I wrote this massive, long diatribe of almost 2000 words... thankfully, I hit the delete button, as I suspect it would have raised more questions than answers... so, I decided to do a little comparison of my own... (BTW: Love Adam's answer...
)
First, assumptions.
FOREX = 0.85 (currently at 0.8776
http://www.ozforex.com.au/cgi-bin/re...cyPair=AUD/USD)
Meade 12" LX200 ACF from Astronomics U$4499
(http://www.astronomics.com/main/prod...uct_id/12210RU)
Meade 12" LX200 ACF from Bintel A$7499
(https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=7151)
Shipping LX200 single item @ U$653 door to door with U$5000 insurance
(http://www.xsbaggage.com/)
Shipping @ U$4.73/cu ft bulk (rate chart, US transfer charter, 2009)
Bulk Insurance @ 3% of value.
Bulk shipping of 210 units per a single 40' container.
Disclaimer: Note that this is a Class 2 cost estimate with no contingency for shipping and insurance.
Interesting factoid: Shipping a 40' container across the Atlantic costs less then U$3000, but consumers get charged from U$8000-12000.
Let's begin...