Ranting about NZ retailers

[HenryDorsetCase]

What people need to understand though is that it is Bluewing that need to cop it in the neck if the consumer is unhappy - not the poor old retailer who is tied to the price that Bluewing sets.

fine in theory and completely unworkable in practice: customers have no relationship with Blue Wing. And of course if you try and establish one they tell you to get fucked, if they even respond. I am still waiting for a response to my query about the availablility and pricing for a CB1100F (which they filmed the fucking commercial for in NZ!)

a discussion I had with someone in the industry was along the lines of "Honda own the farmbike and utility bike market in this country, thats where there profits are, they only sell the other stuff cos they have to"

[HenryDorsetCase]

And lose their contract to sell new Hondas?

I don't think you understand how the motor vehicle industry in New Zealand works.

the same way it has since the 1950's?

maybe thats actually the problem?

[imdying]

What people need to understand though is that it is Bluewing that need to cop it in the neck if the consumer is unhappy - not the poor old retailer who is tied to the price that Bluewing sets.

My avenue to Blue Wing is through my dealer. It is in my interests for all the Honda dealers to go broke, I don't see any other way the message will get through. Blue Wing won't sell many bikes without a dealer network. I could give two craps if I need to import my new bike myself, it's cheaper and there's NZ companies in the USA that specialise in just that.

[Disco Dan]

How do you get around paying duty on it then????

I ordered about $1200 worth of brand new parts for a classic mini a few months back (would have cost $2500-3000 from local) - Got a phone call from customs to say I had to pay duty tax before they would release it. From memory I think the duty tax was something in the range of $300-$400. Still worked out cheaper - but only flipping just.

I was told that if you can buy a part in NZ but you choose to buy it overseas then they charge you duty tax?

[scott411]

How do you get around paying duty on it then????

I ordered about $1200 worth of brand new parts for a classic mini a few months back (would have cost $2500-3000 from local) - Got a phone call from customs to say I had to pay duty tax before they would release it. From memory I think the duty tax was something in the range of $300-$400. Still worked out cheaper - but only flipping just.

I was told that if you can buy a part in NZ but you choose to buy it overseas then they charge you duty tax?

there are some things with Duty (clothing is one, did not think car parts were tho), but most of the time you get charged GST, the same as if you were buying it off a NZ retailer (15%)

[Disco Dan]

there are some things with Duty (clothing is one, did not think car parts were tho), but most of the time you get charged GST, the same as if you were buying it off a NZ retailer (15%)

Well the box had "MINI SPARES.CO.UK" in huge red writing all over it. Whenever I have ordered off them it never gets through customs without me getting a call to pay duty.

[James Deuce]

There's a Nelson based crowd who I get seals and bushes and oil filters from.

I've just made them sound like like a sex toys shop.

Really well stocked, good range and stuff turns up very quickly.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Lis...member=3508279

Just like overseas but local.

[HenryDorsetCase]

How do you get around paying duty on it then????

I ordered about $1200 worth of brand new parts for a classic mini a few months back (would have cost $2500-3000 from local) - Got a phone call from customs to say I had to pay duty tax before they would release it. From memory I think the duty tax was something in the range of $300-$400. Still worked out cheaper - but only flipping just.

I was told that if you can buy a part in NZ but you choose to buy it overseas then they charge you duty tax?

most of my stuff is under the magic $400. THe helmet I bought last month hit my card at $600 odd NZ and I got dinged $118 in GST and biosecurity and all that bullshit.

like everything, do the sums.

THey will have sent you a detailed invoice for what they charged you: I dont think (but am not certain) that you were charged "duty" i.e. import duty: I dont think a duty applies to motor vehicle parts (but am not certain). What you were probably charged was something along the lines of a biosecurity levy (aka paying to have your package sniffed by a beagle - so, money well spent) then GST on that levy (tax on a tax: awesome.) then GST on the landed cost including that. But $3-400 sounds a bit steep: the GST on $1200 NZD is only $180 after all): I just shredded my invoice otherwise I would have detailed it out.

by the way if you bought parts that were $2500 here for a landed cost to you of "$1600 ($1200 plus $400) then you have made a significant saving, far more than "only flipping just"

[imdying]

How do you get around paying duty on it then????

You don't, you pay it; but there is no duty on car parts, only GST.

I ordered about $1200 worth of brand new parts for a classic mini a few months back (would have cost $2500-3000 from local) - Got a phone call from customs to say I had to pay duty tax before they would release it. From memory I think the duty tax was something in the range of $300-$400. Still worked out cheaper - but only flipping just.

2500 - (1200+400) = 900, and this is only just? I'll take your $900 if it's that insignificant.

I was told that if you can buy a part in NZ but you choose to buy it overseas then they charge you duty tax?

You've been talking to an idiot... how the hell would Customs know which parts could or could not be obtained in NZ? The charges for private importers are all laid out clearly on their website, go look.

[Katman]

My avenue to Blue Wing is through my dealer. It is in my interests for all the Honda dealers to go broke, I don't see any other way the message will get through. Blue Wing won't sell many bikes without a dealer network. I could give two craps if I need to import my new bike myself, it's cheaper and there's NZ companies in the USA that specialise in just that.

Actually, I'm not too concerned about the dealers either. Precisely why I never intend to align myself with any one brand.

If all the dealers go bust it would work considerably in my favour.

There would be a lot of boo-hooing going on here though when there's no bike shops to go kick tyres in.

[Road kill]

Two weeks ago I was shopping for some dive gear and found "on line" a good deal at a local shop which is part of a large chain.

Rang them an was told "yes we have several pairs in stock.

So dropped in the next day to find that even though they were still listed as being in stock "there were none on the shelf.

No worries I'm heading into the city tomorrow so I'll pick them up at your Manukau store.

Next day I walk into that branch and find the price has gone up 30% over night.

I ask to see their web site and the things are still listed at the original price so I push for that "but she ain't budging.

So I tell her to shove it an I'm never shopping here again "of course she couldn't give a crap as she actually is one of the brain dead shop flunky types just holding out for a job at KFC.

Anyway,that shop has this week advertised all their stock at 25% off for the xmas period "so there still going to be 5% up on two weeks ago.

When I went to a different store and told them what had happened they just said "that chain of shops does that every year.

The shop that messed me over is an NZ based chain that have a reputation for this sort of thing "REBEL SPORTS".

The shop I ended up buying from "FCO" are an Australian based chain.

It makes it hard to support locals when their such obvious cheats.

[Bassmatt]

When I went to a different store and told them what had happened they just said "that chain of shops does that every year.

Well they would say that wouldn't they? Did you expect they would tell you how wonderful thier competitors are?

[Robert Taylor]

How do you get around paying duty on it then????

I ordered about $1200 worth of brand new parts for a classic mini a few months back (would have cost $2500-3000 from local) - Got a phone call from customs to say I had to pay duty tax before they would release it. From memory I think the duty tax was something in the range of $300-$400. Still worked out cheaper - but only flipping just.

I was told that if you can buy a part in NZ but you choose to buy it overseas then they charge you duty tax?

Yes youve bought up an important point, often ( but not always ) a high percentage of the difference is the fact so much stuff is coming in without attracting clearance charges and gst on the value of the goods .
Distributors / retailers have to pay all of these charges so why should it be any different for Joe Bloggs???????????????????????????
There was an interesting article in the newspapers a week or so back. In Australia this problem is also rampant and many retailers are going to the wall there ( aside from that horror woman Gillard exacerbating that ). They just cannot compete with many products from overseas due to many factors including a very strong Aussie dollar and the threshold for Australian customs to become interested in privately imported goods is around $800 ( dingo dollars ) Lobbying from the retail sector there has got the Government seriously considering lowering the threshold to just $30. How workable that will be with the sheer volume of incoming freight will be interesting. But such a policy will go some way in helping to redress an inequity that retailers ( who employ ordinary everyday people ) are expected to somehow cope with, without going to the wall.
Please understand that this post is dealing with that inequity and doesnt seek to justify other inequities such as too many people clipping the ticket and dealers / distributors who havent moved with the times.
Clearly the Government here should be looking at also having a near zero threshold and therefore applying clearance charges and gst to pretty much everything that is coming in. One way perhaps would be to legislate that the banks act as revenue and gst collectors for the Government on every overseas transaction, and make this watertight. But there is no one easy solution. BUT, this would give the Government a lot more much needed revenue that it is seriously missing out on and would add a not insgnificant extra level of job security FOR OUR OWN PEOPLE.
Given that in this current inequitable environment many retailers are going to the wall is it any wonder that the unemployment figures are so sobering? This wouldnt fix the problem but would at least go some way to fixing it.
So Disco Dan, you were clearly hoping that you wouldnt get charged clearances and gst and the body language of your account of this indicates you werent that happy about it. TOUGH, welcome to reality for retailers. But if this ''roll of the dice'' was removed and clearances and gst had to be charged regardless you'd think twice about buying offshore if the price difference became small rather than large . Thereby supporting NZ retailers ( at least those who are pro-active to this new environment we are in )AND THE ORDINARY EVERYDAY NEW ZEALANDERS THEY EMPLOY. Just like you in your non retail vocation they have to earn a living somehow.
There are plenty of people on this forum of left of centre persuasion convinced they have the moral high ground on espousing social justice. But where is the social justice in an inequitable regime of taxing imports that clearly is having a significant and negative imoact on the dole queue? Are these same people ( hypocritically ) buying much of their product offshore but at the same time decrying the unemployment figures? Ok, thats a pretty simplistic statement but people who have sat down and thought through all the negative implications will understand where I am coming from.
But also Ive said it before, exchange rate has a major influence. Back in 2000 for a period of time our kiwi dollar was worth only about 41 cents US. Try reworking out the figures on that basis. Also bear in mind that not all products come from North Mexico ( the USA )

[Robert Taylor]

There's a Nelson based crowd who I get seals and bushes and oil filters from.

I've just made them sound like like a sex toys shop.

Really well stocked, good range and stuff turns up very quickly.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Lis...member=3508279

Just like overseas but local.

What brand are the oil filters? Compared to oem what is the relative percentage of filtration paper used?. What is the filtration capacity in microns? What is the relief valve opening pressure compared to oem and tolerance range?

Back in the late 80s when I worked for the then Yamaha distributor ( who were solidly second in the marketplace ) we purchased a whole load of aftermarket oil filters and had them scientifically analysed. One high profile brand had only 60% of the paper area of oem. Across the samplingrange relief valve opening pressures and filtration capacity were all over the place.
At that time it was a solid indication of how these manufacturers added cheapness

[James Deuce]

What brand are the oil filters? Compared to oem what is the relative percentage of filtration paper used?. What is the filtration capacity in microns? What is the relief valve opening pressure compared to oem and tolerance range?

Back in the late 80s when I worked for the then Yamaha distributor ( who were solidly second in the marketplace ) we purchased a whole load of aftermarket oil filters and had them scientifically analysed. One high profile brand had only 60% of the paper area of oem. Across the samplingrange relief valve opening pressures and filtration capacity were all over the place.
At that time it was a solid indication of how these manufacturers added cheapness

Pyramid Parts is the parent company and these are simple paper cartridges not spin-on. Pyramid do a lot of business in the UK, and were recommended on the XJR owners forum, so I'm confident they are fine. If the state of the one that came out (that was supposedly changed just before I picked up the bike, along with the tar like oil) was anything to go by then the what I've put in is an improvement. I'm not going to get that technical about it, but I'm also not paying what the retailer expected me to pay for an OEM part. If I bought 8 new OEM filters then I could have bought a lower mileage engine from a wrecker.

While I have your attention, I need to visit and do something about these "Ohlins" shocks. They're a bit under sprung. Some '99 R1 forks would be an idea too - one day . I shall call in the New Year.