Shipping gear to Australia

[jww83 0]

Hey guys, first off i'm new to this forum. Can't remember how i came across it but i've been obsessed ever since. Really interesting and extremely helpful.

I just wanted to know if anyone else on here has ordered equipment from America/Canada to Australia. I did a search and couldn't find much other than icewarehouse.com seems to be good. Unfortunately they don't have the gear i'm after.

What site would people suggest in terms of reliability and shipping costs. Or is there a way around insane shipping costs? For the same money i could get top line gear overseas compared to bottom range stuff which in some cases could cost more. The gear i'm after is NBH XX or XXX pants, and also a NBH XXX-lite shaft and/or a synergy 300 OPS.

I've seen that the NBH pants get great reviews from you guys, but haven't seen much on the XXX-lite shaft in terms of durability. Better or same as the OPS. Also any experience on the synergy 300 would be great.

Sorry if this post is too long or involves too many questions, new to this site and i'm more than happy to edit my post and break it into other topics if necessary. Thanks for any help whatsoever guys, keep up this great site.

[fatwabbit 93]

hey man... welcome to the board.

Am from Perth.. and shipped a few things from & to both the US and Canada. If you're not too anxious to get stuff, you can jjust ship it via normal snail mail, usually takes about 4-6 weeks (sometimes get it within a week), but that's the cheapest alternative.

As for shipping to the US/Canada, I've shipped some via Aust Post... gets there within 10-14 days.

PM me if you need some gear, I usually get a few buddies of mine to ship some stuff in, and I usually end up with a LOT of crap laying about...

[CTHockey 2]

I know a lot of online companies dont ship this way but USPS is by far the cheapest and one of the fastest ways to ship items to other countries, whether it be Canada, United Kingdom, or Australia. We ship all our packages via USPS Airmail and so far neither UPS, FedEx, or DHL could match their prices. The only trouble i can see as i stated before is finding a online company that will ship using that service.

[skatedoctor 0]

Hi There.

I got a mate over in australia who runs a hockey shop and online business.

Have a word with Alan at www.proshophockeylocker.com.au

[jww83 0]

Thanks heaps for the info guys. I'll definitely try and find a site that does USPS postage. It's the postage that has the biggest impact on the price but the gear still ends up being ALOT cheaper than buying it here in Australia. Also, has anyone had any experience with the price going up because of import duty taxes into Australia? I can't see it being evry high on hockey gear but the more info the better i guess. If i get a stick sent over i'm assuming this will be quite costly in terms of postage, worth the while getting two at once do you think?

[fatwabbit 93]

hey jonow3, which state are you in?

one other way to get 'around' it would be to ship to someone in the US, and have them re-direct it to you via USPS. Some online e-retailers do have free shipping to the US for total purchase above a certain price.

[jww83 0]

I'm in New South Wales. I know someone in Colarado that could be a great option. Would shipping that way be alot cheaper than through the site itself? As in, do sites tend to over-charge alot on shipping to maybe make more profit?

[fatwabbit 93]

pm-ed you my mobile number... call me and I'll try to fill you in on some of the ways to get around shipping.

[iceangel 0]

where can i play ice hockey in perth, melbourne, sdyney? how much does the league cost? any team training available?

[jimmy 194]

Trust me, there is no cheap shipping to AU. I shipped skate runners and skates there and researched all the different ways. For sure USPS was the cheapest, but not cheap like here in the US. I think the less than 1 lb runners was something like $17.

[fatwabbit 93]

Hey jimmy, if you consider what you pay over here for all the gear, I'd pay $25 to ship skates to me any day.

iceangel, there are quite a number of places to play. I take part in the league here, and we play on monday nights. I also play drop in on thursday nights. My teammates play on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays as well. I've already got other stuff going on, and also most importantly family time.

Will you be coming over???

[Aussie Joe 0]

I would have replied to this earlier but MAC issues have been abound thise week, more than usual...

I'm in New South Wales. I know someone in Colarado that could be a great option. Would shipping that way be alot cheaper than through the site itself? As in, do sites tend to over-charge alot on shipping to maybe make more profit?

Its been my experience that Hockeygiant and Hockeymonkey can over price their shipping for whatever reason. Epuck has been able to give me great prices on shipping in the past but will not sell Easton or NBH stuff out of the US, so really I don't even bother shopping with them anymore.

The best deals I've ever been able to secure on both shipping and price has always been found on Ebay. Even if its just a store selling you US retail on a Stealth for Eg take it!

1: Its cheaper then buying in Aus sometimes by about 200% or more!

2: They WILL see you this year's product as opposed to an 05 Stealth.

If you have a friend in Colorado use them for sure to get around all the stupid rules manufacturers seem to be putting in place. Plus with your friends hadling the international shipping you know you will be able to get the BEST possible price, especially if you buy from an online store and qualify for free ground shipping to the US address in the first place.

where can i play ice hockey in perth, melbourne, sdyney? how much does the league cost? any team training available?

All of those things are available in AUS. Sydney rinks have the best quality Ice/boards and glass in AUS. Im not too sure about Perth in terms of ice quality but I know that our one rink here in Melbourne is pretty much a piece of crap, no glass, poor boards etc (even if it did just get a new zamboni). The competition is quite good in Sydney and Melbourne, Perth is so so. I'd say at this point if you prefer rink quality play in Sydney, if its good hard and fast hockey then Melbourne. Its a pity you have to decide eitherway.

Ice Hockey Australia... http://www.iha.org.au/

Melbourne's "pro" hockey team... http://www.melbourneice.com

[Benchboy 0]

Hey Buddy. I am in Canberra.

Go with inlinewarehouse. They are the only site I use these days. Ebay can be good as well.

[Sticks of Fury 0]

epuck does ship by the us postal office but I don't think they can ship oversized items like OPS through.

philbricks has opened an international section and ships via post office.

[fatwabbit 93]

only problem with shipping are OPS. Anything over 60inch, and arent accepted by Australia... Most OPS are about 66inch..

[flyingotter 0]

only problem with shipping are OPS. Anything over 60inch, and arent accepted by Australia... Most OPS are about 66inch..

I bought an Innovative True1 off ePuck a couple of years ago. No problems with the shipping.

[Benchboy 0]

only problem with shipping are OPS. Anything over 60inch, and arent accepted by Australia... Most OPS are about 66inch..

There are 2 methods. USPS will send one stick for $44US postage or UPS start at $175US per stick.

[iceangel 0]

Hey jimmy, if you consider what you pay over here for all the gear, I'd pay $25 to ship skates to me any day.

iceangel, there are quite a number of places to play. I take part in the league here, and we play on monday nights. I also play drop in on thursday nights. My teammates play on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays as well. I've already got other stuff going on, and also most importantly family time.

Will you be coming over???

fatwabbit, i polly coming over end of year, can u tell me more information where can play in australia? how much league cost, i heard u need to buy insurance to play ice hockey. do u have website link?

[fatwabbit 93]

If you play at drop in, its about $10 per session and it covers insurance.

the league cost is about $150 for registration, and then another $10 a game.

I dont have a link, but will try to look for one. You coming to Perth? PM me, and I'll send you my mobile number. btw, the name's Kev... only people who call me fatboy or something like that are my aunts (arent they such wonderful relatives?)

[MLSman 22]

Out of curiosity, I understand that shipping is an issue...but the price difference from US and AU is just insane. Why is gear that expensive in AU? It can't be currency conversion, because as of yesterday, the exchange rate was .83 AUD to 1.00 US. Does anyone have a clue?

[godiogo 0]

A lot of countries have high tariffs on imports to protect national industries, even if there are no national producers of hockey equipment in Australia as far as I know. The fact is the government would rather have an Australian play rugby and buy Aussie equipment than to spend money overseas.

[fatwabbit 93]

They've got some local hockey brands like Gryphon, dont know much about them, just that the do make stuff like OPS and hockey gloves.

Aussies also play Aussie Rules Football, although I still think that soccer is the only football around....

Go LIVERPOOL!

[Aussie Joe 0]

A lot of countries have high tariffs on imports to protect national industries, even if there are no national producers of hockey equipment in Australia as far as I know. The fact is the government would rather have an Australian play rugby and buy Aussie equipment than to spend money overseas.

Completely off the mark, the government cares little when it comes to sporting goods sales in Australia. The sole reason why gear is so expensive here is due to the large amount of middle men.

For eg...

-> NBH sell their product to the national distributor in Aus known as Addlon.

-> Addlon is required to buy a minimum amount and as per business acumen increases the price of the product to cover their own expenses (shipping costs to Aus, rent, wages etc) and most notably local marketting of the product.

-> LHS buys NBH gear from Addlon and needs to add their own profit margin etc to cover their costs.

-> Hockey player buys from LHS at enflated figures.

All this means we pay anywhere between 15% to 200% increase on the same price that someone in the US pays. Whether it be skates, sticks or even hockey tape. Its little wonder really the majority of players in Australia buy overseas where possible.

You really can see what I mean, when you look at the example I posted a few weeks back where by I could purchase an 05 Stealth here for $450 AUD or I could pay $435 AUD to purchase and ship x3 ONE70 sticks to AUS! Shipping an OPS to AUS is expensive but, if you get some mates in on the deal and buy multiple sticks you really save a packet on shipping. They may not be the same stick but, bang fro buck wise the ONE70 is far superior.

At the end of the day if we buy in Aus we do get to support local businesses and supposedly have a warranty. I know the Mission/Easton dealer in Aus will hang up the phone on you if you mention you bought the product overseas even if you were travelling in the states etc, if you didn't buy from him (indirectly) he refuses to service a warranty claim. However I know several people who have gone over his head, in this case direct to Easton in the states and they have replaced a stick where the deemed the product defective.

Allot of lies are spread about the hockey industry in Aus, I really pity the parents that shell out big bucks per year and have no idea about the cheaper option.

[Law Goalie 147]

A buddy of mine recently moved to Singapore, and took all his goalie gear with him - you skaters think you've got it bad, eh? ;) He was looking at *thousands* to courier the gear, or about $800 to send it by boat, unsecured, with an delivery window of two to six months - or more likely, never, since the stores we talked to all refused to ship overwater because of theft and loss.

The solution, it turned out, was dead simple. My buddy was flying on British Ariways, and unlike a lot of cut-rate airlines these days, they offer a rather wonderful service to people travelling on their flights: unaccompanied baggage.

Basically, you buy a ticket on BA, and then about two weeks before you flight, you take your excess baggage to the airport. There are basically no size limitations. They take your baggage, insure the contents, and file everything away. When a BA flight going to your destinaion has open cargo space, they put your gear in; if you have a ton, it may take a couple of shipments, though you can specify that your individual bags should not be separated for shipping. Your baggage will *not* arrive before you, and while there are no actual guarantees on delivery, it's usually less than a week. Total cost was about $400 CAD.

Of course, this only works if 1) you're not already overseas, 2) you're flying to a country with regular BA service, and 3) you're a BA passenger.

However, if you have a friend who lives in North America or Europe, you can always bribe them to take their vacations in Australia, Singapore, or wherever, and bring your new gear along on BA with them. You'll have to buy a lot of gear to make it worthwhile - for example, my friend and I are planning to haul a full set of new goalie gear over to him in a couple of years - pads, sticks, the lot.

[godiogo 0]

A lot of countries have high tariffs on imports to protect national industries, even if there are no national producers of hockey equipment in Australia as far as I know. The fact is the government would rather have an Australian play rugby and buy Aussie equipment than to spend money overseas.

Completely off the mark, the government cares little when it comes to sporting goods sales in Australia. The sole reason why gear is so expensive here is due to the large amount of middle men.

For eg...

-> NBH sell their product to the national distributor in Aus known as Addlon.

-> Addlon is required to buy a minimum amount and as per business acumen increases the price of the product to cover their own expenses (shipping costs to Aus, rent, wages etc) and most notably local marketting of the product.

-> LHS buys NBH gear from Addlon and needs to add their own profit margin etc to cover their costs.

-> Hockey player buys from LHS at enflated figures.

All this means we pay anywhere between 15% to 200% increase on the same price that someone in the US pays. Whether it be skates, sticks or even hockey tape. Its little wonder really the majority of players in Australia buy overseas where possible.

You really can see what I mean, when you look at the example I posted a few weeks back where by I could purchase an 05 Stealth here for $450 AUD or I could pay $435 AUD to purchase and ship x3 ONE70 sticks to AUS! Shipping an OPS to AUS is expensive but, if you get some mates in on the deal and buy multiple sticks you really save a packet on shipping. They may not be the same stick but, bang fro buck wise the ONE70 is far superior.

At the end of the day if we buy in Aus we do get to support local businesses and supposedly have a warranty. I know the Mission/Easton dealer in Aus will hang up the phone on you if you mention you bought the product overseas even if you were travelling in the states etc, if you didn't buy from him (indirectly) he refuses to service a warranty claim. However I know several people who have gone over his head, in this case direct to Easton in the states and they have replaced a stick where the deemed the product defective.

Allot of lies are spread about the hockey industry in Aus, I really pity the parents that shell out big bucks per year and have no idea about the cheaper option.

Sorry Aussie Joe, I guess I wrote without knowing the whole story. In Brazil however, the government is a dinosaur of a middle man. My government may not care about sports specifically, but they sure care about taxes.