Re: UK dealers who STOCK Meade & Celestron ?


"Chris.B" <chris.b@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1126179096.879129.307680@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> This seems very odd to me. Given the endless threads here (and in
> another place) on the high price of US goods (whether made in the US or
> China) compared with the US dollar price .... these outrageous charges
> are for simply ordering a box to be delivered to the buyer's address?
> No stock? No risk? No overheads? Come off it Roger.
>
> Isn't there an importer somewhere who can show you the toys before the
> "dealer" rips you off? Surely not every US scope is delivered direct
> from the US?
>
> Okay, I'm a cynical old sod having a bad day! ;-)
>
> Regards
> Chris.B
You see I made the comment about UK prices at the end.
The two companies I gave, are the respective importers. BC&F (Telescope
house), and David Hinds. The key though is that the UK prices include an
extra dealer layer, and an extra warranty cost. the US manufacturers
charge the importers the US price (they don't discount it to allow for the
warranty work that has to occur in the UK...). Then these importers have
to pay shipping to the UK, VAT (which at this point is claimed back), and
duty. The duty, neatly goes onto the price including VAT (neat rip-off by
customs and excise). The UK importer then ships to the UK dealer (another
shipping charge), who puts his mark-up on the goods, and VAT on the end.
In the UK, the warranty situation is very different from the US. The
company selling you the scope, is technically 'responsible' for the
quality of the good. If there is a problem, it is the dealer who has to
sort it. He will 'delegate' a lot of this (calling the importer, and
getting them to ship spares), but what is warranted is larger than in the
US (if the good is not fixed to a satisfactory standard, in a reasonable
time, the dealer can end up having to refund the money). In the US, the
warranty after normally 90 days, goes back to the main company, making the
overheads in this regard for the seller, and the UK importer significantly
higher than in the US. Each movement also includes the paperwork involved
in paying, and claiming back the VAT, and handling the rest of the red
tape, adding costs at each point.
Most of the companies do stock scopes, but not examples of every model. As
I said at the start, GreenWitch had an example of each when I was last
there, but you could not guarantee that those same pair of scope sizes
would be there next time. they typically have perhaps 20 scopes on
display, and perhaps three times this many boxed 'in stock' as well. Even
if most of these are smaller scopes, at a few hundred pounds each, this is
perhaps £25000 in stock, just for the scopes, and excluding accessories.
In fact some of the models will be a lot more money than this (Televue,
and larger scopes), probably easily quadrupling the value stocked. Even if
they ordered a new scope as soon as one sells on these more expensive
models, there will be significant time when they are waiting for the
scope, so the answer to the question 'where can I find both on display in
the same shop', will be 'not here', while this wait occurs.

Best Wishes


.

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