Does anyone think that the price of Naim stuff nowadays is a bit expensive

Forgive my ignorance from the other side if the world, but any possibility the NZ stock cones via Aus, ehich might add a cost? If not then it suggests either that the perhaps smaller shipping volume here to NZ makes shipping more expensive, or the NZ distributor/dealers get a bigger cut, or both

Aus and NZ have different distributors so I doubt there would be any assistance in stock or freight charges.

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Interesting and curious! In Britain and everywhere else Iā€™ve seen Banks give less than the exchange rate when selling foreign currency, and when they buy back they again give less of oneā€™s own currency than the exchange rate: I assumed that is universal, and one way they make their huge profits. (But not charging ā€œcommissionā€!).

Or does it mean that what is showing as the ā€œtrueā€ currency exchange rate here (1.8243 AUD to GBP just now) differs wherever you are in the world? I assumed not as otherwise people would make money continuously simply by exchanging one place then back somewhere else.

Forgive me if I have mussed something obvious - I do not have much financial knowledge.

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Likewise, my financial knowledge is very limited thus I tried to provide both rates from xe as well as rates from FIs. Counting on getting live xe rates would only result in disappointment. In my much younger days, and overseas, I knew place I could go to and get close to market rate and I was oblivious how they do that so long I was getting the most I can get. :smiley:

Iā€™ve just twigged the ā€˜problemā€™! Weā€™re both saying the same thing re currency exchange, but I musunderstood your original post on this: I took it as you were saying that if instead of buying from the dealer at $8700 you were to change the money yourself and buy in Ā£ the Nova would be cheaper - whereas looking at it again I see I was wrong and in youā€™re only pointing out that the transaction somewhere between UK and Aus will involve banks and so may be a less than perfect exchange rate.

Interesting, though, my wife has a credit card that exchanges at the actual rate for the day with no markup or commission if buying goods not cash.

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Thatā€™s good but it appears our local distributor doesnā€™t have the same credit card :grin:

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This is too simplistic and so doesnā€™t make much sense, mainly because it ignores a number of important factors. Quite apart from exchange rate volatility, different taxes, and of course import tarrifs (note that NZ can be quite punitive here on certain foreign hifi imports - possibly to protect their home-grown brands.) the biggest factor right now is that with Covid 19 Iā€™m told that logistical costs have gone up considerably for some countries, especially if you use air freight. And then of course you have the logistical costs within your country, which are compounded if your country happens to be two islands, etcā€¦ I know that Naim have always kept an eye on pricing around the world and deviations from UK RRP have to be justified - i.e. a distributor canā€™t just pick a number and hope they get away with it. There has to be good reason why to justify.

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Thank you @Richard.Dane, it is wrong of me to call the difference ā€œmark upā€ so I have reworded it. As you said, there are many reasons for the price difference. Freight and distance are definitely some of the contributing factors as well as volume I imagine. Even pricing of similar products and by competitors, etc.

This is the case for the latest price increases, but there was also quite a jump (15% or so) late 2019 as well. Iā€™m sure there are legitimate reasons, but the products have become very expensive none the less, which makes in hard for buyers and dealers.

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@Mike_S. Thatā€™s exactly what happened to me Mike. I bought a SN2 and in the USA it was $5695. Then added a HiCap DR $2495. Of course a few months later Naim brings out the SN3 and itā€™s priced about $1200. Less at $4495. HICAP DR is still at $2500. I wanted to make a jump up the Naim line but prices are way out of wack . So I went in another direction and am very happy

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In the mid-80s I worked for the U.S. Rega/Goldring importer/distributor at the time (Import Audio, St. Louis). The US/UK exchange rates were generally the morningā€™s coffee topic of conversation.

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