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Fahim, US prices are almost always pre GST. That would mean that a $1200 item in the Us will cost a US consumer $1320, or by equivalence $1705AUD
Add to this insurance, export duty and customs charges leaving the US, import duty, customs fees entering Australia, freight at both ends plus international freight costs, and then the local supplier will need bread and butter money, or do you think they are just there to do all the work and not get paid for it? One additional cost could be the cost of money. If an order is placed and the account is required before the product is delivered and paid for by the final purchaser, who is to pay the interest on the bank loan?
In other words, you order a Celestron Scope from Ausie scopes Co. They arrange to have it shipped just prior to the end of Celestrons monthly account period so they are billed for your scope straight away. It sits on the docks in the Us for a few days (or longer), bobs up and down on the Pacific ocean for 6 weeks, sits around here for a week or two waiting for customs clearance and the bank is charging interest on a daily basis until you finally get your scope and pay for it with a personal cheque which might take a week to clear.
And these costs are all the more relevant if you want the convenience of being able to purchase an item 'off the shelf'. In that case the vendor will have to cover bank interest until the item is sold.
Living in the best Country in the World does have its price I suppose.
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