What are some particularly egregious examples 'kiwi tax' or companies creaming the NZ market vs international prices?

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#2639410 21-Jan-2021 09:18

Wow, thanks for your examples everyone! Fascinating what's marked up!

Dial111: You pay for the container hireage too. It's not as easy as a simple currency conversion 1:1, a company has overheads like wages to pay as well.

Naw, They have a single flagship store in Auckland. Aside from that it's 100% online only, everything comes from the same factory, so it's warehouse space and courier prices only (plus duty etc) which is what makes it particularly galling.

SATTV

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#2639412 21-Jan-2021 09:23

You also have to remember NZ will be ordering miniscule amounts compared to other countries.

Some suppliers have minimum order values and minimum order quantities, so the NZ distributor will often have to order 12 months worth of stock before the manufacturer will accept the order. Sitting on stock costs money, then there is the warehousing etc. etc. etc.

On one of these forums before someone commented a container is a container which is true, NZ might get five or six containers at a time, where the US will be getting 500 to 1000 containers at a time and have a much faster turnover.

Volume talks, we just have to pay more for living in a small, uncrowded island in the south pacific.

I have worked as an importer & distributor and I can see both sides.

I know enough to be dangerous

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#2639415 21-Jan-2021 09:29

Maybe the lesson here is not that NZ importers distributors and retailers are greedy or ripping us off, but that they are gradually becoming redundant as global retail gets easier. A bit like travel agents really, whose core market seems to be reduced to corporates and those without the internet

GV27

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#2639417 21-Jan-2021 09:34

I find Australia a more useful comparison for prices to NZ tbh; their wages are higher than ours, a lot of their chains are the same and they have similar ideas about consumer protection to us.

allio

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#2639420 21-Jan-2021 09:39

AV receivers are the worst example I regularly come across.

Denon AVR-X3700H is $1199 USD. Works out to $1923 NZD with 15% GST. You'll pay $2899 here.

AVR-X1600H is $599 USD. Works out to $961 NZD after tax. $1599 here.

So irritating reading about "budget $300 recivers" on US websites when they sell for over a grand here.

GV27

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#2639428 21-Jan-2021 10:01

allio:

So irritating reading about "budget $300 recivers" on US websites when they sell for over a grand here.

Also the lack of options compared to what you see in other markets - budget offerings like Hisense and so on - whereas we get low-end big-name items marked up to mid-range prices for our 'lower end'.

Inevitable with a smaller market, of course, to some extent, but some are certainly taking the Michael.

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#2639456 21-Jan-2021 10:49

SATTV:

You also have to remember NZ will be ordering miniscule amounts compared to other countries.

Some suppliers have minimum order values and minimum order quantities, so the NZ distributor will often have to order 12 months worth of stock before the manufacturer will accept the order. Sitting on stock costs money, then there is the warehousing etc. etc. etc.

Right. Also, it's common for manufacturers to give quantity discounts, so if you buy < 10 at once, you pay a particular price, if you buy 1000+ you get a *much* lower price. Big purchasers (e.g. Walmart, BestBuy, etc) get an even better price. And, for small products, shipping 1000 items may not cost much more than shipping 9. So the NZ distributor has to choose between buying 12 months worth at a time (and pay associated costs like borrowing and warehousing and stock becoming out of date) or pay a higher price per unit and a higher shipping cost per unit.

neb

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#2639474 21-Jan-2021 11:51

Shavers, for the non-budget-market models. A US$80 shaver can be as much as $500 here, for a battery, a motor, a switch, and an LCD display.

When LCD monitors were first coming out I wanted to buy a Samsung (Dell-branded) US$700 model. Dell NZ quoted me NZ$3,500 for the same thing.

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#2639480 21-Jan-2021 12:05

I had a friend who was very into model trains (Hornby etc), I remember him grumbling about how insane the markups on those were in NZ, there was some digital control unit he wanted that was ~NZD$1500 and he got it from the UK for less than 1/3 of that including shipping duty etc.

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#2639498 21-Jan-2021 13:00

sbiddle:

I'm not actually sure if Skellerup actually manufacture any gumboots in NZ still. They're mostly made in Malaysia and China.

Bata still make gumboots in Wellington.

we do some ERP work at Skellerup, and you are right. The Christchurch facility is for other non-footwear rubber goods.

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#2639676 21-Jan-2021 14:59

BlinkyBill:

Geektastic:

Can anyone give a good reason why shoes should have a random 10% duty? We have no significant NZ shoemaking industry and almost every pair of shoes in NZ is imported.

Skellerup has a large manufacturing facility in Christchurch, Gordons in Auckland, McKinley’s in Dunedin, Paraflex, Bobux, Kumpfs, Minnie Cooper all manufacture in NZ.

That is a pretty small industry, producing specific kinds of footwear that not everyone will be buying by any means - and none of it is particularly stellar by world standards, either.

Kumfs no longer exist though. Sold the IP to the Australians and closed the stores.

I suspect most people actually want to buy Nike, Rockport, Addidas, Merrell, Hoka, Timberland, RM Williams, Loake, Hunter etc and have to pay a random 10% tax to do so.

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#2639680 21-Jan-2021 15:04

Geektastic:

I suspect most people actually want to buy Nike, Rockport, Addidas, Merrell, Hoka, Timberland, RM Williams, Loake, Hunter etc and have to pay a random 10% tax to do so.

By the people lining up outside out local footlocker for the last few days I would agree.... apparently some new Nikes are going to /have just dropped...

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#2639688 21-Jan-2021 15:19

tehgerbil:

Was just searching for shoes, and found the Allbirds site. Their 'Tree dashers' design are 125USD (175NZD), or change from .com to .co.nz and you'll pay a whopping $245NZD!

Can anyone explain how this works? a 40% markup for buying from .co.nz seems quite excessive personally

Misery loves company, so any other good examples you've come across recently?

For me they are worth every dollar. They are lightweight and very comfortable and safe to wear. I mainly buy the wool runners as they keep my feet warm especially if I am using the wheelchair. I appreciate that they enclose a reply pain courier label and one can try them for a month and return them no questioned asked. I did that once as on my weird feet I take a different size in the Tree models compared to the wool models. I did get a replacement wool one pair sent and a credit for the balance. I have one pair that I have owed now for 4 years and own 6 pairs.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

neb

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#2639691 21-Jan-2021 15:23

afe66: If I worked in USA I would earn more than twice what I earn here and I would be taxes less.

And might be dying of Covid while neo nazis rioted outside.

I'll take NZ, thanks.

Kyanar

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#2639706 21-Jan-2021 15:57

Geektastic:

True - although they have options such as buying from states where no sales tax is charged. Also their sales taxes are usually single digits not 15 or 20%.

8-10% is about typical for US sales tax, once you factor in the City sales tax, County sales tax, and State sales tax.

And no, they don't have that option. Sales taxes are based on the location of the buyer, not the seller.

afe66: If I worked in USA I would earn more than twice what I earn here and I would be taxes less. Not fair, I should be paid same amount in nz as USA.

Yeeeeah no you wouldn't. Once you factor in the Federal income tax, State income tax, County income tax, City income tax, unemployment insurance/social security tax, health insurance, and of course sales taxes, the effective tax paid in the USA is actually quite a lot more than people think. In fact, it exceeds that of many socialist economies that provide socialised healthcare, education, and even heavily subsidised or free tertiary eduation.

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