Tyres from the US are cheaper including freight

Yep anything over about $400 attracts GST at least.

I bought a car stereo and a GPS from USA and got charged on both.
They were still cheaper than buying here but cost a lot more than one tyre.

It is rather unfair to slag Aussie distributors who have to pay these costs, provide storage for their stock etc AND provide a warranty.

What will you do if several tyres are faulty.

Unlikely I know but a long way to send them back to the seller.

Have been the victim of this some years ago when I was in the USA and wanted to buy an item that "was out of stock" When I said I was only on a holiday from overseas I suddenly was able to buy what I wanted.

Wasnt till I got home I discovered it had a problem and was possibly a returned item for a warranty issue.
Was fixable but still cost extra and took a year to get the parts.

I read a post on another site , and a tyre place in the USA sent them singular via FedEx and no duty or gst
Cheers Ken

I get around 3-5 parcels a weeks of private stuff from Europe, US and Hong Kong. Everything under $1000 sent by USPS usually goes through no problem. If you send Fedex or UPS they will do a more strict import handling.

All car/truck stuff runs through the business so GST or Duty does not bother me and truck parts have no duty anyway.

Warranty: If you are afraid of a manufacturing fault and rely on warranty, well then keep paying inflated retail prices. You win and you loose. So far I am way ahead .. just got a large mobile antenna (huge package) from the US via USPS, no GST no duty (declared value was US$2000 ) ..

Why do you people who obviously have no idea always comment on something you know nothing about from experience.

have fun
gmd

and by the way ... $400 ? where did you get that figure ???

The current regulations are that every item which would attract duty/gst over $50 will be processed by customs. So there is NO $400 or fixed sum for that matter. If you buy from the US at 1:1 the Item can be $499 - shipping cost (because shipping is part of the value when customs calculates duty and GST) without any fees. Above $50 you also pay a $50+ customs handling fee and the couriers charge an additional fee... But still ... way ahead of local prices..

A few weeks ago I brought in $3000 worth of ham gear and just now got the Fedex invoice for GST .. no duty anyway on that stuff .. who cares about $300 when you save more than 50% .. in this case roughly 60% of local prices.

Warranty: ?? With the savings I can buy 2 and still be ahead ... I calculate my own warranty cost. I drive a US truck with no warranty and could not care less. Sure when you buy Toyota or Nissan you NEED warranty with they way they are going.

have fun
gmd

Hi _gmd_pps

It is probably a rare thing, but I agree with Graham on this. We are buying overseas stuff specifically on price, and bagging Aussie wholesalers/manufacturers.

I just did a quick google check on salaries for mechanical engineers in the USA... they range from $52k to $72k per annum. I know semi skilled workers earing more than that here! No wonder things are 'cheaper'. I know we shouldn't assume, but I WILL assume, that process/ factory workers get paid less than the engineers, so it's no wonder at all that things are priced cheaper.

So much for our wholesalers being a joke, if we want our wages to be 'decent' the end cost has to be passed on. Or perhaps we should all work for $10 per hour.

Still cant see why there is so much arguing on this forum, if you disagree with someone, don't point out their faults, (or what we believe to be their faults), just state what you DO know. No need to be nasty, in words or tone.

Cheers, Dave

Warranty???? HA!

Hi Dave,

Yeah, but the cost of living in the USA is SO much cheaper than in AUS - I should know, I have been over in the USA since July on a work transfer. That ~$70K USA salary is probably equivalent to $120-$140K in AUS. Try fuel at about half price, much lower tax rates, food about 3/4 of AUS, housing less than 1/2 the cost, a brand new 4x4 F150 for <<$50K and you get the idea. Mind you, being paid an Aussie salary while living in the USA, plus an exchange rate that only keeps going down and its a good time to be an expat :)

Cheers

Captain

G'day Captain,

The way I read it, what you have just said confirms what I was saying. Cost of living in USA is cheaper, as per your examples, certainly no argument there, so those lower wages are acceptable... over there.

Thing is, we live here, and with our costs, (partly due to our isolation and living standards), we need to get higher wages to maintain the status quo. This in turn means we have to charge higher for whatever we sell.

I owned a manufacturing business up until May this year, and that is how I found things to be.

I'm not suggesting that all wholesalers/manufacturers are totally honest, or benevolent in their pricing, but even those that are honest, still have Australian costs to contend with, not USA costs.

Cheers, Dave

"Australian costs to contend with, not USA costs "

Well well ... some maybe many buy from China and still charge "Australian" prices.
We have two factories in Jakarta and wholesale here in Australia for "competitive" prices not inflated prices. And what do the retailers do ? Inflate the prices. Our stuff sells online (international) for half and Australians buy our stuff from international websites for half of what it is here.

It is the consumer mentality here that drives prices up. Only sell a house with a real estate agent because your too stupid or lazy to do it yourself. A whole nation depends on it .. drives prices up. Where I come from real estate agents were the absolute exception and then the buyer pays the fee .. not the vendor... that keeps the fees down.

Australian consumers are ignorant and because most cannot handle money and still get paid weekly or fortnightly they cannot plan in advance and stock up and manage a budget. So they have to buy spontaneously and pay what is asked.
I have many many more examples of inefficient time wasting work practices here which just drive the price up for no good reason.

have fun
gmd

Well, well, still cranky I see....

The items I manufactured were SOLD to China, made from Aussie steel, machined by Aussie tradesmen.

It appears your company has decided to manufacture offshore (two factories in Jakarta), to keep their manufacturing costs down, rather than paying Aussie wages and associated costs, at the expense of jobs here.

Your choice, I guess.

Going on your opinion of Aussie consumers, "(Australian consumers are ignorant and because most cannot handle money and still get paid weekly or fortnightly they cannot plan in advance and stock up and manage a budget.)" I can only suggest that you must be an exceptionally clever person, maybe you should run for parliament... you have the solution to all our fiscal problems. By the way, my electricity bill is due, any advice on how I should budget for that:)) ?

Have a nice day, Dave

Hi Dave,

Yeah, the standard of living in both countries works out about the same. Basically we are taxed much more but we do get more benefits (if you think our medicare is bad, try the USA with no private insurance!).

While I agree that buying Aussie is better for the nation, its hard to do so when say airbags are $75 here and $330 in AUS. Thats just price gouging and I have no hesitation in buying overseas. But when the dfference is <25% and you factor in GST the company has to pay plus local warranty, better to keep the money in AUS. Just my 2c worth.

Cheers

Captain

GST is 10% so $175 but i didnt think it was paid as its not purchased in OZ.. If you have a business, you can claim the GST back... Michael

If the goods you are importing come from the USA there is NO IMPORT DUTY as Oz and USA have a free trade agreement. You will have to pay GST (10%) on the cost of the goods PLUS the cost of freight.

Of course you can claim GST back if you are a registered business.

Bruce.

Coming over to Oz on Tuesday if Qantas can find a plane with four engines that work.

There is no doubt that some pofiteering occurs from time to time, and the greatest deterrent to this is competition, coupled with consumer savvy, good consumer laws, and a vigilant media.

However the 'I'll buy everything overseas if I can save a buck attitude' is both insular and not at all economically sound for any nation. Thankfully many of the 'ignorant' consumers referred to above actually understand the importance of local business, industry and skills to local communities and national economies.

Somewhat ironic though that many businesses have started up precisely because individuals couldn't get what they wanted from local manufacturers or importers. Having satisfied their own needs they then saw an opportunity to provide the goods, with local services attached, to others. Their importing business grew, so they started employing office staff, accountants, cleaners, salesmen...... You know the rest of the story I'm sure.

Woops, sorry for invading your post Dennis.

We had a thriving manufacturing industry in this country when our population was a third of what it is today. Oztents are made in China,like just about everything else these days. Phil.

I've been following this thread with interest. Australia is my adopted country. However I have lived and worked in other countries.
Pricing in Australia equates to the fact it is an affluent, isolated country, dominated by duopolys, (Coles/Woolies) unofficial cartels (Oil Companies and the Banks) supported by naive politicians who are keen to promote business, but don't have a clue about maintaining competition. The effect of these collaborations is to drive prices up.

I can buy Aussie grocery products cheaper in NZ....how come the competition between Coles/Woolies isn't strong enough to overcome this discrepancy?..It's simple..they don't need to!!!
Hopefully, as this thread indicates..the internet is cracking these artificial pricing levels and will force the Australian market off it's protected status.
From my observations it is also hard to buy real Australian Made products. I have worked in manufacturing and Packaging industries, where ranges of Agricultural Chemicals and Automotive products were imported in bulk from China, India and the USA and repacked and labelled as "Proudly made in Australia."
I won't even begin to mention service standards over here in WA!!
Cheers Gerard

That's why ALDI is rapidly opening new stores - SO much cheaper than Coles/Woolies.

Here is a link to some:

BFG Tyres

Another fairy tale

Suspension geometry and road affects camber not tyres.

Cheers,
John

So my mate didn't get his tyres replaced. Is that what you are saying.

By the way, I get my tyres from the same tyre shop that replaced them for him for the reason he stated approved by cooper.

Josh - let's hope the Coopers chap got his terminology wrong. Otherwise he must think they slope/bank roads in the opposite direction to the curve in the good ole USA (might explain the number of crashes over there). Or perhaps he thinks the roads are convex to better collect the rainfall?

Hey Josh

I did not say your mate did not get his tyre replaced.

Tyres can be directional and should only be shifted front to rear on the same side.

But the story they were made for USA not Oz is a load of crap.

In my younger days I specialised in front ends and steering problems and have done this in both right hand and left hand drive countries.

Tyre manufacturers did not make left hand or right hand drive tyres then, I will stand corrected if this now occurs.

I run USA made BFG on my cruiser no steering problems.

Cheers,
John

I was just relaying what I was told by my mate and the tyre guy who replaced them free of charge approved by cooper tyres. They told the tyre guy to return the tyres as they were made for the us. It's not that they were made in the us, it was they were made for the us. As I didn't talk to cooper myself I don't know that exact conversation. I bought Mickey Thompsons (made in the same place as coopers) so made in the us is not the problem.

Josh

I had a similar thing happen few yrs ago. Went to buy cooper STT tyres for our 4X4 from a dealer in Melbourne. Was told they are having trouble with some tyres not running true in Australia. Not sure of reason why but decided on different tyres. He told me it was limited to the STT tyres only and he didn't have any in stock because they had been returned because of problems with them not running true. As I said they didn't say the reason for the problem.

Bill

So Bill,
Did the dealer return the STT tyres to cooper??? Wonder why they would return the tyres if there was no problem with them ???.

Josh

In 2006 from memory and there was a compound issue with STT's originating from Malaysia. It was limited to the STT's and to be on the safe side, they recalled a lot and replaced them. The side walls were slashed by the tyre businesses rather than ship them back and the tyres recycled locally. I saw more than one large pile at dealers about the mining towns like Kalgoolie and Karatha.

There is always something mentioned about the extra camber on roads in the west and top end to allow run off from the heavy rains. Makes the conditions in Oz different to most other places!!! I've heard it many a time. Almost an urban myth by now I'd reckon. ;-)



Mick