Thread: Aussies Getting ripped off

Following on from what I said earlier, when I go with SWMBO grocery bloody shopping For amusement/self education I read the origin country of the homebrand goods. SPC, for instance, had canned fruit on sale but the home brand was significantly cheaper with no discounted price. When I looked to see where the homebrand came from I read South Africa. It made me think, do the growers in South Africa have the same problems marketing their goods as do their Aus counterparts? As I said earlier I like the idea of buying local but a dollar is dollar is a dollar.
I like strawberry jam. I buy Belgium origin jars. Its cheaper (only by cents) than local and I reckon its tastes better.
Maybe I only think that I am loyal

Originally Posted by sjt

Some good perspective there Bob which I'm fully aware of. But how do you explain some price discrepancies which, at times, can be close to 500% ?? Sometimes Aus companies are their own worst enemy. I (and all other staff) received a pay rise 6 months ago. The following day they raised the price of car parking in the company owned and run car park by the same amount as the pay rise. I now catch public transport (which is a good thing anyway).

I agree there are plenty of rip off merchants out there and they should be treated accordingly. I think the mining boom has a lot to answer for. One of my brothers is a mining engineer and he says they don't have enough staff to take on most projects they quote on so they double or triple the price of some tenders and they still get the jobs. Then they have to find staff to do the job. So they poach employees from other companies by offering 30% more money. Many of these are young blokes who have more money than sense and pay anything for a product. Businesses know there is big silly money out there and they are all busy ripping each other off. It's turned into a game and we get caught in the middle. A friend of mine is working on luxury houses for people filthy with mining money. They don't care about prices - they pay whatever is asked. One home buyer had a fetish against tile grout (she heard it was carcinogenic) so she said said wanted her whole house tiled using epoxy. The tiler said OK but it would cost so he tripled the quote and she didn't blink an eyelid.

Originally Posted by BobL

I agree there are plenty of rip off merchants out there and they should be treated accordingly. I think the mining boom has a lot to answer for. One of my brothers is a mining engineer and he says they don't have enough staff to take on most projects they quote on so they double or triple the price of some tenders and they still get the jobs. Then they have to find staff to do the job. So they poach employees from other companies by offering 30% more money. Many of these are young blokes who have more money than sense and pay anything for a product. Businesses know there is big silly money out there and they are all busy ripping each other off. It's turned into a game and we get caught in the middle. A friend of mine is working on luxury houses for people filthy with mining money. They don't care about prices - they pay whatever is asked. One home buyer had a fetish against tile grout (she heard it was carcinogenic) so she said said wanted her whole house tiled using epoxy. The tiler said OK but it would cost so he tripled the quote and she didn't blink an eyelid.

Those examples are fine if you happen to be one of the lucky ones being poached and getting a 30% premium on already outrageous salaries.

If you happen to be one of us on little more than the minimum wage, working 2 jobs and having your partner also work, whilst calling on the good nature of family to help out with free childcare, just so you can very occaisionally splash out and get that little something extra, then I am afraid my thoughts don't go to the companies that are charging 3-4 times the price and delivering 2 weeks later than what I can get it for overseas.

I am aware of all their problems with higher wages, higher overheads etc. etc. etc., however my priority is myself and my family, not theirs.

There are a lot of overheads in running a business. Spare parts are often not a large part of a business, so for the time alone, a coy needs to charge for the extra muck around.
Overseas parts will have no (real) warantee, a part supplied in Aus, will.
If you added the time you spent chasing a part to the cost, at a real (business) price, you might find the price is comparable. Why should the business not charge you for that?
Having said that, I also source parts from overseas, at times.
But I don't begrudge businesses making a living. And I often use locals, because if they weren't there, one day you may regret it (expertise for special job, free advice, etc)
My 2c
TM

There is no blanket rule on pricing. Some of the things we forget are that a supplier is there to make a living. In Oz he is probably going to become another middle man, which in itself increases the cost of goods.

It is true that if you cut out the middle man there is a least one profit margin to be saved. In buying direct from overseas there should clearly be some saving . However, if your product develops a fault, the rights of recourse start to become indistinct. I have made the point in the past that the attraction of buying at a preferential rate from overseas diminishes as the number of moving parts increases. A single bearing, for example, may be relatively unlikely to fail, but a chainsaw with all its components is going to be a problem if it breaks down.

My argument being that you are not going to return the goods under warranty.

On the subject of pricing, sellers tend to pitch the price at what they think the market will stand. An example of this is computer software. This is downloaded direct. There is no freight component and theoretically the goods should be the same all around the world. Apparently, these products are more expensive in Oz!

Probably, the answer is to always do the research. If the goods seem outrageously expensive, consider the alternatives. I am, however, mindful of Tea Lady's comment, "Be careful what you wish for."

Regards
Paul

I find it amazing that when mentioning a forum sponsor who had outrageously high prices brought about censorship....what is this? Russia

some of the inflated price is because they can get away with it , an Itunes down loaded song is double in australia compared to usa ,

some one said compare with an equal country so ill mention Ikia , look at there price comparisons between country's

these prices we set when the Australian dollar was low , 50c US for 1 Australian dollar (10 years ago) , and while the dollar go's up the Australian people will pay the same for the same product , so the companys just smile and take your cash , you know you have to take the good with the bad ,

the australian dollar is too high , and the australian government should do every thing in there power to talk it down and trash the currency to $0.80c where we are more competitive with other nations ( jullia might be doing well )


what if that part has been sitting on the shelf for 10 years ?

I try to mix it up, buy some local, buy OS, but it is hard when a bearing from local supplier is 5x the same one from US even with $20 post


Pete

.................I get sick of all the excuses how its hard to do business in a small country it is blah blah blah

Thats right having a winge about how tuff it is n announcing a record profit the next week..............I laugh about it when i hear about businesses winge about how tough it is but they seem to remain in business..................Yes there still making a profit!!!!!!!

what a load of (^%%^$%^%*&^#^#&*)^#$^#)#@_*!#*_!#&*_#^

bottom line is that human beings will do anything for a dollar including ripping each other off................I see it everyday I even see blokes wellbeings and lives put at risk to make a buck................... rats treat each other better!!!

Its a global economy and the only time its harder to do business in Australia is when you need to do considerable upscalling............n thats coming from the Yank experts the worst money hungry *&^%^%*%)%)% on the planet!

What a boon the internet has made to average joe now we can take our money else where n vote with our hard earned coin..............no matter what country it comes from...............

My only loyality is to me and my family so i buy where i get the best price..............

Regards Lou

Originally Posted by Sigidi

I find it amazing that when mentioning a forum sponsor who had outrageously high prices brought about censorship....what is this? Russia

Sorry, I must have missed something....

Where is the censorship about which you talk? There is none that I can find in this thread. If you refer to sjt's post about forum sponsor, the only censorship (If you want to call it that) is his decision to omit sponsors name, there has been no censorship of this thread by either administrators or moderators of these forums.

Maybe it's bad wording on your behalf and you mean something else but speaking for myself and the rest of the administration team that comment is offensive and suggests there was interference from the Admin team when there was none.

Neil

Originally Posted by sjt

Ad infinitum discussion anyway.

Sure is! If they only want the cheapest thing they should be happy with Bunnings then. Pay peanuts get monkeys.

The drive belt for my 14" band saw (BAS-350) broke about 18 months ago. A supplier in Qld wanted $52.00 + $12.00 postage, from the us $9.00 + $15.00 postage and a supplier in W.A. $16.00 + $15.00 postage .These were all the same little neoprene belts. As there was only a small difference between the US and W.A. I bought from W.A. But like a lot of other members I now source most of the items I need from overseas.

Harold

We are told it costs to run a business. That is quite true but what does cost mean? Cost is the difference between what we plough into the business against what the businesss brings in. No, you say that is the gross profit or loss. No, I say this is the cost of operation. The better a business is run the cheaper the cost, as the imput is wisely used thus making the income greater by comparison. This is were so many businesses fall short and take the liberty of covering their mistakes by slugging the customer. Im sick of seeing pimpley faced kids being promoted as business mogels when five minutes later, their so called empire is a smoking ruin. One of the most important lessons one can learn in life is, what is my true worth.

For every man earning a honest buck there is a hundred scheming how to get it off him.
Not all honestly.