Thread: Costs of Importing Machinery from China - REPORT

Interesting reading, ta

So have you worked out how much all this would have cost if you purchased from Australia?

Originally Posted by Com_VC

So have you worked out how much all this would have cost if you purchased from Australia?

And I am also curious to know what you will do if you need to return a part or have something serviced or repaired? What backup do you have? - that's essentially - supposedly () - what you pay your dealer for.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Interesting,
I have no problems with importing tooling, but when it gets to machine I think a bit different.
As we all know I had problems with 2 HM52's mills, they were picked up both times at there expense and returned to the store and was replaced with a better one.
If there is a problem with an imported one, it's a long way and expensive to send it back, and who is going to have to pay?
I have read and looked at a photo were a US fellow imported a lathe that had a hole in the main way. I am not sure how it's turned out, but thats the risk you run importing your own machinery.

Dave

One advantage of importing a machine is you get to choose what you want...

Don't be fooled into thinking what you see in the shops is all that is produced...Importers only import what they think they can sell.. There are a lot of various machines made in China and elsewhere that you will never see imported here as they would never sell them...

Large manual milling machines that for all intents and purposes are obsolete because of CNC are still made new in other countries, planers, shapers are still made new in other countries...

Even Takisawa still list a manual lathe on their Japanese website...Cost would be prohibitive but they still list it.... Even Monarch still list the 10EE as being available new for an ~US$80 000 sum of course..

Have a browse on this site to see what is available http://www.machinery-china.com/web/index.asp

Takisawa lathe http://www.takisawa.co.jp/products/index-02.htm

Hi RC,
I saw your posting on PM about other types of Chinese machines. The only thing with a 1 off machine in the country is parts. If you buy something that is also sold here you have a better chance of getting parts for them, especially if the company ever folds in the future.
Dave

Hi Mark,

Congratulations on successfully importing the HM52, I would have been a bundle of nerves waiting to see if it arrived. I'm still waiting on my HM52 from H&F.

That said, I buy most stuff (electronic components) direct from US distributors, and I get my PCB's from a company in China, but importing a whole container load, wow, that is a whole other ball game.

Thanks for the details on the shipping charges, very interesting.

Regards
Ray

The value of the goods I have imported, when added up from H&F's catalog is over AU$24000.

The terms of the warranty agreement I negotiated with the company owner while I visited him in China was 12 months parts, all shipping at their expense via Courier/Air Mail. Items would not need to be returned for repair - just replaced, or the parts to repair would be sent if possible.

I didnt go into this like a lot of people would - they see the prices and dont consider the medium/long term picture. I did my research, I sent hundreds of emails, I requested photos, I went to China, I visited the factory, I meet the companies owner, I dined with the factories manager. The company has been making tools for 20 years, and they export all over the world, including to H&F.

A saving of AU$14000 is worth risking some hassles over IMHO - if someone was to think it isnt then they should buy from Australia and shouldnt whinge about being overcharged. Join the "global village" and buy where you get good service and prices, regardless of the location. This isnt for everyone - but my situation/needs allowed this approach.

Thanks for the report!, I'd been tempted to import direct based on the obvious price differences I'd paid for identical dial gauges and micrometers at CDCO in the USA vs H&F in Australia. If I recall correctly the one inch to three inch micrometer set was US$39 vs AU$121 for exactly the same item (Measumax) so I bought a heap of stuff that fit into a US$40 prepaid box and it arrived in nine days.

Wow, that must have been a lot of accessories.. 800kg worth...

Did you include in your costings your trip to China and the amount of actual time you spent setting up this import?

Originally Posted by Vernonv

Did you include in your costings your trip to China and the amount of actual time you spent setting up this import?

Probably not but how revelant is it anyway...
going overseas is as good as a holiday<
one own time is your own...you aint forking out hard earned cash for someone to do what one can do himself,
and can/would it really all add up to what the retailers want anyway?

Did you include in your costings your trip to China and the amount of actual time you spent setting up this import?

eskimo - Probably not but how revelant is it anyway...
going overseas is as good as a holiday<
one own time is your own...you aint forking out hard earned cash for someone to do what one can do himself,
and can/would it really all add up to what the retailers want anyway?

Pretty much what eskimo said!

2 days of meetings out of a ten day trip was not a great sacrifice - every meal during those two days was at their expense too. I went to China because of the machines and made a small holiday out of it. Visited Hong Kong for some duty free, visited the Industrial Autonation trade show in Shanghai to collect some VSDs and check out some DROs and tooling(imported two DROs and 6 scales from EASSON direct for about AU$800 - the same ones that H&F will sell to you for AU$3454 according to their catalogue), got to meet lots of the locals, travelled on some fast trains(380km/h), climbed the Great Wall in 6" of snow, and walked Tianamen Square in Beijing. Not that much of an imposition is it?

As for my time - it isnt factored in. At the minimum wage(which I am NOT on) it would be about 6 months full time work to equal the savings I made of AU$14000 - apart from the China Trip it wouldnt have taken more than 5 days of my time - after work, surfing the web, looking at catalogues and sending emails. I dont get paid AU$2800 a day, so it saved me money!

Given the number of PMs I have received in relation to this story, it has given lots of people options about where to buy their gear.

I was considering posting up photos of all the gear I purchased, some results after I have tested them - TIR, photos of finished work, etc, and prices for the gear - but only if people are interested. It would take a while - I am off for 2 weeks at the end of April - but I will be getting stuck in to everything when I get back. Lots of cleaning to do to get rid of packing grease, and then take the photos.

Interested or not? Let me know.

The notion that Aussie suppliers are ripping us off was brought up in this thread and it was justified by comparing your costs to what the suppliers charge retail. Now that is really not fair, when you don't include ALL of your costs and also don't factor in additional costs the suppliers have, that you don't (overheads, employees, warehousing, warranty costs, etc) and a reasonable profit margin.

It's all fine and good to extol the virtues of buying direct from a manufacturer/supplier overseas (and I do it often myself), but to then use that as ammunition against local retailers without the proper analysis, is in my book, poor form.