Shocking price rises!!??

[Davey-T]

Was considering buying a Prusa 3D printer as all the parts are available separately maybe I should buy a few bits at a time 😂

Dave

[JeremyS]

3 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Just an observation , but if you look at fuel prices and how they are now rising (The oil companies have a cartel and they artificially increase value by restricting production ) 

 

This is untrue and would be illegal for oil companies to act in that way.

[Adam J]

On 29/03/2021 at 16:11, Louis D said:

It's my understanding that they take Chinese scopes and refigure, respace, and recoat the lenses for optimal performance.  At least that's what I read somewhere once.  They don't do everything from scratch like A-P.

I doubt that they refigure you might as well start from scratch as it would be just as expensive.  They may well have been optimised for SA via spacing / re-centering and maybe had the elements optimised in respect to their relative rotations to minimise other optical aberrations such as astigmatism and higher order SA though. 

Adam

[reezeh]

2 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

This is untrue and would be illegal for oil companies to act in that way.

They have been doing it for years: OPEC is one such example. 

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, reezeh said:

They have been doing it for years: OPEC is one such example. 

No: OPEC is not an oil company. It is a grouping of sovereign countries.

[reezeh]

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

No: OPEC is not an oil company. It is a grouping of sovereign countries.

Okay then. But it still works as a cartel.

The "big six" energy companies then. One puts their price up,  the other five follow suit within a few days. If they were actually in competition they would not be doing that. You'll also find that they'll put their prices up rather quicker than they reduce them when wholesale costs go down. 

[Deadlake]

19 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

This is untrue and would be illegal for oil companies to act in that way.

Isn't OPEC meant to set quota's to balance price and over/under supply. If the oil producing states charge too much they will cause a recession in the end user countries and not enough uneconomic to extract. 

Interesting that the UK is not part of OPEC.

Petrol prices at the pump in the UK are largely made up by the largest duty charge levied on the planet.

This is obviously set by the UK government which for the vast majority of my life has been conservative.

Any slight change in the refined petrol price will be magnified by this levy.

At the same time I would like it explained that why do petrol prices go up in school holidays, very correlated.

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Deadlake

[MiladyB]

The price/supply issue is leaving me with a massive dilemma. I REALLY want to buy a Heritage 150p when they're back in stock, but I'll have to gamble regarding the price not falling again. If I leave it, am I risking having to wait months for them to come back into stock again?

It'll be my first telescope, but I do have binos to keep me going. So hard to know what to do for the best. May just have to bite the bullet and go for it. 

MiladyB 

[Deadlake]

Just now, MiladyB said:

The price/supply issue is leaving me with a massive dilemma. I REALLY want to buy a Heritage 150p when they're back in stock, but I'll have to gamble regarding the price not falling again. If I leave it, am I risking having to wait months for them to come back into stock again?

It'll be my first telescope, but I do have binos to keep me going. So hard to know what to do for the best. May just have to bite the bullet and go for it. 

MiladyB 

Why do you think they come down???

[JeremyS]

6 minutes ago, reezeh said:

Okay then. But it still works as a cartel.

The "big six" energy companies then. One puts their price up,  the other five follow suit within a few days. If they were actually in competition they would not be doing that. You'll also find that they'll put their prices up rather quicker than they reduce them when wholesale costs go down. 

OPEC being made of sovereign nations is permitted to operate as a cartel. They can set crude oil production targets, for example.

Oil & gas companies in UK respect competition law. 
As an employee of one of these companies I will refrain from further comment. I just want the facts to be correctly stated.

Returning to discussions on Astro gear....

Edited May 6, 2021 by JeremyS

[Tiny Clanger]

3 minutes ago, MiladyB said:

The price/supply issue is leaving me with a massive dilemma. I REALLY want to buy a Heritage 150p when they're back in stock, but I'll have to gamble regarding the price not falling again. If I leave it, am I risking having to wait months for them to come back into stock again?

It'll be my first telescope, but I do have binos to keep me going. So hard to know what to do for the best. May just have to bite the bullet and go for it. 

MiladyB 

Excellent choice (it has to be, I made it too 🙂 )

If you are thinking of ordering from FLO, this might sway you:

 

The system FLO use for out of stock orders is to queue them by the date when the order was placed, so you secure a place in the queue for the it when the delivery comes. Your credit card is debited immediately when you place the order though.

Heather

[reezeh]

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Returning to discussions on Astro gear....

Please do as it is wandering into the realms of forbidden territory on here

[MiladyB]

4 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Why do you think they come down???

Are you recommending I wait it out and hope everyone else does too, in the hope that container prices fall again and prices come down, or saying I'm potty for even thinking they might? Either viewpoint is perfectly valid at the moment, I suspect.  😂

MiladyB

[reezeh]

11 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Isn't OPEC meant to set quota's to balance price and over/under supply. If the oil producing states charge too much they will cause a recession in the end user countries and not enough uneconomic to extract. 

Interesting that the UK is not part of OPEC.

Petrol prices at the pump in the UK are largely made up by the largest duty charge levied on the planet.

This is obviously set by the UK government which for the vast majority of my life has been conservative.

Any slight change in the refined petrol price will be magnified by this levy.

At the same time I would like it explained that why do petrol prices go up in school holidays, very correlated.

 

Much as can be said, I do believe that discussing politics and associated things is against the rules on here, so I got to agree that it's best to drop it 😉

[MiladyB]

8 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Excellent choice (it has to be, I made it too 🙂 )

If you are thinking of ordering from FLO, this might sway you:

 

The system FLO use for out of stock orders is to queue them by the date when the order was placed, so you secure a place in the queue for the it when the delivery comes. Your credit card is debited immediately when you place the order though.

Heather

That's very handy to know,  thank you x

[reezeh]

3 minutes ago, MiladyB said:

Are you recommending I wait it out and hope everyone else does too, in the hope that container prices fall again and prices come down, or saying I'm potty for even thinking they might? Either viewpoint is perfectly valid at the moment, I suspect.  😂

MiladyB

Unless you are an old codger like me, you can afford to wait a few years for things to settle. Eventually they will, as they always have 😃

[Tiny Clanger]

15 minutes ago, MiladyB said:

The price/supply issue is leaving me with a massive dilemma. I REALLY want to buy a Heritage 150p when they're back in stock, but I'll have to gamble regarding the price not falling again. If I leave it, am I risking having to wait months for them to come back into stock again?

It'll be my first telescope, but I do have binos to keep me going. So hard to know what to do for the best. May just have to bite the bullet and go for it. 

MiladyB 

The FLO page for the heritage says "Out of stock due 7-10 working days" , I'd go for it !

I ordered my second 'scope from FLO when it was out of stock but similarly expected soon , I emailed wondering what the setup was, and asking if it was possible to make an educated guess if the number of backorders would be so great there would be no 'scope left for me . I was given the guess , which I had explained I fully appreciated was just speculation, made the order, got the 127 mak shortly after. 

I was dubious about paying in advance, but it is the way their system works, so it's up  to the buyer to choose if it seems reasonable . I'd trust them to do the decent thing. If you were to get a credit note due to price fall, you won't have any trouble finding something to spend it on

Heather

[MiladyB]

2 minutes ago, reezeh said:

Unless you are an old codger like me, you can afford to wait a few years for things to settle. Eventually they will, as they always have 😃

Hehe, who knows?! I hope so!

In the meantime I'm filling my house with astronomy books in the hope my husband suggests we move and I can find a house with a garden suitable for an observatory 😁

MiladyB 

[Commanderfish]

55 minutes ago, Stu said:

Must be all orders as Nigella’s purchase would have been over £150. They didn’t mention any limit in the comms to me

I assume there is a mechanism for them to not charge EU VAT but to pay the U.K. VAT on your behalf??

There isn't any EU Vat, it's UK Vat as the consumer is in the UK. Large companies outside the UK have to charge the customer the UK Vat rate and pay it to the UK HMRC. Small companies don't have to do this, but the tax rules still apply the same; if the order is over £150 the Vat has to be charged, but is charged at point of import by the carrier. It sounds like what's happening here is not fully compliant. A common way round for small companies is to under declare the value of the goods.  I'm not saying that's what's happening, but something is...

Edited May 6, 2021 by Commanderfish

[Stu1smartcookie]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

This is untrue and would be illegal for oil companies to act in that way.

really ????? what about OPEC ?????   ( only just read a previous answer ) .... OPEC meet to discuss reducing supply which in turn increases the price of oil "to" the oil companies who in turn put up pump prices to all which translates to higher costs which then get passed onto the beleaguered consumer who basically pays twice !!!

Fuel rarely goes down in price ... maybe a penny here or there ... unfortunately we are in the middle of a round of fuel prices being hiked which means higher costs for EVERYTHING potentially 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Stu1smartcookie

[Stu1smartcookie]

58 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

Petrol prices at the pump in the UK are largely made up by the largest duty charge levied on the planet.

as well as in Ireland 

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, MiladyB said:

I REALLY want to buy a Heritage 150p when they're back in stock, but I'll have to gamble regarding the price not falling again.

As long as demand remains strong and there is no domestic supplier to undercut them, Chinese made scopes will likely stay at inflated prices for the foreseeable future.  It's not in their best interest to cut prices if they can sell everything they make at the current prices.  They've already driven out or bought out just about every non-premium astro equipment supplier over the last two decades, so they're not likely to be undercut on price by a local producer.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Commanderfish said:

There isn't any EU Vat

Only if they don’t charge it, which some have been so you end up paying double.

[Deadlake]

41 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

really ????? what about OPEC ?????   ( only just read a previous answer ) .... OPEC meet to discuss reducing supply which in turn increases the price of oil "to" the oil companies who in turn put up pump prices to all which translates to higher costs which then get passed onto the beleaguered consumer who basically pays twice !!!

Fuel rarely goes down in price ... maybe a penny here or there ... unfortunately we are in the middle of a round of fuel prices being hiked which means higher costs for EVERYTHING potentially 

This would a recession in the OPEC countries and end user countries, I don't really follow.

[Stu1smartcookie]

1 minute ago, Deadlake said:

This would a recession in the OPEC countries and end user countries, I don't really follow.

The world relies on oil . its a captive audience . They set the quantity , they set the rate . And the rest is history , a very expensive one .