dizzyblonde

Hi All,ive just been looking on the Yahoo pages for Aus/Nz.The price of the electrical goods are outrageous.I was aware that they were more expensive than the uk but struth.....Does anyone know a good electrical store in Aus that has reasonable prices and good choice
Ive looked at several web sites of stores such as dick-smith electricals and the choice is crap to say the least.Most of the makes i have never heard of.The quality looks a bit dubious as well.All the world major brands i cant seem to find,and those that do appear are very limited in choice.
I must say that the price differences are huge compared to europe,i know they will be more expensive than the indigenous ones but these prices are taking the p--s. Here are some examples that ive found
small tv/video combo in Aus £304 -- Uk £140
Coffee maker Krupps novo aus £206 -- Uk £99.50
Are these examples right or am i barking up the wrong gum tree??
Is it better buying over in the Uk before we go,given cost/choice etc etc
Thanks peeps

cresta57

Dick Smiths is more of a component type store a bit like Tandy's used to be and it is more expensive than the "out-of-town" electrical appliance stores. Prices vary depending on whether or not the store is a franchise as well.
Prices for white goods used to be a lot more but in the cut throat market over there they are a bit more comparable with U.K prices remember that wages are reputedly lower there so when you've been there a while and are receiving a wage in A$ things are going to seem a whole lot more expensive.
Sean

Banksia

Ah, a whinger already and you haven't left the airport. Expressing a considered view on range and quality from 20,000K sounds like a unique gift.

Check out The Good Guys http://www.thegoodguys.com.au/v3/index.cfm and Bing Lee www.binglee.com.au

They aren't the only ones.

Pollyana

AS this thread dates back to 2003 I hope Dizzyblonde found her/his way out of the airport long ago..............

jad n rich

Shoot the woman!!! how dare she ask negative questions

SherKhan66

I'll make this a quick reply.
I've bought several electrical items here - tv/dvd/external hard drives/external dvd burners/dvd recorder etc/etc - ALL WERE CHEAPER THAN THE UK BY A ROYAL MILE! - I shopped around and used a bit of savvy so I'm one happy chappy ! Rock on! And if you start whinging before you get here then don't bother

bondipom

Thats useful.

Bing Lees motto is everything is negotiable and they are a good starting point. Retravision and the Good Guys sell themselves on being cheap but never found that on quality goods. Dick Smiths is more of a home entertainment and electronics store. A mix of Tandys, PCworld and currys in a shop.

For PC equipment have a look at www.ht.com.au, www.auspcmarket.com.au, www.pluscorp.com.au and www.pmecomputers.com.au .

SherKhan66

It is not just my opinion but also my experience that I have found things to be cheaper here. Thought I made that clear. Typical expats... no wonder a lot of people don't post here any more.

bondipom

http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/market_news/doc21.txt

SherKhan66

REPEAT...
Typical expats... no wonder a lot of people don't post here any more.

Can't hold down a reasoned argument

Last post on this thread so bye everyone - I will not be drawn into senseless arguments as have far better things to do with my time. BYE!

Pollyana

Close the door on your way out....

lindylui

Look at The Big W, they seem to be cheap. www.thebigw.com.au

ABCDiamond

Do you mean Big W http://www.bigw.com.au/ ?

Stormz

Compared in the UK to www.ebuyer.com .
Compared with http://www.pluscorp.com.au/ .
Always going for the cheapest item.
All converted into $`s for your convenience ( http://www.xe.com/ucc/ ).

ITEM AUS UK
17" TFT $349 $348
160gb IDE HD $132 $124
AMD Athlon64 3200 (retail) $293 $295
DVD Burner dual layer (16x internal) $90 $87
Socket 754 M/B (Abit/PC-Chips) $136 $97
512mb PC3200 DDR RAM $138 $80
similar decent PC case with PSU $123 $78
Epson Stylus C65 $139 $108 (for C66)

Bear in mind the UK prices will be a little more as the currency converter is at the bank rates.

PlusCorp seem to have a `labour charge` which is (hopefully) weird. Is this normal? It seems to be at least $25. So you have to pay a labour charge on top of paying for the goods which they make profit on. Hopefully you can say that`s not normal.

Bix

I'm glad this old thread has been resurrected.

When in the UK we also looked at prices via Yahoo and were a bit worried at the high cost of electrical goods in Aus. Not only that, but it appeared they were a bit behind the times.

We were therefore pleasantly surprised to find that was utter ballshit.

Cairns is a large country town rather than it's official city status and probably has small stores in comparison with Sydney and the like. However the prices are very good and technology is up to date. Haven't seen so many plasma and LCD tv's in my life for example.

The lack of scart connections is a dissappointment (throughout Aus) but HDTV is just going into Townsville just down the road so will be with us within 12 months. Got that in the UK ?

We have bought DVD player, DVD recorder, CD player, TV, laptop, multifunction device, washing machine, fridgefreezer and a top notch combi
microwave since being here. All but one item has been purchased as cheaply as we could have bought in the UK. In fact I think cheaper.

The one item that was more expensive was the front loading washer. Australians like their toploaders (crap) so they are the volume movers hence cheaper.

In the UK we bought most of the electrical items from the internet. In Aus we have so far bought everything from local stores. The advertised prices on these type items are rarely paid....it's a negotiation.

We have just bartered a AUD 1000 reduction on a large item this very weekend. The local store not only matched but slightly undercut a price we had found from an EBay powerseller shop. It was not easy for them to do so (many phonecalls to headoffice etc) but their teeshirts said we will beat any competitor price and that's what I asked them to do.

So in summary I would say don't panic about the high costs of
electricals as they will be no more than you pay now. Be ready to barter and bring your frontloaders with you !