dinsdale said...
That would make it cheaper in Oz now than the US. The further our dollar goes up against the USD the cheaper imports become.

The problem is that the dollar exchange rate is generally set for a specific order at a specific time. It's called hedging. The problem with this is that when the dollar significantly changes between the order being placed and the product appearing in shops it can appear to be cheaper overseas.

In the case of electronics some dealers are greedy. For electronics the turn around from the time the order is placed to the time the product is in the shop is pretty short. I know of some dealers that simply up the price playing the dollar argument even though they bought at the lower dollar value. Then when the dollar drops they usually play the hedging car and argue they need to make up for the shortfall. There are a couple of camera dealers that I buy from that are honest. Their prices are essentially identical with what you would pay in the US + shipping + tax. So no point buying in the US.

With windsurf gear it's a little bit more complicated given the stuff is made to order, then put in a container, then on a ship. As a result in can take up to 3 months from the time the order is places to the time it hits the shops.

Sue is right.

Even though it may be a hundred dollars or so saved you probably have no one to help sort out waranty claims (if any). Risky business!!

sboardcrazy said...
What happens if something is faulty? Warranty would be easier to cover if you bought locally.I suppose if you live miles from any shop you'd still pay freight but I'd feel safer buying Aust rather than O/seas..

Warranty is a tricky issue and comes down to the manufacturers policy. Ie Canon has a policy whereby lenses have an international warranty. DSLR cameras however have a warranty only for the country of purchase. In other words if you camera dies you'll have to ship it for repair back to the country where it was bought.

Not entirely sure what the situation is with windsurf gear. However, I'd consider it as pretty unreasonable to buy a product overseas and then go to your local shop to put a warranty claim in.

Especially for boards and sails I would never buy via the internet from overseas. Honestly the only time I would consider buying anything windsurfing related via the net from abroad would be for products you simply can't get here.

It can't be that? We are the most or one of the most taxed people in North America (Quebec, Canada) and our price are usually as good as the big shop in Oregon and often better, I mean brand new equipement. While I was in Australia in 2004, boards was about 500$ more in Australia than in Canada and your money was better then ours and by comparing, it's still arround 500$ more at your place! The way windsurfing distribition is organised in your part of the world seems different than us for sure!

stehsegler said...

NordRoi said...

Well, a lot of post has been deleted...

Like I said in a post that has been deleted. All gear or almost all gear are made in Thailand, China, closer to Oz than mainland america...how come it's a lot cheaper ?

Because of differences in import duty, local sales taxes (eg Oregon has none) as well as the fact that windsurf gear manufactured in Asia is traded in US$. That means in the US 1US$ is always 1US$. If you look at the rise and fall of the Australian dollar to the US$ over the past 3 1/2 years the difference can be quite significant within a very short time frame.

NordRoi said...

While I was in Australia in 2004, boards was about 500$ more in Australia than in Canada and your money was better then ours and by comparing, it's still arround 500$ more at your place!

just did an online check... Windspirit-direct.com sells 2011 JP Single Thrusters Pro Edition for $2,249 USD ... after the Quebec sales taxes that about $2562 . I think the hedged exchange rate from the Australian $ to the US$ for imports earlier in the year was about $.91. That brings the price to about $2,815.

Recommended Retail for the board here in Australia at the beginning of the season was $3,000 if I remember correctly. Remember our season starts September 2010 not Spring 2011 as it does in the Northern Hemisphere... Well that's not very different... you might save a few hundred dollars if you take out the taxes and don't pay GST but to be honest if you regularly buy gear from your local shop you probably wouldn't pay full retail anyway. As big Lee says "Everything is Negotiable" ... yes, even at David Jones you can negotiate for big ticket items.

The Windsurf and Snow here in Sydney for example has a 2011 Fanatic 93 Quad in the shop for $2300. That's about $2,090 ex GST. I doubt you could buy that board for that price anywhere overseas and get it to Australia.

NordRoi said...
So for a JP Quads for example, this time of the year, could be easily cheaper than 3000$.

Yup, since it's the end of the season for the shops down here there are a few bargains around. Shops essentially need to clear their 2011 stock between now and September when new 2012 stock arrives. Traditionally people don't tend to buy that much gear over winter.

stehsegler said...
As big Lee says "Everything is Negotiable" ... yes, even at David Jones you can negotiate for big ticket items.

Is big Lee a mate of yours from the Cross?

Sorry, this was all getting a little serious.

As for asking local retailers to sort out your waranty issues with the board that you imported to save money, I think that's below the belt.

Crash Landing said...
Is big Lee a mate of yours from the Cross?

Nah, it's my local drug dealer, dealing in wind and waves. Bastard has had me hocked for years.

swoosh said...


Looks like retailers are trying to address this, by losing the distributors and importing themselves which cuts costs for them. Funny that eh,

Ironic, seems Auswind, a major site sponsor, ditches windsurfing cause the shops prefer to import their own gear..

The issue is that US prices are usually lower than the rest and at least in the field where I work in the prices are on average 300$ lower than Aus or EU prices. Ironically the product is made in EU.
As I work at quality dept. dealing with claims, I sometimes occur issues with Aussies or Euros purchasing our products form USA, for our product this is illegal act form dealer's side not customer's. The imagine, manufacturer begging an Aussie dealer to have some good will and help solving the issue, so the shipping costs will be lower and the customer unaware of the possible issue won't have to wait for replacement part for to long.

The issue is, that the dealer who helps out in the end or the distributor does not earn sh1t from this and cannot prevent this.
If it wasn't a question about the end customer, we would simply refuse any help on such a claim, but as we try to keep a good rep, we have to find a good solution for the customer.

I don't know how claims are solved in windsurfing world, I just tried to set an example and the difficulties a manufacturer does occur in cases when they have to deal with warranty issues when people buy overseas.
Luckily it is 2 cases or maybe 3 a year for me though :)

Just buy local and support the industry that supports you in your area.

I'm not entirely sure what is this "support" everybody is talking about.

sorry but I really don't see how this works for a weekend warrior like myself, I don't really get any "free" support from my local shop, do I?

I pay $$$ everytime I go to shops, whether I'm buying new harness or need board repaired.

And I'm not talking about the windsurfing industry only, the same applies (with even bigger difference) to cycling too.

While it's interesting to read the insiders opinions regarding GST impact and bulk pricing I still don't think these are the sole reasons to explain why I can buy the same item from the UK at 30% of the price I would pay at my local (bike shop in this instance). Surely UK has very similar labour and other laws that protect their local business etc.

I don't expect this will change anyone's mind about this but I certainly will always be looking at spending less money (if the risk is acceptable i.e. I probably wouldn't buy a board O/S as it is likely to get damaged in transit).

Okay I know I'm not going to be popular by posting this but I needed some bits and pieces recently (harness, 2 extensions, 4 footstraps, base, vest etc). Since my nearest windsurfing store is 800km away I purchase all my gear via mail order.

I priced these from Australian retailer's websites and the cheapest I could get for the items from buying through numerous stores was $950 AUD excluding shipping. Based on previous purchases, postage for all these items would be around $40 to $50. So in effect the total cost would be $1000.00 AUD.

Curiousity got the better of me so I searched some US sites and was able to purchase like for like items from one store including express delivery for $610AUD ($640 USD). Now I'm all for trying to support my 'Local' retailers but saving $400 is just too great to ignore. Even if GST was added onto this internet purchase under $1000, the saving would still be significant so retailer's argument for GST is somewhat ineffective.

If this is a fairly common outcome across all retail purchases then I suspect retailing in Australia will (and is) suffer(ing) significantly

Loyalty can only go so far.

SWS said...

why pay $1000 for a new sail when you can buy one of a different brand for $700 which some would say a better sail from a online shop.

Here's one reason

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Gps/Help-2011-73-Switch-Blade/

Everyone will at some time take a chance & buy on the net, that's ok but don't complain when it goes pear shaped.

At the end of the day you decide if the retailer is fair with their pricing & whether you get the service to justify the additional cost.

First things, not all windsurfing shops are the same. Some do a lot to encourage local sailors and to build the sport, others just set up on the beginning of a boom.

Niche Kite and SUP shops will come and go and pretty much all of them are riding the boom rather than building long term businesses. Likewise some windsurfing shops do less than others and the service levels vary. It's up to everyone to take a view on what their local shop does for them and for the sport.

The shops meanwhile should be shouting about what they're doing.

Where shops are sponsoring events, organisers should be clear on how much effort they've put in and whether they deserve credit - I've heard wildly differing stories of the amount of effort put in by retailers as part of "sponsorship".

It's up to you. Ask yourself a few questions

1 If you broke your 4m mast half an hour into an awesome day's sailing, how soon would you like to be able to get a replacement....

1 hour (local shop with stock)
1 week (Australian shop with stock and shipping)
2 weeks (Hawaiian shop with airmail)
3 weeks...

2 Do you expect any advice when you buy gear? Face to face advice that helps you work out what you need

3 Does the least capable person at the place where you sail need advice? Are you prepared to give it? Can you help them order the right stuff online? Are you prepared to help them?

4 Who taught you to sail?

5 Have you ever taken anything back either broken or not suitable?

6 Would you be happy buying a harness online? Without trying it on?

7 What actually is the price difference? Do you trust the guys at the other end? For those of you who haven't noticed, the US is in a fairly hefty recession. Will your credit card company cover you against retailer default?

8 Does your local shop organise events?


I will buy stuff from overseas if the answer to 7 outweighs all the others. Recent experience says it doesn't.

Gaz45 said...

Paul Kelf said...

SWS said...

why pay $1000 for a new sail when you can buy one of a different brand for $700 which some would say a better sail from a online shop.

Here's one reason

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Gps/Help-2011-73-Switch-Blade/

Everyone will at some time take a chance & buy on the net, that's ok but don't complain when it goes pear shaped.

At the end of the day you decide if the retailer is fair with their pricing & whether you get the service to justify the additional cost.

Paul, we would love to be able to buy from our local shop but some of us don't have that option. The only time I get to go to a sailboard shop is when travelling with work or on holidays

As far as warranty issues go I bought a boom from a Queensland shop only to have it fail in a major way after a month and a half. The boom had never seen a wave but the shops response was that I had broken it landing a jump. It broke when I was using a 6.6 sail with a Futura 111 (not the usual jumping set up). They offered me a "special price" on a replacement which on checking turned out to be the same as their advertised price online. I will never spend a cent with that shop again!!

There are some shops around Aus that offer great service but not all.
.

Gaz, I think I know which shop you are talking about
You have done exactly as I said & made an informed opinion about the service you received.
Some people do have to buy on line & it will always be a bit risky but they still deserve after sales service.
Unfortunately until you try a particular shop, on line or not, we just don't know how they will honour warranties etc.
It's the risk we take sometimes, I buy on line, not windsurfing but lots of other stuff that isn't available in Oz.
We are probably a bit spoilt in WA as we have some great shops & from what I hear they are all pretty good with price, service & warranty.

Sausage, 40% is a lot of difference & should be pointed out to the shop, they may be un-aware of current overseas pricing, they might even have a good look at their pricing before they go broke