Buying from USA

[Ralphy]

Hi,
I am going to buy a 1000HD but am toying with the idea of buying it from the U.S. I have never done this before so I have a few questions.
1. Who should I buy it from?
2. How should I pay for it?
3. What is the postage charge and is that paid on arrival at the Post Office or when purchasing it from the U.S.?

I suppose I am thinking of saving a few dollars however if there is not a saving of atleast 20% I won't risk it.

Thanks:U

[Big Shed]

Before I answer some or all of your questions, have you seen this one for sale here (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f221/incra-1000hd-1220-telescoping-fence-117652/)?

[Ralphy]

Thanks for that Big Shed but I would appreciate some info on buying from the U.S. any way. Otherwise I will probably buy it locally.

[Big Shed]

Hi,
I am going to buy a 1000HD but am toying with the idea of buying it from the U.S. I have never done this before so I have a few questions.
1. Who should I buy it from?
2. How should I pay for it?
3. What is the postage charge and is that paid on arrival at the Post Office or when purchasing it from the U.S.?

I suppose I am thinking of saving a few dollars however if there is not a saving of atleast 20% I won't risk it.

Thanks:U

Buying from the US takes a little more thought than buying locally, and requires a bit more initiative from the purchaser.

1 Clicking on the link on the Incra site (you have goe to the Incra site?) will show you the answer to this question, Where to Buy :: Precision Woodworking with Incra Fences, Jigs, Rules and Other Precise Woodworking Tools (http://www.incra.com/wtb_newmitergauges.htm)

2 The seller you ultimately select will tell you what payment method he will accept, usually credit card, eg Visa or Mastercard. This will of course attract a fee from the credit card company as well as a currency conversion below the normally advertised exchange rate. Usually, if you use the daily exchange rate and add 5-6% to the resulting $A figure you should be pretty close.

3 Postage will again be up to the selected dealer but count on a minimum of $US50 for the Incra 1000HD (my guesstimate). This is payable to the dealer as part of the purchase price.

Delivery from the US via USPS (US Postal Service) is usually 7-10 days. Don't use a dealer who insists on using UPS or FedEx, extra charges are levied by these delivery companies.

So, take the Incremental Tools price of $US190 add $US50, convert to $A at todays' .82, add credit card fee and you won't see much change out of $A330

[Ralphy]

Thanks heaps that is great advice. I have more tio think about now. Buying the 1000HD from the U.S. was going to be a test case for me to see wether it is a viable option. Thanks again for your excellant advice.

[Sir Stinkalot]

A few years ago I purchased the Incra LS17 Router Table Fence System from Rockler in the USA. With the purchase I also got a set of matching router bits, additional template and project book.

At the time the Australian dollar was quite high .... just before it dropped. Shipping costs were quite high however I still saved quite a bit of money over buying locally. Rockler provided a quote on shipping costs before processing the order so I knew what I was up for. Payment was via credit card which I was comfortable with as it is a well known store and not much different to buying from a local internet seller.

I looked around at recommended resellers of Incra products in the USA before selecting Rockler. The shipping costs vary greatly between different sellers so don't just go on the value of goods. I don't think that Rockler were necessarily the cheapest however I was able to get the other bits I was after as some stores offer a limited range.

Obviously there are down sides to buying from the USA ..... warranty issues, no local support, postage costs, potential of loss or damage in shipping, not supporting the local guy etc but you will have to weigh up these yourself.

If you don't feel comfortable ...... don't risk your money and buy locally.

[nummins]

Last year I purchased an LS25 super system, an Incra router plate with inserts and a whole bunch of tracks and fences. The Aus $ was about 93cents at the time. I went through Incramental tools who could not have been more helpful (Americans are excellent when it comes to service). The savings I made was substantial (I would not have been able to consider this purchase locally with Australian pricing) and it all took about 2 weeks from start to finish. I did not pay any duty or gst, and I think if it is less than $1000.00 you should be fine. It is good to see that there is finally some real competition developing in the local market, which should hopefully see prices in better alignment with the US. Quite a few people on this site have had similar excellent dealings with Incramental tools.

[RossM]

I have been buying quite a bit of gear from the US recently. Here are some thoughts:

1. If you spend over $1000 from a suplier you WILL be hit by Australian customs clearance costs & GST on the import. Even if you try & spread a few items from the one seller out over a few weeks, you can get caught out.

2. The $oz has just taken a big hit. Up til a few weeks ago it was around $0.90 to the $US, now it is about 10% lower.

3. You credit card company will add alt least another 3% to the cost and may not use the best exchange rate in their calculation.

4. Be very careful to get the shipping costed by the seller befor you commit, as some will add significant handling charges due to export paperwork on overseas consignments. The can't just bung on an address label & send it out like they do for domestic sales, so some try & recover staff time costs.

5. Add an allowance for insurance & have the seller include this in the shipping costs.

6. Make sure the seller uses a shipping method that includes real time consignment tracking. That way yuo have proof of consignment & they get proof of delivery.

7. PayPal works well for me, and may suppliers will accept it. It masks your credit card details from the supplier. You really don't want credit card details held on a potentially insecure computer, or worse, stored on paper in someones office. And it provides two avenues to persue any dispute - credit card company & PayPal. If you do a bank transfer there is no-one with clout to follow up problems (not that I have had any issues so far, but it is a comfort factor)

8. I stick to larger, well known merchants who have a reputation to protect & a track record, even if their prices are a bit higher.

9. I have found it better to buy several items at one time, and wait until the dollar is quite high. Shipping for 3 or 4 items is often only marginally more than the cost fro a single item.

When you add all this up there is often much less of a saving than you may, at first, think.

[Ralphy]

I would like to thank everyone who replied. I certainly didn't realise how much you needed to consider before parting with the money. I am now wiser and will be able to make a good decision about buying incra gear from the U.S.:D

[brownie98]

I bought a 7" Incra square from Amazon.com 2 weeks ago. I orded it with a few other books and chose express postage instead of normal slow postage so it was more expensive but in total it would have only cost me AUD$60 if i chose the slower postage. Not bad when ive seen the same square in Australia for $125

[gimjam]

Another option you might consider that has worked for me with some US suppliers is to use a mail forwarded. They give you a US address to have the goods shipped to and will then forward the goods on to you in Aus - normally using the US Postal Service.

It works well for US companies like Grizzly that have a $250 min order if they ship internationally.

You can find folks that do mail forwarding on eBay - Packing Shipping items (http://services.shop.ebay.com/Packing-Shipping-/50352/i.html?_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282)

There is an obvious risk using these types of folks but I have never had any issues.

Cheers,
Geoff

[Sapling]

How about buying from Canada as another option. Bought my LS 25 + wonder fence from elite tools. Was happy with the service, price and shipping cost. Funny thing is that it was shipped direct from incra in the states. Saved $300.00 - $400.00 on the price here at the time. Our dollar was at its highest point against the cad that I have ever seen.

[RossM]

That's a great idea if the cross rates are favourable. Same issues that I notred above still apply. However I have found that many Canadian web sites seem to advertise in US dollars by default - Lee Valley is one well known example (although you can get $CA if you dig hard)

[damian]

Elite may have changed thier policies but whe I bought my incra stuff their prices were the lowest but shipping was literally 10 times the US cost.

I've been buying stuff overseas for 15 years at least. I'm not particularly careful with my personal details and the only time I was fraudulently charged they didn't need my details to do the scam. Visa refunded the money and all was well. The truth is credit card numbers have a check sum so many scams don't need you to do anything. While protecting your personal details is a good idea in general it's not by any means a catch all. You far better off just checking your statements properly every month.

I bought my ls25 from incremental, which is the factory outlet. 100% trustworthy, extremely good service. As said above you need to run the numbers, and consider how much you want to support australian business. I bought some stuff from PWS and was very happy with their service and price.

Don't push "buy" until you've got a shipping quote and you've checked with your cc provider what exchange rate and other fees your suffereing. I saved 40% on some purchases, some are better made at home.

I have probably saved about $50k in the last 15 years on stuff I've bought internationally and online. I'd need to get seriously scammed to be behind. Last week I bought a wheeled suitcase, solid plastic by samford for $130AU delivered. Same bag was $279 in the local luggage chains and $170 in other online stores. You had to work earn and pay tax on your money. Don't throw it away....

[Sapling]

Got to agree with Damian about credit cards and scams. I actually use paypal aswell for any overseas buying. If its not able to be used I generally don't buy and I also think their fees are more reasonable.
To ship my incra was $150.00cad which I thought was reasonable for the size of the package and approx 2 weeks to get it to the front door.