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insane gear prices! 14-May-2010 At 8:04:39 PM jezza

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'Aussie retailers need to change.' - is it really the retailers that are the problem? AFAIK for every major climbing brand, there is but a single wholesaler. Sea to Summit is the sole wholesaler for BD, for example. At least that's my understanding. There are other wholesalers for other brands, but there is always one per brand. I doubt if there's more than a few importers in total.

This constitutes an oligopoly, or, more likely, a monopoly (because we don't readily substitute one brand for another as climbers - if you want a C4, that's what you'll get). This allows wholesalers to force retailers to accept higher margins, and those are passed onto the consumer.

There's other factors too. The federal minimum wage in the US is currently $7.25. In Washington (highest) it's a stratospheric $8.55. Australia - $14.31+20%=$17.17.

There's lots of whining on these threads, but what's a feasible solution? I don't know much about retail, but I don't understand why the rules aren't changed so retailers can buy direct. What services are the wholesalers providing, and at what cost? At the moment if a retailer purchased an _individual_ cam direct from a US _retailer_ and marked the price up 100%, the price for that cam would be roughly the same price (in Australia) as the same cams purchased from an Australian wholesaler.