What would you do?

[Cjg]

I have a fancy for a nice frac, the Televue 85 to be exact.

Now in the UK, they are about £2K new. A Dutch co will sell and ship to the UK for €2049, which equates to approx £1600. Saving £400 or so.

Am not going to name the retailer as I don't think Televue would approve (a US supplier advised that they could not ship outside the US).

What do you think? Part of me wants to support the UK retailers, but not at that huge difference.

Cheers

CjG

[FarSide]

A saving of £400 sounds a bit dodgy, are you sure they are legit?

[Cjg]

Oh yes, and it would be an even bigger saving from a US retailer who has them at $1999.00! Both distributes from the Televue website.

[Monty]

Why are they not allowed to ship outside the US? So they can demand higher european prices?

[Cjg]

Yes, prevented from doing so by Televue

[The Sailor]

Whats the chance of a pickup, at least you can see the gear before cash changes hands, you would still be £'s in?

Jim

[vince 66]

I was looking into buying a new scope the uk price was £1249 it worked out that if I purchased from europe I would have saved over £300. When I spoke to the american manufacturer I was told that the import cost to the uk would be to high but they would ship me one if I wanted. I would buy from europe think of the extra kit you could buy with a £400 saving.

[pete_l]

Part of me wants to support the UK retailers,

In the long term you're not doing british retailers any favours by encouraging uncompetitive pricing strategies from them. If they are offering additional value to make up for the higher price then that's a different matter. So long as the british resellers know that they're losing business because of price, it'll encourage them to put pressure on the manufacturer to change their discounting policies - which will benefit all of us.

[JamesF]

What you need is a friend who happens to be visiting the US

James

[umadog]

You could also look second hand on Astromart. Some sellers will only ship within the US, but the more experienced guys are happy to ship out of the US. The turn over rate for refractors is high. I too fancied a nice short-tube and just got myself a WO 80/480 LOMO with a Feathertouch focuser. They were $2k new. The one I picked up was $1.1k and included mounting hardware, RDF, and an extension tube. Should arrive next week

[MikeWilson]

Combine it with a holiday and local pickup

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have a fancy for a nice frac, the Televue 85 to be exact.

Now in the UK, they are about £2K new. A Dutch co will sell and ship to the UK for €2049, which equates to approx £1600. Saving £400 or so.

Am not going to name the retailer as I don't think Televue would approve (a US supplier advised that they could not ship outside the US).

What do you think? Part of me wants to support the UK retailers, but not at that huge difference.

Cheers

CjG

Buy it from the cheapest retailer.

[Cjg]

Thanks for the replies. Being in Norfolk means that a trip to Holland is very do-able and I am tempted.

cjg

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thanks for the replies. Being in Norfolk means that a trip to Holland is very do-able and I am tempted.

cjg

LOL.............I cant help but think about the episode of Only Fools and Horses entitled "To Hull and Back".

[Cjg]

Ah, I missed most of those, never really saw the series as a must see....probably a bit sophisticated for my tastes!

Cjg

[Capricorn]

A fair bit of the saving will be the better exchange rate at present compared to previous. So why not take advantage of it at this time.

Concerning UK retailers they must be aware of the cost of the same item in Europe. I do at time dispair of UK retailers. To an extent we have been in Europe in one way or another since Jan 1st 1973. So a European distributer is not selling outside Europe. Willing to bet that the warrenty is Europe wide also. Sometimes it seems that we in the UK get the disadvantages only - has anyone seen a retailers state that as the pound is up against the dollar that they are going to reduce their prices accordingly ?

I recall asking about a scope from the US and as you were informed being told they could not sell as there was an agreed UK outlet. I asked them to look at the UK site and they did. At which point they agreed I had a problem as the UK retailer said on their site that they had no stock of any of that brand of scopes.

Get the scope from whoever in Holland, and put some pictures of it up afterwards.

[Cjg]

Thanks Capricorn. Agreed we get the disadvantages only, and yes when I do get it, there will be unboxing pics put up.

Cjg

[pete_l]

Sometimes it seems that we in the UK get the disadvantages only - has anyone seen a retailers state that as the pound is up against the dollar that they are going to reduce their prices accordingly ?

Though credit where it's due. A lot of "mainland" european retailers have significantly higher prices (even taking into account the fluctuating $/£/¥/€ exchange rates and differing VAT rates) than british ones.

[rory]

if the retailer has a good reputation and/or is legit you got to go for the saving, a no brainer . £400 is alot of money.

[Cjg]

if the retailer has a good reputation and/or is legit you got to go for the saving, a no brainer . £400 is alot of money.

Thanks, am tempted to do so - it's almost the price of a televue mount - I could do Den Haag and back in a day -just

[acey]

If you buy goods from overseas then in general you need to pay VAT and possibly also import duty on them. There may also be a handling charge. I once bought a "cheap" eyepiece from US by mail and by the time I'd paid all the extras it came out to be exactly what I would have paid in UK. If you travel abroad and buy the goods for yourself then you still need to check out anything that might be owed when you bring it to UK. You may not need to pay any tax or import duty if it's from EU and for personal use, but if it's a high-price item then I'd check the rules very carefully before doing anything. These HMRC links might help.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/tax-and-duty.htm

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/index.htm

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&propertyType=document&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingeu.htm

[Donkeiller]

Sounds Like Televue is abusing its position (and they are not the only ones),

They may make good gear, but their retail policy stinks.

[Cjg]

Thanks, think that I shall be buying from the Netherlands and as they are part of the EU am thinking "You won't have to pay Customs Duty if you're travelling from the EU,"

and yes, we do get overcharged compared to the USA, but not just by telescope retailers, most decent kit is priced in dollars as it is Sterling, for instance Bose headphones in the USA are $299, the same set in the UK? Well here 's the pricing ...

Chris