I burst my bubble yesterday I decided to buy another scope for a new f-class toy another nightforce so I rang my favorite gun shop (will not mention there name but pm me if you want it). Now let me start by saying when I found about nightforce in general our little ozzy dollar was 52c-54c against the yanks, now it's 74c-76c. First scope I bought at the low exchange rate was $1495 8-32X56 mill dot it compared spot on with the US market no worries I�ll buy it 4 months latter I bought a NSX 3.5-15x50 for $2110 without checking. Jump to present time and I would like another NSX same as before was quoted $2100 to $2200 from nearly everybody is this price fixing nope just overpriced from the importer ???. Ok from nightforce price list for retailers it's $1279 US which is $1722 australian $$ $378 difference best price so far that I've found is $1120 or $1508 oz dollars so what the hell is going on here ??? Even after government duties, stamp duty and gst it�s still cheaper. Anyway to hell with optics from gun stores in Australia I flipped out my credit card and should have it in 5 days time.

For some stupid reason mil dot scopes are not allowed to be sent out of the US without a special permit. Quite funny actually as most of them are made overseas and shipped into the US in the first place.

HippyHunter,
Make sure you contact the Australia importer and tell them exactly what you did and why and that you will continue to purchase via the USA. I love hearing their excuses...
Con

At this very moment , I,m looking around for new Zeiss Victory II binoculars. The price in OZ is more than twice the US price. Now that the OZ dollar is high and there is no import duty from US anymore , I,m doing the same as you and will save about 30-40%

I think most unrestricted items would be the same. Lyman single cavity bullet mould retails $124 here and $AU67 in the states plus $16AU postage. Total $83 saving 34%.

I got my Leupold scope from Premier Reticules P/L (http://www.premierreticles.com/?uid=5465&page=1754)and got a tax deduction from the Aussie government with a story that I contract to the power companies checking poles and needed an instrument WITH STADIA WIRES to rapidly check long runs of powerlines and that the horizontal wires allowed checking the straightness of the cross arms.

Darn fools swallowed this shit, let the scope through and I claimed depreciation expense on my tax.

Mickey, I read somewhere that mil-dot scopes aren't even allowed into Canuckistan. Any truth to that? derf

That law is now revised Canada, Australia and Japan (and a few other countries) have been removed from the exports laws restricting exportation of MILL Dots.

The problem is not really with the Aussie prices on these scopes but with the US prices. For example, you can buy a Swarovski CHEAPER in Australia than you can buy it in Austria or Germany. But the prices in the US are cheaper still? I do not understand how this works unless the US, by buying huge quantities, gets them cheaper than can be bought for the Oz market.

One word of warning, though, for anyone who buys a scope from overseas - your warranty will not be valid and if you have a problem with the scope you will have to send it back to the US or pay extra for the repairs.

Even if the scope was purchased in Aust it will usually have to go back to the manufacturer for repairs. A lot of the Aust distributors seem eager to only distribute and aren't all thast interested in the warranty side of things.a good example is that of a Cocky mate of mine whose Leupold gave up the ghost. He dropped it in to me when he was passing through Sydney as I told him that I would sort it out for him. The short version of a long story was that it went back to the USA for service and Leupold got it back to me in less time than I spent on the phone with the jerks down under.
robz

Second that Robz,

My Leup Var X III 1.75-6 gave up the ghost in 15 rounds of my .375 RUM. I could have sent it back to the Seller, who would send to the Dist, then wait till the distributor has enough scopes to send back to the USA. My gunsmith told me best thing is to send it back yourself & that's what I did.

Buying locally to get the warranty is only a theoretical advantage. The postage cost me $40 incl insurance.

Regards
JohnT

JohnT,
I wonder why the reseller (or indeed distributor) didn't simply replace it immediately, given that it was covered by warranty?? Typical time for a Leupold repair (through the distributor) is greater than 3 months I'm told, so why bother. As you mentioned, in Australia the warranty is simply a theoretical advantage.
Con