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$$$ AUD > US $$$
OMG it's almost 1:1 for the Aussie dollar against the Greenback. Shopping online in the The US has never looked so affordable. Let's get shopping guys whilst the fun still lasts!
Anyone know of any other good US shopping sites?
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MTBR and its Sister road bike set for a list of sites.
It isn't just the US - the UK is also absurdly cheap at the moment which makes hitting the 250 GBP bar to get free shipping at ChainReaction far easier...
Is it wrong to hide $1220 of goodness on my credit card from the wife whilst it looks so good?
Just got some more stuff from http://myworld.ebay.com.au/bicyclesupply they have heaps of bike parts and were cheaper than jenson or chain reaction.
I just flew over to collect
I put in an order on Monday. After pricing between the US and UK, I reckon that the UK is still cheaper. Good times!
I was thinking about this today. I am interested to hear from any LBS or distributor when they think this will flow through to prices. The movement of the last couple of months has been very significant, and while I see lots of value in using the LBS, this just gets harder to justify. I would have expected shop ‘discounts’ to already be flowing through… and anticipate discounts in the order of 20%-30% from last year.
Of course credit card buying does make it impossible to split the bill between credit card and cash to make the ‘apparent’ price fall for the financial auditor! But use their usual arguement - look at the savings, not spending!!!
I understand that two of the biggest issues are tax and also the people that this needs to go through. In most cases CRC and Wiggle buy direct from the manufacturers so they get rock bottom prices, add their own small margin (no shop fronts and all the overheads that go with them), no tax and ship them straight to us. Compare that with the poor LBS who buy from a distributor who perhaps buys from the manufacturer but could buy from an overseas distributor, all obviously marking up, and then has to pay GST on top of that!
I still buy anything that I am going to want to assistance with down the track from the LBS but it's hard to go past OS for the smaller stuff. I did buy my Shimano shoes from the LBS (Clarence Street Cycles) as I wanted them immediately. The sole split a month later, I would have no chance sending them back OS as it would have been a case of "wear and tear" but Clarence Street Cycles were happy to replace them and argue the case with their Shimano rep.
I think there is also an import duty (30% ?) in there somewhere as well as the GST.
The above is perfectly true and explains why the LBS is more expensive than online. nh – you pay GST on the cost of goods + cost of freight + the import tax!!! However, that does not change the fact that the current currency movement should flow through to the end user (with everyone still making their margins). I am interested in the timing of this flowing through – hum crimbo soon to be just around the corner.
I have not bought anything from the LBS, including my new bike. All ordered from overseas.
With the exchange rate as is, it seems silly do consider anything else. Warranties are valid the world over so it shouldnt be a problem.
About to order a new pair of Sunnies from O/S why pay $400 when I can pay $160.
You need to factor in current stock levels and when a particular batch was purchased in relation to the exchange rate at the time of ordering.
It could be months before you see a change in pricing (if at all). The LBS/distributors need to factor in the risk of dropping prices in hope that when they next purchase, they can make back the difference between 'old stock' pricing (at an expensive rate) and 'new stock' (at a cheaper rate).
There may be a sale on certain brands by your LBS (depending if the distributor passes on the savings) in future months, but this sale may also have already been forecast, so it's difficult to ascertain exactly when and by how much the end consumer will benefit.
Factor in other economic pressures (outside of the cycling industry) and you can appreciate that it's not as simple as it seems i.e. just because the AUD strengthens doesn't mean timely savings at your LBS.
Importers hedge their currency risk in advance so that they know what they need to charge for an item for the coming year/quarter/etc. otherwise they would be continually changing their prices. This means that you're not always going to see a direct correlation between exchange rates and prices. There's no doubt that there is a tendency to increase prices when the exchange rate is low but not drop them too much when the situation is reversed.
Having said that it obviously does happen - the most obvious example of this often occurring is when the new year's bikes come out. When I purchased my last mtb the previous year's heavily discounted stock was still $200 more than the current year's model.
This is how I prefer to do my purchasing, in the last month or two I've bought from OS and from the LBS. I firmly believe in supporting the local economy but accept that sometimes the LBS is just not going to be able to compete. If you skip the LBS all together then don't be surprised if one day when you really need it's not there. A good relationship with the guys in the store can be a saving in itself. I some times feel for the LBS as they know they can't match the prices from OS and loose no end of business....but then they are still flourishing!!!
Just my 2c's worth.
Chain Reaction yes - but LBS, no. I have just returned from 4 weeks in the UK last week and whilst the exchange rate was phenomenal, bike shop prices were not. If you buy from the UK online then there's massive savings to be had. But I still think that on the whole the US is generally cheaper. Particularly now as the Aussie is tipping parity.