Got to love bargain New Zealand retailers...

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Geektastic

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#195397 19-Apr-2016 11:12

I needed a new shipping case for my portfolio.

I identified the case I wanted, a Pelican 1495.

Price in New Zealand is $475, equivalent to US$330

Price in USA US$144 including free expedited shipping to my brother in California from where I can collect later in the year.

And they wonder why we want to shop overseas rather than here....

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#1535501 19-Apr-2016 12:03

OK, but you do have to factor in what it would cost to ship it here otherwise it isn't a fair comparison.

Incindre

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#1535508 19-Apr-2016 12:09

Only a tiny portion of New Zealanders have the ability to simply 'pop-over' to America to pick up their online purchases.

Lucky you.

Shipping and GST must be factored in for the rest of us.

old3eyes

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#1535511 19-Apr-2016 12:12

Incindre: Only a tiny portion of New Zealanders have the ability to simply 'pop-over' to America to pick up their online purchases.

Lucky you.

Shipping and GST must be factored in for the rest of us.

Not that much of a markup it doesn't . Pure geed..

Regards,

Old3eyes

MikeB4

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#1535512 19-Apr-2016 12:12

you didn't mention that the $US144 was a special price, normally $US253.95, that would be $NZ362.32 ($NZ416.66 incl GST) ad in freight etc and the NZ price is not excessive

wasabi2k

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#1535521 19-Apr-2016 12:15

Not to mention market size, sales volume etc etc

Sam91

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#1535539 19-Apr-2016 12:34

Which 1495 is it? Have you tried Rubber Monkey?

mattwnz

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#1535609 19-Apr-2016 13:34

Also you need to factor in that in the US they tend to sell larger volumes. In NZ retailers tended to have a 100% market up on goods, and can discount from there. So I don't think the price you quoted in NZ was unreasonable. You do also have the big risk of damage when buying from overseas. 50% of what I buy has some damage to it. It is as though they send it through a crusher, and drop it from a height, to get it into NZ. Then you also have now CGA protection, and also have the time delay of waiting for the order.

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sir1963

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#1535940 19-Apr-2016 19:08

Well we wanted a new Camera. Chose a Nikon 3300 with lens.

So, went and had a look in Noel lemmings $999, but as a deal they would go down to $799

Harvey Normans had it displayed as $1333 on a card, $1001 on the box, and on special for $745

Local camera shop had it NORMAL retail for $745

Pricespy.... well we bought it from Parallel import for $599

None of the big box stores would compete.

Sam91

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#1535966 19-Apr-2016 19:51

sir1963:

Well we wanted a new Camera. Chose a Nikon 3300 with lens.

So, went and had a look in Noel lemmings $999, but as a deal they would go down to $799

Harvey Normans had it displayed as $1333 on a card, $1001 on the box, and on special for $745

Local camera shop had it NORMAL retail for $745

Pricespy.... well we bought it from Parallel import for $599

None of the big box stores would compete.

There's a chance you will get no support from Nikon should something go wrong because your camera is a parallel import. That's something you need to take into account, but at $599 it's probably worth it. When purchasing more expensive cameras, many will avoid parallel imports for this reason.

At least that's my understanding, I could be totally wrong.

freitasm

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#1535979 19-Apr-2016 20:07

MikeB4:

you didn't mention that the $US144 was a special price, normally $US253.95, that would be $NZ362.32 ($NZ416.66 incl GST) ad in freight etc and the NZ price is not excessive

Also add the 10% state tax on US prices.

gzt

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#1536033 19-Apr-2016 21:05

Sam91:
sir1963:

Well we wanted a new Camera. Chose a Nikon 3300 with lens.

So, went and had a look in Noel lemmings $999, but as a deal they would go down to $799

Harvey Normans had it displayed as $1333 on a card, $1001 on the box, and on special for $745

Local camera shop had it NORMAL retail for $745

Pricespy.... well we bought it from Parallel import for $599

None of the big box stores would compete.

There's a chance you will get no support from Nikon should something go wrong because your camera is a parallel import. That's something you need to take into account, but at $599 it's probably worth it. When purchasing more expensive cameras, many will avoid parallel imports for this reason.

At least that's my understanding, I could be totally wrong.

That was true of Nikon last time I checked. I think it will be the same for all DSLR cameras.

sir1963

You can save money but you will get less service in return. If nothing goes wrong you're a winner but that's the gamble.

By the way, pricing is not all about the retailer. The local distributor will set the price to some extent according to the local market conditions. Big name retailers are not going to stock products that cannot be warranty serviced locally.

Geektastic

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#1536112 19-Apr-2016 22:50

MikeB4:

you didn't mention that the $US144 was a special price, normally $US253.95, that would be $NZ362.32 ($NZ416.66 incl GST) ad in freight etc and the NZ price is not excessive

It's just the price that B&H charged me. It did not indicate to me that the price was special.

Geektastic

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#1536113 19-Apr-2016 22:51

freitasm:

MikeB4:

you didn't mention that the $US144 was a special price, normally $US253.95, that would be $NZ362.32 ($NZ416.66 incl GST) ad in freight etc and the NZ price is not excessive

Also add the 10% state tax on US prices.

No tax was charged.

Geektastic

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#1536116 19-Apr-2016 23:06

Paul1977:

OK, but you do have to factor in what it would cost to ship it here otherwise it isn't a fair comparison.

How many fit into a 40ft container that costs about $3000 to send here from LA?

A 40ft container has a volume of 67 cubic meters or thereabouts. The case has an internal volume of 0.016 cubic metres. So if we round that up to allow for external dimensions and the cardboard box, let us be generous and say 0.05 cubic metres which is 3 times the internal volume.

That means 1,350 of them fit in a container that costs $3000 to ship which works out at $2.22 per box.

I do not suppose that the importers would import 1,350 of this particular model so maybe they use a 20ft container which can be shipped for approximately half the cost.

And yes, you have to add 15% for GST.

I do think "shipping costs" get trotted out an awful lot to justify the cost of things that should be cheaper. A more significant reason is the reliance on the antediluvian "distributor" model whereby an office somewhere receives boxes from the manufacturer, repacks them and sends them to the retailer, claiming a 25% cut for doing that in the middle.

These days, it seems perfectly possible for the retailers to order direct from the manufacturer using the web.

Sam91

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#1536118 19-Apr-2016 23:11

Rubber Monkey has the case for $359 NZD. They're a NZ online retailer and the price includes GST. That's pretty much the same as the standard US price Mike quoted excluding GST. All things considered, Rubber Monkey's price is fairly competitive.

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