Originally Posted by Amazulu

I've recently been looking at getting a new mountain bike. I'm interested in a certain Giant (brand!) model. I went to a shop here in Perth that is selling it for $2080 - which is a pretty good price. I was just about to hand over the plastic but thought that I would have a look online to see if I can get it cheaper. Lo and behold, a mob in Brisbane is selling it for $1750 (not so much a 'more expensive in Perth' story as the same store has other models that cost more than Perth). Give them a call and ask how much to ship a bike to Perth, get told about $100, so looks like I'm going to be ahead. But tell them the bike that I want and get told, sorry Giant won't let us sell their bikes on the internet to other parts of the country! I can have any other brand but Giant. Seems like this is a policy of this company that applies nationwide. What a con. I can get one shipped from overseas but not from the east coast

Interestingly, given that we are always told that bikes are more expensive here, in this case I've found the opposite. This model is not sold in the US but the best UK price I can find online is about $2900. Even more interesting, the next model up, which is sold in the US is over $800 more there at the moment. I can understand the UK being more expensive as it often is for a lot of stuff, but surprised at the US price

Originally Posted by chris955

I havent really found that to be the case although the recent change in exchange rate has made a noticeable difference, usually the difference is negligible.

Originally Posted by Beoz

What would you have ever bought online from Oz recently? It's selfish of you to lead readers astray for your own personal vendetta against Australia. Mods should really sort you out.

Originally Posted by papilon

LOL, Pot meet kettle.

Originally Posted by papilon

LOL, Pot meet kettle.

Originally Posted by cresta57

So I could buy it no worries & ship it over to you. Drop me a Pm if you want to.

Originally Posted by chris955

I havent really found that to be the case although the recent change in exchange rate has made a noticeable difference, usually the difference is negligible.

Originally Posted by Amazulu

I bought this bike yesterday and got a real bargain. Got another $90 off the $2080 price and also managed to score a water bottle cage and a set of pedals thrown in too (being new to the quality bike scene, I was a bit surprised to see that they are sold without pedals). So no real benefit with getting it sent from the east coast

It's a great price for this bike - considering that the cheapest I can find it online in the UK is about $2900

Thanks for all the offers of help

Originally Posted by Beoz

So the cheapest price worldwide for a bike was in Oz? That's a new phenomenon.

Originally Posted by Amazulu

Definitely and by a big margin - and the next model up is close to $1000 less than the US

Talking to the dealer yesterday and he said that prices here are often only 2nd to the US and sometimes, Canada

Originally Posted by Red_V_Roger

As for the tech prices, I think its Australia's 10% GST and currently still quite strong dollar compared to ~20% VAT and IVA in Europe.

Originally Posted by Beoz

Wow. I checked out some bikes about 3 years ago. I was going to ship the bits in from the US and rebuild here. It was way too expensive to buy bikes locally back then. Thanks for the tip off.