Quote:
Originally Posted by mozzie
dave bintel do all repairs inhouse and if you buy overseas you have to sent it back for repairs under warranty and buying local gives you that personall touch if you have any probs with setting up and scope questions try and ring overseas if theres a prob 
mozzie |
I'd be surprised if Bintel does all repairs in house. I suspect that those meades are rather complex beasties under the skin ;-)
Citivolus - are you saying that Australian businesses do not pay any import duty? I'd find that very hard to believe. As far as I'm aware the difference of individual vs business is that business usually imports at wholesale, not retail price (which means lower import duty and GST). Plus, business gets tax lurks and perks.
To the OP - it probably is worth getting the goods from an Australian retailer, purely for the warranty side of things. Of course, if you have nothing go wrong with the scope, then I guess you've paid a bit more for the local purchase (but hey, no fault means more time with your scope!).
Australian businesses do tend to markup more than overseas retailers, although it probably depends on where you go. The US tends to be quite cheap with goods to customers from what I've seen, whereas the UK is very very expensive. *shudders*.
For smaller stuff like filters, eyepieces, etc, if the price is a big enough difference, then I'd say buy from overseas. These types of items are far less likely to have faults etc anyways, so far less likely to use a local warranty (or justify it).
Dave