Has anyone got a recommendation for UK distributor for the 6160 model. I
cant believe the price premium being charged by the UK resellers ie

US 6160GB = $995
UK 6160GB = $1950

Its the same thing but twice as much. Is this right?

thanks

You have just experienced "RIP OFF BRITAIN"
"Robin Smith" wrote in message
news:1071764012.219055@sj-nntpcache-5...
Has anyone got a recommendation for UK distributor for the 6160 model. I
cant believe the price premium being charged by the UK resellers ie

US 6160GB = $995
UK 6160GB = $1950

Its the same thing but twice as much. Is this right?

thanks

I don't know where you saw the $1950 figure, but it's significantly
more than the official UK list price. There are three immediate
points:

1. As for many other imported technical items, the $/GBP conversion
rate is fixed for pricing purposes at a long-term average, which is I
believe roughly GBP1=$1.50 or just under. This makes the official UK
price around $1550. The list prices didn't go up when the pound spent
a long time approaching $1.40 some months back and the list prices are
equally maintained when the exchange rate goes the other way, for what
may well turn out to be just a brief period. It's a matter of choice
really whether customers might prefer that prices changed on a daily
basis according to today's exchange rate but it's really not a very
feasible way to do business.

2. Let's take VAT out of the equation to make a fair comparison, which
brings the long-term price down close to $1300.

3. Don't forget the cost of air-freighting plus insurance from
California to the UK. This is a non-trivial cost and because it's
based on weight doesn't AIUI carry much of a bulk discount. We've been
quoted $100 per station from a reputable carrier. I dare say it's
possible to do better than this but something in the range of $50-70
might still pertain.

Then there are a range of UK-based business reasons for the residual
difference, all of which translate to added cost and none of which
include extravagant margins. I won't take this thread probably further
OT than it is already by listing them here, but email me if you're
interested.

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk

Robin Smith wrote:
Has anyone got a recommendation for UK distributor for the 6160 model. I
cant believe the price premium being charged by the UK resellers ie

US 6160GB = $995
UK 6160GB = $1950

Its the same thing but twice as much. Is this right?

thanks

Robin,

the £ is worth $1.766 at the moment. Import duty shouldn't be too much,
nor should shipping. You'll be charged VAT at 17.5% on the total cost of
goods including shipping plus the import duty rate for the goods (TARIC
code should be 90158011 and duty rate for that code is 3.7%). Current
rate of exchange for Customs is $1.6993 to the pound.

To work out what it'd cost, get the shipping from the US supplier, add
it to the cost of the kit, divide it by 1.6993 to give the value in
pounds. Multiply the value in pounds by 1.037 to give the duty inclusive
rate, then multiply that by 1.175 to give the total cost including VAT.

Figures are from the customs website, and TARIC code & duty rate were
from searching on meteorological in the TARIC database on the Europa
site linked from Customs.

Parcelforce will charge a fee for presenting the goods to customs etc.
which is normally about 8 pounds.

This should show it's cheaper by far to import your own.

G.



--
Graham Platt UKRA #1264 L2 RSO
graham (a) bowhunter (d) demon (d) co (d) uk

Hmm tell me about it. I was thinking about this when I was in the States for
5 weeks last month. Save shipping and hopefully miss VAT and Duty (I would
of done as well).

However due to a new agreement with Davis the US distributors are no longer
allowed to supply the UK spec VP. I have a confirmation e-mail from Davis.
This would of saved me a packet, i.e VP Plus $900 from Scientific Sales =
£511 at todays exchange rate as oppose to £1050

The VP really does suffer, it doesn't even get dollar-pound parity like a
lot of things

Take the new Canon EOS 300D $950 or £800. Not perfect but a step in the
right direction.

No offence to John or any other UK distributor but the whole thing is a
disgrace and I am very disappointed.

What to do? Well I received my La Crosse WS2300 last weekend. OK it is an
inferior piece of kit but at £180 who is arguing... and that includes a data
logger. Happy with it so far... some nice overnight minimums this week :-)

I would still love a VP, maybe one day when the price is right.

Cheers

Paul


"Robin Smith" wrote in message
news:1071764012.219055@sj-nntpcache-5...
Has anyone got a recommendation for UK distributor for the 6160 model. I
cant believe the price premium being charged by the UK resellers ie

US 6160GB = $995
UK 6160GB = $1950

Its the same thing but twice as much. Is this right?

thanks

Yes this is correct. What is most bizarre about the new Davis contract is
that its going to cost them a lot of money. they are losing business over
it. This may have worked a few years back, but not now with the internet

An example of where the UK folks have got it bang on is the GPS Warehouse.
Prices there have been very fair for at least 2 years now. I dont believe
their business costs can be much different, they have a shop etc as well as
web site and excellent service to boot

rgds

"Paul Rickwood" wrote in message
...
Hmm tell me about it. I was thinking about this when I was in the States
for
5 weeks last month. Save shipping and hopefully miss VAT and Duty (I would
of done as well).

However due to a new agreement with Davis the US distributors are no
longer
allowed to supply the UK spec VP. I have a confirmation e-mail from Davis.
This would of saved me a packet, i.e VP Plus $900 from Scientific Sales =
£511 at todays exchange rate as oppose to £1050

The VP really does suffer, it doesn't even get dollar-pound parity like a
lot of things

Take the new Canon EOS 300D $950 or £800. Not perfect but a step in the
right direction.

No offence to John or any other UK distributor but the whole thing is a
disgrace and I am very disappointed.

What to do? Well I received my La Crosse WS2300 last weekend. OK it is an
inferior piece of kit but at £180 who is arguing... and that includes a
data
logger. Happy with it so far... some nice overnight minimums this week :-)

I would still love a VP, maybe one day when the price is right.

Cheers

Paul


"Robin Smith" wrote in message
news:1071764012.219055@sj-nntpcache-5...
Has anyone got a recommendation for UK distributor for the 6160 model. I
cant believe the price premium being charged by the UK resellers ie

US 6160GB = $995
UK 6160GB = $1950

Its the same thing but twice as much. Is this right?

thanks

"Paul Rickwood" wrote in message
...
Hmm tell me about it. I was thinking about this when I was in the States
for
5 weeks last month. Save shipping and hopefully miss VAT and Duty (I would
of done as well).

However due to a new agreement with Davis the US distributors are no
longer
allowed to supply the UK spec VP. I have a confirmation e-mail from Davis.
This would of saved me a packet, i.e VP Plus $900 from Scientific Sales =
£511 at todays exchange rate as oppose to £1050

The VP really does suffer, it doesn't even get dollar-pound parity like a
lot of things

Take the new Canon EOS 300D $950 or £800. Not perfect but a step in the
right direction.

No offence to John or any other UK distributor but the whole thing is a
disgrace and I am very disappointed.

I have every sympathy, but it works the other way too, my main non work
activity is sailing and I often buy bits when I visit the USA, and sometime
buy mail order too, but the price of UK manufactured sailing gear is
ridiculously high in the US, so the price hike works both ways across the
pond.

Peter

You could always import a US model and then get Bluewave/FED Technologies
http://www.bluewaveltd.co.uk to convert it to full UK spec for £69.99.

I should probably add I don't have any connection with them other than being
a satisfied customer.


"Weatherman" wrote in message
...
You have just experienced "RIP OFF BRITAIN"
"Robin Smith" wrote in message
news:1071764012.219055@sj-nntpcache-5...
Has anyone got a recommendation for UK distributor for the 6160 model. I
cant believe the price premium being charged by the UK resellers ie

US 6160GB = $995
UK 6160GB = $1950

Its the same thing but twice as much. Is this right?

thanks

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 18:09:15 +0000, John Dann wrote:

3. Don't forget the cost of air-freighting plus insurance from
California to the UK. This is a non-trivial cost and because it's
based on weight doesn't AIUI carry much of a bulk discount.

Seems a bit silly to order one at a time. Of course you know your
market, how many you'll sell over how long. But I'd have thought
getting a pallet (10 to 20) surface shipped would be ecomomic. OK
they'll probably take a 4 to 6 weeks to arrive but I'd expect it to be
cost far less per station.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 17:32:49 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

But I'd have thought
getting a pallet (10 to 20) surface shipped would be ecomomic. OK
they'll probably take a 4 to 6 weeks to arrive but I'd expect it to be
cost far less per station.

Dave, the point with air-freighting AIUI is that it is roughly pro
rata with weight so whether you ship one, 10 or 50 the cost per
station is similar, to a first approximation.

I suspect that a pallet of VPs would be more like 40-60 stations,
which would be a large bite but feasible. But this approach isn't
really compatible with how Davis run their commercial operations.

[As per my reply above, this is increasingly in the realms of how
international commercial transactions work, not science or weather, so
email me direct if you're interested in discussing further.]

John Dann
www.weatherstations.co.uk