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Cheaper to buy telescopes from US?



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 25th 05, 12:40 PM
ag73
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Default Cheaper to buy telescopes from US?

Hi,

I've just ordered a Meade LX90 from a UK company (arrives tomorrow -
can't wait!) but I noticed that I'm paying almost twice the price of
the same scope bought in a US store. Obviously I would have needed to
pay expensive shipping costs if buying from the US but for a more
expensive scope this might be worth doing.

Does anyone have any experience of ordering scopes directly from the
US?

Thanks,

a href="http://www.andygrove.ws"Andy Grove/a

  #2  
Old July 25th 05, 02:05 PM
Roger Hamlett
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Default


"ag73" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I've just ordered a Meade LX90 from a UK company (arrives tomorrow -
can't wait!) but I noticed that I'm paying almost twice the price of
the same scope bought in a US store. Obviously I would have needed to
pay expensive shipping costs if buying from the US but for a more
expensive scope this might be worth doing.

Does anyone have any experience of ordering scopes directly from the
US?

Thanks,

a href="http://www.andygrove.ws"Andy Grove/a

There have been thousands of threads about this in the past.
Your costs will be higher than you think. US price, + shipping (remember
you will want an insured service, and good packing as well), + duty (on
both the price and shipping), + VAT (again on everything so far) +
'customs clearance' fees etc..
Even with all this, there is a significant saving, especially on Meade
stuff, _but_ you will then find that the US dealers won't ship to the UK
(this is part of their 'agreement' with Meade), and you also have to
remember that your warranty on a US purchase will be to Meade in the US.
This makes any problems very expensive...
Most of the better scope manufacturers (AP, RC etc.), have no problems
supplying to the UK, but also will often have UK agents, whose 'mark-up'
is less exorbitant...

Best Wishes


  #3  
Old July 25th 05, 04:05 PM
John D. Tanner
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Posts: n/a
Default

ag73 wrote:
Hi,

I've just ordered a Meade LX90 from a UK company (arrives tomorrow -
can't wait!) but I noticed that I'm paying almost twice the price of
the same scope bought in a US store. Obviously I would have needed to
pay expensive shipping costs if buying from the US but for a more
expensive scope this might be worth doing.

Does anyone have any experience of ordering scopes directly from the
US?

Thanks,

a href="http://www.andygrove.ws"Andy Grove/a

Sign the petition at http://gopetition.com/online/6474.html to try to
reduce the prices of Meade 'scopes in the EU.

Cheers,
John
http://physics.open.ac.uk/~jdtanner
  #4  
Old July 27th 05, 11:54 AM
Malcolm Stewart
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Posts: n/a
Default

"ag73" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I've just ordered a Meade LX90 from a UK company (arrives tomorrow -
can't wait!) but I noticed that I'm paying almost twice the price of
the same scope bought in a US store. Obviously I would have needed to
pay expensive shipping costs if buying from the US but for a more
expensive scope this might be worth doing.

Does anyone have any experience of ordering scopes directly from the
US?


Before going down this route I'd advise reviewing recent mailings on a
dedicated "Meade" group, and deciding for yourself whether their quality
control is good enough for you to purchase from anywhere other than locally
in the UK.
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm




  #5  
Old July 29th 05, 04:48 AM
Bill Kelly
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Roger Hamlett" wrote in message
...

"ag73" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I've just ordered a Meade LX90 from a UK company (arrives tomorrow -
can't wait!) but I noticed that I'm paying almost twice the price of
the same scope bought in a US store. Obviously I would have needed to
pay expensive shipping costs if buying from the US but for a more
expensive scope this might be worth doing.

Does anyone have any experience of ordering scopes directly from the
US?

Thanks,

a href="http://www.andygrove.ws"Andy Grove/a

There have been thousands of threads about this in the past.
Your costs will be higher than you think. US price, + shipping (remember
you will want an insured service, and good packing as well), + duty (on
both the price and shipping), + VAT (again on everything so far) +
'customs clearance' fees etc..
Even with all this, there is a significant saving, especially on Meade
stuff, _but_ you will then find that the US dealers won't ship to the UK
(this is part of their 'agreement' with Meade), and you also have to
remember that your warranty on a US purchase will be to Meade in the US.
This makes any problems very expensive...
Most of the better scope manufacturers (AP, RC etc.), have no problems
supplying to the UK, but also will often have UK agents, whose 'mark-up'
is less exorbitant...

Best Wishes



This is interesting. I live in the USA, and because of what you
have just written, I have pretty well decided that when I buy my second
scope, it won't be from Meade. Yes, I am stubborn, but this seems rather
unfair to those in the UK, and I'm not going to encourage it by supporting
them. I'm not going to buy a Ford vehicle either anymore because of their
stupidity, but that is another issue.
I would also like to commend this newsgroup, because I have looked at
others in times past, and those that like to discuss more involved issues of
astonomy, physics, and such, tend to be snobbish. But here I see a good mix
where very experienced amateurs, and those well educated in the related
sciences post, yet when a newbie posts here, he or she is helped rather than
told that this newsgroup isn't the place for them. God bless you all.
Bill.



 




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