I signed up just to throw my support behind this initiative, it would be fantastic to be able to buy EVGA products direct at what i would hope would be a reasonable price. Current costings for hardware in this country is basically tantamount to extortion.
 
My only online retailer in australia is pccasegear.com as i can't stand the shoddy interfaces on any of the other sites.

I buy 90% of my PC parts from www.pccasegear.com
 
The reasons I wish to buy direct from EVGA.com:
 
1st - Is that Availability sucks for the higher end cards, I had to get a EVGA 580 Hydro copper on ebay in USA and import it to get one and that cost me $900 at the time.  We cant even get a EVGA 680 Hydro copper in Australia yet.
 
2nd - Is the priceing, the standard EVGA 680 is going for AU$ 699 at the moment on PCCG and that is a $200 markup.  The thing is the Australian dollar is worth more then the US at the moment and I know for a fact that it doesnt cost over $50 to get something the size and weight of a graphics card into Australia.  As for the General sale tax we have, it only aplies to items over $1000.  I can also understand a store making some profit but AU$ 150 is too much for my tastes.
 
Look at it this way...
EVGA 680 in USA = US$499
Thats AU$477
Add P&H = $50
Thats AU$527
I will not pay over AU$550 as I believe I could buy it (if I could) direct from EVGA.com cheaper.  So why are we having to pay so much for the same product?
 
Even EVGA.com.au has too much of a markup on its MSRP 580 prices and they dont even list the 600 series at all.
 
Last year when I was after a 580 hydro copper, the one store that did have one in Australia wanted AU$1200 for it.....
 
We want to be able to buy direct from EVGA.com
Getting our Estores to have more stock isnt going to help with the price or availability or high end cards.

Oh and take a look at the new global warranty....
 
"This process is valid only for products shipped from EVGA on or after July 1st, 2011."
 
So do we only get the Global warranty only if we buy direct from EVGA or do we get it if we buy from PCCG?

It means when we shipped the card to whomever bought it. IE newegg, tiger, amazon, a disty, or an end user. So it does not need to be bought direct from us, we just have to have sold it after july 1st.

Simba123

I'd be happy paying a 'bit' more than US pricing, but not much more.
Remember we don't get the benefit of phone tech support here, so that's a cost that is not incurred selling a card in Australia.

we never got lifetime warranty either, but that doesn't matter anymore with the new warranty scheme.

maybe if Evga were to setup a warehouse in say Sydney, They could import all products in bulk. Then they would be able to have an e-store, plus be able to act as a direct distributor to other suppliers.  This would reduce the cost overall to suppliers, increase availability, and hopefully reduce the cost to the end user as well.

Who says you don't get the benefit of phone tech support?  EVGA's US support is open 24/7 and it just takes a call to the US office.  Now if you are going to do that through a AU landline or cell phone, it can cost you a pretty penny.  But there are other options including Google Voice, Skype and other such services.

Simba123

With the items being sold out of Australia the distributor is going to have to pay import duties and GST, I don't think the asking price of $699 for the EVGA 680 GTX is that unfair, obtaining stock though is an issue or obtaining stock of higher end cards is impossible without a massive increase in cost. So perhaps the best option is for higher end cards/motherboards to be sold online and the lower end to continue on as is.

Just in relation to this, there are NO import duties on electrical items.  They were removed when the GST was introduced.  Given there should be no difference in shipping costs from China to Australia compared to China to US/EU the price should pretty much be the same + gst.  There is no way that there is $200 or so in extra costs to bring a 680 into Australia.

Simple fact is that computer parts retailers are ripping us off.  CPU's cost about the same as US as do most motherboards, but some items - cases/psu/Graphics cards are ridiculously over priced in this country. 
A direct store would be great because not only would it guaruntee availability, and hopefully if eVGA prices properly, might force the other retailers and e-tailers to stop ripping us off!

Plus being able to use our eVGA bucks would be really nice
The only way we can use them at the moment is to buy from the US store ship to a member in the states and the pay to ship to Australia, the new warranty makes this easier(not having to ship back to US for RMA) but it's still an expensive exercise for a person so send a card over here (as apposed to etailers who get big discounts)

That's odd then as I was charged "indirect taxes" with GST slapped on top of the purchase price, indirect taxes and shipping cost when the person I bought it from didn't mark the package down under $1000AUD, the customers officer had around 7 large books and looked up each item to see what duty applied. I could possibly still have the receipt from customs, will look when I get home.
 
I still don't believe $699 is ripping people off for a standard 680 card, we don't know what he purchases the cards for, what it costs to bring over or any of the running costs. What I do have a problem with is $500-700 over list for the premium cards, someone's making a killing but stock of these even in the USA is hard to come by so people are charging what they can.

lordbollo

I don't mind buying off local suppliers etc but i would like to be able to get stuff like the backplates and high flow brackets that Evga have but you can't get here in Australia. Also I would like to be able to use the step up program etc that Evga offer but with out Evga offering direct sales etc we just miss out here.
Also I have to agree that there would be a big saving for us here if we could force the distributors here to play fair and stop price gouging us on new and popular products. 

Under the new Global Warranty system, anyone who is an original purhcaser will be able to buy an extended warranty (within 30 days) and be eleigible for Step-Up (within 90 days). Our shipping costs will be more, but we can now do it!
Which is annoying for me, because I bought my card on the 25th of Feb, and I'm not even a week out of my 30 days.
Otherwise I would of taken the opportunity to Step-Up to a GTX 680.

/sign
 
GIMMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
 
 

/signed
 
just so EVGA are aware there is a massive turn towards internet purchasing in Australia due to the strong aussie dollar but also to get around the price gauging undertaken by most Australian brick and mortar stores (incl. Australian online options). With the strong AUD in comparison the the USD the Australian consumer is dictating a strong market shift that is now starting to directly affect local purchases. End of the day Australians want and DEMAND better pricing instead of the blatant over exaggerated price indexing that companies feel they can justify due to factors such as geographic position. Whilst yes there are erogenous costs associated with living in the pacific the mark up to recoup such costs are not on parity with actual. Instead its used as another mechanism to try and justify the exorbitant increases at the store. In many cases such mark ups are recouped by the sale of at least <10% of the total importation and duties incurred.
 
If EVGA provided alternate option and better pricing and/or assisted local companies to be competitive in what now is a global consumer market it would certainly set a standard by which even your competitors and 'licensed importation agents' would have to stop and take notice. Until such time as the competition adapts to EVGA's change in market approach to the australian consumer you would no doubt see a drastic shift from the consumer to look towards your product as a serious contender for their dollar. By that theory alone increasing your overall turn over though decreasing the profit margin at the store would benefit both yourselves but companies like PCCasegear and would yield both an increase in overall income from increase in turnover but exposure of your brand (after all branding is everything).
 
I am a proud owner of a EVGA P55 FTW MOBO and GTX480... in the next month i will be looking towards upgrading the entire system.. i can tell you right now I will be maximising my purchasing power by any means necessary, at this stage this will be to an offshore company. However if i was to benefit from direct purchasing from EVGA and/or your partners in Australia it would certainly sway my decision to invest in EVGA products. But at this stage given the current economic climate i will be looking for best bang for buck, the way i look at it is the difference in my purchasing power by buying overseas rather than locally allows me to invest that dollar difference into perhaps repainting the interior of one of my properties or least put it towards a night out with the wife (also an investment) so that i can talk/bribe her into letting me go tri-sli etc..
 
Anyway EVGA your Australian customers are talking.. help us to help you.. end of the day do you want a stronger relationship with your Australasian consumer and become second to none with respects to your competition.

EVGA_MatthewH

In terms of backplates performance PC's usually ships to AU and has our accessories (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=33750]http://www.performance-pc...&products_id=33750) 

In terms of extended warranties and step-ups this is still limited to the US, Canada, and EU currently.

So even after the Global Warranty came in place, only North America and EU can take advantage of Extended WTY & Step-Up?

EVGA_MatthewH

The global warranty affected what region you have to ship to and the fact that the warranty follows the product not the person. Ext warranties and step-up remain unchanged currently.

That's a bugger. Oh well.
Hopefully once EVGA are able to directly sell here, we will be able to take advantage of those services.

Signed up to the forums just for this :D
 
/signed! 
 
Would love to see this happen, I'm no expert but 699 AUD for a 499 USD card seems a bit too much.
 
 

I agree. I have been trying to get EVGA parts direct for ages! They are either way overpriced in Australia or you cannot even get the parts you want! Come on EVGA, you are one of the leading graphics cards manufacturers in the world. Surely its not too much to ask to make your great products more available to Australians.

Guys see here and get in quick! the first lot of stock arriving is pretty limited but I am sure plenty more will come.
 
Mark and his employees are also a great bunch of guys to deal with.
 
http://forums.evga.com...62&mpage=1#1533287
 
 

EVGA_MatthewH

Frozen CPU is another alternative for you guys.

It's just a shame my card only just left CA today ;) you guys should have sent them overnight freight, the wait is killing me!!!!!!!