Shocking price rises!!??

[Deadlake]

42 minutes ago, Stu said:

You talked about corvid being a reason for the price rises, rather than covid. Just a little tease 😉

The joy of auto correct.....

On another note, any cheaper way of not paying the £8 handling charge to Royal Mail for imports? All adds up.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Deadlake

[AstroNebulee]

5 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

there will ALWAYS be a healthy second hand market .. maybe even more so as a lot of people entered into astronomy during the pandemic but have decided that they do not wish to  pursue it anymore . 

Agreed, the second hand market will be quite buoyant and bountiful soon enough, full of astro goodies 

[Louis D]

5 hours ago, Deadlake said:

any cheaper way of not paying the £8 handling charge to Royal Mail for imports?

Buy local within your home country? 😉

[Deadlake]

59 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Buy local within your home country? 😉

Stellarvue does not have any dealers in in EU for example. The list goes on and on.... 

[johninderby]

There used to be Stellarvue dealers in the UK but Stellarvue  didn’t have the capacity to reliably supply dealers outside of the US. Dealers might have to wait for six months when ordering in a scope for a customer whereas the customer could order directly from Stellarvue and get the scope in a week. No wonder the UK dealers kicked Stellarvue into touch.

Edited March 28, 2021 by johninderby

[billhinge]

On 26/03/2021 at 12:23, billhinge said:

I  blame TV or lack of now. Back  in the 70's they did good  educational tv, one of  the  unsung goodies was Weekend World on Sunday 12.00 lunchtime with Peter Jay and Brian Walden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekend_World

Even as kid I  was interested in  velocity of money, M0 to M4 money supply, Keynesian economics models vs gold standard, and rising costs of materials at the factory gates, domino theory etc 🙂 

guess   it influenced me to expect price rises - never  let a good crisis go  to  waste (they even put prices up when they changed from  old money to decimal ;-( 

Given the Suez ship is blocking traffic to the tune of  $10bn per day it wouldn't surprise me if there were further price rises, someone is  going to have to be out of pocket, I  guess it won't  be shipping companies  and suppliers ...

 

[Louis D]

21 hours ago, Deadlake said:

Stellarvue does not have any dealers in in EU for example. The list goes on and on.... 

Doesn't Altair Astro sell very similar scopes under their own label in the UK?

[Deadlake]

16 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Doesn't Altair Astro sell very similar scopes under their own label in the UK?

They do not sell Stellarvue cases or EP's.

[johninderby]

Stellarvue does make some of their own scopes but they also do buy in a lot of scopes from the same Chinese source as Altair, Tecnosky, TS etc.

Edited March 29, 2021 by johninderby

[DAVE AMENDALL]

Celestron  C11xlt  OTA was just over £2000 this time last year. It's now currently at  £2,450 .

If you can get one!...Dave

[Deadlake]

3 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Stellarvue does make some of their own scopes but they also do buy in a lot of scopes from the same Chinese source as Altair, Tecnosky, TS etc.

I think they have stopped this now, now they make their own scopes. However nice they are, no dealer network in the EU any more. 

[Louis D]

9 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

They do not sell Stellarvue cases or EP's.

Well, the 55 degree planetaries have been sold over the years under numerous other labels, their UWAs are the same as the 4mm, 7mm, and 16mm UWAs sold under other labels, and their Optimus eyepieces are the same as the APM XWA HDCs.  I'm not as familiar with other suppliers for soft cases, though.

[Louis D]

4 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

I think they have stopped this now, now they make their own scopes. However nice they are, no dealer network in the EU any more. 

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.

[Deadlake]

2 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Well, the 55 degree planetaries have been sold over the years under numerous other labels, their UWAs are the same as the 4mm, 7mm, and 16mm UWAs sold under other labels, and their Optimus eyepieces are the same as the APM XWA HDCs.  I'm not as familiar with other suppliers for soft cases, though.

The Stellarvue Ep's have stainless steel barrels and block stray light entering (when you look at the moon) over the APM XWA's. Closer to Televue build standard. Vic does not make rubbish. 

[Deadlake]

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.

They now do, even up to 180 mm APO. I think they have no where else to go. Either mass production or high end.

Here you go:

https://www.stellarvue.com/optical-glass-types/

Edited March 30, 2021 by Deadlake

[iapa]

Cost of shipping a container have raised by a factor of 4 or 5 for some carriers

Recently there has been tens of thousands of EMPTY containers sitting in the UK alone that can’t go anywhere.

International limitations for imports, increased border checks, fewer staff available and, dare I say it Brexit have all impacted.

Wur doomed......

[wesdon1]

On 26/03/2021 at 11:47, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Just a bit... but tbh I wasn't expecting +30% and it's doubtful the average consumer really expected that much of a hike either.

So sorry to be replying almost 2 months later! 

Yes i was completely blind sided by it tbh. I was also doubly annoyed bc i was just weeks away from saving up my estimated costs of around £4-5'000 to buy a completely new setup, everything needed for astrophotography. I've since bought it all, but much lower spec'd equipment where the price rise was just too great. Now all i need is this damn British weather to play ball!?? lol. Wes. Liverpool.

( Bortle 9+! No joke! I've had to invent the "9+" Bortle scale for where i live cos it's almost as bright as a Beach at midday in high summer!! lol )

Edited May 3, 2021 by wesdon1
spelling and missed word

[Swoop1]

I haven't read the whole thread but will add my two pennies worth (or should that now be ten pennies worth?).

I work in the bicycle trade in an independant local bike shop. Since the Covid situation raised it's ugly head, prices in my industry have increased quite dramatically for the finished product. Bikes have increased between 15 and 45%.

There are several reasons for this. These include the usual annual price rise which will account for some of the increase. There is also the increase in shipping costs. Pre Covid, it is estimated that the average slice of the cost of a new bike relating to shipping was around £5. It is now estimated to be between £60 and £100. I had a conversation with a customer involved in import/ export (no, his name wasn't Bond James Bond) and he said that prior to Covid, you could rent a shipping container for around £8k. That figure is now £35-40k. He went on to say that it was getting uneconomical to ship empty containers back to their port of origin so, empty containers sit dockside whilst new container production has inreased.

Another reason is the increased costs of components. This is lead by a massively disrupted supply chain. Bike manufacturers are waiting on component manufacturers to deliver parts such as cassettes, derailleurs etc. Component manufacturers are waiting on the manufacturers of the parts they use such as springs and pins and bolts and screws. These manufacturers are waiting on the suppliers of the steel, alloys etc. from which the bits are made. The makers of the metals and plastics are waiting for the folk to supply the raw materials. Massive delays result in increased prices as the suppliers need to keep their businesses afloat.

On top of the delays in supply, each of the steps in the above chain is working on reduced capacity because of Covid related social distancing on the production lines. Where a line may have had 50 people on it, this has been at least halved so fewer products roll off the line.  Before Covid, we could order spares and have them delivered within a few days with very few exceptions. Our workshop is currently ordering some spares that our supplier estimates we may see this time next year.

Astronomy equipment production and supply works in the same way as my industry so, unsurprisingly, prices have increased. Sadly, this is the increased financial price we pay for enjoying a hobby in the current climate. The moral of this tale is-

a) Think carefuly about whether you really need that new thing.

b) If you have a thing that works, for gods sake don't break it!

 

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

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 ) things will only get worse . Fuel prices mean price rises for EVERYTHING  that is transported . 

I work in the timber industry , timber has gone up 35% for certain species ! I'm sorry but as distasteful as we all think it is , there will be no decreases in astronomy equipment prices for the foreseeable future , if indeed at all . 

 

[Commanderfish]

There's also the fact that we've dropped out of the EU Customs Union (meaning VAT and duty are now chargeable from the EU even on second hand goods).

The real shocker is that buying second hand goods from outside the country is now subject to 20 per cent VAT and 4 per cent customs duty, also chargeable on the shipping!

Personally I've found it really annoying that buying from TS in Germany is now subject to Vat. The one exclusion is where the sale is less than £150 (because that is covered by the EU-UK trade deal) - I've tested this with an order for £103 and wasn't charged Vat or duty by TS or DHL, so it is being honoured.

Also we've dropped out of all the EU's trade deals with other countries, so items from other countries should be subject to some level of import duty which should have increased cost on both parts and finished products. Depending on what deal the EU had with the third country, the new charges may be higher than we used to have.

[Stu]

45 minutes ago, Commanderfish said:

Personally I've found it really annoying that buying from TS in Germany is now subject to Vat. The one exclusion is where the sale is less than £150 (because that is covered by the EU-UK trade deal) - I've tested this with an order for £103 and wasn't charged Vat or duty by TS or DHL, so it is being honoured.

Worth checking directly with them. Astroshop.eu for instance sent me this response about their approach.

[Nigella Bryant]

I recently bought an expensive Lunt CaK module from Astroshop eu in their sale and it was a very smooth transaction with no extra vat or customs fees on my part. Just payed for the price on their website and about £20 ups service. Would definitely use again.

[Stu]

Just now, Nigella Bryant said:

I recently bought an expensive Lunt CaK module from Astroshop eu in their sale and it was a very smooth transaction with no extra vat or customs fees on my part. Just payed for the price on their website and about £20 ups service. Would definitely use again.

Excellent, so they are as good as their word! 👍

[Commanderfish]

I wonder how astroshop.eu are doing this for orders above £150? Or is it only for orders below £150..?

[Stu]

15 minutes ago, Commanderfish said:

I wonder how astroshop.eu are doing this for orders above £150? Or is it only for orders below £150..?

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??