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beanie
Jul 7, 2009, 8:08 AM
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Living in Australia I find it very frustrating that climbing gear is so expensive here. A lot of items is even almost double the price (exchange rate taken into account)
Anyone who know why?
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patto
Jul 7, 2009, 8:22 AM
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beanie wrote: Living in Australia I find it very frustrating that climbing gear is so expensive here. A lot of items is even almost double the price (exchange rate taken into account) Anyone who know why?
I wouldn't go asking this question on an American website. Check out an Australian climbing forum like qurank and chockstone.
Gear is expensive here due to a number of factors, most predominately because of limitted competition and only a few importers.
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billcoe_
Jul 7, 2009, 1:35 PM
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beanie wrote: Living in Australia I find it very frustrating that climbing gear is so expensive here. A lot of items is even almost double the price (exchange rate taken into account) Anyone who know why?
...but at least the cars are cheap...right mate? :-)
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mikebee
Jul 7, 2009, 2:31 PM
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In reply to: Anyone who know why?
I daresay a lot of it is because there is another link in the supply chain - the importer.
Standard mark up in Australia is roughly 100% (wholesale ex GST x 2 = RRP inc GST), more or less.
If this amount of markup is anywhere near standard for an importer too, then it stands to reason that our gear is more expensive than in the states.
Eg, a US retailer buy's a Black Diamond C3 for 35 USD (eg BD's wholesale is 35USD). They then sell this cam on the internet for 70 USD and make a fair profit.
In Australia, Sea to Summit buy this cam for 35USD from BD. They then have to pay freight, exchange rate commissions etc etc, as well as actually make some money off the thing, so they then sell it for 70AUD at wholesale to an Aussie retailer, even though they only paid about 44AUD. The Aussie retailer then sells the cam for $140 AUD including GST, which is deemed to be a fair profit as well.
So if you break it down, BD make the same either way, the retailers in both the states and Oz make the same (as a %), and the difference is purely because of the fact there is an importer. It's not even that they are necessarily making a huge profit on it, it's just there are lots of costs involved in getting a product purchased in USD that is made in the states, over to Australia in a salable condition and ready to be wholesaled in AUD.
Make sense?
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Myxomatosis
Jul 7, 2009, 10:35 PM
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You think aussie is bad... try buy some cam's in NZ at the proper retail price.. or in fact, anything remotely close to outdoor gear. Just looking at MSR Mutha Hubba tent, $1200nz retail, only $550nz from the states (plus freight but that still aint $600+).
Mark up is 100% + exchange rate + more postage.
Although I found WA the worst for gear prices.. nobody in there right mind would pay $240au for a pair of old montrails (Shit they only $100nz here!)
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yankinoz
Jul 7, 2009, 11:06 PM
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you can order from the States and import gear yourself. with the dollar around 80 cents it's ALMOST worth it - on cams for sure but on smaller items the shipping will off set the savings. Ropes are heaps expensive to ship...
I tend to buy a lot of gear when I'm in the US (I'm an expat so go back to see family once a year or so.)
mate... cars, gear, electronics, dvds, tools, timber, doors (i'm renovating a house at the moment) - everything is more expensive in Australia. It's the price we pay to live in paradise.
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majid_sabet
Jul 7, 2009, 11:59 PM
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Myxomatosis wrote: You think aussie is bad... try buy some cam's in NZ at the proper retail price.. or in fact, anything remotely close to outdoor gear. Just looking at MSR Mutha Hubba tent, $1200nz retail, only $550nz from the states (plus freight but that still aint $600+). Mark up is 100% + exchange rate + more postage. Although I found WA the worst for gear prices.. nobody in there right mind would pay $240au for a pair of old montrails (Shit they only $100nz here!)
I bought a cylinder head from NZ for land cruiser diesel Toyota for $310 in NZ or I had to pay $900+ in US to get the same thing here so I send you climbing gear and you ship me Toyota parts.
what do you say ?
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Myxomatosis
Jul 8, 2009, 12:41 AM
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I say... you should have brought it in Australia 
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milesenoell
Jul 8, 2009, 1:29 AM
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I know I'm drifting here, but hearing the mention of the Mutha Hubba I just have to say, that tent rocks. My son and his cousin throw themselves at the sides of our tent and we have stopped telling them not to since it just doesn't bother the tent. I love my tent.
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chris
Jul 9, 2009, 3:26 AM
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Makes me wonder if there's a chance for an Aussie or Kiwi hardware company to start up.
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rtwilli4
Jul 9, 2009, 5:36 PM
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nope... to many people are making too much money on gear made elsewhere. and I don't know about aus, but in NZ they can't manufacture anything! They have to ship their merino wool somewhere else to turn it into clothes, so even that is expensive!
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Myxomatosis
Jul 9, 2009, 10:58 PM
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It's not that it costs to much to produce here, it just costs a shitload cheaper in asia and therefore giving it a more competitive price agasint american/european brands.
There are still a few NZ Companies that make soft goods... Cactus (clothes, pads, industrial stuff), Aspiring (Awesome sling/PAS equipment), TOTA (climbing clothing, best climbing pants in the world)
But yeah.. stuff like Ice breaker (merino products) are stupidly priced... $180 for a thermal top.. fuck that.
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chris
Jul 10, 2009, 4:57 AM
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Metolius produces in the US and manages to compete against BD fairly well. I'm not saying they're getting rich, but they manage to pay their bills. Surely someone could set up a similar operation in NZ or Oz.
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patto
Jul 10, 2009, 5:29 AM
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chris wrote: Metolius produces in the US and manages to compete against BD fairly well. I'm not saying they're getting rich, but they manage to pay their bills. Surely someone could set up a similar operation in NZ or Oz.
The market isn't big enough nor is the labour force cheap enough. The basic wage here is often double what it is in the US.
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rmsusa
Jul 10, 2009, 3:29 PM
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In reply to: ...It's not that it costs to much to produce here, it just costs a shitload cheaper in asia...
Isn't that the very definition of costs too much to produce here?
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Myxomatosis
Jul 12, 2009, 9:36 PM
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rmsusa wrote: In reply to: ...It's not that it costs to much to produce here, it just costs a shitload cheaper in asia... Isn't that the very definition of costs too much to produce here?
Sorry.. you are right, but what I meant is that the companies can survive producing in NZ but they oftern sell their companies off to offshore ones and then they 're-structure' which involves sending production to asia to make more cash for them.
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