Hi All
My understanding is that the new Aus & NZ distributor is Sheldon & Hammond (Extra-Vision the previous one was given the boot about 2/3 months ago!)
Yes the prices over here irregardless are very very high bordering on the absurd and ridiculous for anything from the Big Boys Club (ie Meade, Celestron, Orion et al) Even costing an A$1000 for freight to the distibutor's cost for the high-end OTA would not even bring the RRP to such heights!!
It seems that the US/overseas resellers/dealers for those brands are NOT allowed to sell any OTAs, Scope/GEMs kits etc outside their stated "territory" eg; an USA dealer like OPT cannot sell directly to us Aussies!! This is because the Big Boys have imposed a restrictive trade clause in the dealership agreement with all their dealers - it works the other way too - ie an Oz dealer is NOT supposed to sell directly to say a US customer unless that person is standing in Oz terra firma, But who in their right mind would want to pay 200-300% based on A$ prices the way they are priced now!
Probably only a moon-struck person!
Well as someone else who posted here suggests - it is good idea to go for a holiday and make the purchase over there personally and on average the freight costs would be aro A$1000 for something like a CGE Pro with C11 XLT
At least you get the satisfaction that you spent near the same amount of money or even less for your astro-gear PLUS a holdiay!!
Cheers
Bill