a few cases, for more!).

Or for a particular type of jacket - it worked out cheaper for me to ebay it from the UK and pay $30-odd postage than to buy it from an on-line retailer here.

Makes no sense to me!

Maybe we're just not good bargain hunters?????

[artme]

Bit like when Carbatec could not justify the extra money for Triton Routers.

I know they are not as big as Bunnies but that difference was tremendous.


Funny thing. I've noticed that the small operators here in Brasil are more that competitive withe the bigger ones.for instance, bought some CA today - Loctite - local corner hardware was cheaper that Walmart.

[Gwhat]

That's really no different to the difference between US pricing and Australian pricing of, say, Incra and Wixey.

Fred,

As noted on our sponsors forum; at the begining of the month we 'rolled back' our prices to at least the 2007 prices, in some cases more.

It's easy to do the simple maths and come up with the wrong answer, to be accurate you have to factor in all the other costs that volume importers face. Most importantly providing local warranty and technical support for all our products.

We also monitor US retail pricing and try to maintain a fair relationship, however a retailer in a marketplace of 300 million has a lot more clout, than we do with a 20 odd million population.

Please don't take this as us defending our pricing but as an explanation of the make-up of the final selling price.

Regards


Grahame

[Big Shed]

Grahame, if you read my comment in context, I was commenting on Waldo's post about having to pay more than double the OS price for an iMac in Oz.

Only used Wixey and Incra as an example in the tool area as I own both those brands, the Incra purchased from you, the Wixey from the US.

I applaud your move on pricing, only wish other importers would follow suit.

Was at Hare & Forbes yesterday and they have adjusted a lot of their pricing well below the current catalogue prices, so it is starting to happen.

Was also at C/tec, and no prices have moved there as yet.

In general, tool prices in Oz tend to be between 2 and 3 times those prevailing in the US and with the current strong dollar it is often very tempting to buy from the US, even with postage it usually much cheaper to buy OS.

It isn't all driven by the US dollar, I recently purchased an ER25 collet chuck from a UK retailer, even with international courier delivery (7 days to my door) the total cost was $A92. Same item at H&F, in excess of $A250. Item comes from China, goes to UK, courier delivered to OZ and then costs 1/3 the Oz price? Just a tad out of whack me thinks.

[beer is good]

Same problem goes with Macs as with tools, although some old stock on tools may have been bought on a lower $.

The Mac I need to buy will cost me $12.5K, from the US it would cost me $6.5K. Now with the at 92¢ something is out of whack there, more so when all custom built Macs are shipped from Singapore where they deal in .

It's cheaper for me to fly over to the US and buy it there and upon return pay customs and GST on it.

Hi Waldo,
I have been a Mac user for 20 years. What sort of iMac costs $12500? Must be a beast!