Still on prices

I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling. Factor in
VAT, duty and any other costs you care to mention and that is one hell of a
mark up for a small, easily shipped item. I like the folks at BCF, but this
seems really provocative over pricing. Before anyone asks - yes I would be
more than happy to buy direct from the US.

Richard

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 00:28:22 -0000, "Richard Darn"
wrote:

I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling. Factor in
VAT, duty and any other costs you care to mention and that is one hell of a
mark up for a small, easily shipped item. I like the folks at BCF, but this
seems really provocative over pricing. Before anyone asks - yes I would be
more than happy to buy direct from the US.

Richard


Oh for God's sake. The 'retail' exchange rate is often about 1-1
(bought any imported books lately?) so this sounds about right. Yes
we're all being shafted but as long as we continue to pay nothing will
change, if you feel strongly go and buy it from the US - if you like
the convenience of a local dealer, grit your teeth and pay it. Now can
we drop it please.

"Richard Darn" wrote in message ...
I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling. Factor in
VAT, duty and any other costs you care to mention and that is one hell of a
mark up for a small, easily shipped item. I like the folks at BCF, but this
seems really provocative over pricing. Before anyone asks - yes I would be
more than happy to buy direct from the US.

Richard

Perhaps the massive hike in price is for the excellent service
offered by Telescope House on their monopolistic importation
dealerships? Such as the skilled and sympathetic treatment afforded to
Gordon with his newly purchased telescope mentioned in the LXD55
thread. "Falling over backwards" might well describe his LXDD55
mounting. But certainly not the Telescope House service.
Thanks goodness for astro newsgroups and the internet. What dealers
could once safely keep within a private exchange of letters with their
"victims" is now fully in the public domain. This can only help to
educate the equipment buying public in the long term. Though a few
threads on uk.s.a. are obviously not not going to change the world
overnight. It's a step towards buyer empowerment and every lost sale
is a helpful reminder to these monopolies that they build their
reputations (usually in China these days) on rather sandy ground. BTW:
Is the $600 dollars (£350) normal retail in the USA? This would not be
the wholesale bulk price that Tel.Hse. can get them for.
So, how many Denkmeiers can a person reasonably carry as hand
baggage? This is going to get worse than drug smuggling before long.
Will people start swallowing Naglers (in condoms) to get them through
customs? Just to avoid Telescope House's "monopoly money" prices?

Grinch *;^}#

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 00:28:22 -0000, in uk.sci.astronomy , "Richard
Darn" wrote:

I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling. Factor in
VAT, duty and any other costs you care to mention and that is one hell of a
mark up for a small, easily shipped item.

I always ask myself one simple question:
if it really were possible to import significantly more cheaply, then
why hasn't someone set up a firm to do just that ? If the duty and VAT
on your $600 item really were only (say) an extra $120, why isn't
someone already selling it over here for £500 to allow for their own
profit?
I have a sneaky suspicion that there's a good reason.

Before anyone asks - yes I would be
more than happy to buy direct from the US.

Please do, and let us know the problems that arise, if any.
--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
CLC readme: http://www.angelfire.com/ms3/bchambless0/welcome_to_clc.html


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Mark McIntyre wrote:
I have a sneaky suspicion that there's a good reason.

I'd hazard a guess (but would welcome evidence to the contrary) that the
vendor has an exclusive dealership agreement with the manufacturer.

Readers may also be interested in some comments made a few years ago on
sci.astro.amateur by Larry Patriarca of Universal Astronomics:

"We had considered a distributor on 2 occassions, but they wanted
exclusive rights to sell in Europe. This would have been ok, but
neither would commit to matching our prices. Without the price
commitment with exclusivew rights, customers in europe could be forced
to pay a higher price without the option of contacting us direct. So at
this point we have no committed dealers in the UK..."

And later in the same thread:
"The price for overseas does go up with the shipping cost and any duty
tax you may have to pay on your end depending on what country we're
dealing with, but I know these added costs don't sometimes add up to
what some dealers are charging. Some dealers feel the "import" label
gives the right to jack the price. I'm sure some "exclusive dealers"
like to take advantage of this"

Best,
Stephen

Remove footfrommouth to reply

--
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+ Stephen Tonkin | ATM Resources; Astro-Tutorials; Astro Books +
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On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 10:06:41 +0000, Mark McIntyre
wrote:

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 00:28:22 -0000, in uk.sci.astronomy , "Richard
Darn" wrote:

I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling. Factor in
VAT, duty and any other costs you care to mention and that is one hell of a
mark up for a small, easily shipped item.

I always ask myself one simple question:
if it really were possible to import significantly more cheaply, then
why hasn't someone set up a firm to do just that ? If the duty and VAT
on your $600 item really were only (say) an extra $120, why isn't
someone already selling it over here for £500 to allow for their own
profit?
I have a sneaky suspicion that there's a good reason.

Before anyone asks - yes I would be
more than happy to buy direct from the US.

Please do, and let us know the problems that arise, if any.

I recently imported a digital camera from the US through ebay. The
savings were substantial, that is until the bill arrived about a month
later from customs & excise for import duty, handling charges and VAT.
It was all very painless but the end result was a saving of about £10
on a camera that retails here for around £450 if you shop around. It
hasn't gone wrong but if it does I can forsee problems with the
warranty. It was an interesting experiment but frankly not worth the
risk.

In message , Richard Darn
wrote
I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling. Factor in
VAT, duty and any other costs you care to mention and that is one hell of a
mark up for a small, easily shipped item. I like the folks at BCF, but this
seems really provocative over pricing. Before anyone asks - yes I would be
more than happy to buy direct from the US.

Not to say it is right or anything, but it is or used to be fairly
common for items like books, software or electronic equipment to appear
over here at a straight 1:1 exchange rate. Anything higher than that is
blatantly over priced lower is of course to be wished for, but 1:1
is/was common.
Books are no longer such a problem due to the rise of online shops such
as Amazon where you can get sterling prices quoted on the US website.
--
Roger Smith

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 11:00:05 +0000, in uk.sci.astronomy , Stephen
Tonkin wrote:

Mark McIntyre wrote:
I have a sneaky suspicion that there's a good reason.

I'd hazard a guess (but would welcome evidence to the contrary) that the
vendor has an exclusive dealership agreement with the manufacturer.

This may be true, perhaps the UK dealerships do have exclusivity. But
all it would block is the vendor selling direct to another dealer. I'm
not sure that this can stop someone buying the item at a telescope
shop in New York, paying all necesary duties and taxes, and selling on
in Chris H's AstroAds here for 20% less than the dealer.

Readers may also be interested in some comments made a few years ago on
sci.astro.amateur by Larry Patriarca of Universal Astronomics:

Yes, this sort of thing is depressingly common.
--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
CLC readme: http://www.angelfire.com/ms3/bchambless0/welcome_to_clc.html


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You can drop what you like, in the meatime I'll raise issues when I want to.
Don't reply if you've had enough.

The point about "small" items is that it is both feasible and possible to
deal directly with the US and make savings. And yes, I do buy quite a lot
from the other side of the pond. Telescopes House has also been selling
Pentax XLs for £280, while they were available for about $230 state-side.
Merry Chrismas to you Mike.

Richard
"Mike" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 00:28:22 -0000, "Richard Darn"
wrote:

I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling. Factor in
VAT, duty and any other costs you care to mention and that is one hell of
a
mark up for a small, easily shipped item. I like the folks at BCF, but
this
seems really provocative over pricing. Before anyone asks - yes I would
be
more than happy to buy direct from the US.

Richard


Oh for God's sake. The 'retail' exchange rate is often about 1-1
(bought any imported books lately?) so this sounds about right. Yes
we're all being shafted but as long as we continue to pay nothing will
change, if you feel strongly go and buy it from the US - if you like
the convenience of a local dealer, grit your teeth and pay it. Now can
we drop it please.

"Richard Darn" wrote in message
...
I don't really want to revive the price wars thread, but one glaring
discrepancy did catch my eye. A denk bino viewer is $600 US (£350) - but
now Broadhurst have got the UK dealership it's £600 sterling.

Count yourselves lucky. Here in Ireland we look on the UK prices as a
bargain! Take the Celestron 11GPS as an example. The 11GPS costs £4,720 in
Ireland, and £2,999 in the UK (from http://www.dhinds.co.uk/). Now, if we
look at the costs of importing the same scope from the US;

A&S Ltd. (Irish Celestron Dealer) Celestron 11GPS = 6,728 euro (4,720
sterling)
http://www.astronomy.ie/nexstar.html

OPT (US Dealer) Celestron 11GPS = $2,999
http://www.optcorp.com/cart/ProductD...ProductID=1480
Scope checking charge: $150
Shipping to Ireland (UPS COD): $400
Shipping Insurance: $100
Sub total: $3,649
Conversion to Euro (21 Dec rate): ?2,948
Customs duty (4.2%): ?124
VAT (21%): ?645
Customs clearance charge: ?20
Total cost (Importing from US) ?3,737 (£2,621)

That's a difference of ?2,991 between the Irish price, and the US price.
That's some markup!

John.
http://www.irishastronomy.com/