Thread: Importing, Shipping, pitfalls and work arounds

Originally Posted by timattalon

How did you do that? By going into a shop and getting service from staff being paid wages, where the shop is paying power rent etc? Yes, often NZ retailers can struggle to simply beat a price from oversea, but when you buy from offshore, I suggest you buy off shore. Dont ask a local retailer to carry what you want so you can check its size before buying it else where, Dont ask a NZ agent to fix it cos it broke, and when it arrives damaged in transit, buy another one from the first supplier.

Retailers and importers here have to cover warranties on products themselves, and any damaged goods are not usually able to be returned to factory so they wear that as well. I support local and NZ when I can, and if that means paying more for service, then I rest easy knowing a staff member will get paid for what they have done. Otherwise when these shops close, the staff lose jobs and we all end up paying for that.

What?? Retailers don't have to cover warranties themselves if they havnt imported it themselves. If they buy of a nz supplier and something goes wrong, the supplier will fix the issue as covered by warranties or consumer G Act. IT depends on the product etc but its life in the real world now. If you can buy something overseas far cheaper than you can here you a fool not too unless you have no money issues and happy to throw it away.. Same with damaged stock, I work in retail, if we don't import the stuff ourselves (we do with some things) if it arrives damaged we don't wear that at all. The supplier we send a new one, or repair and replace with no cost to us

Originally Posted by deer243

What?? Retailers don't have to cover warranties themselves if they havnt imported it themselves. If they buy of a nz supplier and something goes wrong, the supplier will fix the issue as covered by warranties or consumer G Act. IT depends on the product etc but its life in the real world now. If you can buy something overseas far cheaper than you can here you a fool not too unless you have no money issues and happy to throw it away..

Oh but they do.................Cga puts responsibility on the Retailer, if the distributor sorts it then they are a good distributor (there are a few stinkers about) but the responsibility for putting it right rests with the retailer, if they try and fob you off to the manufacturer / distributor they don't understand the CGA at all. Its up to them to sort it and then deal with the distributor / importer as a seperate issue. Unfortunately many retailers either do not understand or have the once its sold we don't care attitude.

I buy both here and "there" depending but I am happy to assume all risks from "there"

Originally Posted by mikee

Oh but they do.................Cga puts responsibility on the Retailer, if the distributor sorts it then they are a good distributor (there are a few stinkers about) but the responsibility for putting it right rests with the retailer, if they try and fob you off to the manufacturer / distributor they don't understand the CGA at all. Its up to them to sort it and then deal with the distributor / importer as a seperate issue. Unfortunately many retailers either do not understand or have the once its sold we don't care attitude.

I buy both here and "there" depending but I am happy to assume all risks from "there"

I know that , the retailer has to sort it for the customer but the fact is (in our business) we always go back to the supplier, they 100 pcent always sort it , and its sorted for the customer. Esp with scopes, and firearm and hunting related items the warranties are so good from the suppliers the stores don't do a thing. Its sorted by the supplier is it not and then sorted by the store to the customer. Ie if your Leupold scope fucks out its no cost to the retailer to fix it, the supplier will sort it with the life time warranty. If you buy a bed and its a sleepyhead brand and theres a issue with it, its not the retailer anymore that's sorting it. Sleepyhead deals direct now with the customer to get it sorted and fixed or replaced, we don't even deal with the customer after the first phone call.....things are changing from what they used to be 20 years ago and everyone seems happy. Of cause if it didn't get resolved we fix it ourselves but we havnt had to do that in ten years...unless we import it ourselves or the suppliers gone bust then we do

Originally Posted by mikee

Oh but they do.................Cga puts responsibility on the Retailer, if the distributor sorts it then they are a good distributor (there are a few stinkers about) but the responsibility for putting it right rests with the retailer, if they try and fob you off to the manufacturer / distributor they don't understand the CGA at all. Its up to them to sort it and then deal with the distributor / importer as a seperate issue. Unfortunately many retailers either do not understand or have the once its sold we don't care attitude.

I buy both here and "there" depending but I am happy to assume all risks from "there"

I understand that some cannot see past the dollar signs on what they want, they cannot see any value in service and cannot see the implications or consequences of their actions. Why is there so few small retailers in hunting goods? Why did Hamils disappear? It wasn't because they were making a big profit. None of them are.

From a legal standpoint and the CGA a retailer is ONLY require to cover goods THEY sold. They are NOT required to cover any goods they did not sell themselves. If the Distributor (in the case mentioned above Swaro) chooses to then that's good for them, but understand, the CGA does definitely not cover goods that someone imports themselves from overseas. The only seller that is the required to fix is the one who sold it to you. And if they are overseas then the law here has teeth so blunt they will need dentures.

As for moral High ground. Well that comes from dealing day in and day out with customers for 25 years in retail and customer service. The one thing we have over cheap imports is service and reputation. We stock what we believe in and we back it up with service that you will not get from a overseas supplier. I have dealt with all manner of complaints, and most of them are genuine. We have a few try it on and I have even had people tell me they want me to honour another retailers product they we have never sold. Rule of thumb here is if it doesn't sell then we dont stock it. If everyone imports their own we wont carry any in stock as it is dead money and will not sell.

With so many companies trying to make ends meet, how any of them would cover someone else's warranty issues and continue to survive is challenging to say the least. Do you honestly think that if everyone imported their own Swaro scope and the local distributor sold none, that they would continue to service them under warranty? I suspect more likely they would stop importing them, stop stocking them, dump the agency and tell you its not their problem.

I do import products that we cannot obtain locally, but I do my own research, and any warranties are covered by us. We cover anything that goes wrong as more often than not the cost of returning it to the factory exceeds anything we would bet back. Usually the retailer can take a return to the original distributor if it was sold by them and as a sign of good faith (read honest trading) most suppliers will honour this, especially if they want to sell more of them. They are not obligated to as retail is not covered by the CGA as the act only applys to non commercially supplied goods. You buy it for a company or business and the CGA changes very quickly.

Originally Posted by timattalon

I understand that some cannot see past the dollar signs on what they want, they cannot see any value in service and cannot see the implications or consequences of their actions. Why is there so few small retailers in hunting goods? Why did Hamils disappear? It wasn't because they were making a big profit. None of them are.

From a legal standpoint and the CGA a retailer is ONLY require to cover goods THEY sold. They are NOT required to cover any goods they did not sell themselves. If the Distributor (in the case mentioned above Swaro) chooses to then that's good for them, but understand, the CGA does definitely not cover goods that someone imports themselves from overseas. The only seller that is the required to fix is the one who sold it to you. And if they are overseas then the law here has teeth so blunt they will need dentures.

As for moral High ground. Well that comes from dealing day in and day out with customers for 25 years in retail and customer service. The one thing we have over cheap imports is service and reputation. We stock what we believe in and we back it up with service that you will not get from a overseas supplier. I have dealt with all manner of complaints, and most of them are genuine. We have a few try it on and I have even had people tell me they want me to honour another retailers product they we have never sold. Rule of thumb here is if it doesn't sell then we dont stock it. If everyone imports their own we wont carry any in stock as it is dead money and will not sell.

With so many companies trying to make ends meet, how any of them would cover someone else's warranty issues and continue to survive is challenging to say the least. Do you honestly think that if everyone imported their own Swaro scope and the local distributor sold none, that they would continue to service them under warranty? I suspect more likely they would stop importing them, stop stocking them, dump the agency and tell you its not their problem.

I do import products that we cannot obtain locally, but I do my own research, and any warranties are covered by us. We cover anything that goes wrong as more often than not the cost of returning it to the factory exceeds anything we would bet back. Usually the retailer can take a return to the original distributor if it was sold by them and as a sign of good faith (read honest trading) most suppliers will honour this, especially if they want to sell more of them. They are not obligated to as retail is not covered by the CGA as the act only applys to non commercially supplied goods. You buy it for a company or business and the CGA changes very quickly.

All good.

I didn't put up the post to debate the rights or wrongs of importing.

It was my observation that guys were asking the same questions about shipping/ importing regularly.
I thought it would be helpful to summarize my experiences.

B

Originally Posted by shift14

All good.

I didn't put up the post to debate the rights or wrongs of importing.

It was my observation that guys were asking the same questions about shipping/ importing regularly.
I thought it would be helpful to summarize my experiences.

B

All got bit off track then.......

No worries.