Question for Aussies Hand held Band saw ( and thanks for the US folks)

[jack404]

G'day folks

well my Milwaukee saw arrived this morning

and in a word, grouse! ( meaning top notch) i love it.

got a letter in the mail today as well which led to a hour long phone chat to japan

seems the boss of Milwaukee Is a japanese fella i know and when i wrote and asked about warrentees etc he got wind of it.

seems Milwaukee was bought buy japanese folks some years ago and while they have a distributor here who does not do much and add's 400% to the rec retail for Oz and is killing the brand here they are releasing a "budget line"

made in tha same factory but will not be sold by the distributor here or UK they are bypassing the contracts to save legal issues (explaination at the bottom)

he has offered me the distributorship for this budget line as long as i dont squat on it ( see explaination at bottom) and dont sell for more than the rec retail they set ( fair enough too)

would the Aussie folks be interested ( not after sales just asking for market interest) in hand held band saws , 3 blades hard carry case tools for $349 AUD + $15-$35 delivery ( sydney will be 15 perth 35) or i bit less

this will be a big investment for me so i am looking for feedback only, i'll probably do wholesale deals to dealers here (tool power, mitre 10 etc)

it is identical in every way to the Wilwaukee branded item inc warrantee 3 years ( same factory) but wont carry the milwaukee name


feed back, idea's , most welcome

And a big thanks to the US folks who posted the info and thier experiences with these tools

it helped a lot

Explanation

the past few years has seen a number of companies squatting on brands in Australia, they get the distributorships but only to price the brand out of existance , why? they are agents for other brands ( GEC and B&D mainly) the guys who have the Milwaukee brand here have big lawyers and will get compensation if the distributorship is cancelled ( in the multi millions) the whole thing is a ripoff but thats what the previous government allowed as legal.

The laws will be changed soon but the milwaukee deal has 8 years to run so by bringing out another brand not under that deal they hope to get sales here in OZ

here is the current price in Australia for the tools meantioned

http://www.vektools.com.au/milwaukee-watt-handheld-band-p-1075.html

and here is the tool on ebay in the US who sells these to Australia (the folks i bought from )

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/6232-6-NEW-D...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

looking at these you'll see why they are seeking to bypass the current deal

they where scammed and seek a way out of this situation

i dealt with the boss of milwaukee when he was boss of a technology company back when i wore suits and worked for the government here, so know the offer is real he cares about his product and i was on the phone to him for a good while after getting the letter.

hope this explains and i hope you will let me know your thoughts

cheers

jack

 

[baldrocker]

Jack.
Your post goes a long way to confirm my suspicion that
us poor Aussies are getting ripped off (thats why we're poor).
Based on the examples you have shown if you can do it cheaper
and of course make a buck for yourself go for it.
BR

 

[jack404]

my main thought is to pass them on to someone like mitre 10, home hardware etc

the dealer margin is 25% but i would have to pass most of that to the reseller to ensure a fair deal

and get them to sign a maximum sale price deal

i'd basically be the importer and cop say 5% and look after warrenty issues ( check the unit to see if its abuse etc and send the customer a replacement) and make the claim against the parent in japan and get a credit in return ( replacement unit) and do sales by oztion through the small store i am setting up there

yes we pay rediculous prices compared to the US

the slitting saws i was looking for and found at niagracutter.com are $13 retail in the USA but the toolmex folks hold the distributorship here and so sell them for $114 AUD plus GST ( $128 inc tax) no wonder the folks at niagra think australia sucks

they cant sell there tools here because they are 4 times the cost of the competition and 6-8 times the chinese junk

but toolmex ( a UK company owned by saudi's) have a 12 year deal with 10 years to run, via a agent here.

its a scam and this was put through by the current leader of the opposition M Turnbull when he was industry minister ( and Mr Abbot helped), he has a agency too and squats on Chrysler parts ( why they cant sell original parts here but the chinese after market ones are everywhere.... )

brand squatting is killing us and the good companies who are willing to look after a small market like ours

i like UK and US tools ( prefer to by OZ but from who? there aint none left) and buy them before buying jap or chinese

but its a big investment but could work out ok in a while just gotta do a LOT of research and think of what to call them that will work before i sign on, but thanks for the input mate

jack

 

[Macca]

Jack,
just lost a lengthy post, but to recap;
I would much rather a handheld one than the H&F horizontal type, you can store it on a shelf or under a bench and it doesn't take up floor space when not in use.
Tradies might also like this, quicker than a hacksaw, not as messy as an angle grinder.
There is a forum at www.woodworkforums.com.au that you might like to post at. Mostly woodwork but they have metalwork and powertool sections as well. I used to lurk there a lot.
I reckon go for it.
Keep us informed, I'll be your first customer!

 

[tel]

Yeah, I'd probably be down for one at that price Jack.

 

[Maryak]

Baldrocker,

If you think we're being ripped off, (and I'm pretty sure we are). Have a look at the prices our UK friends are asked to pay for Chinese machine tools

Regards
Bob ;D

 

[jack404]

+1 on that Bob

a friend there (UK) who is a gunsmith goes to the US once a year, buys 2000-3000 pounds (money) of tools and reckons he is way in front says with what he saves the ticket and entertainment and accomodation is free and his Mrs & kids love disney land, he drops them off there and goes tool shopping for few days

and as for orders thats way off if.. lots of if's at the moment will meet with the ATO ( IRS in the US or VATman in the UK) and customs in the coming weeks to sort those details ( i hope ATO is hard to get straight answer from) but thank you for the feed back
i asked on a shooting site and they where all the same one poor bloke bought one and his retail price delivered to brisbane was $1220 ..

I act as the local tech rep for 2 small US tool companies now ( specialist deep drilling) and thats working out ok but really its very part time,
the real hassle is the competeing with the big outfits from the EU and china, tools sales is not a polite game and theres a lot of big $ interests with too much power ( 12 politicians here alone) so i'll let you know how it goes

cheers gents