Thread: Lie-Neilsen now in Australia

Thats sounds good and its about time.

But in reality, the prices we are charged now by the above retailers is a joke. If I can get them shipped here for about half the price they sell them for, there's something wrong.

Time will tell if they are competetive.

I just picked up an order from customs on Friday - a 4.5 Smoother and some other bits and pieces and I reckon that the Aussie guys are selling there gear cheaper in Aus than we can buy direct from the US.

Originally Posted by Island Nomad

I just picked up an order from customs on Friday - a 4.5 Smoother and some other bits and pieces and I reckon that the Aussie guys are selling there gear cheaper in Aus than we can buy direct from the US.

Check this site and tell me if you still think that's an accurate statement.

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/index.htm

They are selling the low angle block plane for US $85. Even with the exchange rates and shipping your still way ahead. I think there's a reason relatives coming from the states are bringing LN tools with them....

And dont for a minute think that our retailers aren't making a killing on these particular tools. When theres no or minimal competition like what we've got here, they charge what they like.

I recently purchased a #87 scraping plane direct from the U>S> along with some extra handles and knobs (rosewood option) , including freight nad exchange rate it was far better than the other lot.

Hi all

Probably need to remember that "business is business". It needs to be remembered that a retail business has a lot of overheads so its a bit different to you or I ordering something in from the US.

Some of the costs are freight from the docks, labour to unpack, put into inventory plus they dont have the luxury of getting something through without paying duty or gst like an individual can. There is also cost in having the product sitting in stock.

My experience with ordering parts from the USA is that about 1 in 5 of my parcels gets opened and I get hit with duty and gst. I reckon thats not bad odds for me.

So I dont think we should bag them too much and for those of us with the fortitude to import we can sit back and for a job well done!

cheers

dazzler

the Craftsman Studio site looks good - however the low angle block plane costs US$85 plus about US$23 to ship. This works out at about A$145 plus GST if applied ( which would make it about A$160)
MIK are selling them for $162 so I don't think we can accuse them of excessive mark-ups.
regards
Dereg

Originally Posted by dereg

the Craftsman Studio site looks good - however the low angle block plane costs US$85 plus about US$23 to ship. This works out at about A$145 plus GST if applied ( which would make it about A$160)
MIK are selling them for $162 so I don't think we can accuse them of excessive mark-ups.

Hi,

I had a chat to the guys at the LN stand on Sat and according the catalog they gave me, they intend to sell the LA block plane for $119.

They also had the new chisel sets which will be selling for $399 (5 piece) which AWR said would retail around the $550 mark.

Krunchy.

Thanks very much Krunchy - well worth waiting until they open for business,
regards
Dereg

Hopefully it will mean only good news in the long run... Competition being competition. Still there are a lot of specialists that charge through the nose, even with competition. Those guys are generally competing against big businesses I 'spose.

Guys,

before you get too excited, LN have 2 low angle block planes. #102 with fixed mouth and the 60 1/2 with adjustable mouth. The price difference is almost double. Check the prices carefully.
Regards
Les

Hi Les

Originally Posted by lesmeyer

before you get too excited, LN have 2 low angle block planes. #102 with fixed mouth and the 60 1/2 with adjustable mouth. The price difference is almost double. Check the prices carefully.

You could be right there - the catalog that I was given wasn't very specific (ie. no model numbers etc).

Overall though the prices from the new importer seems to be in the order of 15-20% less. The guy on the LN stand was saying how they were not going to be greedy regarding the pricing - whether or not that was just PR/Salesman BS will be seen shortly I guess.

I'm on their mailing list for the new catalog which is coming out in a couple of weeks.

Krunchy.

Originally Posted by Krunchy

They also had the new chisel sets which will be selling for $399 (5 piece) .

That's about what I estimated it would cost me to buy them from the US then add GST and shipping. I assumed they wouldn't attract duty because of the FTA?

So perhaps that is what the local outfit is aiming for in their pricing policy?

Are they going to be at the Sydney Show do you know?

Craig

I have some comments on the perceived pricing of LN goods.

If you are a new player in town and you want to quickly get market share, what initially is the sure-fire way to do it??
Be price competitive!!!!

Can the low prices be maintained in the future??
Too many variables, only time will tell!!!

But from the woodies point of view, if you do your homework, there could be bargains for the prudent shopper!!

Originally Posted by Mulgabill

I have some comments on the perceived pricing of LN goods.

[snip]

Can the low prices be maintained in the future??
Too many variables, only time will tell!!!

But from the woodies point of view, if you do your homework, there could be bargains for the prudent shopper!!

The LN guy I was talking to at the stand said that their pricing model was $us -> $aus plus 10% for frieght. He basically implied that the old importer may have been a little liberal in their markups. So I guess, like all things, this should be taken with a suitable sized grain of salt.

The upside (for the time being) is that the aus LN pricing is a bit more competitive. Time will only tell on this one.

Krunchy.