Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Jan 22, 2010 9:26 am Hi Guys I am looking for a fireplace at the moment over here in WA - Rinnai and for some reason everyone is coming back with amazingly high quotes. Does ANYONE know of a place even if its not in WA that has some good prices on these. Thanks Heaps THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE IS 495 SQM OF BEACH SAND AND WEEDS! http://missvintageshouseofpain.blogspot.com/ Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 2Jan 30, 2010 4:10 pm I just imported my gas fire from the UK and saved myself $2500 in the process, even after $1k shipping and tax. Current exchange rates make things unbelievably cheap now from o/s. Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 3Jan 30, 2010 11:34 pm Wow what a good idea. How did you go with fittings and sizes??? THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE IS 495 SQM OF BEACH SAND AND WEEDS! http://missvintageshouseofpain.blogspot.com/ Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 4Jan 31, 2010 5:53 pm Re Importing - read this. http://ausbuy.com.au/faqs.html and try these guys re a fireplace. www.nectre.com Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 5Feb 09, 2010 3:00 pm Yak_Chat Re Importing - read this. Well, I guess in a perfect world we would all like to be able to source goods locally. But I object to paying quite ridiculous prices when I know that most of the goods I am buying from Aussie retailers are sourced from overseas anyway. Take the two Internet digital radios I just bought from the UK. One was priced at $1000 here, I paid just over $500 including shipping. The other was priced here at $600, I paid $275, including shipping. I asked the Aus agent how he can justify his prices here. He basically said that's what the market here will stand, so that's what he charges. I don't see much patriotism there do you? Take the latest "$5000 importers rebate" being offered by Mercedes here. They could afford to give away five times that amount and still make a whopping profit. I could import a 3 year old Aston Martin and land it, after all fees and taxes for about $110k, here that same car will set you back $250k or more. Except Australian law dictates that I am not (practically) allowed to import it. Protectionism? Anyway, back to fireplaces. A lot of Australian made product is second rate overpriced rubbish. When a manufacturer can't even tell me the heat output of one of their fires I get suspicious. Trying to tell me that a fire will heat "up to xx square metres" is nothing but meaningless nonsense. Yet when that same manufacturer's rep was asked what the heat output in Kw was, he couldn't tell me. What? Are you fair dinkum? Here's another doozy. Trying to buy a flue guard I approached a local retailer where I was quoted $250. So, off to the UK again - at current exchange rates, $40. Not much to think about is there? So for those who are interested in saving a not inconsiderable amount of money, and getting a far superior product, I bought mine from Fireplace Saver. I sourced my own shipping company via Google. By the way, I do like to support worthwhile charities, but Australian manufacturing isn't one of them. Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 6Feb 09, 2010 3:24 pm Any warranty with those overseas products Will your kids have jobs if you always buy cheap overseas products What is the real cost of freighting from UK? Carbon waste etc. Why are european goods SOOOO cheap? Because they have a huge market, whats left of it ....they are caught up selling their stuff cheap because they get incentives to export I don't appreciate you saying that Aussies make cheap crap and I don't agree I am prepared to pay a little extra because we have a MUCH better standard of living here Am I prepared to sacrifice that for saving $500 bucks on a once off purchase? NO! Why are our good so expensive? .... because the market has shrunk because of all the cheap crap that is imported from cheap labour countries. In some cases, slave labour is how you make things cheap. Am I flaming YOU? ...no just alerting you and others that cheap is no as simple as it sounds. Shop Aussie and create jobs for the future of 'our' kids. :ducksforcover: Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 7Feb 09, 2010 4:10 pm I'm going to have to side with u9026a on this one, especially where my work is involved. I have relationships with a number of overseas business who can ship me products at half the price of what I'd have to pay in Australia... I can then pass these savings on to my clients, thus helping my business remain competitive. If I were to rely soley on Australian wholesalers, retailers and alike I'd either need to hike my fees up or watch my profits evaporate like desert rain. Now regarding the Aston Martin u9026a, what do you think I'd be looking at to import an Audi TTRS? Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 8Feb 09, 2010 4:18 pm IkonInteriors - That is the point Are you Aussie based? Do you sell to Aussies? Because guess what, if your potential Aussie clients go overseas to shop you won't be employing anyone and that means Aussie kids Audi TTRS yeh those imports are doing well for you Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 9Feb 09, 2010 4:41 pm onc_artisan Any warranty with those overseas products Why pay through the nose for a warranty? Quote: Will your kids have jobs if you always buy cheap overseas products I don't have any, so I don't care. (Yes, I know that makes me selfish) Quote: What is the real cost of freighting from UK? Carbon waste etc. Isn't good old Kev taking care of that with a whopping great new tax? Quote: Why are european goods SOOOO cheap? Because they have a huge market, whats left of it Well yes, you are technically correct. Quote: ....they are caught up selling their stuff cheap because they get incentives to export I don't understand this bit. Quote: I don't appreciate you saying that Aussies make cheap crap and I don't agree That's OK, we are allowed differences of opinion. (Well, at least I think we are. Or has KRudd put a stop to that as well?) Quote: I am prepared to pay a little extra because we have a MUCH better standard of living here Are you speaking from experience? Quote: Am I prepared to sacrifice that for saving $500 bucks on a once off purchase? I think that's the problem. If it was just $500 then I probably wouldn't bother. On three items I saved over $3000. Quote: Why are our good so expensive? .... because the market has shrunk because of all the cheap crap that is imported from cheap labour countries. In some cases, slave labour is how you make things cheap. Now this bit just doesn't make any sense, you'll have to explain this but to me. Quote: Am I flaming YOU? ...no just alerting you and others that cheap is no as simple as it sounds. Shop Aussie and create jobs for the future of 'our' kids. I agree totally (well, the first bit anyway), and most people wouldn't ever contemplate shopping overseas. I think Australia needs to rethink and rediscover what its good at, manufacturing isn't it but I'm sure there must be something. And with a normalised exchange rate the savings really aren't worth all the effort anyway. So I guess my comments are only relevant to this particular moment in time when exchange rates are abnormal to say the least. IkonInteriors Now regarding the Aston Martin u9026a, what do you think I'd be looking at to import an Audi TTRS? Well, it doesn't matter because you can't. The good old Australian big brother government has slapped a ban on privately imported vehicles (ex. the personal import scheme, which makes it impossible anyway), so keep dreaming. Steve Re: Fireplace Wholesalers - HELP NEEDED FROM SAVY SHOPPERS 10Feb 09, 2010 4:53 pm Quote: IkonInteriors - That is the point Are you Aussie based? Do you sell to Aussies? Because guess what, if your potential Aussie clients go overseas to shop you won't be employing anyone and that means Aussie kids Audi TTRS yeh those imports are doing well for you Well Onc, yes I am based in Australia, and I do 'sell' to Australians... but what I'm selling is a service, and it's one that I don't believe many people (aside from the uber-wealthy) would look at importing. Therefore the worry of people taking their business overseas isn't something I have to concern myself with, though I do need to consider my bottom line and how to maximise this. It just happens that it is more cost effective for me to source items from overseas. I'm also not overly worried about employment for Aussie Kids - I'm a child of the 80s (Gen Y), and to be fair I think there's loads of work around... I guess the question is, do Aussie Kids want it? As for the Audi, it would be doing a lot better in my drive way hehe Hi all, My first post, we are building a house and can’t decide the layout of the lounge room. We have a large N/W facing window and are wanting to have a wood slow… 0 13724 No the fireplace doesn’t work. It’s been enclosed. I’m not sure what was removed, as it was done quite some time ago - well before what I can see with photos online… 2 11584 I would probably render it and then paint it as per your other advice, or gyrpock over the top. 1 3335 |