[nickyboyo]

Good day folks, here is a good example of the pains us Aussies have to go through in obtaining components from American sources-

I am after the capacitors required to carry out Dr.Xin's mod to my sony srf-s83 radio. 4 mini capacitors in total, if bought singularly less than $1. Total shipping to aus, hold on and brace yourself- $45!!!

If there are any kind hearted Americans out there about to put an order in with digikey and would be prepared to place these bits within their order then post them to me in Australia would you please let me know.

Of course all costs will be covered and you will have my eternal gratitude

Thank you for any help any of you may be able to give me.

 

[qusp]

I know dude it really sucks getting parts sent over here, you really have to limit the number of suppliers for any build that you do. for example I just setup an order for about 35 various different switchcraft and neutrik mini's at markertek. great prices for the parts (about 190US for what would cost me $280 australian here...... but.... then when i went to the checkout they added $90USD to the order for shipping. so not cheaper at all really. seems to be a set price for anything under 2kg. so would be good if you were getting heaps. seems to be a pretty common arrangement.

pity you posted this week and not last week though. because I ordered some wire and mundorf and blackgate caps just last week from hificollective in england and you will probably find somewhere cheaper for them than that but they had a whole heap of things I wanted ion one place so I used them (easy ordering system too) what sort of caps did you need? I'm probably making another order in two weeks if you are still stuck. shoot me a message and i'll see if they have them. there shipping/handling wasn't too much on my mixed order. about 10 pounds if i remember. they have quite a range so will more than likely have something appropriate; maybe not so cheap as $1 because they don't really carry consumer caps (more high-end) but you will be able to get something great and still have heaps of change out of $45 let me know the specs/value and size requirement so I can have a look. even if they dont have the exact ones they will probably have something appropriate. I know of a number of different sources for caps O.S and there is even a couple of places here in OZ. A bit on the pricey side though and not such a great range but it sure beats $45 postage

If they do and you can wait; i'll split the shipping with you and post them on from brisbane.

 

[nickyboyo]

No worries qusp, and thanks for your help bud, i will keep it in mind mate.

 

[No Smoking]

Shipping is not the only way were getting ripped off. Just have a look at amazon and other online dealers in america for things like laptops, A/V receivers, amplifiers and then go hunting around australia stores and youll notice for the exact same model there is a $200-400 dollar difference which is just outrageous.

 

[qusp]

Gidday guys,

Yeah I know, if you want to buy something domestically; electronics wise, get ready to be ripped off. often we get charged close to 200% (sometimes more) of what things cost overseas. For example when I was buying my last IEMS and choosing between the SE530PTH and triple.fi's I thought I'd have a look and see exactly how much I would pay here in oz and support the local economy.... OH MY GOD!!!! I found the triples for as low as $440(they were $330 OS) which is cheap by the normal standard. the SE530PTH here in OZ went for as much as $690!!!!! can you believe that. Add to that the fact that places like earphones%$#^s aren't allowed to ship shure products to people in Australia forcing people to buy them here if they wan't any form of warranty support; Its one big market fixing scam. I actually emailed shure about this and I said something like 'why so expensive? our dollar is pretty good these days; on the way to parity ' they gave me a line like 'we price things according to long term fluctuations in the currency market', I think he said about 4 years or something. What a load of bulls$#t the dollar hasn't been as low as .60 at l;east 12 years; I can't even remember when. Luckily I was able to get some sent over from a relative; paid $420AU. Another example is the ITUNES MUSIC STORE. We pay $1.69 for a .99 song!!!! there isn't even a physical product for that one so no shipping; no nothing; just pure unadulterated profit.

The result is that even though we pay exorbitant prices for shipping sometimes; even with that addition we are STILL saving money as opposed to buying locally (good deals can be found with a lot of searching and of course we can't even get some of the more exotic things here anyway) one more example one quote I got for PTFE insulating tubing here was $7 a metre instead of the $2 you pay OS. so DIY'ing means that you have to buy a decent amount and ship only once. Still save heaps of $ though and its fun.

I'll stop my little ti-raid now; it makes me so fu#$ing mad!!!!

It means that all this money is leaving our country for ever. Nice ONE!!!!

 

[m0b1liz3]

qusp, I totally agree with what you are saying. As someone who used to live in North America, moving to Australia was a bit of an eye opener. I couldn't believe how much things cost. Even t-shirts are double what they would cost in NA. There are so many monopolies set up that many things seem a total rip off. One of the worst ones I noticed right away was the internet. Telstra is basically a government supported monopoly. Some things have come down in price like computer parts because of competition from stores like MSY etc. Until there is proper competition, whenever someone has a monopoly in a little niche market they will charge whatever they want.

However, that being said, I think many Aussies have more disposable income than overseas. When you are working in a low end retail job minimum wage is under $10. In Aus you get a fair bit more. Also, most people get more vacation time, better quality of life etc. It sucks to be ripped off for goods and have to order them from overseas but things probably balance out in the end $-wise. For now, I just try to order things from overseas online or go on shopping sprees when traveling abroad.

 

[nsx_23]

What! Earphone solutions don't ship SE530 to Australia! Boo......

There goes my upgrade. I hope they ship UE stuff overseas...

 

[qusp]

Yeah, I wouldn't live in the states if you paid me (I love it here too much) so yes there are many other things to take into account. I wouldn't have the luxury to spend the amount of time that I do on this hobby probably. So while its a pain, I do love it here so I wouldn't change it for the world. I can't remember the last time I bought something substantial locally and thats a real shame... oh well. I'd love to get over there sometime for a visit though; especially New York

nsx_23..

they do ship UE I bought the triples from them and they ship for free on orders over $100-$150 I cant remember because it wasn't an issue not going over that in my case

and most otherbrands too I think; just not shure. I bought the triple and sent it back for a warranty/repair upgrade to because I had an issue with the cable breaking on the inside near the earpiece (audio was distorted in that ear) after only a few days. The build quality is suspect IMO as I treated them with kid gloves. luckily earphonesolutions have a 30 day exchange. you pay for the postage back and if you spend more on the one you are exchanging for they will ship it to you for free again!!! pretty good customer service I reckon.

 

[Chingyul]

If you're buying enough stuff, I'd try to take advantage of package forwarding services.
There's quite a few that deal with Canada, so there should be some international ones.

 

[Caution]

Hey nickyoboy

you might want to check out Price USA | Shop where you want, they are an Aussie company that imports stuff for you at the expense of 5% (so that's like 5c more

) of the total cost of the item, and you can choose a shipping option from your choice afaik... there's a huge thread about them on whirlpool.net.au where the owner of the company posts in frequently.

 

[qusp]

Thanks for the great info guys; really good if you have enough time to wait the extra it would undoubtedly add to the shipping estimate. But a great idea just the same; i've never heard of them.

cheers

 

[stevenkelby]

Post a link to the caps you need, I may be able to help

Steve

 

[nickyboyo]

Steve, these are caps that i am after- digikey pt no's P959-ND and P954-ND.

If you can not help Steve, then all i would like is a kindhearted American, who would be willing to take delivery of a package from digikey and re-address and post on to me in Aus. I will cover postage by making a payment into their paypal account. The package will be small, it will purely be a reposting excercise.

Ps- waffles are great

 

[No Smoking]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caution /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey nickyoboy you might want to check out Price USA | Shop where you want, they are an Aussie company that imports stuff for you at the expense of 5% (so that's like 5c more ) of the total cost of the item, and you can choose a shipping option from your choice afaik... there's a huge thread about them on whirlpool.net.au where the owner of the company posts in frequently.

I would stay clear from that site, although I don't have any personal experience there has been a lot of negative reviews and problems regarding it. There is a big thread about it on Whirlpool with quite a few un-happy customers in it.

 

[qusp]

sorry to go off topic guys but seeing as we are all here; when might the next head-fi meet in OZ be. There's a few people interested in trying to get one together in brisbane centering on high bitrate source files. but it hasn't picked up pace and no date set as yet. I'd be keen on coming down to sydney for a meet if there was a few of us wanting to go. Unfortunately I can't do much in the way of hosting or organizing a venue because i'm up here in vegas. But I would be willing to help out with catering (I'm a chef) and logistics, as well as bringing a few bits and pieces of gear.

is there anything coming up.