Buying my 1st chainsaw in Australia. Should I import a saw?

[OrangeRidge]

Yeah look it's all good, it would be fantastic to live in Kentucky, where you probably earn a quarter of what we do and get to pay half what we do for your gear, .

Don't forget the Medical Insurance , Property Tax , College Fees ...................... it's easy to look at their retail , but the rest of their taxes are hell.

On a point of margin ; Mate of mine in SF sells tools to work-site and teams . Four years ago his margin was 35-37% . Now it's down to 20% !
He treads water and just covers his cost of living. Doesn't see ANY light at the end of the tunnel , and that's Washington money buying his
stuff . Bad , bad situation , but loads of retail bargains , so he recons .............

 

[AUSSIE1]

isnt a issue unless the buyer decides to take it in or report it to AU dealer. then they can trace it back to where it was sold and who bought it. usually a warning not to sell to that customer but if it keeps happening to the same dealer, they can lose the franchise.

Yeah like most things mate, it's a long shot. I still find it interesting that a dealer is rapped on the knuckles for something he's not responsible for or for not having any knowledge of.

 

[MattCrowe]

thats great, iam happy that your happy with your purchase especially if your dealer knows there stuff.

Thanks young, and i'm happy that your happy that i'm happy...

 

[CM76]

hey, i'm a 25 year experienced mechanic, i can work on my own gear too, but paying a bit extra to not have to is worth every penny to me, maybe not you, but you have your opinion and i have mine, but one things for sure, in the last 30 years of locally buying chainsaws i haven't gone bankrupt

Nothing to do with this thread but am I missing something here - your profile says you are 36 years old :monkey: Either its a typo or you must have started your apprenticeship early!

 

[AUSSIE1]

I spent another $1000 in the US at midnight last night waiting for my $1012 to come under that grand!

 

[Rudolf73]

I spent another $1000 in the US at midnight last night waiting for my $1012 to come under that grand!

I hope its white and orange Al! LOL

 

[MattCrowe]

Nothing to do with this thread but am I missing something here - your profile says you are 36 years old :monkey: Either its a typo or you must have started your apprenticeship early!

Don':msp_wink:t remember filling that bit in, but its close, I'm 46 years old and started my time when i left college at 19

 

[AUSSIE1]

I hope its white and orange Al! LOL

White and orange? You and your white and orange! Pffft!

Black mate...black!

I'm yet to work out how to tell the missus! Hmmmm.

 

[Stihlman441]

I am waiting waiting at the letter box every day for my ported MS441CRMTronic,it cleared Customs today, probably the first one to come to Ozz.:msp_thumbsup:

 

[jmw]

..., while Rudolf and the OP are sitting at there letter boxes making chainsaw noises waiting for the postman to show with there half price saw, my "reserved only for the rich" saws are earning me 600 a day, ..., they are a tool that earns me money, simply put, an investment, and Aussie retail, although stupidly inflated, still isn't bank busting so i don't see it as an overly big issue.

If I were using a saw to make a living I'd make the same decision as you. It's a tax write-off after all.
But I don't. A pro saw is basically a toy for me - a 50cc homeowner saw will do all I NEED - and either way it's never going to earn me a dollar.

Even then, if I had a dealer 2 minutes down the road with the saws on the shelves for me to pick up and handle, I'd probably just fork over the money.
But I don't. It's probably a 500km round trip to a dealer with a full range of saws.

So if I'm going to have to order a saw & buy it sight unseen - why wouldn't I at least think about ordering from the US?

 

[AUSSIE1]

I am waiting waiting at the letter box every day for my ported MS441CRMTronic,it cleared Customs today, probably the first one to come to Ozz.:msp_thumbsup:

Good stuff. Got the tent set up inside the front gate?

 

[Stihlman441]

Yep Al got a bar and chain and the fuel/oil as well.

 

[Nardoo]

Sorry, I am a bit late here guys but I gotta have my two bobs worth. I have imported two Husqvarnas from the States this year when the Aussie $ was at around US$1.10 and I saved some serious money. Wait time was seven days and the seller guaranteed them - money back. Not that I needed that.

No opinions here, just facts.

BTW jmw, welcome to the site. Lots of great info here. Another option is to grab a second hand saw cheap and let the members here walk you through a full restoration. Easy and fun. Aussie1 might even show you how to make it go fast by interfering with its internals!

Hey, you go fishing out to Awoonga? I fly up every year to fight with those mighty barra.

Al.

 

[jmw]

...BTW jmw, welcome to the site. Lots of great info here...
Hey, you go fishing out to Awoonga? I fly up every year to fight with those mighty barra.

Al.

Thanks for the welcome. Got to admit I'd not heard of lake Awoonga - had to look it up - haven't been up Gladstone way in a long time.

I live only a couple of hundred metres from the beach here and I'm happy staying put - even try to avoid going into Bundy except when I have to.

 

[koshari]

hey matt from tassie, given your love of paying inflated retail prices , was wondering if you were interested in a nice little bridge i could sell you, start charging tolls and you could have another little $500 a day earner in your portfolio :wink2:


oh and just to keep on topic i bought a technically 2nd hand ( a 3rd party walked into the stihl dealership paid cash for it then went directly to the postal office and sent it to me) ms261 from the US and it worked out about half price landed in Australia.

 

[Rudolf73]

hey matt from tassie, given your love of paying inflated retail prices , was wondering if you were interested in a nice little bridge i could sell you, start charging tolls and you could have another little $500 a day earner in your portfolio :wink2:


oh and just to keep on topic i bought a technically 2nd hand ( a 3rd party walked into the stihl dealership paid cash for it then went directly to the postal office and sent it to me) ms261 from the US and it worked out about half price landed in Australia.

Good choice of saw Kosh, what rpms was it running when you got it?

 

[koshari]

Good choice of saw Kosh, what rpms was it running when you got it?

never put a tach on it so i cant say ( i do have a tectrail dash on the kdx with tacho that would be able to tell me if i pulled it off the bike and wrapped the plug cable round the saws HT lead.) , its stock as a rock and delivers plenty of torque for me running both 16 and 20" bars with .325 chain, i did richen the mix a bit by winding the captive h screw a few turns just to be on the safe side.

i run premium unleaded mixed with fuchs titan semi synthetic. ( same as i run in the bike for that matter)

possible muffmod in the future if i get my hands on a spare shroud.

if i didnt get a saw Ex US i think i would have taken the Makita path if i purchased locally.

 

[Stihlman441]

oh and just to keep on topic i bought a technically 2nd hand ( a 3rd party walked into the stihl dealership paid cash for it then went directly to the postal office and sent it to me) ms261 from the US and it worked out about half price landed in Australia.[/QUOTE]

I did the same thing,and put the saving towards the next one.

 

[Stihlman441]

never put a tach on it so i cant say ( i do have a tectrail dash on the kdx with tacho that would be able to tell me if i pulled it off the bike and wrapped the plug cable round the saws HT lead.) , its stock as a rock and delivers plenty of torque for me running both 16 and 20" bars with .325 chain, i did richen the mix a bit by winding the captive h screw a few turns just to be on the safe side.

possible muffmod in the future if i get my hands on a spare shroud.

Do the muff modd you will love the differance.

 

[koshari]

Do the muff modd you will love the differance.

just like the outboard dawg mod SM ;-)