HockeyPulse.com.au

Hi all

I tried to order some Bauer gear from the various USA-based ice hockey online stores delivered to Australia, but the resellers are quite restricted by the Manufacturer's Delivery Restrictions i.e. Bauer skates were not allowed to be shipped from USA Reseller to Australia.

I heard about this great service http://www.priceusa.com.au/ and gave it a go - BRILLIANT! They email you to confirm the items and prices before you have to commit, and provide frequent updates what's happening with your order etc.

I am not affiliated or involved with the priceusa service, just a happy new skate owner using their service.

Cheers
Mika

Mika, the rules some manufacturers apply to their products being shipped overseas is a massive rort and keeps prices here artificially high. It is very frustrating to say the least. I don't know a full list, but I do know that Easton and Nike/Bauer cannot get shipped here from N. America, but certainly CCM and RBK can. The rules do change, but it is worth checking out.

Contraversial to some, but I will repeat that I have been able to get skates, sticks, gloves, helmets, pants and other stuff paid for and shipped from N.America for significantly less than it costs (with a far smaller selection) to buy here. There are potential issues with getting things that may have a fault - it being harder to return, etc, but fortunately I've not personally had that experience. Frankly I'd do it every time. It's expensive enough to get kitted out, without paying an exorbitant premium on top of costly gear.

For newcomers to the sport, my tip is to borrow if you can, but to scour eBay for used stuff while you find your feet (literally!) and gradually buy new stuff, as required, when you find a deal.

Great info - great find. Thanks for sharing the info Mika.

hows about we find out what you do for a job then sack you and get it cheaper overseas, sounds great.

we save money, get things done cheap.

If my employers were able to clearly identify that I was massively overcharging for my services based purely on the convenience of my living within communiting distance of my office and that for a fraction of the cost they could emply someone overseas to do the whole thing remotely, then sure.

I don't want to get silly or personal here, but like anything, will you buy online or in any other forum at a better price if you can. If you can save 10% on car insurance by buying online rather than talking to a robot, might you? If you can buy exactly the music you want online, instead of a whiole album and cover and sleevenotes from a shop, might you? You might, and you might not. If you want the personal interaction or the 'extra' package that comes from the personal sale, there's your option. But, you pay a premium and for those who don't want to, there's a choice for them too. I choose that option myself, lots of the time. I was merely suggesting alternatives, which help drive the market to drive better deals for the consumer.

I agree with RacerDan here, when i buy equipment, i shop around, both via the net, and locally, but honestly, when i can get a CCM helmet with facecage delivered to my door ($55) from the States for $63 cheaper than the EXACT same helmet (minus facecage i might add) from the local skate shop, then sorry, i'm doing it, and i have done it with no guilt whatsoever........however, with the new skate shop opening in Sydney this weekend (Skatersnetwork) there is now another local option which will compete for my business, what prices they comeup with is yet to be seen though, hopefully they are somewhat more competitive than what is around now.

I wish them all the best of luck

I was talking with theSkaternetwork people at the Heaton Trophy on Good Friday they will be going live on the net in 2 weeks so i'd wait to check out their prices before i do any shopping. Also if your local proshop is affiliated with them you can buy thru them at the same price as the net i.e. no shipping.

More local dealers is good news, not just hopefully for prices and range, but also to allow more people new to the sport to get to touch and feel the gear, which I think is important to demystify the game.

There's a pro-shop at the new IceHouse facility in Melbourne. The two occasions I've been down there so far it's been closed, but I'm looking forward to checking it out when I can. If I have a chance I'll let folk know what it looks like for range, etc.

By way of a quick update, I went to the proshop at the Melbourne IceHouse last night and it's not bad. Not very big, so selection is limited, but in addition to the Bauer and Easton stuff you can't import anyway, they have Harrow gear, which is at the other end of the price spectrum.

It's still at the kind of proces you expect in Australia, but they have staff who know what they are talking about and while I was there one such helpful soul was talking to someone about using their existing stick more effectively rather than talking them into buying a new one.

At the risk of sounding inflammatory, which really isn't the intent, but I don't know terribly many people who are in favor of paying twice as much of their hard earned on something.
I can certainly understand the manufacturers wanting to support their licensed distributors, but when it involves a 100% mark up I'm sorry but everyone loses.

there are two sides to view of this issue.

players and shoppers in general want to pay as little as possible for finished goods and at the same time have the largest range (size, colour, model, latest and greatest) of those goods possible to select from!!

This is where the retailing landscape has changed in recent times with the arrival of internet shopping (remembering an internet website doesnt phyicially have to have the goods in their possession to offer them for sale).

prior to now to get finished goods for a sport with such low volume of item turnover such as ice hockey we had to purchase gear from a BUSINESS that took the risk off importing larger quanities such items and also absorb the following COSTS

factoring in:

cost of shipping a container from the other side of the world ex factory to the wharf $$,
container handling fees at the wharf $$,
customs and clearence fees $$,
ground semitrailer transport from wharf to wharehouse budgeting for unloading delays on wharf where the truck waits on paid time for sometimes up to 5-6hours or more $$,
goverment paper work to comply to sell the goods in australia $$,
cost cost of wharehousing the goods (rent) $$,
extra cost of insurance on the goods intransit $$,
cost allowcated to faulty product replacement (Your warranty in australia) $$,
electricity cost at warehouse $$,
allow for the items that dont sell and have to be discouted to turnover (loss of profit) $$,
workers comp for staff at the warehouse $$,
cost of transport of goods to retailer $$,
allowing bank overdraft interest to pay manufacturer for goods $$,
pay gst on goods sold $$,

THEN AT THE END OF THE DAY TRY TO MAKE SOME $$ PROFIT TO PAY STAFF THEIR HARD EARNED WAGES, FEED THEIR OWN FAMILY AND PUT A ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS!!

All this to give YOU the end user a range and choice of local hockey gear
and you wonder why they put a markup of the goods in such a small market!!

p.s rough number of rinks in north america that use hockey gear is maybe 4500/5000, number of same in australia = 10-15 tops!

Yes Macca, you're spot on with all that.

It's also economy of scale. If you can only sell a few items, you have to charge more for them to cover your costs.
Whether you sell 5 or 50 pairs of skates you'll probably have to employ the same amount of people.

Skaters Network opened today in Sydney. I'm hoping they'll be providing Internet sales as well to be competitive with the O/S markets.

It's run by current and former AIHL players, and is supported by the retailers in Australia.
Now it's our turn to support them and give them our first and final look when we shop.

If we want the sport to develop in Australia, supporting the market retail is an important step.

It's great having a new shop, but if they can't provide the products at the same prices we can get them shipped over for then it's just not going to be viable.

The days of distributors charging ridiculous amounts for gear for the sole reason we live in Australia are numbered, if they can't keep parity with online sellers then they're not running a very sound business.

As for the price of shipping gear over here, if I can ship a pair of skates here for roughly $60AUD, then I don't understand how wholesalers (remembering the bulk discounts they must be privy too with large orders) can still charge double the amount for the same product. I'm far from an expert on freight shipping and international business pricing when it comes to hockey gear, but as a customer it's definitely something that needs to be addressed before I'll even consider buying gear locally.

It can't be any better explained than it was three posts up.
Just for a start by buying from the US under $1000 you're getting away with not paying the 10% import duty on which a retailer has to charge you another 10%, and they have to pay 10% to the wholesaler.

Take my advice and don't try opening up your own skate shop.