Australian price Vs US price?

[corbs]

I just can't see how this could work out.

here is the US site selling five fingers running shoes...

and here is the Australian site for the same shoe.

Is it really that expensive for importers to get gear into Australia to justify that sort of price difference? Would love to get a pair but really can't see the point in spending that much money on them. Might end up looking into finding a place in the States that will ship them out but with an Australian distributer it could be hard/impossible

[snowyskiesau]

Even if they had bought when the $A was weak, it's hard to justify this sort of markup.

Buy them through one of the reshipping services in the US. You'll pay postal rates plus a handling fee. Even so, the total will be a lot less that the local price.

[rsser]

One such is Bongo - can't tell you the rates.

One knife supplier I deal with auto'y has its int'l orders dealt with by IshopUSA - the rates aren't bad but it slows the process down quite a lot.

[Sebastiaan56]

Its called gouging. Maybe one of our US colleagues could help. It happens a lot with the luthiers.

[corbs]

Ern,
I understand that currency exchange is a factor but when the Aussie $$ has been up around 90c for a long time now, I think its a pretty hollow argument. I am comparing retail prices too. I am sure the importer isn't buying 1000 units @ $80 each otherwise why would they bother?

Corbs

[joe greiner]

Its called gouging. Maybe one of our US colleagues could help. It happens a lot with the luthiers.

Maybe, maybe not. It's hard for me to believe US$80 is anywhere near the cost of production plus a decent profit for the shoes. I think it all comes down to a "market-clearing" price. Good ol' supply and demand. For many products, if demand is low, supply vanishes, as I've found to my dismay for some goods; also for the inverse, and it's a moving target. Economics 101.

Cheers,
Joe

[q9]

Having imported clothing type things into this fine country of ours - yes it is expensive to bring stuff in. Items I might buy for $50 have a break even around $115 - duties, taxes, shipping fees, insurance, freight from port to destination, customs brokerage, etc. Comes down with volume of course, but when it is an item with a limited market...

[corbs]

q9, what was the US retail price for the $50 item that cost you $115 to get here? I don't doubt that it costs a bit to get gear into Australia but over $100 mark up on the retail price (even after converted to AU$ @ .85c) its hard to understand why importers would do it.

At work I have spoken to 15-20 people who would all love a pair but the price is the only restriction. They are very popular in principal on fitness forums too but again the price is prohibitive. I have a couple of other friends who have some which they brought whilst in the States and can't say enough good things about them.

[Ozkaban]

I had a smiliar thing this week. Wanted to buy a small wallpaper border for my daughters bedroom. 3 rolls of 20cm x 4.5m paper for $180 total. Found it in the US for $19 per roll. Of course, two companies at that price both wanted over $US150 for shipping alone

I understand the difference between retail and online, but triple??? Finally sourced it for under $100 shipped to aus for the lot. That's still 50% of the Aus price.

Cheers,
Dave

[bobsreturn2003]

the secret is the shipping . if the seller will post look up the USpost website . If you can get your item into a flat rate envelope . or other cheap post ,you are laughing. they use to have sea mail post .took 90 days but a bargain . dont forget some insurance , never a problem cheers bob .

[q9]

q9, what was the US retail price for the $50 item that cost you $115 to get here?

No idea. I was buying direct from the manufacturer and getting stuff made to my spec, so direct comparisons would be iffy.

But similar items from that manufacturer were selling in the US for between US$120-170.

It is worth pointing out that if you buy a product locally, you are protected by TPA, Fair Trading, etc, and it is generally a lot easier to resolve 'issues'. Sometimes that is worth a moderate extra cost, other times it isn't.

[corbs]

I know its not linear but working along that train of thought, an item that retailed between $120-170 that you could land in Australia for around $115 makes sense and would be viable. But if I can pay retail price and ship it here for less than 2/3 what the importer can sell it for then I have to either wonder why the importer would bother or that the importer is taking advantage of the fact its an exclusive product.

[q9]

Could be they really want you to buy it from their retailers...

I know my stuff was getting sold by retailers less than the retail I was charging - keeps the retailers happy as they can set their own price, do what ever deals they want, knowing I'm not undercutting them Sometimes companies wont sell OS if they have an agent in that country, for the same reason...

So what's the landed cost? If you are looking at the difference between spending $200 and $160, you really need to ask if the $40 is worth saving. And if you have interest from a bunch of people, do a group buy and push for a decent discount...

[corbs]

I haven't actually looked into getting some delivered from the States, like you have suggested... they have a distributer here so might not freight over here. That said, I can get a fair amount of tools/kit from over there for around $20US. I can't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to land a pair here for around $120(Aus). If there difference was around $40 then I am happy to support local business but it just seems the local business is taking advantage of the situation.

[q9]

Yep, to a point I agree. There seems to be quite a disparity with what we pay, and what the rest of the world pays with some items. Protectionist tariffs don't help the situation, and now with the interweb, they're almost redundant and actually have the reverse effect than they were intended to.

F'rinstance, there's a lens I want for my camera, locally around $550. Buy from the States and even with postage it is about $170 cheaper. That's an easy decision. But to complicate things, I know the local supplier would accept it back as a return if I wasn't happy with it within 7 days.