From Australia and Buying a reg online

[alexxred]

Hi,

Those of us who dive here probably know that scuba gear is rather pricey. I'd be interested to hear from anyone in Australia that has bought regulators online and how they have found this to go. I understand that alot of the time your going to lose the manufacturer's warrantee, but the fact is you seem to be able to get alot more for you money if you buy online. Any thoughts and feedback would be greatley appreciated.

Alex

 

[Scubaroo]

Main thing to watch for is that the regs will most likely be shipped by UPS or Fedex, so you will get a GST bill (and possibly a ~$48 Customs processing charge) from the carrier. There's no duty payable on breathing apparatus. Any warranty won't be worth the paper it's printed on locally.

A couple of years ago I bought Apeks regs online while living on the US, and paid less than 50% of the price I would have paid in Australia. Mind you I'm comfortable servicing them myself. I don't think any distributor in Australia is going to honour warranty claims or "free parts for life" with servicing on privately imported regulators. Taking privately-imported regs to be serviced at a dive shop might also lead to an interesting conversation! Not sure how the local shops here respond to that.

Have you looked at the Zeagle lineup in Australia? I didn't think the prices I saw at OZTeK in March were too bad by Australian standards, and servicing won't be an issue. The local Dive Rite distributor has also recently cut prices by around 30% on a lot of their gear - probably in order to remain competitive with the overseas imports.

 

[downunder_diver]

Hi,
I havent bought regs online and dont plan on doing so, but i have got a wetsuit from divetank.com which is great! They figured out my sizing perfectly and everything!

Also you might be interested to know that since about a week ago you dont get charged GST or import tax no matter where its made or who ships it aslong as the cost of the items and shipping does not exceed AU$1000.

Let me know if you do purchase anything online, I'd be interested to see how you go!
Safe Diving!
Emilie

 

[Scubaroo]

Also you might be interested to know that since about a week ago you dont get charged GST or import tax no matter where its made or who ships it aslong as the cost of the items and shipping does not exceed AU$1000.

Got a reference for that? I could find no such statement on the Customs website.

 

[downunder_diver]

Dont believe me????
I called 1300 363 263 (Australian Customs) and spoke to Haley.
Also the wetsuit i recently bought, i only paid for the wetsuit and the shipping, no GST no import tax!

What are your thoughts on buying regs from somewhere like leisure pro or scubatoys? Do you think it really matters that the warranty is useless over here?
Take the Titan LX for example, somewhere like prodive sells them retail for about AU$770. On Leisure pro it would cost me about AU$430 including shipping. Thats a saving of about 350! I'm looking at my first reg purchase, is a saving like that enough to cover parts and sevicing costs? What can you expect to pay for that sort of thing?

Thanks in advance!
Emilie

 

[Scubaroo]

Dont believe me????
I called 1300 363 263 (Australian Customs) and spoke to Haley.
Also the wetsuit i recently bought, i only paid for the wetsuit and the shipping, no GST no import tax!

Not questioning you - I'm simply trying to find a reference to confirm, because I import a lot of small shipments as a dealer from different distributors, and the $1000 limit has been in place for a long time for postal items, but there's a $250 limit for couriered items, and when I checked the Customs website, it was still on the site (which could simply be out of date!). This will make my life easier if I can get some of this stuff couriered instead

Savings like you mention are a good argument for buying online - I would go with ScubaToys over LeisurePro because they are authorised dealers, and if you *did* have a return, from all accounts they are far more likely to sort problems out.

 

[angryguy777]

Why is Scuba gear so expensive in Oz? I saw my regulator in a shop for almost twice as much as I paid in the states. Love the diving here though.

-Seppo Zak

 

[Scubaroo]

Why is Scuba gear so expensive in Oz? I saw my regulator in a shop for almost twice as much as I paid in the states. Love the diving here though.

-Seppo Zak

Smaller market, plus certain distributors' "optimistic" pricing.

 

[Zeeman]

Yes, I've bought regs from overseas. Got it from Scubatoys, and the cost was still under half the price - with shipping and clearance fees included. the regs performed flawlessly, and at the en dof the day, if something goes wrong with the 1st stage, 2nd stage AND occy all at once, I have saved enough money to buy a whole new set and still be unde rlocal prices.

Also bought a near new Bc for less than a quarter of the local new price (by near new I mean it looked like had been dived in once). Our prices are rediculous, but slowly, it's getting better as importers and dive shop owners realise people are not all that stupid after all.

I'd suggest doing research on what you want, then figure out how much it will cost you to buy it and ship it. go to the LDS's, show them the price, and ask how close they can sell you the gear for. If ithey can do it for not too much more, buy it local, otherwise.... it's up to you. My LDS's chose to not go below retail. At all. One even claimed not to be able to sell me what I wanted. I don't want to deal with people like that. You may have better luck.

Z...