Thread: Did anyone hear on the radio today about importing goods?

This is the way money goes around. A country sets up, develops an industry, the cost of living starts to go up, industry goes overseas because wages are too high locally. It happened to the manufacturing industry and it is now happening to retail.

Soon the Chinese lockers will be equal to the arb product and arb will disappear as well.

It is no longer about competing with the retailer up the street, or in another suburb but the seller in another country.

We are in for a bit of hurt, lots of countries have people prepared to do what we do for less.

Originally Posted by juddy

So arb work on 300%plus. Not bad.

I watched the guy at ARB place an order online for my replacement 47L fridge ...

About $770 + gst ... $843

Fridge sells for about $1270 inc gst / $1155 + gst

$770 plus 50% markup plus gst.

ARB make a. 33.33% gross margin, or, $385 gross profit.

Pretty standard markup and GP / GM for retail.

Sent from my iPad using Braille

The profit margins on some things is rediculous. A friend of mine (who has jsut changed jobs) was supplying bluetooth headsets to local retailers. He was buying from a bulk importer and selling to the retailers. Retail price for these headsets was $70 and they had no dramas selling them. The buy price was $45. He was pretty happy with this, until he was given the details of the manufacturer in China. Once he contaced them, he was advised that for the quantaties he wanted the buy price was..... $4 AU - yes - 4 bucks!!!

The manufacturer said these were the budget model, and if he wanted to pay $7 AU, then he could provide a product as good as the Motorola unit he was competing against.

I can only imagine the markups on other popular electronics we buy...

Here's an unexpected turn for retailers.

If on-line buyers have to pay 10% GST irrespective of the amount imported, then they won't care, as people buy on line to save 50%-500%.

What it will mean though is that buyers won't worry about keeping the order under $1,000.

So let's say I want $500 worth of Land Rover parts from the UK. I get together with a club and we bring in a $5,000 worth of stuff. The bulk purchase probably gets us a greater than 10% discount at the other end, and the bulk freight more than offsets the GST anyway. Not having to keep an order under $1,000 just means that greater economies of scale can be used to lead to further savings.

Personally I'm happy to pay a bit more from a local guy. But if someone buys wholesale over seas, imports by container load, has a lower GST than the overseas retailer, but sells retail here at 400% above overseas retail, then why should I buy from them? I can pay o/s shop RETAIL prices & AIR FREIGHT and have it here for a third of the local price.

This is a subject that tends to divide even my own thinking.
On the one hand I know its good to buy Australian wherever possible or at least from an Australian supplier, indeed I like to do so if possible but please bear with me.
I am currently in the US on a course. Now before I left I was in my local ARB store in Brisbane and I saw amongst other things a WARN branded Hi-Lift jack neoprene cover. I asked for a price and was told it was $75. While here in the US I was in the ARB stockiest in Phoenix, AZ and saw the same cover for $12. I asked for the price of Lockers and diff covers. if I bought the kit, 2x lockers, 1x compressor and a cover he could do the lockers for $800 each and the cover for $90 + Tax (9.9%)
Point 2. My wife and I own a Holden Cruize diesel. We bought the 6sp as it was made in Australia and paid a little more the the old 5sp Korean series 1 thinking that its always best to buy Aussie first. I am hiring a Chevy Cruize here and was curious to know the US pricing so went to the local Chevy dealer. They are $5,000 (list) cheaper here, and they are made in Australia! How is that possible? Even with tax how can it be possible to make a car (or ARB locker), ship it around the world and sell it for less than the bloke pays that lives across the road from the factory?
Point 3. Friends of ours in Townsville had a Photographic shop in the Stocklands shopping centre. The rent was $15000 per month plus surcharges. However, Coles/Woolies ect didn't pay the surcharges as they apparently bought the people into the centre! They are not in the Photoshop business any more. Harvey Norman opened and had no qualms about 15c photos, $2 batteries and cheap Digi cameras. Funny how Mr Norman is bleating about tax free internet shopping! He doesn't care how he wins the area sales war against the "little guy"
We are just a normal family with a normal income. We don't have thousands to spend on our Rover and save for the bits I get. We are becoming "empty nesters" and its getting a little easier but its still vital that we save money wherever we can. But I've come to realise that many of our business' are just plain greedy when it comes to costing even if you factor in overheads (lots aren't of course and struggle to survive and I will continue to support them if i can) But Im getting sick and tired of just plain being ripped off! I will continue to purchase overseas if it continues to be cost effective. And i'm not ashamed to say so

Just my 2c worth.

Nino.

I am thinking that the fluctuating exchange rate is part of the reason that when some Australian built items are sent overseas they reappear being cheaper than the prices we pay for them here. Then the reverse can happen with people and Governments that have borrowed money from overseas, the Australian dollar eases in value leaving a massive debt for them to pay with less income.

Why are there mining companies putting projects on hold at the moment and is it because the price of the Australian dollar is too high, yet we are told that the mining boom is the reason for the high Australian dollar?

My view is that, when Australian money goes overseas that leaves less expendable income from our wages here in Australia.

One thing about buying say a water pump, from the local retailer is he can offer some warranty and you can see that you are getting the quality you have paid for. Instead of getting caught with rubbish that some unscrupulous overseas retailer has dumped on a online auction site to get rid of.
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Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

One thing about buying say a water pump, from the local retailer is he can offer some warranty and you can see that you are getting the quality you have paid for. Instead of getting caught with rubbish that some unscrupulous overseas retailer has dumped on a online auction site to get rid of.
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Subaru has just set precedent for selling a brand new car online, never even seen by the Australian public, buying online will be the inevitable future. The internet has brought isolated communities back to civilization. Whether a wholesaler is in Sydney or Sri-Lanka the average person just doesn't care.

We are now a country of services.

Point 2. My wife and I own a Holden Cruize diesel. We bought the 6sp as it was made in Australia and paid a little more the the old 5sp Korean series 1 thinking that its always best to buy Aussie first. I am hiring a Chevy Cruize here and was curious to know the US pricing so went to the local Chevy dealer. They are $5,000 (list) cheaper here, and they are made in Australia! How is that possible? Even with tax how can it be possible to make a car (or ARB locker), ship it around the world and sell it for less than the bloke pays that lives across the road from the factory?

Easy one this, the government fund Holden to help with exports, just like Australian wine is cheaper in the UK than here, ( tax relief on exports )

If you were to buy the same car say in India it might be $10000 cheaper than here. Like I said before its not as simple as it seems. But making a huge profit and ripping the customer off is wrong.