International Export

Why is it that reseller refused to export to overseas. I am downunder (Australia) and looking at purchasing a new surefire. Reseller just said sorry we can't help you . Could anyone explains to me why that is so. Please direct me to any reputable site that can help me?

buy from www.lighthound.com / ships internationally.

regards.

John.

A lot of dealers and resellers do not wish to deal with the hassles of sending international parcels, others may be limited to sales within a specific region. Have you tried contacting Surefire dealers in Oz, like Gall's?

Ledacholic Anonymous said:

Why is it that reseller refused to export to overseas. I am downunder (Australia) and looking at purchasing a new surefire. Reseller just said sorry we can't help you . Could anyone explains to me why that is so. Please direct me to any reputable site that can help me?

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Most retailers do not want the worry asscociated with international dealings. If an insured item goes missing, it can take months to get a refund.

Ledacholic Anonymous said:

Could anyone explains to me why that is so. Please direct me to any reputable site that can help me?

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Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of resellers in the US that are not willing to ship overseas. Some because they are afraid of fraud, some because they aren't very well informed about international shipping methods, some because they just don't want to and some because they have one of a million other reasons.

Everytime I come across a reseller that won't ship international for whatever reason, it makes me feel sad. I know it's their choice, but still, it kind of makes you feel like your not equal or something.

But what I hate even more, is companies that will sell overseas, but only offer the most expensive way of shipping (usually UPS). This is most annoying with small parts. Buy a $10 maglite dropin and get $45 shipping cost, while the same part can be sent with USPS for a lousy $1.70

My experience is that many resellers just don't know how it works. They're afraid of massive amounts of customs forms, while for most flashlight related items only a CN22 label is needed (1 checkbox, 1 description field, 1 date and 1 signature is all that is needed). Many are unaware of great shipping options like GPM or the possibilities of Airmail Letter Post, which goes quite a bit beyond the standard letter. I came across quite a few resellers that were happy to help me after I explained them what the best shipping options were.

But some good online vendors who will ship international are:

www.lighthound.com
www.opticshq.com (see dealers corner for CPF discount)
www.fox-intl.com
www.fenix-store.com
www.qualitychinagoods.com

Also, keep an eye on the B/S/T section here on CPF, you can really score some amazing deals there

Great links there, thank you very much.
lighthound.com is cheapest (about 9% discount from retail price) but out of stock for most surefire torches. I am interested in the U2
opticshq.com has 5% discount. I have recently bought stuff from fenix-store. They are wonderful and highly recommended.

Ledacholic Anonymous said:

Why is it that reseller refused to export to overseas. I am downunder (Australia) and looking at purchasing a new surefire. Reseller just said sorry we can't help you . Could anyone explains to me why that is so. Please direct me to any reputable site that can help me?

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Surefire requires American dealers to agree not to sell their products overseas. This is done to ensure fairness and protect the interests of overseas Surefire dealers. Overseas dealers have to build shipping and customs fees into their pricing, often making it cheaper for those living overseas to purchase the product from an American dealer. The best way to go about getting around this is to find an American "buddy" or willing respected CPFer and have the product shipped to them and then on to you, assuming the additional shipping charges don't wreck the initial discount. It stinks, but is often not the dealer's fault. A good example is tacticalsupply.com. He's willing to ship all items he carries abroad, except for Surefire.

Ledacholic Anonymous said:

Great links there, thank you very much.
lighthound.com is cheapest (about 9% discount from retail price) but out of stock for most surefire torches. I am interested in the U2
opticshq.com has 5% discount. I have recently bought stuff from fenix-store. They are wonderful and highly recommended.

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OpticsHQ is cheaper than lighthound when you want to buy a U2.

check this:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1133154&postcount=11

to see how it works....

You can get the U2 for $210.85 (ex shipping)

Virgo said:

Overseas dealers have to build shipping and customs fees into their pricing

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Sure, but take a look at the price differences. There is one local Surefire reseller in the city I live in. They sell the E2e for 200 euro. Last time I checked, Paypal used 1 euro = 1.24 US $. So my local dealer sells the E2e for $248. Now the Surefire MSRP for the E2e is $96, which already includes resellers margins etc. So, that leaves us with $152 to cover customs fees & shipping. Lets say a reseller here has every single light shipped to him separately, and every light gets hit with customs fees.

Ok every light is being shipped separately. From Fountain Valley in california to Leiden in the netherlands, lets take the expensive approach and have it shipped by UPS worldwide express. I just did the calculation on UPS.com, It'll cost $58.79. The package gets hit with customs fees. Which in the netherlands will be 15 euro ($18.60) admin fee and 19% tax ($18.24) so the customs process will cost $36.84 Bringing the grand total of getting the light from US to netherlands to $95.63. So we now are left with $56.37 that the end user has to pay... Where does this money go? Straight into the pocket of the reseller. In the US people like that would be called rip-merchants, but here they are commonly known as local retailers.

Now please keep in mind that Shipping can be done for less than $10 using USPS, and that only about 25% of all packages coming into the country is getting hit with fees and taxes. And not to mention that the reseller will pay less than $96 for each E2e

Ofcourse, no reseller would think about ordering every single light separately. If he buys 100, customs admin fee will still be only $18.60. He will probably get a nice volume discount and save a bundle of cash on shipping as having them all shipped in 1 crate will seriously reduce the shippingcost per light.

In other words, for every Surefire E2e I buy local, I can buy 2 E2e's, 2 spare bulbs and a box of 12 SF123 cells overseas and still have money left...

Surefire is very strict with enforcing the regional dealer rule. You are forced to buy from the Oz authoirised dealer. Of course you can email them dealers listed above to ask for pricing only. ( wink wink getit? )

MayCooper said:

OpticsHQ is cheaper than lighthound when you want to buy a U2.

check this:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1133154&postcount=11

to see how it works....

You can get the U2 for $210.85 (ex shipping)

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Thank you very much for pointing me to the right direction.
I am placing an order with him right now.
I am getting a Surefire U2 with 12 Lithium batteries.
What accessories should I get with it?:rock:

That mark up is really sick MayCooper. Real shame.

Ledacholic Anonymous

I have had the same problem with dealers and ended up getting an L2 from a B/S/T thread.

It sounds like you have had better luck. Good stuff.

If I wasn't waiting on 4 lights ATM I would go and check out OpticsHq but if I did I would probably be waiting for 5 lights!

Some country the import tax could have burnt a big hole!