Ireland versus UK versus US prices (Celestron)

Ha Ha Albert..great minds think alike (or is that fools seldom differ )
Anyway, earlier today I had sent an e-mail to OPT enquiring about the Celestron Nexstar 11GPS. This is their reply:



Hello Michael,

Thank you for inquiring with OPT. Our favorite shipping option for larger aperture telescopes is Airborne Express. They are fast, less expensive than UPS and much more reliable than USPS. I obtained a quote from them and it would cost approximately $350.00 to ship a Nexstar 11 GPS to Dublin, Ireland. That means that it should be able to ship to most areas of Ireland for under $400.00. All of our shipments are fully insured.

You may want to check out the PAT that we offer. It is a nice additional to international shipments to guarantee that everything is functioning properly before is is sent internationally. Here is the link to the PAT info:

www.optcorp.com/cart/ProductDetail.asp?PR_ProductID=1775

Please let us know if you have any questions or if we can be of further assistance.

---Ben Hauck

The way things are looking here, it'd be almost worth our while chartering a plane over to OPT and pick up a few scopes and accessories! :lol:

John.

P.S. Bart - Looks like the server time has gone screwy again.

P.S. Bart - Looks like the server time has gone screwy again.

Yea can you get them to set it properly and enable NTP this time

Cheers,
~al

P.S. Bart - Looks like the server time has gone screwy again.

Yea can you get them to set it properly and enable NTP this time

Cheers,
~al

Not with this hosting company. *mumble mumble mumble*

Jimmy Miller posted this to the mailing list

Cheers,
~Al



Hi John

As you advise, interesting, but in an effort to be completely fair to
Celestrons dealer here there are some mitigating circumstances which are at
least contributry factors.

In Ireland we are the end of the transport line ( we are simply not allowed
buy from the US and could not buy in bulk anyway ) which you must take into
account.

We have additional transport costs which can be substantial, in particular,
if the scopes are not held in bulk stock here which, especially with the
more expensive scopes, normally does not happen.

On top of this, their is an extra 3.5 % vat ( not to include duty from the
US - who will not supply us direct anyway ).

Speaking on behalf of Andromeda Optics ( we are not nominated suppliers of
Celestron ) and having some experience in the backroom costs / area
agreements it is not quite as black and white as it appears.

That said, we are Meade dealer here and supply at roughly the same costs as
the UK taking into account vat and transport differences( in some cases we
are actually cheaper ), so to argue with myself, it can be done.

From the suppliers point of view, the Irish Market is vastly smaller than
the UK / US and therefor anyone supplying scopes/equipment here does not
have the same advantages of bulk buying/sales to the same extent ( it is a
virtual specialist market here compared with a popular hobby status even in
the UK as is obvious from the amount of outlets in Ireland v UK ).

Also, if everyone in Ireland is looking outside Ireland to source their
equipment instead of putting pressure on the suppliers here (including
Andromeda Optics )to supply with diversity and economy , keeping/developing
the business/supply here then all the comparisons and compalints in the
world aren't going to change anything.


****************************************************************************
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ALL THAT SAID, NOBODY CAN ARGUE WITH THE FIGURES AND THE EXISTANCE OF THE
PROBLEM FOR US ALL HERE.

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******************


Keep up the pressure.

Regards

Jimmy

PS.

Without volunteering to become an agony aunt maybe there is something we (
Andromeda Optics )can do if anyone is interested in making suggestions.

Thanks for the reply Jimmy.

No matter what way I cut these numbers I still can't work out the massive markups on Celestron - even versus the UK, and after taking into account VAT, customs duty, delivery etc. And the VAT works differently from the way I'm calculating it anyway (I have calculated it as a double-charge, if you're importing for trade you only pay once, or not at all if you have zero-VAT status)

If I'm going to spend a substantial amount of money on something, the first thing I do is hit Google and compare prices. To be honest, that's how I started doing these price comparisons in the first place. It's not my intention to drive customers away from Irish astronomy suppliers, I just inform them that there's no reason they should be paying 150% more than they have to.

And as you pointed out - Not every supplier in Ireland whacks on such a high margin. Everyone has a right to make profit, so if someone is importing scopes from say Orion UK (like astroireland.com seem to do) and adding a bit on for their trouble, then fair enough - That's what keeps a company in business. But you'd have to question someone who adds, say, €2,000 per unit... :roll:

Now, onto Meade. A very popular brand - Great scopes, and up there with Celestron for market share (at least in the US). What is the problem in Ireland? - The problem is that 'Everyone in Ireland buys Celestron and everyone buys them from....' well, we know the rest.

The real problem is that 'Noone in Ireland knows they have another option besides Celestron' ! - Admittedly the Celestron dealer has a slick marketing campaign and obviously a budget behind it. But to give you an example, I get emails every day from people asking for telescope recommendations. I can't recommend Celestron (unless they import them from the UK, and the suppliers won't deliver to Ireland anyway), and I haven't been recommending Meade because I only found out you were the supplier last week, and I don't know what your prices are! So the other options are North Down, AstroIreland.com (Orion UK / Europa scopes), or UK/US import. After seeing the Irish Celestron prices I was fearing the worst for Meade. If you say you can supply Meade at roughly the same cost as the UK, I'm sure people will live with an acceptable markup versus the UK prices (and the other overheads you mention) - You're running a business after all! Go for it.

At the moment, customers out there are doing their own sums and working out that US import is their best option. If you (or someone) can tell us your Meade prices, or even put up a page on your site with Meade products, I would be very happy to direct people to your site.

Awareness is the key - If people know they have an option, the word will spread quickly. The monopoly and overinflated prices we are experiencing can only last for so long. Why don't we have PC suppliers in Ireland making 200% margins? - Because Dell came in and stabilised the market. Competition has this nice effect on things...

Even something as simple as a Meade pricelist / product page would be a great start, and we can take it from there.

Regards,
John.