Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Lee Valley are tops
AD
>I ordered some things from Lee Valley just before Xmas and the shipping time was 2-4 weeks. Well by the end of January, nothing had arrived so I emailed Lee Valley to try and track down the order. They immediately sent out a new order at faster shipping than I had originally paid for and I got it in Australia within a week.
I only wish that I could get such good service ( and products) over here.
Well done Lee Valley!!!
AD
Re: Lee Valley are tops *LINK*
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>I agree, LV customer service is the best; but I'd like to add that Mik International, which is in Australia, also has great customer service. A Fukazawashuho ryoba blade broke, I told them I was not going to ship it back because of the expense and time involved, they sent a new blade immediately, along with some advice on how to avoid busting a blade (I suspect it was a part-me-part-blade problem).
Re: Lee Valley are tops
AD
>Pam,
I have purchased from MIK before as well and they are good. The thing that kills us in Australia when buying US/overseas products is the exchange rate. However, with the OZ dollar up to nearly 80 cents US, it is much cheaper to buy direct.
For example, a lie nielsen 4 1/2 is retailing here for $649.44 AU but I can buy it from the US for US $280.00, say US$50.00 shipping and customs of US$42.00 for a total of $372.00 US or $476.00 Au. Most of the time customs doesn't nab you so it would only be $423 which is a hell of a lot different to $649.44. BTW, this price is MIK's current online special with 15% off normal RRP!
I think the trouble is that OZ companies bought these products when the AU dollar was around 50 cents US and they have to cover costs.
Maybe this new free trade deal will reduce the import costs as well.
regards,
Andrew
Please educate me
Wiley Horne--Glendora CA
>Hi Andrew,
I don't question a thing you say, but don't quite understand some of it. My jaw dropped when I saw what it was costing you in postage and customs from the US. I checked the U. S. Postal Service international calculator (find at www.usps.com) and get $36.50US to ship a 6 lb package to Australia; $40 for 7lb--that's airmail parcel post, not economy, which would be in the $22-24 range. Now on the customs charge of $42: is that charged at your end, or our end? I have bought items off Ebay from Australian sellers, and only had to pay postage, so am not familiar with the customs charge.
Wiley.........wanting to know what's making international transactions cost so much.
Re: Lee Valley are tops
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Much the same thing has happened here with Austrailian products, at least Terry Gordon's. If I buy here, his planes cost me much more, maybe 33% more now, was almost 90% a year ago. All because he liked a 1 to 1 exchange rate. Same with ECE and 2 Cherries, they cost much more here a year ago than if I ordered from Dieter.
Pam
Re: Lee Valley are tops
Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia
>If you go to MIK now, they are having a 15% off sale on their website.
Re: Mik sale
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>That's great, saves $20+ USD on that try plane. maybe it's time to get at least a couple of replacement blades for the smoothers (palm and regular) so I could have an easy transition from scraper to smoother.
Thanks,
Pam
Re: Please educate me
AD
>Hi Wiley,
The customs charge is at our end and yes, the $42 is in USD. The postage charge is pretty close to the mark but includes packaging as well. For example, I enquired about some shipping for various planes from lee valley and they provided the following info:
Veritas� Medium Shoulder Plane (Item # 05P4101)
Shipping Method Cost Shipping Time
Canada Post Air delivery $31.77 USD 2 to 4 weeks
Canada Post Surface delivery $17.56 USD 8 to 10 weeks
UPS Express delivery $55.34 USD 5 or 6 business days
Veritas� #4 � Smoothing Plane (Item # 05P2301)
Canada Post Air delivery $52.40 USD 2 to 4 weeks
Canada Post Surface delivery $25.19 USD 8 to 10 weeks
UPS Express delivery $71.41 USD 5 or 6 business days
Veritas� Scraping Plane (Item # 05P2901)
Canada Post Air delivery $44.58 USD 2 to 4 weeks
Canada Post Surface delivery $21.98 USD 8 to 10 weeks
UPS Express delivery $66.92 USD 5 or 6 business days
Veritas� Edge-Trimming Block Plane (Item # 05P0205)
Canada Post Air delivery $31.77 USD 2 to 4 weeks
Canada Post Surface delivery $17.56 USD 8 to 10 weeks
UPS Express delivery $55.34 USD 5 or 6 business days
All 4 planes shipped at once
Canada Post Air delivery $101.46 USD 2 to 4 weeks
Canada Post Surface delivery $ 37.62 USD 8 to 10 weeks
UPS Express delivery $101.56 USD 5 or 6 business days
So as you can see it is quite expensive to ship them out. However,as I have said, it still is cheaper than buying here at the moment.
regards,
Andrew
Re: Lee Valley are tops
AD
>Hi Mark,
the prices I quoted included the 15% off at MIK! Dou you buy overseas or at home?
Andrew
Mik Prices
Russell Seaton
>I looked around the Mik website and did not see any prices I would pay. Even with the so called 15% off and without the VAT.
But what was really surprising was the prices for HNT Gordon and Colin Clenton products. Made in Australia. The Gordon prices did not seem much cheaper than the US prices. With the 15% off and no VAT. Shipping isn't even in the equation yet. Yes I converted the Australian dollars shown to USA dollars. As for the Clenton products, Joel at the Museum store has them for about the same price. A few of the high end marking gauges were quite a bit less, but not an unbelieveable amount. After shipping from Australia it would still be cheaper for me to buy and have shipped Clenton products from Joel in New York City.
How is it I can buy Australian made products from a USAvendor in the USA and have them shipped to me cheaper than Australians can buy Australian products from an Australian vendor and have them shipped? The currency exchange rate has no bearing on your side since Australian made products sold by Australian vendors to Australian citizens in Australia never convert currencies. On my end the decline in the USA dollar should have pushed the Australian products up considerably. Yet I can still buy Autralian products from a USA vendor cheaper or as cheap as Australians can. Goofy.
Re: Mik Prices
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Well, not to take anything away from Joel, who has a great store and site and is an honorable vendor; but in my book, $300 is more than $228. And Mik is also an honorable vendor, whose shipping costs, IIRC, were $17-25 when I placed several orders a year and a half ago. So $250 is still less than $300 plus shipping. And if another tool is added to the purchase to amortize the shipping costs, it gets even more reasonable.
As to Terry's planes, the only vendors in the US when I bought several were Woodcraft and Terry on ebay. In both cases, they were asking more than $200 USD for the try plane, plus shipping and/or sales tax. At Mik they were less than $100 USD, $150 USD today. I haven't searched for a US vendor for a while.
Pam
Re: Lee Valley are tops
Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia
>I mostly buy locally except that I've had a fair amount of business travel to the US and I do usually buy something there when I can.
With the exchange rate as it stands at the moment, I do have some purchases that I have been putting off that may be brought forward and I these will be sourced from the US as some of these items are not available here or are extremely expensive here by comparison.
Re: Mik Prices
Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia
>Russell,
The law here has ample provision to seriously hurt any company that tries to use fake mark up and mark down techniques. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is more than willing to act as well. In many ways, they make the FCC look like a bunch of girl's blouses (to use an Australian expression that is used to bring in to question one's masculinity... :-).
The VAT (it's referred to as a GST here) is not charged for foreign orders by the way. However, it is the law that prices must be advertised as tax inclusive. The tax rate is 10% so divide by 11 and deduct that from the price.
Mark