CGE Mount suppliers

[citivolus]

Is there any reasonably priced Australian source for a CGE 925 XLT? Everyone is still acting like the dollar is at 0.50 US.

Seriously, $8K for what?!? The OPTCorp price is $4019 US. When I moved here from California, I brought a house load of stuff and it cost less than that price difference to ship.

Bloody piracy.

Eric

[OneOfOne]

Some of the cost is probably due to the old "economy of scale". Sellers in the US can order them from the manufacturer's warehouse and get it in a few days, whereas here they could order them in bulk (aka Extravision importer), but have to pay for them up front. They may then sit on the shelf for months waiting for someone to buy one. There are so many different models the logistics of what to order must be horrific.

The market in the US is much bigger than out here so they may sell a CGE every week, whilst they may only sell a handful a year out here :(

I was able to get my CGE1100 within a couple of days because they inadvertantly ordered 2 rather than one. The "spare" one sat there for some time before I happened to order it! Otherwise, it could still be sitting there. If they order it specially, it would be very expensive to get out here. Have you enquired about the shipping costs from OPT to Australia?

[citivolus]

That was why my comment on shipping - when I moved here from California, we shipped a container surface & including customs clearance it was less than the price difference on this one scope. Also, to help pay for my scope hobby, I import (non-astro) stuff and resell it, so I do know about "economies of scale". Basically it just means that I can mark my stuff up more than the traditional retail mark up, and people think they have to pay it because the product was made in the USA. And I'm still selling my stuff at 2/3 Aus retail.

My point was more to single out Celestron. Compare, you can get Vixen products here for a dollar to dollar equal price with the USA. Vixen SXD mount, myastro, $2500 AU. OPTCorp, $2500 US. Vixen VC200L $1889 AU (astro-optical), $1799 US. Vixen Porta mount, $395 AU, $399 US. HAL-130-SX tripod, $285 AU, $250 US. Vixen products, being somewhat premium as compared, say, to Skywatcher, should be impacted by the "economy of scale" the same as the US products, but where is the price difference? Nowhere to be seen! If it exists for Celestron, it is only because they have manufactured the problem of poor sales by jacking the price so high.

Unlike some electrical components which require an actual power supply change or the like on import, and regulatory clearance, the CGE mounts, for example, are DC devices and therefore much, much easier and less expensive to import.

I know this subject has been done to death in the past, but I'm just tired of seeing prices extorted the way that they are. Even if everything was shipped as a one off, and they were buying at retail prices in the USA (which of course they are not), Celestron's prices would still be high.

Want proof that Australians are used to being extorted for "imports"? Adobe CS3 design premium, download version, $1799 US from the Adobe online store. $3205 AU from the same online Adobe store.

People need to stop trying to convince themselves that Australia is on another planet and start making some real noise about what companies get away with here. If I can import a product for less than Australian retail, then so can the official distributor. It is as simple as that.

Eric

[rumples riot]

Eric I agree.

I know this because I recently imported a scope (not saying who made it or where I got it from) and I saved myself $2800. I swear that the retailers in this country are having a lend of us. Wish I had done the same with my C14.

It was hard work getting it in, but worth the saving I reckon.

[citivolus]

I'm not even certain it is the retailers in the case of sole distributors, but rather the distributor who may be to blame. The whole sole distributor system is designed as a monopoly, and does a very good job of protecting its self.

Personally I have a redirecting mailbox in California and family in Canada who can help me out when/if I have warranty issues and need to ship anything back that way.

I feel a business trip to California coming on. The Australian dollar is worth more over there.

[kosh]

Eric,

I hear what you are saying completely!

I contacted OPT last week to see if they could supply me an LX90 or AS-C8GT from Celestron and they said that they couldn't do it because of specific agreements that they have wit both Meade and Celestron about shipping outside the USA. I believe they might lose their contracts with the above mentioned manufacturers if they were to circumvent the distributor "network".
Maybe they have no such obligation to Vixen, skywatcher etc?

They said they could sell to me in Aus, but only certain brands so I dunno.
Could there be import Taxes of some sort?

It is completely ridiculous, especially with the currencies so close now. :mad2:

[citivolus]

Regarding import taxes, US manufactured optics are duty free, so an import of a US manufactured Meade or Celestron scope should only add the cost of shipping and the GST. As the dealer can claim the GST component, it is transparent to them, and the only realy addition to their cost is the shipping and import paperwork. Note that AFAIK, there is no duty exemption on Chinese or Japanese scopes, so they should in reality be more expensive than Celestron.

Therefore, there is no practical reason at this time that a CGE-925-XLT from a medium to large Australian retailer should cost more than $5900 ($4019 US street + $630 air shipping + $575 currency exchange + $100 import paperwork + 10% GST), if it is a quality product that the manufacturer does not anticipate having to return to base for service. Even in the case of a return to base, it would likely only be one component of the system that would need to be returned, so where is the other $2k going? The US street price is the profit level that is able to keep the US stores operating. Even the shop in the small town I grew up in in Canada is only adding a few hundred mark up over that, and they definitely do less in sales than the big shops here do.

OK, time to go breath.

[rumples riot]

Actually there is no duty on refractors full stop, no matter where they come from. I just went through this with customs and paid my bill a month ago. There is duty on mirrors and reflectors though. Don't know why, just that section is covered by duty.

[netwolf]

Actually according the Law there is no duty on Telescopes and Telescope mounting hardware. I have posted about this elsewhere on this forums and have had a similar thread to this also. The Act, i dont recall which one makes exclusions for Astronomy optics and mounting hardware. But i have never had the opportunity to test this law.

Here is a link to my old post.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=148260&postcount=31


Regards
Fahim

[citivolus]

Thanks guys :) I read the US FTA, and it indicated that telescopes for astronomical use were to remain duty free, so I guess I partially had misinterpreted that statement.

I had an interesting conversation with a local astro shop owner today about the whole thing, and I think it is safe to say that we were very much in agreement about the whole sole distributor thing and how it is abused in the case of Celestron. He gave me some mark up numbers that really didn't surprise me all that much, and backed up strongly my assertion that the scope/mount combo mentioned above should not be priced over $6k. Based on the numbers he gave (pm me if you want some numbers), there would still be money being made in this case with a price of $4500 AU, and it would be much more profit than the same scope is bringing in on the US market. However, with the sole distributor system, the local shops are as much a victim as the end purchaser. Additionally, the sole distributor in this case is not providing a real value add.

I also confirmed that there are multiple import sources for Vixen, which is why those are still affordable. Many thank-yous from me to the people who have made the effort to keep the Australian market competitive and profitable, without resorting to price gouging.

Eric

[g__day]

Interesting so a Losmandy Titan selling on their main website today for USD $5,995 = AUD $6,575 costs from an Australian supplier around $10,600 - so $4,000 mark up - that's alot of shipping price and insurance then!

I know retailer make a profit generally as a percentage of good sold - say 10% - 20%, but consider its no more time consuming ordering a $600 Nagler eye piece versus a $6,000 mount - so why would profit for labour and time involved be say $60 on one item and $600 on the second - when they both might only take 10 minutes effort to process an order at most? There is no more value adding labour on one selection versus the other so why should labour cost on one order be 10 times the next equivalent order?

[Stephen65]

I've been down this path before too. Some brands are sold in Australia for prices that correspond with what they are sold for in the USA once you account for the extra costs of shipping to Australia. Some that originate from third party countries can even be slightly cheaper here when the currency moves the right way against the US$.

But then there are brands, and Celestron seems to be the worst, where the prices charged here are far in excess of what you would expect. I considered buying a C11 or C14 earlier this year but the pricing was so poor I bought a Tak instead. I do not blame the Celestron retailers for this, I've discussed prices with one and they are confined by what the sole Australian distributor charges them. Since US dealers are forbidden by Celestron to sell to Australia that distributor enjoys monopoly profits.

Net result is I refuse to buy any brand where I feel I am being gouged. Fortunately there are enough brands that have good Australian pricing to give good options.

[Stephen65]

If you really want a Celestron scope and don't want to pay the Australian price one option is to buy a secondhand, open box or demo scope from a quality dealer like OPT. The Celestron rules about no overseas sales only apply to new scopes. The people are OPT are very aware of this issue and can give good advice on what exactly they can sell overseas.

[g__day]

I've called OPT too - they said the same, and then immediately added "but we can't stop you from buying this and telling us to send it to an American exporter like Fedex - they can send it to you - we can't arrange that but we will comply with it if you arrange it".

Laughable - easy to get if you wish!