Hobie retailers exporting products to Aust.

Can anyone tell me why Hobie will not allow their products to be shipped to Australia from the US. I had a company that would sell me a number of items whoever the minute I added a Hobie product they informed me that they are not 'allowed' to sell Hobie products outside of the US. I assume this is a contractual thing between the dealers and Hobie.

Why???

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Paul, Rebecca & Stephanie

had the same experience, tramps are ridiculously overpriced on oz especially when our dollar is on par with the US$

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It's called cartel behaviour. It will get you a jail term if you try it within your own country, but between countries there is no law. Happens with books and music all the time. There are services which allow you to have things sent to a US address, then ship them on to another country, but they take a fairly hefty commission. I'm surprised a usually ethical company like Hobie allows it to happen.

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well whatever it is it sucks!

means i have to pay $100 more for tramps

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I have asked about the disparity of Hobie prices between AUS and US with one Hobie dealer. Considering our dollar is almost on par with the US dollar (& for a brief period there more).

They told me, this is due to the exchange rate Hobie US & Hobie AUS agreed upon (not sure when they reviewed this exactly).

But apparently at the moment Hobie calculates prices for products for sale in AUS at an exchange rate in the low 70c. Their reason for not changing this now is due to resale values of Hobie Kayaks – which sorta makes sense on the kayaks, but not necessarily on the accessories and spare parts.

Whatever the case is, someone is making extra profit.

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H@mmer
"Intelligence is nothing without imagination"

That seems like a load of Bull to me!!!

I can understand that a product costs to make, a profit goes on it from a number of parties and that you have to pay for transport (I get it). But when you can buy it from OS and have it transported (with all the same profit made) it just in not fair.

Top it off Hobie refuse to allow their dealers to send out product; all I can say is WHY!!

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Paul, Rebecca & Stephanie

I noticed the same thing. Ive ordered 3 PDF's and some other stuff cheap from US, but Im not allowed the Hobie stuff. BUGGER!!!

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Steve

Yes it sucks having to pay $100 more in Australia for a set of tramps, some would go towards import duties and GST etc, but cannot see the full $100.

You can always try a USA forward shipping like Bongo http://www.bongous.com/ or similar, they make there money from the shipping so expect to pay more shipping, depending on what you get and how much it is, it can still work out a heck of a lot cheaper. You can also buy from 3 or 4 different stores then group them together and ship all at once. One thing to watch out for is free shipping within USA, that will help keep your end price down and do not spend more than $1000 or you will be slugged with import duties etc and that will kill any savings.

IF tramps are $400 retail, around $40 is GST payable on goods sold in Aus. No GST is payable if imported under $1,000 so that brings the figure down to about $360 that the shop is charging.

The rest is just what the market can bear.

It's why more Australians are buying overseas all the time. Gerry Harvey (Harvey Norman) just had a big whinge about it on behalf of his Franchisees which the media has picked up on and run with 'O/S Sales to incur GST' story.....which the Govt has said won't happen because 'collection' will be a lot more than what's collected when they have to intercept and then collect on every book, CD, pair of shoes etc to collect $2.50 (example).

Retailing is going to change dramatically (for Gerry Harvey & Westfield) but that's 'Free Trade' and the global community at play.

Retailers just have to think a little smarter or be the last one standing without a chair.

The days of Retailers ordering stuff from O/S, ripping the box open and putting it on a shelf and then doubling the price for their efforts is pretty much over.

The only thing saving them at the moment is 'protectionism' either within the Org or at Govt level.

As a consumer it's just up to us if we can see where legitimate 'costs' are an excuse before we part with our hard earned. The basic 'costs' being equally split into the big 4.......Rent, Wages, Admin, Profit.

Because we all like our Hobies we 'demand' and they 'supply' at what the market bears.

When competition comes along is when things can dramatically change under that scenario because of the underlying price issue.

Winnebago (Australia) does pretty much the same thing. They have a price rise of about 10% every year specifically to protect the resale value of last years model. (Which is a major part of the new Sales spiel)

Great in theory and great while the retiring and cashed up Baby Boomers are all retiring. That Sales Model has probably got about 5 years left in it.

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Yellow 09 Oasis
Red 2010 AI /Grey tramps.