Skyshed POD out in Europe

Well it's finally been released ( www.skyshedpod.com/ ). I've been eagerly awaiting price details & I knew it was going to be more expensive for us Europeans but look at this for a price difference. I couldn't believe it :shock:

US Price $1400
UK Price £1800 or $3500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shipping prices must have gone up since I last looked - $2100 added to a $1400 product!

Add to that the fact that it will cost well over €500 to ship from the UK to Ireland.

Trev

There's no excuse for this type of rip off, $1400 is a little over €1000, yet to get this from the UK we are looking at a price hike of €2500 from the original US price, €3500 for a €1000 item.

All I can say is that if anyone is foolish enough to pay this, then they just might deserve to be ripped off

Another example of US manufacturers treating Europeans as secondary customers.

What do they ship these things over in, the QE2?

Paul

I wouldn't go for it :x not that I need to anyway.

This is supposed to be a low cost no frills design, well its certainly no frills.
Go build a roll on-off observatory instead.

I wouldn't go for it

Too right Dave. Looks like it will be a rolloff alright but it's a pity because the POD is excellent if you need to take it with you - I don't plan to be in Salthill for more than another year due to the light pollution.

for the moment it will be the observer tent & will build something after the move

Paul I don't think it's SkyShed that have raised the costs here. I suspect it's AltairAstro - they are the sole distributors for Europe.

Anyway, I think they've missed the ball here. The PODs will sell like hot cakes in the US as they are such good value. The European prices brings it much closer to the cost of a full dome if you order the bays with it, so there really isn't much benefit.

Trev

Trev,

A big thank you for the laugh. I wish I knew what the European dealer is smoking. It must be really good. :lol:

I often get in trouble on a local astronomy board here in Greece when I encourage EVERYONE to buy from the US due to the dramatic difference in pricing. Yes, we should all do our best to support local dealers but at the same time dealers should also do their best to attract our dollars.

I was also impressed with the POD and especially after seeing the photos taken during NEAF 2007. The only solution for us in Europe is to literally fly to the US and make arrangements for such a piece of equipment. I am sure it will be cheap to have something like this shipped overseas since it is based on volume and not weight. Add 25% duty and taxes on the sum of purchase price ($650) plus shipping and we have a very fair and reasonable total.