I don't like to do it, but I have taken to buying stuff overseas because it's much cheaper than the same product supplied within Australia.

This week I needed to buy 3 new shaver heads (blades) for my Philishave 4806. The heads are model HQ4. I went to the local Adelaide Shaver Centre and the nice man behind the counter said they were $60 (AUD) for a set of three. He helpfully suggested I might like to consider buying a whole new electric shaver instead, because that was only $90.

So I jumped onto eBay and sure enough, I bought the identical product from Canada for $20.83 (AUD equivalent) including shipping. I saved $40.

Now I don't feel good about this because I do believe in supporting local business. But how come there's such a markup on things? That's a three-times markup... seriously!

My friend Matt and I are planning to build some loudspeakers like these, and we just ordered the speaker cones for them. We needed 4x Fostex 108EZ Sigma units, which we bought from Madisound.com who were very prompt. We had these shipped from the US to Australia and the price including shipping & duty was $630 (AUD). I'm sure we saved at least $200 doing this, despite paying international shipping etc. In fact when we checked, one Australian Fostex distributor was charging 3x the US dollar price for one particular speaker. How come?

I know you guys have to make a living from this, and yes I know we must consider the exchange rate blah blah blah, but your markup is just too high. You'll continue to lose business while it's possible to save money by buying from overseas via the internet. I want to support you but you put me in a difficult position. I also am aware that it's not the little guy who is responsible for this -- the end retailer doesn't create the problem. It's the markup imposed by the importer which is then magnified by the local distributor.

Do I need to go on? I also bought new glasses frames this way, and saved heaps. I also bought a XITEL Inport sound box online, and it was cheaper from the USA. And a few years ago I bought a Netgear Router this way. More savings. Etc.

Years ago I was thinking about one of these telescopes, for looking at the beautiful South Australian sky. Sadly the same price differential exists. It's much better to support Adelaide Optical but you can buy Meade telescopes more far cheaply over the web from America. I'm not sure about shipping such a delicate item around the world, maybe that's a limiting factor which protects local business?

I have attached a picture of my new shaver heads.