getfunky said...

harry potter said...

I am yet to see hoardes of BWS kites at my local ......

Try looking at water level. They take kn aaaaggeesss to relaunch so you are bound to see one floating past eventually.

i havent had a problem with relaunch!

Fact most buyers want the feeling they have received an overall good deal and buy from retailers

Some buyers like to seek the best price and are prepared to sell items privately

Some are like voters they change their mind from time to time but most like convienience and good service

The second hand and new car industry has lasted this way for years and probably will for years to come. People trade cars at low prices and pay top $ for their next car

Check out this ACCC report on restrictive trading on distributors with both the Company and Directors fined. Sorry its a bit long but worth noting for buyers, distributors and others


Penalties totalling $1.36 million have been imposed by the Federal Court today concerning conduct by Navman Australia Pty Ltd * and its employees.

Navman is a supplier of marine, personal and in car navigational equipment and has dealership and retail arrangements across Australia. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had alleged that Navman and its employees had engaged in resale price maintenance.

A penalty of $1.25 million was imposed on Navman and penalties of $80 000 and $30 000 respectively were also imposed on Mr Christopher Baird, a former director of Navman and the former Australasian sales manager of Navman, Mr David King.

The penalty ordered by the court is one of the highest for resale price maintenance conduct and follows the record $3.4 million penalties against the Jurlique cosmetics companies in February this year, also for resale price maintenance

The orders were made with the consent of the parties.

Resale price maintenance is prohibited under section 48 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, and occurs where suppliers prevent or discourage retailers from discounting their prices.

In his judgment, Justice Jacobson said: "The details of the contraventions show that Navman's conduct was not merely deliberate. It was pursued in an aggressive and high-handed way by the company's most senior managers."

Navman admitted that in regard to its marine products, it sought to ensure that dealers did not sell below the benchmark which it used for the pricing of its marine products. Navman had actually cut off supply to some retailers.

In relation to its PCN products, Navman particularly sought to prevent discounting below specified prices by retailers via the internet.

"This is a case of deliberate systemic conduct occurring over several years," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today. "The size of this penalty is indicative of the seriousness with which resale price maintenance is viewed by the Federal Court and the ACCC.

"Businesses must be free to sell their products at prices below suppliers' recommended retail prices.

"When buying items such as GPS and other electronic goods, consumers like to shop around (including over the internet) in order to get the best deal. This encourages businesses to compete on price and, by taking advantage of this competition, enables consumers to buy at lower prices.

"Price competition is fundamental to competitive markets and this behaviour does nothing but fetter this competitive process.

"This outcome should serve as a warning to other suppliers in this emerging GPS industry and to suppliers generally that if they attempt to impose a benchmark price, or stop resellers discounting their products, they run a significant risk of breaching the Trade Practices Act, and the penalty for that may be severe," Mr Samuel said.

The fines are normally piss poor. If they fined companies and made it hurt, it might make a difference. I'd like to see companies lose everything they gained from the actions and then fines on top of it. I.e. if they get an extra $100 million, fine them $100 Million and then give them a 20-30% fine on top of that. That would make sure they get hurt and decide carefully before they do it again.

I have had a 10m for 4 months now and had no problems at all re-launching deep water ..shallow water.. beach launch anyone who wants to try my 10m kite in newy area hit me up try for yourself no probs and yes I paid normal price for this kite so no kick-backs for this statement (added this for the kite cops out there)

Hey funky
Have you had a ride on the noise and experienced this or just seen a slow relaunch ?
I haven't had this problem, even in the current and light wind on the inside at triggs the noise seems to relaunch fine. It definitely helps if your not getting dragged along with the current with no wind. But that's the same for any kite.

getfunky said...

harry potter said...

I am yet to see hoardes of BWS kites at my local ......

Try looking at water level. They take kn aaaaggeesss to relaunch so you are bound to see one floating past eventually.

You got to be F..n kidding, these are probably as easy to relaunch as the REVs were.


and what are all those smileys supposed to do to your postings, does that mean you not sure, just joking, or a bit worried your actually posting crap

If anyone has probs launching a kite in 2010 the are just way too soft.

Im living in 2010. You should see my fashion.
It's like so last year.

thats like saying cheaper cars are going to hurt the car industry..


Great wall car springs to mind

You pay for what you get in most cases.

Poida said...

dachopper said...


You pay for what you get in most cases.

I think thats a generalisation in a free market

normally you pay manufacture costs x 2 x 2
so if it is $400 to manufacture
then its $400 x 2 x 2 = $1,600 plus GST
this is just what I heard on the beach, so take that with a grain of salt

one of the bigger manufacturers can advise otherwise?

I'll let you know after two seasons if the noise is still running, seems ok so far after a few rinsings

Tend to agree that price sometimes has nothing to do with quality. Look at local brands that don't do nearly as well in Australia as imports. Similar cost to manufacture and similar construction yet there is an attraction to imported brands because people assume they are superior because they are imported. Chatted to Steve from Fluid and their kites are doing incredibly well overseas and not nearly as well in Aus (the opposite of what you'd expect given the support local attitude in Australia) which I'm guessing is partly to do with the "local" stigma. After a couple of season's of having Steve bug me to try them out and a baby knocking my kiting budget, I figured "What the heck" and tried them and surprise, surprise, they're exactly the same as their overseas "pay nearly double the price" counterparts. Bar may be more basic than something like a North but people are still happy to pay for imported pricing for basic bars on plenty of other imported brands.

The direct channel always makes a big difference to the pricing with someone like BWS, but also bare in mind that with the bigger brands you're paying pro riders to tour the world on the circuit, testing in exotic locations like mauritius, etc etc. I'm guessing that most kites are manufactured complete for around $500 and as mentioned, double that twice for importer and retailer margins so if you take one of those margins off, $1000 is quite feasible.

DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE THAT MUCH IF A KITE CAN RELAUNCH OR NOT?

OR IF ITS CHEAPER THEN THE REST?

PEOPLE WILL BUY WHAT THEY WANT NO MATTER OF WHAT THE PRICE OR THE LAW
NO NEED TO WRITE FOUR PAGES OF ADVERTISING FOR EFFIN BEER WINE SPIRITS MAKES ME SICK ENOUGH!

I think we are agreeing, and my quote was a generalization.

If you compare a water foil which has measurably no depower, poor upwind and costs $700 brand new - and the chicken loops keep braking, to most modern kites you get what you pay for.

most modern kites are in the 1400 - 1800 range.

Guys that are selling them for 2000 - 3000 are going through several other people who all have to pay taxes, import duty, stamp duty, and in the end the kite price has to pay for the store rental, insurance, employeees, the list goes on.

the 1400 - 1800 is the "good deal range" where less people are taking a slice of the pie

kites around 1000 brand new, in my experience - are missing bits !


either they are basic, basic , basic models that are actually cheap to make and you get what you pay for, or they are OK - but don't come with bar and line, or the pump is missing, or there is no bag included, or spares are extra, or there is 2 less struts so it's cheaper to make

let's face it - 1000 for a kite is relatively cheap, so is 1800 -

Great product all round,,,, people will always knock someone shaking up anything that has been 'THE NORM' forevever ! Give it a go - who knows - YOU might actally like the gear..