Why Aussies are Buying Overseas. Amazon Service

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by F6 Concorde

Someone mentioned warranty. Easy. Box the item up and send it back. You may have to pay freight one way. Big deal.

I have a 3 year warranty on a laptop battery I bought from China. Was not bought off Ebay, but rather a professional looking mob that has sites for all the major continents.

Sure, I sent the item back. I have sent the 5th email for my refund and still have nothing after 2 months. If you buy from OS you really do have almost bugger all buyer protection. Paypal don't want to know about it, it's too late for the credit card company.

It will be my last purchase of an item like this that can fail over time from OS.

Just say there is a disagreement over warranty? What if the company refuses to communicate with you after the transaction? It makes it very hard. Hell, you can't even leave neg feedback on Ebay any more.

[RG]

Originally Posted by XESP351

Do they ship to Aus? Looks like they only ship to US and Canada...They ask you to enter zip code and won't recognise any Aussie post codes.

Great prices by the way.

Email them for international shipping prices. They do ship here.

[XESP351]

Originally Posted by RG

Email them for international shipping prices. They do ship here.

Done, thanks.

[ea90gl]

I'm sick to death of retailers screwing us over, we all know that's what they do. You always hear the line "can't do a better price because there is no mark up" or "we sell them at cost all ready". So that's what your aim in business is right, to sell at no mark up? It happens everywhere I go, all sorts of retailers. No one is asking for massive discounts but a little leeway would be nice. Classic example, I asked about a 3 seater couch for our spare room which happened to be $599. Apparently since there is no mark up on the price best the guy could do was $579. $20 off on a $600 couch? Went to look for another battery for my cordless tools, Milwaukee 18V. "Best" the guy could do was $139 from $149. Millions of guys on ebay sell the same battery new but X2 for the $200 mark delivered. Why bother with lack of warranty (which some online guys still offer) when you get them so cheap. The other classic example was with a friend of mine, was looking for a specific TV deck for his car. Cheapest price he could get it was $999, turns out he could get the same thing new from the US for about $600. But here is the kicker, turns out my mates sister knows a Pioneer rep who ended up being able to get the same deck here for $670 including warranty. Now you tell me why we shop online, and who is really to blame for the retailing industry falling to bits

[AMGC63]

Im sick to death at retailers being accused of "screwing people over" or being greedy just because they ask the best price possible for their goods...

That's not screwing people over or being greedy, its called staying in business and making profit, the aim of any good sound business.

"Screwing someone over" is selling them something fraudulant or deceptive...

"Greed" is a term thats very subjective and normally thrown at businesses by jealous people who cant do it themselves.

"Competition" and "choice" means both are kept in check.

[FgNewbie]

I'm sick to death of retailers being blamed when sometimes they are being screwed as badly as some consumers feel they are being screwed.

I'm sure I've already read similar in this thread... I personally know of too many examples where it would be cheaper for the retailer to bypass the normal chain of supply but then they screw themselves too.

While our dollar is so strong it's only hilighting the issue more.

Tonight I'm looking for a cpap mask. It's made in Australia. Local price $300. online price from USA is roughly 50% cheaper. For that particular product, the manufacturer claims the product is subsidised by the US Gov't. (I have no idea).

[geckoGT]

I know there is some emotion in the topic, lets all just take a deep breath before posting and drop the emotion levels down.

[FgNewbie]

Originally Posted by geckoGT

I know there is some emotion in the topic, lets all just take a deep breath before posting and drop the emotion levels down.

can I get the cpap mask first

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by FgNewbie

can I get the cpap mask first

Now THAT (combined with Gecko's response) deserves "Quote of the day" status!

[SEZ213]

Some heated responses...

I have listened to people explain how they went to a 'store' to try on shoes, then came home and bought the exact same pair on line, because it was cheaper...

Well, to me, that's just obnoxious and downright rude - the store is providing you with a service, that person that helped you...needs to be paid...somehow...

You can't have it both ways...

You can either buy locally and support industry, or you can buy overseas from those that don't have the overheads - but don't walk into the local business and use them at your whim to get what you want and then leave...I know some people just don't care, but these people have to eat too...

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by FgNewbie

can I get the cpap mask first

very nice, you got me.

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by Sezzy

Some heated responses...

I have listened to people explain how they went to a 'store' to try on shoes, then came home and bought the exact same pair on line, because it was cheaper...

Well, to me, that's just obnoxious and downright rude - the store is providing you with a service, that person that helped you...needs to be paid...somehow...

You can't have it both ways...

You can either buy locally and support industry, or you can buy overseas from those that don't have the overheads - but don't walk into the local business and use them at your whim to get what you want and then leave...I know some people just don't care, but these people have to eat too...

when i bought my bike jacket from one of the big local retailers i had to wait while a couple had the shop worker tied up trying on different styles. ive never bought a leather jacket before so wanted some help on getting the right fit etc, anyway the couple had the woman engaged for a good 20 minutes then cracked it when she wouldnt match the online us price.
i felt sorry for her.
i bought my jacket from her, didnt ask for a discount but she said look, that range is on special next month, il give it to you for the sale price. so $150 off. i was rapt and while i had already been buying my gear from there, i will make doubly sure i continue to.
some gear i can understand its just too much cheaper not to buy online, but when its something that i need to fit properly to protect me, and have good service if needed to return it, then il go local and pay the extra everytime.

[CAMS290]

I bought 2 of these foam guns from Amazon and they cost me AUD $86 landed for both.

They sell for $120 each here, absolute ripp off imo.

[FgNewbie]

Originally Posted by CAMS290

I bought 2 of these foam guns from Amazon and they cost me AUD $86 landed for both.

They sell for $120 each here, absolute ripp off imo.

A deliberate rip off?

[Auslandau]

Didnt notice this thread till now and just finished reading it. Most replies seem to be by the consumer blaming retail for the high prices here but as a retailer and owner of a business that employs 15 people, run a fleet of cars, have 5 leased shops and 1 warehouse I know why we have to charge the prices that we do.

There are 3 main reasons and they relate to everything else that is happening in this country ..... The cost of land, low unemployment rates and taxes.

The single biggest cost to a business is wages ...... I am sure everyone who accepts a pay cheque every week understands the amount the employer also contributes to g'ment coffers in other expenses including your super fund? Pay roll tax ..... a tax put on to the empoyer to employ someone. $50,000 per year to worker means a hell of alot more than that to an employer. Then ..... good reliable people are hard to come by. You need to pay the money for good people and to keep them. Open 7 days a week? How many extra people does anyone think they need to employ and train to open those extra 2 days when everyone wants to have their weekends or 5 day weeks, time and a half to double time just to open? I have given up and now only do 6 days a week and would love to employ more people but my prices would have to go up more! There is also holiday pay, sick days, maternity leave (try having a couple of people on maternity leave at the same time!) workers comp (paid for by employer) ..... the list keeps going. Low unemployment means competition for good people is big ...... hence higher wages!

Rent ..... cant get away from this and is constant during the good times and bad times. Electricity, phones, etc ...... If you want the good spots, you pay for them. Ever tried getting a suitable site for retail? Wanted to open a new shop in Melb last year. Took 6 months of looking and missed some spots, too dear ... competition too strong and other people had more balls to pay the price. Try a Westfield or shopping centre ..... how those shops survive has me beat ..... even at the prices they charge.

Taxes ....... PLEASE don't get me started on this. I spend a lot of money just so the tax is sorted every 3 months from GST payments and refunds to payroll taxes (joke) to everything else. It is a huge industry in itself and will only be getting bigger the way we are going here. Want to make some money? Be a good business tax accountant

Competition keeps many retailers honest. Service is the number one priority now for us retailers. You also need to stand out and offer that something a bit different. Yes there is a market for on line shops ...... you know exactly what you want, you don't need to touch and feel it you know its worth, you can wait, you can cross you fingers on the warranty but in the end many still want to see someone, give them the money and know they have a back up plan if something goes wrong.

Retailers will struggle and just have to work harder, smarter while the employees will still ask for the same, less work time, more holidays, more sick leave, more super, less tax, better pay, better conditions, to be patted on the back every day, be listened to and totally understood by your employer, expect overtime, expect to not turn up on time, expect to go home early, to be treated like a prince(princess) to have the same job left open after having babies, to continue with their morning, lunch, afternoon, tea & ciggie brakes, driving allowances, comforting and understanding employer when the cat dies and you don't turn up for a week, accepting the free uniform, boots, jackets, gloves, Ray-bans, company car or at least petrol and mobile phone taken care of ...... then whinge because the Christmas party isnt as huge as it was last year and the boss only cares about himself. After all its a big company and they are making crap loads and does bugger all!

Yep .... I buy off the internet no probs but retailers out there are charging to survive ..... BIG gamble to drop your price. You need to increase sales by 30% ish if you drop your price by 10%. In many cases dropping your price to chase business is the death knock unless you change other parts of your business .......... sack a few people? Of course we all try and buy at the cheapest rate and sell at the cheapest price possible. Would be mad not to. We are not all stupid .......

[AMGC63]

Very well said Auslandau, as an example many clothing outlets need to markup 2-300% just to break even on the P+L at months end due to the very high overheads and wages most businesses endure.

In other cases the market will only endure 10-15% markup and the retailer must rely on huge turnover to make up the overheads..

Just because you can buy something half price off the net doesnt mean the retailer here is ripping you off, in 99% of cases it just exposes the REAL cost of retailing.

You cant look at margin and markup in isolation, you need to look at the cost of opperation too.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Auslandau

Try a Westfield

A fellow workmate of the old man, he had a muffin break in a westfield shopping centre, he was mentioning that rent was the massive killer and leading point on why he sold the business because that alone was way too expensive.

[ea90gl]

Originally Posted by AMGC63

Im sick to death at retailers being accused of "screwing people over" or being greedy just because they ask the best price possible for their goods...

That's not screwing people over or being greedy, its called staying in business and making profit, the aim of any good sound business.

"Screwing someone over" is selling them something fraudulant or deceptive...

"Greed" is a term thats very subjective and normally thrown at businesses by jealous people who cant do it themselves.

"Competition" and "choice" means both are kept in check.

I do air conditioning and electrical. You need a power point, I show up, do the job perfectly to make you happy and then hit you up with a $400 bill when the next guy can do the exact same thing for $150. Did i or did I not screw you over? I then proceed to tell you oh but copper has gone up, power points have gone up in price etc when in reality I just used $15 dollars in material and no way in hell that hour was worth $385. You would be happy with this "cause I'm in business to make a profit" I see what you mean but there is a limit

[AMGC63]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

A fellow workmate of the old man, he had a muffin break in a westfield shopping centre, he was mentioning that rent was the massive killer and leading point on why he sold the business because that alone was way too expensive.

A small holding in an average Westfields is well over 120K a year...

How many muffins would you need to sell at a decent margin to just cover rent?!

[FgNewbie]

Originally Posted by ea90gl

I do air conditioning and electrical. You need a power point, I show up, do the job perfectly to make you happy and then hit you up with a $400 bill when the next guy can do the exact same thing for $150. Did i or did I not screw you over? I then proceed to tell you oh but copper has gone up, power points have gone up in price etc when in reality I just used $15 dollars in material and no way in hell that hour was worth $385. You would be happy with this "cause I'm in business to make a profit" I see what you mean but there is a limit

You answered your own question. You are not a retailer nor selling product online.

[AMGC63]

Originally Posted by ea90gl

I do air conditioning and electrical. You need a power point, I show up, do the job perfectly to make you happy and then hit you up with a $400 bill when the next guy can do the exact same thing for $150. Did i or did I not screw you over? I then proceed to tell you oh but copper has gone up, power points have gone up in price etc when in reality I just used $15 dollars in material and no way in hell that hour was worth $385. You would be happy with this "cause I'm in business to make a profit" I see what you mean but there is a limit

Nope, you might have far greater overheads to cover or you simply were opportunistic and i didnt shop you around, in either event you didnt rip me off, you simply maximised your profit..

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

A fellow workmate of the old man, he had a muffin break in a westfield shopping centre, he was mentioning that rent was the massive killer and leading point on why he sold the business because that alone was way too expensive.

Well you can definitely add the cost of franchise fees to everything else. They can be massive and locked in for a very long period of time. Looked at a few of those along time ago and was astounded by the cost.

Originally Posted by AMGC63

You cant look at margin and markup in isolation, you need to look at the cost of opperation too.

You said in 1 sentence what I rambled on about for 10 bloody pages!

[ea90gl]

Originally Posted by FgNewbie

You answered your own question. You are not a retailer nor selling product online.

True but business is business, some structures put in place towards making profit may be different but in the end it's all the same

[geckoGT]

After reading this whole thread again, trying to work it out to see if it is actually going anywhere I have noted a few things.

Those that are obviously employees are mostly stating that their reason for shopping OS is their own personal bottom line, their pay only goes so far. That is fair enough, who can really blame them for that.

Those that are involved in retail seem to put the blame on two areas, the first and most apparent is the consumer, the consumer is murdering Australian retail. The second avenue of blame is the manufacturer and the disparity of the wholesale pricing between here and OS.

Now personally I think the likes of Gerry Harvey having a go at the consumers for killing retail and killing his bottom line is a bit rich, after all the consumer is just looking after their own bottom line. But the consumer does not have a bottom line as large as some of the big retailers.

Personally I think a key point is the disparity between wholesale prices here and OS. It seems to me that if Aussie retailers are paying 100% more than US retailers for the same product, it is the manufacturers that are killing Australian retail. Level that out and the prices will level out. We keep having this notion of a "global market" jammed down our necks but is it really, to me for that to be true it would have to be a level playing field across the globe. It seems it is not.

Perhaps the key players in the retail industry, retail associations and federal government should address that issue before they ear bash poor old Joe Average for trying to spread his bottom line a bit further.

Just a thought.

[ea90gl]

Originally Posted by AMGC63

Nope, you might have far greater overheads to cover or you simply were opportunistic and i didnt shop you around, in either event you didnt rip me off, you simply maximised your profit..

LOL quite an intelligent way of telling the customer you ripped them off

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Auslandau

Didnt notice this thread till now and just finished reading it. Most replies seem to be by the consumer blaming retail for the high prices here but as a retailer and owner of a business that employs 15 people, run a fleet of cars, have 5 leased shops and 1 warehouse I know why we have to charge the prices that we do.

There are 3 main reasons and they relate to everything else that is happening in this country ..... The cost of land, low unemployment rates and taxes.

The single biggest cost to a business is wages ...... I am sure everyone who accepts a pay cheque every week understands the amount the employer also contributes to g'ment coffers in other expenses including your super fund? Pay roll tax ..... a tax put on to the empoyer to employ someone. $50,000 per year to worker means a hell of alot more than that to an employer. Then ..... good reliable people are hard to come by. You need to pay the money for good people and to keep them. Open 7 days a week? How many extra people does anyone think they need to employ and train to open those extra 2 days when everyone wants to have their weekends or 5 day weeks, time and a half to double time just to open? I have given up and now only do 6 days a week and would love to employ more people but my prices would have to go up more! There is also holiday pay, sick days, maternity leave (try having a couple of people on maternity leave at the same time!) workers comp (paid for by employer) ..... the list keeps going. Low unemployment means competition for good people is big ...... hence higher wages!

Rent ..... cant get away from this and is constant during the good times and bad times. Electricity, phones, etc ...... If you want the good spots, you pay for them. Ever tried getting a suitable site for retail? Wanted to open a new shop in Melb last year. Took 6 months of looking and missed some spots, too dear ... competition too strong and other people had more balls to pay the price. Try a Westfield or shopping centre ..... how those shops survive has me beat ..... even at the prices they charge.

Taxes ....... PLEASE don't get me started on this. I spend a lot of money just so the tax is sorted every 3 months from GST payments and refunds to payroll taxes (joke) to everything else. It is a huge industry in itself and will only be getting bigger the way we are going here. Want to make some money? Be a good business tax accountant

Competition keeps many retailers honest. Service is the number one priority now for us retailers. You also need to stand out and offer that something a bit different. Yes there is a market for on line shops ...... you know exactly what you want, you don't need to touch and feel it you know its worth, you can wait, you can cross you fingers on the warranty but in the end many still want to see someone, give them the money and know they have a back up plan if something goes wrong.

Retailers will struggle and just have to work harder, smarter while the employees will still ask for the same, less work time, more holidays, more sick leave, more super, less tax, better pay, better conditions, to be patted on the back every day, be listened to and totally understood by your employer, expect overtime, expect to not turn up on time, expect to go home early, to be treated like a prince(princess) to have the same job left open after having babies, to continue with their morning, lunch, afternoon, tea & ciggie brakes, driving allowances, comforting and understanding employer when the cat dies and you don't turn up for a week, accepting the free uniform, boots, jackets, gloves, Ray-bans, company car or at least petrol and mobile phone taken care of ...... then whinge because the Christmas party isnt as huge as it was last year and the boss only cares about himself. After all its a big company and they are making crap loads and does bugger all!

Yep .... I buy off the internet no probs but retailers out there are charging to survive ..... BIG gamble to drop your price. You need to increase sales by 30% ish if you drop your price by 10%. In many cases dropping your price to chase business is the death knock unless you change other parts of your business .......... sack a few people? Of course we all try and buy at the cheapest rate and sell at the cheapest price possible. Would be mad not to. We are not all stupid .......

We have the same issue at work, lets be honest, everyone including me wants more for doing less, I was having a chat to my supervisor and he mentioned the same thing. We're an auto elec business but we're more of a manufacturer, we produce emergency vehicles for the whole country.

I understand where we're all coming from on the boss side of things, I mentioned one thing:

If its so bad why don't you fire everyone, and ship the entire operation off to China?

He didn't have a response.

They already make our furniture for our vehicles and our wiring looms, why can't they put them together?

[ea90gl]

Yes I might of "maximised my profit", but what happens to the big picture - customer (unless living under a rock) soon realises I shafted them, vowes to never use me again, tells 5 people that I could of potentially worked for and made more money from eliminating any business I could of had if I didn't try "maximising my profits". What a way to keep in business

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

If its so bad why don't you fire everyone, and ship the entire operation off to China?

He didn't have a response.

They already make our furniture for our vehicles and our wiring looms, why can't they put them together?

Maybe because they are thinking about it? Said it with a bit of tongue in cheek but seriously, I know China very well and how they operate and if I did any real sort of manufacturing to a larger scale I would be looking at it ...... the benefits to being a very profitable company can be too tempting unfortunately.

[AMGC63]

I recently looked over the books for a mate who owns a sports store in a Westfields, to cover wages, rent, franchise fees and associated running costs power he had to clear 120K a month.... CLEAR, not turnover.

To put that into perspective at 100% markup on a pair of runners worth $150 they need to sell 1600 pairs of runners a month, or 53 pairs a day...

I looked at his buy price on Nike, he pays about just on the same for a pair of runners from Nike as he can from eastbay, but he must markup 75-100% to cover the costs on all his stuff or he cant keep the doors open.

Eastbay are just a big warehouse with pick n pack staff who have such a massive buying power and massive turnover that they can afford to markup only 10% to comfortably cover costs, while buying at a cheaper rate than he can..

That is scales of economy.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by ea90gl

Yes I might of "maximised my profit", but what happens to the big picture - customer (unless living under a rock) soon realises I shafted them, vowes to never use me again, tells 5 people that I could of potentially worked for and made more money from eliminating any business I could of had if I didn't try "maximising my profits". What a way to keep in business

The point has been made and understood, lets now leave it at that and keep OT.