To import bike gear or not?

[Semantics]

just cause they are more expensive in some OTHER countries doesnt mean it means anything.

i wouldnt import a car from israel knowing that its 200% tax on vehicles would i?

anyways - i did notice oz prices are pretty much the same if not higher by a small amount, which negates to what has been said in the thread regarding to more people, more demand, lower price.

ended up getting a shark s800 locally anyways so meh :P

[Katman]

I remember hearing a saying a while back that goes - If you plan to make a small fortune out of a motorcycle shop make sure you start with a large fortune.

[Quasievil]

anyways - i did notice oz prices are pretty much the same if not higher by a small amount, which negates to what has been said in the thread regarding to more people, more demand, lower price.

Aussy has a higher cross over to usd rate than we do, if they are similar priced, yes it could mean bigger market or it could mean they enjoy reasonable margins.

Good to see youve supported your local industry though mate

[Robert Taylor]

I remember hearing a saying a while back that goes - If you plan to make a small fortune out of a motorcycle shop make sure you start with a large fortune.

Yep, seen it done rather more than a few times.

[Robert Taylor]

just cause they are more expensive in some OTHER countries doesnt mean it means anything.

i wouldnt import a car from israel knowing that its 200% tax on vehicles would i?

anyways - i did notice oz prices are pretty much the same if not higher by a small amount, which negates to what has been said in the thread regarding to more people, more demand, lower price.

ended up getting a shark s800 locally anyways so meh :P

The Aussies havent quite yet suffered the Yank disease, Aussies are also better paid and therefore possibly less attentive to everything having to be discounted. Hopefully their dealers get better margins.
Good to see that in the end event you supported local, that will preclude for a little while longer someone in the motorcycle industry losing their job.
BTW I see you are moving to Australia, is that because there are better prospects over their relevant to your training / higher living standards? Not being cynical, just curious.

[The Stranger:Me]

This is in fact the whole misconception clearly identified by your term ''stealerships''. It hasnt escaped everyones attention that many ( most )motorcycle dealerships dont survive until old age, BECAUSE the after tax profit just isnt there. If you dont believe me, try it as many have done and come unstuck. ( My own time was successful because I had the training and long experience beforehand ) So often I have heard to the effect, ''we are going to do it better and make sh..loads of money.'' Then theres the realisation, operating costs, taxes, levies, indifferent staff, warranty issues and poor reimbursement, technical issues that are very complex, a plethora of suppliers and product, credit control issues, cashflow issues...and more often than not you are in a ''dutch auction'' with not only other dealers but all of the overseas internet parasite companies.
The world is not a level playing field. Yankee companies are able to purchase many items of stock at bulk discounts just on the size of their domestic market alone. Because of volume they are able to operate on much slimmer margins. Their current weak dollar makes it attractive for overseas purchasers and also easy to parasite sales into these markets. They dont care a rats ar.e that the local authorised distributors in the markets they rape have often serious investments in stock and infrastructure and actually ( despite the unfairness of it all ) contribute to the local economy and employment.
I think more people should look at the bigger picture and look at the long term damage this is doing to our own local economy and infrastructure.

Isn't what you are advocating essentially protectionism?
It's always annoyed the hell out of me when it is practised against us, say for example in the dairy industry.
If everyone buys local then how do our exporters make money?

You may well remember the report that helped convince Rodger Douglas dismantle our auto assembly industry. The protectionism that the govt applied at the time to support our auto assembly industry cost us (you and me) $120,000.00 per worker per annum for the privilege of having an auto assembly industry. Was it money well spent? how have we, the consumer or the country, lost out due to it's demise?
I use that as only as an example of how out of whack protectionism can get.

I have always felt that what is best for a country as a whole is to let the economy find it's own efficiencies. Protectionism really doesn't help this process.

I'm not actually saying people should import their own gear. There are many reasons given in this thread why one should be cautious, and some others that I can think of (say recourse if the goods don't acutally arrive).
That said, I am about to purchase a set of headers from a performance specialist manufacturer in the USA. They are showing excellent performance gains and are about half the cost of of similar items from Akrapovic or Yoshimura. By the time I get them here they will be about a quarter of the cost (local basis). Screw it, he's put in the work and produced what is (on paper and reputedly) an excellent product at a very reasonable price. He deserves my money more so than the local Yoshi distributor.
Point is where I (as the consumer) see value is where I should spend my money.

I have dealt with you for suspension for 2 of my bikes and would certainly rather deal with yourself or Shaun Harris than a foreign entity as there is a huge value in the knowledge you guys have that exceeds the value in the product itself.
But that's MY decision thanks.

[Robert Taylor]

Isn't what you are advocating essentially protectionism?
It's always annoyed the hell out of me when it is practised against us, say for example in the dairy industry.
If everyone buys local then how do our exporters make money?

You may well remember the report that helped convince Rodger Douglas dismantle our auto assembly industry. The protectionism that the govt applied at the time to support our auto assembly industry cost us (you and me) $120,000.00 per worker per annum for the privilege of having an auto assembly industry. Was it money well spent? how have we, the consumer or the country, lost out due to it's demise?
I use that as only as an example of how out of whack protectionism can get.

I have always felt that what is best for a country as a whole is to let the economy find it's own efficiencies. Protectionism really doesn't help this process.

I'm not actually saying people should import their own gear. There are many reasons given in this thread why one should be cautious, and some others that I can think of (say recourse if the goods don't acutally arrive).
That said, I am about to purchase a set of headers from a performance specialist manufacturer in the USA. They are showing excellent performance gains and are about half the cost of of similar items from Akrapovic or Yoshimura. By the time I get them here they will be about a quarter of the cost (local basis). Screw it, he's put in the work and produced what is (on paper and reputedly) an excellent product at a very reasonable price. He deserves my money more so than the local Yoshi distributor.
Point is where I (as the consumer) see value is where I should spend my money.

I have dealt with you for suspension for 2 of my bikes and would certainly rather deal with yourself or Shaun Harris than a foreign entity as there is a huge value in the knowledge you guys have that exceeds the value in the product itself.
But that's MY decision thanks.

I hear what you are saying, Im not advocating protectionism, Im actually advocating a level playing field and sensibility. We are clearly too much now in the opposite direction to protectionism. That is doing no end of damage to NZ business. 2 out of 3 working age people are either employers or employess paying tax to support the other third, that horrifying statistic doesnt need to become yet more horrifying. It also pains me to see the huge investment many recognised distributors have in infrastructure and stock only to get the pi.. taken out of them with parallell importing and usually no back up. That is unethical and wrong.
At the moment Im mopping up some of the less than satisfactory results of another party importing a handful of dampers and then pretty much leaving the customers high and dry. Its too easy to import stuff and provide no backup. That sucks

[Semantics]

The Aussies havent quite yet suffered the Yank disease, Aussies are also better paid and therefore possibly less attentive to everything having to be discounted. Hopefully their dealers get better margins.
Good to see that in the end event you supported local, that will preclude for a little while longer someone in the motorcycle industry losing their job.
BTW I see you are moving to Australia, is that because there are better prospects over their relevant to your training / higher living standards? Not being cynical, just curious.

Oh no worries, just in my last sem at uni as an electrical engineer, Oz pays about 10k-20k more per year for salaries, has 5 times more job opportunity (according to seek) and in general - im getting sick of the rain, brissy sounds like an awesome sunny place to ride a bike

but i might just move to New Plymouth if i cant get a job up in oz... already kind of have job offers down there

[alanzs]

So its alright then to make a convenience of the local retailers, trying on their gear knowing full well that you are not going to buy off them? Thats a pretty rotten thing to do.

I agree with you 100%. If you try stuff on, or even waste their time with questions, recommendations, etc., with no intention of buying from them, that is totally fucked.

Part of good customer service requires a good customer...

[Quasievil]

brissy sounds like an awesome sunny place to ride a bike

great there unless you like water and washing yourself and your cars and bikes then you appreciate the rain we have here.

[Semantics]

meh u can still wash ur car or bike - and definetly yourself.

just for cars and bikes and stuff you need a bucket - no hose.

id rather wash my stuff with a bucket than worry that i need to ride around 6+ months of the year in rain

[Shaun]

Make your point dude.

if you hadnt noticed not much is made in New Zealand, most of us by items made offshore but that money is spent in our economy providing economic bennifits to this country, if you buy the same product off shore where is the economic bennifit for NZ ?

You are now as bad as Taylor dude. You guys pay tax as Importers, and also pay tax on your PROFIT, on the goods you import!! So you HAVE made a profit! $$$$

Taylor has staff he pays, and makes a profit from there work as well, that is good buisness.



Can you not employ NZ workers to make the product you make a profit from?? NO, as the costs here are to high, as are the importers mark up amount

Yea yea, you are a NZ company, that only sells product made by a 1 cent and hour worker, very well done on finding a way to make money from some elses way of feeding there family.

So, if a private person chooses to purchase off shore, and pay a lot less for there product, WHY SHOULD THEY NOT

Who really gives a fuck, if of shore purchases effect the TAX dept of buisness owners, that is a part of being in buisness, finding ways to make your self a better alternative to the Internet.

PS, thanks for your nice PM to me on your site.

[Shaun]

I hear what you are saying, Im not advocating protectionism, Im actually advocating a level playing field and sensibility. We are clearly too much now in the opposite direction to protectionism. That is doing no end of damage to NZ business. 2 out of 3 working age people are either employers or employess paying tax to support the other third, that horrifying statistic doesnt need to become yet more horrifying. It also pains me to see the huge investment many recognised distributors have in infrastructure and stock only to get the pi.. taken out of them with parallell importing and usually no back up. That is unethical and wrong.
At the moment Im mopping up some of the less than satisfactory results of another party importing a handful of dampers and then pretty much leaving the customers high and dry. Its too easy to import stuff and provide no backup. That sucks

O you are so nice ROB

[Shaun]

Robert T and Quasi evel, how many times and miles have you both driven your officual buisness vehicles on private buisness? That the company fuel card paid for, YEP guys, that is also ripping off the NZ economy, and do not try to say you DO NOT do this.

[Quasievil]

Im bowing out, cant be bothered arguing about it.

buy whereever you want people, I just think if its in NZ get it here, otherwise no one will bother bringing it in anymore.

have a good one

Shaun dont be a grumpy bugger, I still love you ya big poof head