I buy Australian when I can but recently I've encountered some ridiculous anomalies in the Australian vs overseas pricing.... so my purchase has been pushed overseas.

For example, the Australian supplier of Albrecht chucks quoted $1730 not including delivery for 2 machine chucks.... I bought the exact same couple of chucks on german Ebay for about $800 (and that included paying the 20% german VAT!) delivered within Germany, and a friend visiting Germany mailed them to me for about $40. Less than half price

I'm considering a Haimer 3D sensor.... Machinery House has them for $902 plus delivery. You can get them in Germany https://www.shop.santool.de/en/3d-se...or-haimer.html for Euro292 (this time VAT free as its being sent directly overseas) which is around $465. $87 delivery allows for up to 10kg of products, or $95 will get you 20kg, so probably best to combine with other stuff. 10% GST will apply entering Australia, but it's still a substantial saving. 2/3 the price

I just joined one of the US mail-forwarding services (myus.com). These services allow consolidation of multiple parcels into one plus cheaper shipping rates than you would typically get offered buying directly from a US business (if they were willing to ship to you which is unlikely). I was shopping for a 6" milling machine vice. I was told in Australia the better end of Taiwanese (I presume Safeway?) up to $1000. I got quoted $1175 not including delivery for an Eron Japanese vice which they considered the next level up. The salesman said "it's not a Kurt but you can't get them here and if you could they would be around 2k". So I bought a Kurt DX6 for US$550 with free delivery within the US. On-shipping is yet to happen but it appears to be US$240. By the time I've paid GST I'm looking at around AU$1215 delivered. A Kurt for around the price of a Japanese vice

Anyway, just remember to compare prices overseas and consider an on-shipping service!


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