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

Originally Posted by uninformed

Mike, how can we buy and ship an ARB locker for less than walking into arb and buying here?

How can my Sony tv be $6500 when first released and then $2500 when on sale 18 months later???

I can tell you this much, the retailer is at the mercy of the wholesaler. The guy selling the tv originally wasn't marking it up $3500 of that I am certain. The wholesaler is at the mercy of the exchange rate and for every successful product they import they have a warehouse full of duds they lose a motza on. I service a few wholesalers as well and you can age pretty quickly in that business. The arb locker issue would be totally influenced by the size of the market and how many you have to turn over to make a profit. The higher the turnover the lower the margin. At the end of the day you have to cover the cost of keeping your doors open. If the local arb store sold as many as the US store then they would be cheaper here.

Originally Posted by mikehzz

It's nearly always price for sure and I don't blame anyone for saving 100's of dollars. I have structured my business around service because the writing is on the wall as far as retail is concerned. I simply cannot make a profit selling items at the price I have to put them so they move. As a result, I couldn't care less anymore about the retail side of my business, I wish it would go away and so do a lot of other retailers that I service. They are out as soon as they can possibly make it happen. Everyone in their shop gets paid except the owner. Saying they are gouging really gets up my nose and is an insult to them.

Jesus you must of been sat on the submit button waiting to quote me as I edited that sentence out seconds after I posted!!!!! because I thought I was being a little unfair with the comment...

and yes of course rent is covered by the item that is sold..but my point was if rent goes up more so than anything else around then you can't put the price of your items up significantly to cover it otherwise people don't buy your items...mmmmm see a trend? so who is at fault for closing those shops people that import there cakes and shopping from over seas or the shop owner getting a tad greedy for the rent.

I don't really think anyone is at fault, we are all just trying to either make or save a buck. When the dust settles we will end up with what we deserve from our actions. I think it is important that the reality of what is happening is known though. There is far less gouging going on than people realize. It only looks that way to those outside the loop. There isn't much gravy left on the train these days

PS It was an anonymous quote, your name wasn't on it And don't call me Jesus

Originally Posted by PAT303

I will not but in Oz,poor service,poor price,useless employee's etc.In remote Oz we buy everything online as there is no shops here,we are being penalised because of where we live. Pat

I still buy my parts from two of the big importers here.

Next day in an airbag it turns up (as long as it's not on backorder from the UK) and the pricing is reasonable and being for a business vehicle it 's also less GST each quarter I submit my GST return.







I ordered some bike parts at the beginning of last month from one of the big online bike shops in the UK, two lots of gear sent two days apart.

The first lot was sent Royal Mail, the second TNT.

The second parcel arrived four days later, the first parcel four weeks later.
Guess which bits I really needed to get my treadly running properly again

I've had the same issues with local couriers too, I deal with deliveries every single day, but at least if something doesn't turn up I can get on the blower and have something sent in it's place.
That becomes a whole lot harder from OS.

Originally Posted by mikehzz

I don't really think anyone is at fault, we are all just trying to either make or save a buck. When the dust settles we will end up with what we deserve from our actions.

I think it is important that the reality of what is happening is known though

. There is far less gouging going on than people realize. It only looks that way to those outside the loop. There isn't much gravy left on the train these days

PS It was an anonymous quote, your name wasn't on it

I agree I do how ever get frustrated that when ever importing is mentioned we have to put up with a tirade of how its our fault business are folding..(im not suggesting you said this by the way)

like you said it s not anyone's fault more that it is a combination of many factors...

yes people importing would be one of those factors however I think its just symptomatic of the fact that stuff in Australia is just not always obtainable at a reasonable price.

Petrol is not obtainable at a reasonable price at Cameron Corner. The principle is the same. The Cameron Corner shop is not making a killing on it, he just has to pay more for the priviledge of selling it. Australia is isolated with a small population and that's that.

I say when & not if the tax threshold is lowered to $30 it will be totally unworkable. Dont forget that all those overseas companies you buy from will HAVE to be registered for GST. I think not.

All ready had one company refuse to sell to me because " not set up for sales taxes outside EU ". That was on a $10 part.

While it still saves me $$$$ I will still buy OS. As others said its the only way I can afford my RR.

Gary

Here in NZ the threshold isn't set by value, it's set by how much tax would be collected.
It used to be $50, which at 12.5% GST was $400 landed cost.
Now GST is 15%, it's $60 and still at $400. This $50/60 is the same value used to calculate the amount of smokes or booze you can bring in duty free. That $50 would be duty on 3 litres of spirits, I don't trade in smokes.

When you get a bill for your GST there is also roughly $80 processing fee added. So $401 landed would be come roughly $541 to your door.

Does it make a difference to my purchasing? Absolutely. I make sure shipments are either under $400 to avoid the fees or well over $400 to dilute the fees.