Tele Vue prices up?

[GrahamL]

A current account payable in US dollars would likely suffer an adjustment over a calender month if the aus dollar slips a little ..and my bet is you and I will pay the differance.. These small changes don't bother me as all my astro purchases are done for a few years... another 10/20 c fall will make this discussion look a little mild IMO.

[ColHut (Colin)]

Just out of curiosity - and only slightly related to this. Is Bintel the only Australian outlet for Televue eyepieces?

cheers

[Zuts]

Originally Posted by ColHut

Just out of curiosity - and only slightly related to this. Is Bintel the only Australian outlet for Televue eyepieces?

cheers

Hi,

My understanding is that televue released a new price list; but since the formula re dealer discounts and such is quite complex that Bintel incorrectly calculated the list price. By the time they found out what was wrong they had already sold many eyepieces at basically a loss. They honoured the unbelievably low price, less than what OPT charge until they managed to get the web site updated.

So, good on em and congratulations to anyone who managed to snag one at that price.

Cheers
Paul

[madtuna (Steve)]

I also wonder how much they lose when our dollar rises.

My 31 Nagler has a price sticker on the bottom of the box $939.00 yet I paid a smidge over $600.00

[AlexN]

mmm much the same I paid $225 for my 5x powermate and the sticker on it says $295.. not quite a $339 difference. but still, its a fair loss to be making.

[Kal (Andrew)]

I've been watching the US dollar closely, since I will be holidaying there soon. The rise upwards had been slow and gradual, from 70/75c up to the peak of 98.5c took around 3 years. Once it hit that peak, it dropped by over 10 cents in less than 3 weeks. I would imagine alot of people, seeing this sudden currency drop, would have hit retailers like bintel to 'grab the bargains while they can' clearing out alot of on-hand stock that may have been purchased when the dollar was good, and forcing them to rapidly adjust their prices upwards as they ordered replacement stock.

I don't see any foul play or intent, just a retailer reacting to the market and sales

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Zuts

Hi,

My understanding is that televue released a new price list; but since the formula re dealer discounts and such is quite complex that Bintel incorrectly calculated the list price. By the time they found out what was wrong they had already sold many eyepieces at basically a loss. They honoured the unbelievably low price, less than what OPT charge until they managed to get the web site updated.

So, good on em and congratulations to anyone who managed to snag one at that price.

Cheers
Paul

I doubt they would have actually incurred a loss on anything they sold , they have a handy markup (I expect in the order of 50-100% depending on the product) which will have buffered them nicely from any such error.

[Zuts]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

I doubt they would have actually incurred a loss on anything they sold , they have a handy markup (I expect in the order of 50-100% depending on the product) which will have buffered them nicely from any such error.

On what do you base this? I reiterate, the eyepieces were going for less than what they cost at OPT. When you add in shipping and exchange rate they were around 100 AUD less than OPT, a fantastic bargain.

I think you have stars in your eyes if you think they are making 50-100 % on TV eyepieces.

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Zuts

On what do you base this? I reiterate, the eyepieces were going for less than what they cost at OPT. When you add in shipping and exchange rate they were around 100 AUD less than OPT, a fantastic bargain.

I think you have stars in your eyes if you think they are making 50-100 % on TV eyepieces.

\

Experience.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

\

Experience.

That's not an answer.

How about instead of a blanket statement, you qualify your answers. It's so easy to leave your opinion and walk off. You don't have to provide reasoning - but just live in hope that someone actually thinks "WOW! This bloke must know what he's on about!"

Noone is saying you're not right - we just want to know why you think it.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I don't know what the markup is on eyepieces but 50% would not surprise me. In my limited time in retail markups of that magnitude were typical. In fact a mate recent got a $600 battery at cost through his work for ca $150. However that isn't to say that they make 50-100% profit on the item. The markup has to cover wages, rent, power, phone, internet, insurance etc etc. The amount of markup needed will also depend on the number of items sold (probably relatively few) and the amount of time spent on each customer (probably relatively high). [BTW I suspect one reason Andrews is a bit cheaper is the cost of that dog kennel of a shop they have compared to the shopfronts that Bintel and York support.]

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

That's not an answer.

How about instead of a blanket statement, you qualify your answers. It's so easy to leave your opinion and walk off. You don't have to provide reasoning - but just live in hope that someone actually thinks "WOW! This bloke must know what he's on about!"

Noone is saying you're not right - we just want to know why you think it.

Let's leave it at - I spent several years in the trade until the exchange rate went down the tubes and then Howard and his cronnies brought in the GST at which stage I decided to call it a day (retiring the business). So I have some inside knowledge of these things (no , I never became a dealer for Tele Vue , I particularly didn't like the terms they expected complied with.)

I also come from a family where 3 generations were in the retail business (different to telescopes though - they were jewellers .)

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by AstralTraveller

I don't know what the markup is on eyepieces but 50% would not surprise me. In my limited time in retail markups of that magnitude were typical. In fact a mate recent got a $600 battery at cost through his work for ca $150. However that isn't to say that they make 50-100% profit on the item. The markup has to cover wages, rent, power, phone, internet, insurance etc etc. The amount of markup needed will also depend on the number of items sold (probably relatively few) and the amount of time spent on each customer (probably relatively high). [BTW I suspect one reason Andrews is a bit cheaper is the cost of that dog kennel of a shop they have compared to the shopfronts that Bintel and York support.]

A mailorder business will always be cheaper , as they have lower overheads to support - shop rentals (in major cities like Sydney) are extortionate.

Unfortunately , companies such as Tele Vue demand a shopfront as one of their criteria of becoming a dealer and you must display their products.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

Let's leave it at - I spent several years in the trade until the exchange rate went down the tubes and then Howard and his cronnies brought in the GST at which stage I decided to call it a day (retiring the business). So I have some inside knowledge of these things (no , I never became a dealer for Tele Vue , I particularly didn't like the terms they expected complied with.)

What business was that? You're obviously stating that you were in the telescope optics trade so, just out of interest, may I ask what were you selling?

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

What business was that? You're obviously stating that you were in the telescope optics trade so, just out of interest, may I ask what were you selling?

PM me and I'll tell you.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Nah. If it's that secret I don't need to know. I thought you might appreciate the opportunity to give some substance to your statement & I was curious because you used that position as leverage within your argument. If you can't or don't want to tell us what your experience is based on then I understand...

[Stephen65]

On what do you base this? I reiterate, the eyepieces were going for less than what they cost at OPT. When you add in shipping and exchange rate they were around 100 AUD less than OPT, a fantastic bargain.

Actually the until-recent prices were almost exactly the same as OPT's factoring in the exchange rate at around 95 cents. USPS shipping for a single eyepiece is about $20, Bintel would buy in much larger volumes and have lower shipping costs so that's not going to be a major difference.

The main difference I suspect is that Bintel's prices have to include 10% extra for GST while OPT's do not include California's 7% sales tax.

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Nah. If it's that secret I don't need to know. I thought you might appreciate the opportunity to give some substance to your statement & I was curious because you used that position as leverage within your argument. If you can't or don't want to tell us what your experience is based on then I understand...

Locals who know me know , I suspect some of the old hands here will have figured it too, it is just I am now retired and not interested in restarting the business (was very time consuming though quite profitable , I was strickly an importer , focusing on high quality astrogear , no Tasco , I also quickly ditched Celestron and Meade (because the biggies had them tied up and it wasn't worth persisting with them) and I was 100% mailorder , and worked with a very modest margin (mostly under 20% , no overheads so I could do this - I often never saw the product , arranging shipping direct from the manufacturer to the client and only taking a small margin on the wholesale price).

I still get regular calls from old customers asking me for quotes or enquiring about the business , even asking if I plan to restart (though I haven't traded since 1998).... so I must had done good things in my nitch.

I think the boss would divorce me if I even hinted at restarting the business.

Just a privacy issue.

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Stephen65

Actually the until-recent prices were almost exactly the same as OPT's factoring in the exchange rate at around 95 cents. USPS shipping for a single eyepiece is about $20, Bintel would buy in much larger volumes and have lower shipping costs so that's not going to be a major difference.

The main difference I suspect is that Bintel's prices have to include 10% extra for GST while OPT's do not include California's 7% sales tax.

Think you'll find because of larger population in the USA and because there are many more compeditors to OPT and the like, that they will be operating on smaller margins than Bintel and mostly selling by mailorder all over. The GST here doesn't help either. I am not saying there is anything wrong with what they do (in the main), more compeditors to them would help drive down prices locally.

Here because there are a very small number of dealers and only one of two distributors , who essentially have monopolies , so the larger metro based companies can and do get away with a larger margin because we have no option but to buy locally in many cases (Meade, Celestron, Vixen, Tele Vue (?) etc) due the restrictions imposed on foreign dealers (who risk loosing their dealerships if they ship product here and get found out).
In my view , and has been for some time , that this policy is anticompedative. So much for the USA - Australia FTA.

[Zuts]

Hi,

I give up. It's only my opinion but this is why people are deserting ice in space. I had some simple information to impart; as to why Bintel lowered and then raised the price of their eyepieces. Now you can call me a liar or you can call my source a liar but if this is the response I get to a simple informational statement then i probably wont bother in the future.

I thought people may be interested in the why of the price rise and fall, obviously no one cares and most (not all) here seem more interested in espousing there own opinions.