Domestic Shipping Costs

[Lightscribe]

Hi all,

Total newbie here, just looking to dip my toe in. Research lead me to an 8 inch Dobsonian, which in turn lead me to the Bintel BT202-B.

Come checkout time, I find myself quoted $120 for shipping. I get that an 8 inch Dob is a large-ish bit of kit, and I am about an hour west of Brisbane, so it's got a fair old way to go, but turning a $699 purchase into an $819 purchase was still a solid old 'oof' moment.

So I'd just like to double check I'm not getting hosed, I guess? Are brutal shipping costs just something we all have to suck on up in this hobby if we don't have a local 'scope dealer?

Cheers :thumbsup:

[Rerouter]

Its a little on the higher side, but I would still say fair price for the volume, seeing as they will need some fairly thick packing to make sure the mirrors / housing won't be damaged,

a similar size device I have had shipped in the past was about $75 from Melbourne to Sydney, but prices have increase recently,

[doppler]

I got charged $75 aust post charge for a star tracker mount kit (no tripod) 5kg max, I thought that was excessive so I phoned and they refunded $50. If in doubt ask, it does help if you have an idea about postage costs, if you know what service they are using you can get a quote online to compare.

[doug mc]

It would be nice to have a GSO dealership in south east Queensland.

[Nikolas]

Astroanarchy are in Brisbane their postage would be significantly cheaper for similar scopes. bintel are shooting themselves in the foot if that's the cost of postage
http://www.astroanarchy.com.au/telescopes/NewtAstro_8.html

[TBA]

+1 For this - I just purchased my SCT from AstroAnarchy and was able to pick the unit up from Mount Gravatt, negating shipping costs. The prices are also about the sharpest I have seen and I did shop around a lot. I drove from Gatton to pick it up and think it was totally worth it (even with the peak hour traffic!).

[Hemi]

I think most retailers use standardized e-commerce shipping calculators, which overestimate, often massively on occasion.

Ive often been quoted quite high shipping costs from Bintels site. I normally just call them, and they amend it or often throw in shipping for free. They also tend to be sensible and price match (or at least try top compete) if their price is a bit out of date.