Importing Celestron scopes

[gb_astro]

Anyone know if Celestron allows direct sales from US online stores to Australia?

There seem to be some massive savings over there.

eg. the Celestron CGE-1100:

US, Starizona $4424

Australia, Andrews $8799

gb.

[Tilt (Michael)]

I was looking at purchasing one of the Orion Starshoot autoguiders from OptCorp in the US because of the good USD --> AUD but they said "No". Furthermore, they (OptCorp) said they will not sell Meade, Orion, Coronado or Celestron products outside the US due to contract obligations.

Meh </shrug>

Not sure about other optical/telescope stores over there?

Michael

[Zuts]

Hi,

They will sell second hand Meade, Celestron etc to overseas buyers.

Cheers
Paul

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by gb_astro

Anyone know if Celestron allows direct sales from US online stores to Australia?

There seem to be some massive savings over there.

eg. the Celestron CGE-1100:

US, Starizona $4424

Australia, Andrews $8799

gb.

Last I heard they actually strictly prohibit it, and any dealer who they catch doing it is blackballed by them, all it takes is for a local dealer to catch wind of sale and to make an allegation and it can result a lot of trouble .

Meade, and Tele Vue also engage in similar anticompedative behaviour.

[g__day (Matthew)]

You can probably find a large transport firm in the US to purchase and ship to your address though as a simple workaround to achieve the same thing - a few exist and deal with Meade and Celestron.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

Meade, and Tele Vue also engage in similar anticompedative behaviour.

Three cheers for the free trade agreement!

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

Originally Posted by Starkler

Three cheers for the free trade agreement!

You mean the one that only works one way

Had a similar experience when trying to buy some Meade Binos from Edmund Scientific, can't ship outside USA. So they won't be selling me anything.

Bill

[Irish stargazer (John)]

Celestron in particular seem to have it sown up in terms of dealers and territories. We have a Celestron dealer in Ireland and couldn't buy from the UK. At one time there were noticable differences in prices (now rectified though). I cringe at the low prices for their gear in the US though.

I have bought a few accessories from OPT without any problems, including a DMK camera. I haven't been caught for customs either (using the US postal service) so I have had some great deals. Its always worth asking them what they are prepared to ship. Even with duties there must be big savings to be made. They are a great company to deal with.

[gb_astro]

Folks, thanks for the info.

I don't mind the local dealers making a living but a 100% price difference really hurts.

gb.

[toc (Tim)]

You could try:
http://www.myus.com/

Not sure if they would ship large items, but its worth a try!

[JethroB76 (Jeff)]

Though I cannot vouch for them, there is also www.priceusa.com.au

[asterisk (Geoff)]

Have a look at:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ght=box+voyage

[Peterloftus]

I emailed Celestron a number of times expressing my frustration at such big price differences between Oz pricing and US pricing. I ended up getting the standard type of responses regarding local support and local warranty which are supposed to justify the doubling in price to Oz purchasers.

As there is no local dealer close to me I was going to have to have my purchase delivered anyhow so if the delivery came from the local Oz dealer or direct from the US it made no difference except for the price.

I think it really sucks that you cannot buy direct from the US.
In fact Celestron are clear in that they will not offer me a warranty if I purchase from a US dealer and than ship it back to Oz.

In the end I was lucky. A friend was on a business trip in California and was able to call in to a local dealer and buy me a Celestron NexStar 5SE. At the counter he was able to arrange a courier (DHL) to ship direct to my home address. Yes the freight was expensive and I do not have a warranty but I have enjoyed for the last 6 months exploring the night sky with my dad and I saved $800 compared to buying locally.

One of the things I really like with the internet is being able to compare and shop internationally. 15 years ago getting information on different pricing for overseas items was a lot more difficult. Not anymore.

Good luck.

peter

[TrevorW]

It makes you wonder whether it's even worth buying these brands considering they are all made in China anyhow.

I for one would never copnsider buying a Meade or Celestron scope through an Oz dealer because of the disparity in price.

When the exchange rate is nearly at parity we should be enjoying similar prices locally. However what can you expect the biggest petrol wasters in the world are still only paying $4 a gallon when we topping out at around $6.80 a gallon.

Another one of those life sucks situations.

[Domol (Domenic)]

Only if you know what you're doing you could try www.telescopes.com/, but you won't get a local warranty and will need to +10% GST as import duty. Local guys should give you good advice, and local warranty. That why you pay more! (you can always try to bend their arms a little!)

[Peterloftus]

Hi,

You only get slugged with the 10% GST if the item is valued at more than $1000 (AUS) when it is couriered or delivered into the country. This $1000 limit does not include the additional shipping or insurance costs.

My purchase price for the Celestron 5SE was less than $1000 (AUS) and hence I was not charged the 10% GST as well.

cheers


Peter

[gb_astro]

Folks, thanks again for the input.

I emailed one of the major online sellers over there and received this reply, which confirms most of the above.
I see that Meade, Orion and Coronado are also on the list.
The only encouraging thing is that the sellers seem as frustrated as we are and might be doing something about it.

"Thank you for choosing ???. Unfortunately we are unable to ship Celestron, Meade, Orion and Coronado products outside of the United States or Canada due to a contractual obligation. We can ship them anywhere in the
US, Canada and US territories, so if you have a US address that we can ship to then we would be happy to accommodate you. We can also ship to any APO or FPO (American Military) address in the world. We are very sorry for the
inconvenience that this may have caused you. ??? is working hard in an attempt to change the international policies, so hopefully before too long they will drop their restrictions and allow free trade outside of the United States."

gb.

[Gama]

What some of you are unaware is that sometimes the price is fixed by the manufacturers. Even if its in another country.
You are dictated by them as to what prices they force you to sell them.
Do you think everyone selling the celestrons etc, are all over pricing ?, well, maybe they are, but you would think someone would make a pretty penny going wild and lowering the price.
Of course theres always the "In kahoots" with each other conspericy theory.

Theo

[Stephen65]

I was thinking of buying a C11 at one time but after I discovered the enormous difference between US and Australian pricing I quickly dropped the idea. The net result is that of the many thousands I have spent in the last year or so on astronomical gear Celestron and its Australian dealers have received $0. I'm much happier supporting brands (Takahashi, William Optics and Pentax) that don't engage in these sorts of discriminatory pricing practices.

At one time Televue was doing something similar (though it was possible to still order direct from the US) but recently they have brought their Australian wholesale prices into line with the US allowing Bintel to be very competitive on pricing - market forces and the internet at work.

[netwolf]

Stephen I agree with you the price you pay for Celestron here is just outrageous. You could buy far better Vixen or even better Tak equiment at those rates.

Take the Celestron SE 8" is a nice unit to have. I really think this is a nice little scope to start with. but only if you can get it at 1400$USD. At the local prices 3000+ its far to expensive a proposition to recommend.
At this rate I just tell people dont bother. ETX-125 is a better option. The price is a lot closer to the US. But even with the Meade's once you start going up the LX90 and LX200 the price difference begins to widen. But at least at there lowerend they local pricing is winning customers over Celestron.