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Doug - I'll counter argue to that - maybe local distributors are just too expensive? I mean, If I can get a item from overseas, add shipping at retail rates, import duty, GST and still be CONSIDERABLY cheaper, then something is seriously wrong. As an example, it's not astro gear, but photography gear - I can get a 500mm f4 IS L series Canon lens cheaper from B&H in New York, pay for insurance and retail shipping, and still be cheaper than what Australian distributors are offering the exact same gear by quite a large sum of money. Better still, Canon lenses come with a world wide warranty, so there's no warranty issues. You'd have to be stupid to buy from an authorised Canon Australia dealer.
Basically, if local distributors want large markups, then they deserve to go bust imho. I'm not saying drop their margins to the point where they can't make a living. Not at all. What I am saying is that these guys get shipping at wholesale prices. They buy items in bulk, so get bulk buy rates. I don't get either of those. They don't pay a bunch of taxes either. All of them I pay as an individual if I privately import into the country. Given that this saves most local distributors quite a fair bit of money, then doesn't it make you wonder where the large difference (in most cases, not all) between me privately importing items into the country, and buying from an official Australian distributor?
Another example - when Vista came out, I was interested in Vista Ultimate. Price was US $399 (US retail), which at the time, was around $650 or so. Yet Microsoft Australia set the RRP to over $750 AUD. A clear extra $100 over what I could do privately. The ACCC isn't interested, to them it's a free market and it isn't price fixing. I completely disagree, it's BLATANT price fixing. Same product. There's no reason for it to be $100 more expensive in Australia. Don't give me that "support" BS either, cos it's *factored* into the US sales price already. If you want to argue that, take 25% or whatever of the US price first before doing price conversions.
The real fact is that the average person just doesn't give a you know what anymore, and they're stupid enough to pay whatever someone tells them to pay. Well, not stupid, lazy. I can guarantee you that if enough people stopped buying from local distributors that they'd lower their prices to be more COMPETITIVE. And that is the crux of my argument.
Dave
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