Celestron Dealers

The regional distribution/dealership restrictions imposed on AI and other Celestron dealers are also imposed by a number of other US brands. There is a strong case for testing this under European law, because it may help to reduce the cost to consumers of goods manufactured in countries like China and sold under US brands here in Europe.

Not only would it benefit the consumers, but given the effectiveness of courier services such as DHL in Europe nowadays it could even benefit the distributors and retail outlets that price their products most competitively. And if that turns out to benefit AI I wouldn't be sorry, because that would mean we'd have the best European prices here in Ireland. When I decided to personally 'boycott' Celestron I was already aware of the trade restrictions but when I made inquiries about the law applicable I got the Civil Service Shuffle and gave up after five turns.

I would strongly support the idea that we the consumers should initiate and/or support a test case.

I would strongly support the idea that we the consumers should initiate and/or support a test case.

John, Celestron is a US company, you would have to take any action against them there. You can't take such an action here.

might want to watch your own language there Seanie!!!!

....and the other 12 posts with that word which went unedited. Can't be picking on Carl and not others Seanie, in all fairness.

I would strongly support the idea that we the consumers should initiate and/or support a test case.

John, Celestron is a US company, you would have to take any action against them there. You can't take such an action here.

Not quite correct. A case can always be taken in the jurisdiction where the offence or technical breach takes place. There is nothing special about being a US company that entitles them to be challenged only in the US. Celestron is a company that sells product into the EU, therefore it must be possible to take a case against them in Europe for breach of competition laws, otherwise how can we enforce our own regulations? There's certainly no obligation on US courts to enforce them, they have no jurisdiction in Europe. If Celestron failed to contest the case they could be barred from selling their products in Europe. That is not the result I would want to see emerge because it would put Celestron only dealers out of business but at the same time retailers really ought not to engage exclusively with a single brand unless it's a no risk situation.

From some recent enquiries about other products I've found that many many types of manufacturers operate through a similar sort of distributor network as Celestron. Meade work in exactly the same way. Did you boycott Meade too? What about Skywatcher,, opticalvision are the exclusive distributors for them. So if your gonna start an action you should include these brands too.

I think you'll find that in fact its not illegal at all. What would be illegal is if a distributor refused to allow anyone else to sell those products in that jurisdiction. But as you can see from this thread. A&S are actively seeking new celestron dealers. Previous to this there were only two celestron dealers here, A&S and Andromeda Optics. If John Hoare wanted to set up a shop you could have contacted hinds and sourced the products no problem. The only difference now is that A&S represent hinds here in Ireland. So whats the problem?

Actually what Carl has mentioned about new competing Irish dealers and direct importing is great news for Irish consumers. Fair play for doing that.