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

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

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#2642407 26-Jan-2021 15:07

iRobot seems to be terrible at this. The Roomba S9+ is listed as US$1099 but the price here is NZ$2999. Adding on GST to the converted US price it's NZ$1300 more to buy it here.

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BlueShift

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#2642409 26-Jan-2021 15:18

neb:
geekIT:

Seems to me a good opportunity for a purchasers' co-op. Take local orders for, say, US goods and buy the smallest container load. No profit, of course.

And then you need to advertise to buyers and get them on board and take down payments and sort out orders and order it and deal with customs clearance and repackage and mail out and chase down people who haven't paid the remainder and deal with lost packages or moved recipients, and suddenly you're running a full-blown mail order business alongside your existing job.

Actually, I think you just invented ContainerDoor.co.nz. You order what they have on offer, once enough people have ordered it to fill a container, they bring in a container-load of it, including yours.

I just purchased a huuuuge pergola from them, it got stuck in a holding pattern off Great Barrier for a month, so arrived two weeks ago instead of late November, but cost a third of what it would to buy locally.

I'm erecting it next week, once the concrete footings have cured. But that's a story for the DIY forum.

BlueShift

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#2642412 26-Jan-2021 15:25

BlueShift:

Actually, I think you just invented ContainerDoor.co.nz. You order what they have on offer, once enough people have ordered it to fill a container, they bring in a container-load of it, including yours.

I just purchased a huuuuge pergola from them, it got stuck in a holding pattern off Great Barrier for a month, so arrived two weeks ago instead of late November, but cost a third of what it would to buy locally.

I'm erecting it next week, once the concrete footings have cured. But that's a story for the DIY forum.

Local example - 3x3m louvre pergola - $6300

What I got - 8x4m louvre pergola (more than twice the size) - $5000

Handle9

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#2642455 26-Jan-2021 17:23

geekIT:

Actually, I was thinking it's the sort of operation some retiree or couple might enjoy.

Dealing with a heap of hassle (and associated risk) for people who are too cheap to buy locally without any reward. We must have different views on enjoyment.

BlueShift

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#2643061 27-Jan-2021 13:58

I just ordered a cheese slicer from AliExpress. Costs six bucks. Exact same slicer in NZ, seven bucks. Not outrageous at all, I was going to order it from the Kiwi place, then they added on the shipping. Shipping from China to me, $2. Shipping from Auckland to me $10.50. Yeah, nah, bro. I can wait.

richms

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#2643093 27-Jan-2021 15:28

BlueShift:

I just ordered a cheese slicer from AliExpress. Costs six bucks. Exact same slicer in NZ, seven bucks. Not outrageous at all, I was going to order it from the Kiwi place, then they added on the shipping. Shipping from China to me, $2. Shipping from Auckland to me $10.50. Yeah, nah, bro. I can wait.

Do you even know that the kiwi one was in NZ and shipping from within NZ? So many dropshippers now, particually on trademe that its annoying. Even setting the location filter to NZ only doesnt work because the geniuses there made it the sellers location, not the stock location. so you end up with some sellers on there with multiple accounts for different branches and sellers who do both local sales and drop shipping showing the cheaper dropshipped ones when set to NZ only.

Richard rich.ms

BlueShift

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#2643096 27-Jan-2021 15:33

richms:

BlueShift:

I just ordered a cheese slicer from AliExpress. Costs six bucks. Exact same slicer in NZ, seven bucks. Not outrageous at all, I was going to order it from the Kiwi place, then they added on the shipping. Shipping from China to me, $2. Shipping from Auckland to me $10.50. Yeah, nah, bro. I can wait.

Do you even know that the kiwi one was in NZ and shipping from within NZ? So many dropshippers now, particually on trademe that its annoying. Even setting the location filter to NZ only doesnt work because the geniuses there made it the sellers location, not the stock location. so you end up with some sellers on there with multiple accounts for different branches and sellers who do both local sales and drop shipping showing the cheaper dropshipped ones when set to NZ only.

It was the website of an actual bricks and mortar outfit in Aucks. Which still doesn't rule out dropshipping...

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neb

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#2643098 27-Jan-2021 15:35

richms:
BlueShift:

I just ordered a cheese slicer from AliExpress. Costs six bucks. Exact same slicer in NZ, seven bucks. Not outrageous at all, I was going to order it from the Kiwi place, then they added on the shipping. Shipping from China to me, $2. Shipping from Auckland to me $10.50. Yeah, nah, bro. I can wait.

Do you even know that the kiwi one was in NZ and shipping from within NZ?

If they're charging more than the price of the item for shipping then they're in NZ.

Scott3

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#2643142 27-Jan-2021 17:00

BlueShift:

I just ordered a cheese slicer from AliExpress. Costs six bucks. Exact same slicer in NZ, seven bucks. Not outrageous at all, I was going to order it from the Kiwi place, then they added on the shipping. Shipping from China to me, $2. Shipping from Auckland to me $10.50. Yeah, nah, bro. I can wait.

Shipping costs ex-china are a whole discussion in their own right.

In short, china is still considered "transitional", and as such gets cheaper postage rates under an international convention. Protection that doesn't seem appropriate for one of the worlds manufacturing powerhouses.

The USA threw their toys about it a couple of years back.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2169144/chinas-cheap-shipping-advantage-explained

antonknee

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#2643178 27-Jan-2021 18:17

neb: If they're charging more than the price of the item for shipping then they're in NZ.

I remain astounded at just how much shipping actually costs my employer which is a large retailer. We spend a ton of money on transport, and we don't even really come close to recovering the costs (in terms of the amount we charge our customer, vs the amount we actually pay out to various couriers and freight companies). And that's just thinking about last mile delivery, not even including all the other transport we do (store to store, DC to store, DC to DC, coastal etc).

Still, we regularly get feedback from customers that our delivery prices are too high - even though we're deliberately priced lower than all of our direct competitors and comparable or lower than most other retailers across a variety of categories. Can't win 🤷‍♂️.

Lias

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#2643219 27-Jan-2021 20:48

antonknee:

neb: If they're charging more than the price of the item for shipping then they're in NZ.

I remain astounded at just how much shipping actually costs my employer which is a large retailer. We spend a ton of money on transport, and we don't even really come close to recovering the costs (in terms of the amount we charge our customer, vs the amount we actually pay out to various couriers and freight companies). And that's just thinking about last mile delivery, not even including all the other transport we do (store to store, DC to store, DC to DC, coastal etc).

Still, we regularly get feedback from customers that our delivery prices are too high - even though we're deliberately priced lower than all of our direct competitors and comparable or lower than most other retailers across a variety of categories. Can't win 🤷‍♂️.

I don't know about other companies, but I regularly see Mainfreight in the news with titles like 'Mainfreight celebrates record profit' etc.

Freight companies would seem to be creaming it.

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neb

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#2643229 27-Jan-2021 21:22

Lias:
Freight companies would seem to be creaming it.

Friend of mine used to work for a large freight company. Said it was run like a NZ government department in the 1950s. So even if they were making zero profit, you could still do it at half the cost and twice the speed by rationalising/streamlining the whole thing. Think getting a phone from the Post Office back then vs. getting one from Spark/Vodafone/etc now.

snnet

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#2643246 27-Jan-2021 21:59

Handle for the back door of a work van broke away from the backing of itself (plastic) meaning I had to open it using a system of pulling a cable to pull the lock latch cable from the inside -- rang nissan parts nz - eight week delay from Japan and $360. For a piece of plastic (admittedly with a little metal attached!) After a lot of searching I came across Amayama NZ for parts - found the handle for $30, shipping from Japan was $15 - arrived within a month over the Christmas period and was a genuine part! I was a little skeptical at first so only ordered one, but have since ordered a couple more for other work vans as it's a piece of plastic that seems to be easy to break with wear

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#2643261 27-Jan-2021 22:39

snnet:
Handle for the back door of a work van broke away from the backing of itself (plastic) meaning I had to open it using a system of pulling a cable to pull the lock latch cable from the inside

No officer, this really is my own van, the lock's broken. Well, my work's van. Which I work for. That I can't unlock without using this cable.

Can I at least get my phonecall?

neb

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#2660371 21-Feb-2021 04:55

Another example I just ran into: Elfa shelving components. Go to the Container Store, the US outlet for Elfa, and look at their prices, which are automatically listed in NZD if you're coming from a NZ address, then compare them to the M10/Storage Box prices. For example the Elfa Utility Platinum Mesh Baskets from the Container Store are NZ$13.50 - NZ$18.30, while at Mitre10 (Storage Box is the same price) the exact same item is NZ$39.98 to $59.98. That's three to four times the price on the same item, and since they're made in Poland it's not like the cost of shipping to the US will be much cheaper.

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