OzScopes Query

[Waxing_Gibbous]

OK. I don't want to dis them unfairly as I hear they give good customer service but....why buy from them?

They bill themselves as a "discount" dealer yet from what I can see, they are more expensive than everyone else!
For example: a 12" Skywatcher go-to dob at OzScopes is $2743
At Staroptics - $2699
At Myastro - $2375
and
At Andrews - $2199!

They seem to be more expensive on just about every other scope as well.
Even Bintel is cheaper for Celestron stuff.
Am I missing something?:confused2:
Are there secret pages you have to sign into, to access with cheaper prices?
Or do they just discount off 'RRP' (which everyone does anyway)?

[stephenb]

I check their website from time to time, and I have always come to the same conclusion as yourself. If their website prices are accurate, they are certainly not the cheapest in town for many products.

[OICURMT]

$1899 at BTOW? Same model?????????

http://btow.com.au/Skywatcher_Goto_12_inch_300mm_Dobso nian_Complete_Focuser_great_high_qu ality_products_from_Australia

[Jules76]

I've gone there from time to time, but never actually purchased anything because everytime I've gone there for an item it's been higher then anywhere else. So I really can't see them getting any business from me any time soon.

[FlashDrive]

I have looked at their prices .... " way too excessive " .
They advertise " best price guarantee " ... but they are dearer ...?

Don't get it ... !!

If you want your $'s to go further Peter .... I'd try shopping elsewhere.

Flash :)

[asimov]

Yeah. I concur with the others here. Discounters..:lol:

[Ivan Lim]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Ivan. I'm part of the team at OZScopes. I thought I would reply to the thread to help give some clarity around the questions being asked.

I completely understand that many experienced astronomers (such as yourselves :) ) do a lot of research around specific telescopes you are interested in buying, and search for the best prices.

Unfortunately we have such a large range of products (telescopes, binoculars etc) that making sure every product has the very best market price, compared to all our competitors, is very difficult to do. Sometimes we are able to see their price changes but many times it can slip under the radar.

To help with this, we do offer a best price guarantee on all products. This means if a customer finds the same product at a better price from another official retailer, we are happy to work on matching that price to make sure you get the best deal.

For the dobsonian telescope that you mentioned Peter (http://www.ozscopes.com.au/skywatcher-12-go-to-dobsonian-telescope.html) the reason why that telescope is at such a high price is because the telescope was a limited stock item which we sold out for in December 2010. Last year SkyWatcher brought in a limited quantity of this telescope and asked us how many we would like to order. We decided to order 1. That sold out on the 13th of December at a price of $2049. When the product was sold our system defaulted back to a non-sale price which is why it appears so high and it is also out of stock because we don't have any quantity to sell.

As for the Celestron Products, do you mind elaborating further on which telescopes you were referring to?
We are 1 of only 3 Premier Select Celestron dealers in Australia so I'm sure we can work on pricing if you're interested in a specific scope.

I hope this brings some clarity around our pricing. We actually don't advertise ourselves as being big discounters. We try to focus on quality customer service. But in the scenario that someone finds a better price we do have that guarantee I mentioned earlier.

Cheers everyone :)

[smitty]

I think it is good that we see the vendors side for a change :)

Sean.

[oosh]

Definitely Sean! And thanks for jumping on here and sharing this Ivan, it's certainly good to know!

[UniPol]

Couldn't be fairer than that, afterall this is what many retailers do here in Australia e.g. Harvey Norman, Myers, Grace Brothers, Bing Lee et al.

[rigeljames]

And now

http://btow.com.au/dobsonian_telescopes_high_quality_f rom_australia

[Visionoz]

So Ivan

Does this then mean that if someone surfs your website and makes a purchase without asking for a better price that they would pay the "full price" instead (which slipped past your radar and therefore its price was not "competitively" updated/posted on your website in a timely fashion) and that your company would not advise the customer after they had committed to a purchase that the item actually was much cheaper than stated on the website?

Cheers
Bill

[stephenb]

Thank you Ivan for responding the thread :thumbsup:. It is certainly good to hear from a retailer in this competitive market. However in my opinion, your prices have always consistently been the most expensive I have found on the internet for years. I believe it's more of a case of cornering the slice of the market is not aware of cheaper prices at other retailers. But at the end of the day, that is what a free market is all about and the consumer intimately decides who stays in business and who doesn't.

Thank goodness for forums such as IIS who are able to spread the word on the best deals, opinions and advice.

Regards,
Stephen

[Visionoz]

After Ivan's last post (no pun intended!) no response to my query

Strange ... silence on the western front ... no more replies from Ivan, wonder why?

Cheers
Bill

[oosh]

Maybe he doesn't get email notifications of topic replies?

[gbeal]

And maybe he has decided to just let anyone who reads the post make their own minds up, without continually having to answer each and every question.
It is a small community, and word soon gets round, the dealers (or private sellers for that matter) that are best avoided soon get known.
I was impressed by his up front answer, not that I buy too much from Oz based dealers anyway. At least he answered.
Gary

[stephenb]

Yes, since this thread was started I have received enough information through PM's, together with my observations of their prices, to form the opinion that I will not buy from them.

Regards,
Stephen

[UniPol]

He might have come down with the flu, it is the season you know, simple as that :question:

[Giorgio]

I'm checking many online shops and as well as you I concluded ozScope displayed prices are the highest in Australia.

Moreover, I never got the message, visiting their pages, that they would be available to match the average prices one can find elsewhere.

I'm pleased to hear they are available to match prices offered by other business who get supplied by the official distributor, but as highlighted previously, I feel uncomfortable with this marketing approach.

It doesn't give me any reasons to waste my time in contacting them for finding a deal, because I perceive their pretended discounted prices, against unrealistic RRPs, a wrong customer service. As suggested previously by another member of this forum, the advantage here belongs only to OzScope, which I assume very unlikely will suggest to their unaware customers prices lower than those published on their website.

I'm new to this hobby, but I'm sure that as well as all hobby driven markets, core customers tend to spend quite a bit and not just at Christmas and most importantly tend to buy from business they can trust, even if it will not be the best price.

So, till they will not apply a more transparent pricing policing, which I can trust, I will not only avoiding shopping from them, but if asked for, I will suggest to look elsewhere.

My 2 cents
Giorgio

[Visionoz]

Well Ivan did reply to the post first of his own volition and gave all that explanation on behalf of his company so I don't see why I should not expect another response from him since I asked a very pertinent question in regards to his premise that it is his company's policy to give better prices or match prices if a buyer compares - BUT my query is what if a customer doesn't know - probably being a newbie etc - then would his company tell the buyer that the posted price is much higher and give that customer the benefit of the "best price"?



Well I was impressed at first too - but then I thought - Hey! What if...?
Can't see anything wrong IMO in asking since he is so forthcoming in the first instance



Yep, Steve I can accept that it's as simple as that - and let's wait and see if an answer is forthcoming or not - of course if none is given then that's his prerogative

Cheers
Bill

[xstream]

Bill, if you took the time to check his user ID you would find he hasn't logged in since making that post. :)

[Ivan Lim]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you to all who replied. I appreciate the active discussion!

First of all I'd like to apologise for my slow response. I wasn't in the office on Monday. As I'm sure most of you will appreciate, a one day absence from the office usually results in a huge workload that I just managed to clear 5 mins ago :) So here are my responses. Hopefully I get to each query, but if I do miss something feel free to let me know.

To Bill: I can see where you are coming from and appreciate you taking the time to reply. Pricing is an important factor in the buying decision and we do recognise that there is plenty of room for improvement in our pricing department. Ideally we too would like to offer customers great prices even without having to use our best price guarantee to match another seller. We have actually been pouring large amounts of resource to create better deals for astronomers like yourself. Be assured that we are always looking at ways to improve and hopefully we can make some strides in the coming months :)

Having said that however, we also know that our business is not just about lowest prices. We do aim to add value to customers by giving them an excellent buying experience. Receiving products as fast as possible, asking lots and lots of questions, and even chatting with us for 2-3 hours before making a decision are just some of the things our customers have told us they really value. I guess it comes down to placing value on the shopping experience and we really appreciate our customers who love the service we give to them. Some of our customers have said that not everything they buy in life is always about the lowest price and telescopes for them is one of those purchases.

To Stephen: Again I hope to ensure our pricing model gets more and more competitive as time goes by. We have been making some good steps over the last month and I hope this will become more appealing to astronomers. I really appreciate the honest feedback though. Thank you!

To Gary: We definitely want to be available to customers when questions get asked, so here I am :) Our customer service team is also available on weekdays from 9am - 5 30pm to answer questions and if you'd like you can also send me an email : ivan.lim @ ozhut.com

To Steve: No flu, thank goodness! Hopefully it stays that way.

I think that is everyone. Thanks again guys! Take care

[Visionoz]

Thanks for posting Ivan - however my query still remains unanswered in respect to a situation when someone seeing the price (which is higher or so-called your "default price" off the webpage which you described in your first post reply) and commits an order and OzScope actually has a current "lower price", would OzScope then inform the customer who ordered that the price is actually lower?

My query is related not to so much as a customer's decision-making act based on price but is actually wanting to know how OzScope's business ethics is modelled - and how your company would handle the situation in such a case seeing that you had already had put forward a certain premise on how your company conducts its online business in regards to pricing policy

If you do now wish to reply to the query that is fine

Cheers
Bill

[Ivan Lim]

I'm glad you appreciate the response :) To answer your question, we never put up a "default price" on the webpage if there is a current lower sale price being offered to customers. Any sale price in the system, that is lower than the default price, will automatically appear on the site.

The way we price our products is based upon the cost of that particular stock when we bought it. Sale stock can occur when an item is either priced to clear, or when we've managed to negotiate a better price with our suppliers(which can be difficult since local distributors work on higher margins due to the smallness of the Australian market).

As such, if a customer is seeing a higher priced item, that's only because our cost is high as well. However, if the price does come down due to us being able to buy better, then it is in our best interest as well to want to give our customers the best price. We try to be as reasonable as well, and do the right thing by our customers as if we were in their shoes.

Hopefully that answers your query, and please don't hesitate to clarify further if need be :)

[smitty]

The predicament of retail....sell stock at a "competitive" price and make no money, or try to sell at a "sensible" price and sell nothing, still making no money....

I think todays consumer, as savvy as they might be, forgets that buying "the cheapest" has an overall negative effect on the market. Look at the aviation industry. People pay $30 for a ticket from Melbourne to Sydney and then complain when the flight runs late due to maintenance issues......you can't have it both ways!

By reducing the number of players in a market we end up having to deal with monopolies or duopolies that control prices with no regard to the consumer (the price of petrol comes to mind).

Getting off my soapbox now.

Sean

[rigeljames]

I rather resent best price guaratees, because it allows a company to be selectively competetive and only compete when they're sprung. I think it's rather hitting the retailer who does his/her best to be competetive below the belt. There is a well known hardware chain that has this practice, and down go all the competition. Now there are few to turn to to get a best price!!

Recently I was looking for a C11 , but after seeing OzScopes price for one on a German Equatorial I was offended and went shopping overseas. Had I known about Andrews Communication at the time I would more likely have done my shopping in Australia. I don't think retailer going for the maximum "rip off" do anything for the Australian retail industry or the hobby they supposedly support!