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Astronomy sales during the pandemic.  Update.


FLO

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1 hour ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Thanks. What does this mean for us as consumers in the interim (until the new prices are released) - have you stopped accepting orders on Skywatcher items for the time being?

Currently we are continuing to accept orders 🙃

HTH, 

Steve 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like price Increases have landed on many Skywatcher Items - I was shocked to see some have increased by over 25%

IE 150PDS - I paid £229 in October - Now £309

HEQ5 Pro  now  £999 Rother are still showing price as £789

Ever wish you had not waited to place an order - You might now!

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15 hours ago, Xoc1 said:

HEQ5 Pro  now  £999 Rother are still showing price as £789

Welcome to SGL! 🙃

Sky-Watcher's recent price increases affect all retailers, including the one you mention. 

For more info please see our post here

 

comparison.jpg.87445fa4c5b59401c0e04dd350454667.jpg

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15 hours ago, Xoc1 said:

Looks like price Increases have landed on many Skywatcher Items - I was shocked to see some have increased by over 25%

Oooh, that's a bit savage.  I guess we can expect to see this sort of thing on many goods imported from that part of the world, if it hasn't already happened :(

James

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18 minutes ago, FLO said:

Welcome to SGL! 🙃

Sky-Watcher's recent price increases affect all retailers, including the one you mention. 

For more info please see our post here

 

comparison.jpg.87445fa4c5b59401c0e04dd350454667.jpg

You can also pretty much guarantee that Rother will be out of stock at that price.

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On 15/01/2021 at 18:04, Hals said:

I've noticed the price increases elsewhere, particularly on one of our usually good value Teutonic friends websites.

I trust all are aware that purchases from EU outlets are now subject to VAT and custom fees on arrival in UK, just like an import from USA was. This was set in stone 2yrs ago when UK determined to leave both the customs and VAT union. Another good reason to support UK retailers, who will lose EU sales, as well as our hard pressed Treasury!

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11 hours ago, FLO said:

It is important as consumers we look for and expect prices to reduce when shipping costs return to normal. 

We had a visit from one of our suppliers yesterday. He revealed that the latest shipping prices for a single container that they had been quoted were £16,000, and had even heard of another company being quoting £19,000 for one. This is in contrast to their usual fee which hovers around the £2K region.   In addition to this, shipping companies have 3 days to dock, unload, and reload, after this time they are charged expensive emissions fees in UK and European ports. As two thirds of Felixstowe is apparently full of empty, unwanted containers the capacity for unloading is greatly reduced, extending the waiting times for the ships, and perhaps accruing emissions charges. Our suppliers are anchoring of the coast in Turkey to avoid these fees, but there is only so much they can do. Again, our suppliers have stated that just to cover the extra costs of shipping, prices are going to rise, perhaps dramatically, at least for the first part of this year.

I remember well when the price of a bag of chips jumped from about 50p to £1.25. The local chip shop had signs up stating that the reason was the unseasonably wet summer which resulted in the loss of the potato crop, increasing demand on limited supplies. The only thing is, the prices never went down again when the crop returned to normal, we kind of got used to paying the £1.25, and it continued at that even when the costs from the supplier reduced.  I am hoping the same thing doesn't happen with the extra shipping costs affecting so many importers at the moment!

Factoring in fluctuating shipping costs is a nightmare.  In our trade, a garden centre, we will have additional Plant Health Agency checks this year which may or may not affect a delivery, and which are chargeable. We just don't know whether the next delivery from abroad will cost us the same as normal, or be a lot extra, very frustrating and making it difficult to plan and trade effectively.

We are always grateful for understanding customers, and always slightly irked by those moaning about "rip off prices" when they don't understand the reasons why they went up. 

Hope all at FLO are safe and sound and enduring these times with a smile and with faces to the wind :)

Tim

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5 hours ago, Tim said:

the latest shipping prices for a single container that they had been quoted were £16,000

The last "toy" I got was a large refractor. It came in a shipping carton with dimensions 1.3m x 0.35 x 0.30 metres. That is a cubic capacity of 0.1365m³

A 40 foot container will hold about 55m³ of stuff, or about 400 boxes the same size as what I was sent. So the cost of the space in a container for my refractor will have risen from £2000 /  400 = £5, to £16,000 / 400 = £40. An increase of £35.

I just checked what I paid in December. Since then the price has risen by €45, so an amount that is commensurate with Tim's experience.

If other retail prices go up by significantly more than that amount, there must be something else going on than just container costs. Something UK specific?

Edited by pete_l
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1 hour ago, pete_l said:

The last "toy" I got was a large refractor. It came in a shipping carton with dimensions 1.3m x 0.35 x 0.30 metres. That is a cubic capacity of 0.1365m³

A 40 foot container will hold about 55m³ of stuff, or about 400 boxes the same size as what I was sent. So the cost of the space in a container for my refractor will have risen from £2000 /  400 = £5, to £16,000 / 400 = £40. An increase of £35.

I just checked what I paid in December. Since then the price has risen by €45, so an amount that is commensurate with Tim's experience.

If other retail prices go up by significantly more than that amount, there must be something else going on than just container costs. Something UK specific?

The price of bunker oil has gone up around $200/mt in that time, from around $300 to $500/mt.

Some of the cost must have come from the IMO 2020 low sulphur directive which just before the pandemic
VLSFO was up near 600 to 700/mt. It did sink down quite low last year but has now risen.

If shipping lines wanted to carry on using normal bunker oil, which is cheaper, they have to fit scrubbers, more expense.

Some of the extra cost you are paying is to clean up the environment, no doubt, a small price to pay 🤔

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21 hours ago, Stephenstargazer said:

I trust all are aware that purchases from EU outlets are now subject to VAT and custom fees on arrival in UK, just like an import from USA was. This was set in stone 2yrs ago when UK determined to leave both the customs and VAT union. Another good reason to support UK retailers, who will lose EU sales, as well as our hard pressed Treasury!

Yes but that is balanced by that the retailer in the EU doesn't charge VAT when you buy the product (unless it is under £140ish).  As such the price you pay should exclude VAT at the checkout (and VAT varies across the EU).  That can balance out to lower costs overall depending on the product (this can be especially true if the supplier/distributer of any product is EU based).  The bigger problem is that a lot of retailers won't sell to the UK because the mess that the customs set up is in.

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