Originally Posted by Johnny_Monkey
I priced a Cannondale Road Warrior 1000 at US$1,400 in the US and A$4,500 (US$3,500) in Australia. Even in Japan it was selling for A$2,700 (US$2,100) which was roughly what it should have sold for in Australia.
Yeah, that's crazy.
At US$1,400, even if you got stung for GST by customs, still works out a helluva lot cheaper than buying it in $AU.
Track gear aside, I don't get why bike shops in Australia aren't more price competitive with overseas markets. We've sold more bikes than cars in recent years; so it's not like they have low sales numbers (come to think of it, maybe the prices are high because the demand is high). It seems like every time I go to my local bike shop there's someone walking out of there with a brand new kick ass looking mountain bike. And I don't think they have to pay any import duties.
Does the problem perhaps lie with distributors in AU?
There's something wrong when you can fly to the US and buy a cannondale for around the same price as it costs to buy it from your local bike shop.