Meade at Andrews

[mch62 (Mark)]

Can't figure this one out
From Andrews for the Meade OTA with mount LX-200 14" f/10 ACF w/GPS, UHTC. $10,999.00 --- OPT USA price $7000 , no problems fair enough with costs.

Celestron14" EDGE HD OTA only from Andrews $11000---OPT USA $5800.

Am I missing something here or do I need to invest in a new calculator
Fill me in please
P.S. I have an 8" EDGE OTA and they are an excelent scope but not the excelent
p.p.s and lee is the best Celestron price in OZ i think.

Mark

[Octane (Humayun)]

Mark,

You'll find Celestron's distributor for Australia is probably taking a hefty cut of that.

At the end of the day, everyone has to make money, somehow. Vote with your wallet.

If Celestron cut out the distributor and sold directly to dealers, you can bet your bottom dollar (no pun intended) that the prices would be fairly equitable to our American counterparts.

H

[terrynz (Terence)]

Originally Posted by GrampianStars

less GST really
just open the original packaging and take out the OTA
then it becomes second hand for importing purposes
say worth is $4K

you need to read the law around GST. NZ Customs and the law don't care whether its new or old. ANY item over $500 inc shipping costs (they charge GST on that too!) gets slapped with GST on entering the country.

My Paramount ME landed in NZ got $2600 of GST. My celestron Axiom Eyepiece's brought off couldynights secondhand got $70 GST. Declare it as a gift and you pay GST...

The only way to get around this is to declare it as being under $500, reduce your GST by declaring a lower value or carry it on the plane and not declare it. Not sure you'll get away with the last one.

Problem with all of these is insurance. DHL etc won't payout more than it's declared value. You make it $400 and it gets broken... you've lost your money. Your home and contents insurance won't cover you.

Get creative at your own risk... Personally I don't mind paying the GST. , I just don't like being ripped off by their agents in NZ.