Astronomy Equipment Delays

[MikeD (Mike)]

As the title reads is everyone having over three month delays for scopes and mounts at the moment?

It's frustrating everytime the delivery date passes and I follow it up, again, another month gets tacked on

Different brands, different retailers

Thoughts?

[ReidG]

Same experience Mike. Not the retailers causing it, nothing we can do but wait.



The whole supply chain for technology has been disrupted and will take ages to settle down again.

[MikeD (Mike)]

Ordered an EQ8-Pro Mount and Tripod on April 8th of 2022 - received the Mount only in July - still waiting for the Tripod - maybe October - Goodbye Galaxy season

Ordered a RASA 11 in July, initially told it would be mid-September

Now perhaps it's arriving on the East Coast on the 28th of September, or maybe not - can't give me any tracking details

Transport from the East Coast to Perth is maybe 14 business days?
So late October??

Understand this isn't the retailer's fault

Should have learnt the first time - but I'm never using an Australian Retailer again if it's not in stock

I'll buy direct and organise the logistics myself - like I do at work, without 10 follow up emails

[joshman (Josh)]

When ordering particularly expensive items from offshore retailers, how do you navigate the customs fees?

And in your experience, do you find the final price to be less or more expensive than local retailers?

[N1 (Mirko)]

Very much depends on the retailer. I use a German based shop named after an optical observing device now for most of the stuff I can't get 2nd hand. Shipping isn't cheap but whatever I've ordered (and that included an f/11 refractor and a dob tracking platform) that was shown as 'in stock' has been at my door here in NZ within 3 weeks, sometimes much faster, without fail. And while the Covid disruption argument is valid and I might just have been lucky, all of the above anecdotal experience has been since the start of the pandemic. I didn't use them before 2020.

[carlstronomy (Carl)]

Coming from an industry that has to import large items from the USA and Asia I can confirm shipping is a major headache. Most retailers rely on the Australian distributers and do not directly import themselves. The distributer brings in shipping containers and then passes the items on to the reseller. There are two major issues, one is as the items are coming into the country by shipping container, there is a major back log of ships in Singapore and the South China sea. Most containers bound for AU travel this way. The second issue is also effecting air freight, large items can be booked for a flight and miss it multiple times sitting at an airport for weeks. This was especially bad last month as the USA was going through one of their picking seasons and all their produce got priority air space so it did not spoil. Not to mention that a shipping container from the USA pre Covid was $1000-$2000 and now is a minimum of $6000 and can go as high as $10000. Things are not going to get better soon.
If you want something from a reseller in Australia this year and they have it in stock, my advice is get it now. Waiting could be your worst enemy at present.
The other option is purchase from overseas yourself small shipments are not always so caught up in the global transport issue.

[meltaxa (Dennis)]

Originally Posted by joshman

When ordering particularly expensive items from offshore retailers, how do you navigate the customs fees?

And in your experience, do you find the final price to be less or more expensive than local retailers?

Anecdotal evidence on my recent ZWO AM5 with tripod, ordered direct from the international vendor for AUD$3666.

Ordered 20th September, 2022. It was on back order and waited a week before it was shipped on the 27th September. Another week later, it was at my door step on 4th October.

No import fees. Found it to be cheaper going direct, even if I was hit with a fee. There are obvious risks: the Aussie is tanking now (costs go up) and if things break it is harder to resolve.

[Crater101 (Warren)]

I might add, it isn't just astronomy equipment. I ordered a lens from Georges cameras (on line) that was listed as "in stock". And it is - they've sent me an e-mail to say that yes, it IS in stock, but they just aren't certain exactly where it's in stock, and may have to order one from overseas...

[Peter Ward]

I ordered some not inexpensive Canon E6NH batteries (read: DSLR batteries) from a well known camera retailer a while back.

They didn't mention no-one in Oz had any in stock.

It took 3 months.

That said, while I might have got them sooner from foreign shores, I was more than happy to wait and get a local warranty.

These puppies were going into a new $6K camera and $60 after-market substitutes were not going to cut it.

I suspect many IIS'ers don't fully appreciate how strong Australia consumer laws are.

If you order online from a foreign supplier, it often goes well...but when it doesn't....you do you often end up in a world of hurt or do your dough....
and then some... if the cheaper/faster option trashes your expensive gear.

Given the current east-cost weather...waiting is hardly fatal.

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

I ordered some not inexpensive Canon E6NH batteries (read: DSLR batteries) from a well known camera retailer a while back.

They didn't mention no-one in Oz had any in stock.

It took 3 months.

That said, while I might have got them sooner from foreign shores, I was more than happy to wait and get a local warranty.

These puppies were going into a new $6K camera and $60 after-market substitutes were not going to cut it.

I suspect many IIS'ers don't fully appreciate how strong Australia consumer laws are.

If you order online from a foreign supplier, it often goes well...but when it doesn't....you do you often end up in a world of hurt or do your dough....
and then some... if the cheaper/faster option trashes your expensive gear.

Given the current east-cost weather...waiting is hardly fatal.

You make some excellent points. I have heard of manufacturers of carious types of equipment - photographic, astronomical - who will only warranty items in the country that they were purchased in. FOr example, you could have purchased equipment overseas that is identical to what you might purchase here in Oz, but it will not be covered under an Australian warranty.


None of us likes the delays in getting the items to set up correctly for observations or imaging, but sometimes the wait is worth it in more ways than one.

[Dilsh]

I imported some QHY equipment from Hong Kong. It was a few thousand dollars. Got hit with import tax when it arrived. Negated the savings I made by buying it overseas. I should have read the rules prior to the purchase .

I think the imports get taxed if they are more than $1000, or maybe it is $2000. I think a way around this is to send it in multiple shipments.

I think if there is Australian stock that is the way to go. Warranty might also be easier that way.

Cannot wait to be back to pre-covid days. Not sure if that is going to happen anytime soon.

Dilshan

[Dilsh]

P.S

Love the gear so no regrets at all .

[dikman (Richard)]

Dilsh, once upon a time imported items under $1000 were GST free, but a certain Mr. Harvey Norman got upset by it, claimed it was affecting his sales (!) and lobbied the government to change the rules. Bear in mind many of the items he was complaining about weren't sold by his company and were often relatively low-priced items, but that didn't make any difference.

As a result overseas companies are now supposed to collect the GST on the government's behalf and then forward it to the government. Paypal/ebay does, somehow they even convinced Aliexpress to do it (although who knows how much GST they forward to the government ).

In my experience US companies don't do it and sometimes it will be collected by the shipping company here (UPS?) but if items are of moderate value they seem to get through.

Large value items appear to attract the attention of the authorities so you get stung.

[Dilsh]

Originally Posted by dikman

Dilsh, once upon a time imported items under $1000 were GST free, but a certain Mr. Harvey Norman got upset by it, claimed it was affecting his sales (!) and lobbied the government to change the rules. Bear in mind many of the items he was complaining about weren't sold by his company and were often relatively low-priced items, but that didn't make any difference.

As a result overseas companies are now supposed to collect the GST on the government's behalf and then forward it to the government. Paypal/ebay does, somehow they even convinced Aliexpress to do it (although who knows how much GST they forward to the government ).

In my experience US companies don't do it and sometimes it will be collected by the shipping company here (UPS?) but if items are of moderate value they seem to get through.

Large value items appear to attract the attention of the authorities so you get stung.

Oh right. How interesting and very annoying at the same time.

I guess that is the priviledge we pay for living in the best country in the world. I was in Cuba a few years ago before Obama lifted the embargo and decided that I would try not to complain about the ludicrous taxes we pay as our country is pretty cool.

Thanks for the insight.

Kind regards,

Dilshan

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Yeah almost everything Astronomy related is backordered. Waiting patiently for several months for Televue eyepieces to come back in stock