Why are Aussies getting a raw deal on pricing?

[Transporter]

APR Stage 1 in the US is on sale for my car for $300

That's ridiculous!
I'd rather do nothing, than pulling the ECU from your car, bench tune it for just $300, pay taxes from it and sometimes even put up with the whinge, that it's not what you expected! Do they offer returning it back to stock for free as well, if the customer is not happy?
Not meant to be personal, just used "you" as an example.

I hope that people who drive the industry to such deals, will get at the end what they deserve!

[h100vw]

Miro, You'd only pay tax, if you actually made anything out of the deal! LOL

That's ridiculous!
I'd rather do nothing, than pulling the ECU from your car, bench tune it for just $300, pay taxes from it and sometimes even put up with the whinge, that it's not what you expected! Do they offer returning it back to stock for free as well, if the customer is not happy?
Not meant to be personal, just used "you" as an example.

I hope that people who drive the industry to such deals, will get at the end what they deserve!

[Transporter]

Miro, You'd only pay tax, if you actually made anything out of the deal! LOL

That's very truth.

[Brendan_A]

Hey Ozram, I'm annoyed at the big price differences too. APR Stage 1 in the US is on sale for my car for $300, but the sale price here works out to be around $1135. Having said that, I've noticed in Australia they try to make up for it by offering all options on ECU which takes the sting out - so it's not a direct apples for apples comparison.

As for hardware, Scuby's experience is a sad case where the US market's larger scale allows them the power to buy & sell Australian products cheaper.

You have a 118tsi right?? The US market don't have that engine so I don't know where you got that information from?

[Guy_H]

<rant>

Priced up a Carbonio CAI off the APR US site and also from a US company called DBCPerformance. They go on various US VW forums to promote things. IN STOCK: DBC Tuning-Wholelsale Pricing On OEM VW/AUDI Parts

When I checked with them they will not ship to Australia because we have an APR dealer network here too. Fine, I'm all for supporting local businesses and getting local support if I need it.

Fast forward to the Australian APR site to check availability and pricing. APR - High Performance Development for Audi, VW and Porsche Vehicles.

Are you guys seriously telling me we should be paying $255 in freight costs and "overheads" to sell this in Australia?

US$269.10 + freight versus AU$525 + freight.

Confused of Sydney

<end rant>

USD (on Sale) $269

Freight $90

Customs clearance, charges etc (not including GST) $132. (yes a business has to pay these)

landed cost = $491.

Aussie price:

$472.50 including GST (yes, ours is on sale at the moment too if you care to read the website) - if you subtract GST (as you are avoiding GST by not purchasing it locally), ours is $425.

We also give you support, direct replacement warranty, and have them in stock.

[gareth_oau]

ozram, I'm never happy paying too much, but I'm not willing to go and work for APR locally, at the minimum US wage of say $7/hour, (oh and the 1 week annual leave etc etc) just so we can compete with US pricing.

Its a fact of Australian life that you cant have your cake and eat it

[noone]

If you walk into a store to buy some new $250 nikes, can often be sourced for < $100 landed from OS.

I am "guilty" of not supporting our local suppliers, buying from the cheapest source, etc.

I have an APR tune, but don't particularly rate it better or worse than other tunes. What I do rate is people like Guy who get involved in forums like this, supporting the scene and answering questions that yield no profit. Without participation from reputable people and companies, this forum would not be half as informative as it could be.

If you would like to know more, feel free to read up on the dyno day that Guy is organising for Polo 9n3's, to compare tunes, mods, etc. I don't see how this would be profitable for APR or Guy, but he is supporting his brand, interested in the outcome and answering a question many of us had.

[Transporter]

Its a fact of Australian life that you cant have your cake and eat it

Of course you can, but that's not good enough anymore. Some people always want to eat just the cherries of those cakes.

[brimway]

When I bought an RNS510, I had the choice of local or Lithuania/UK/Ireland. I chose local and bought it from HP. I know I paid more but if there is a problem, I know that Guy supports what he sells, not so confident with an overseas deal.

[cktsi]

That's ridiculous!
I'd rather do nothing, than pulling the ECU from your car, bench tune it for just $300, pay taxes from it and sometimes even put up with the whinge, that it's not what you expected! Do they offer returning it back to stock for free as well, if the customer is not happy?
Not meant to be personal, just used "you" as an example.

I hope that people who drive the industry to such deals, will get at the end what they deserve!

I did qualify by saying that it's not an apples for apples comparison and that the local support was sweetening the deal by offering all the options as a package. I do recognise that the locals have all these additional charges & was trying to say that they are trying to do something right by the customer by putting everything into a competitively priced package.

btw, I'm the first person to acknowledge that APR prices have come down a long way. The Stage 1 tune for the 1.4 twincharger used to be around $2k with NO options. Since the USD fall it's $1395 with the works, so the locals are trying to provide value. I'm the first to acknowledge that and good on them for doing so!

Didn't want people to focus on my first sentence about the price discrepancy as my main point is the locals are trying to do something about it.

btw Guy, thanks for shedding light on the business costs. I suppose that's what this thread is all about - trying to understand the differences.