Online Stores??

equipment overseas are mostly the same if not a bit more or less what hurts is the shipping costs...so the nearer and more orders for everyone the lesser the charges divided amongst all orders...cheers

Buy off your local store. heres a couple of reasons why:

You'll normally get great information for the gear u need. And as Rusty Gates said there is no BILL here for advice.

try b4 u buy, demo boards/sails..... or even if you want to just rig a new sail up on your mast, inside the shop, to make sure she looks wright.

Warranty, something goes wrong. take it back to your local, they replace it or they get it repaired. I imagine doing warrantys with overseas will be an instant headache on time and postage.

Keep the shops in business, yep it costs a few extra $'s, but WE need them, there good for us and there good for the sport.

I bought a board online from a shop in Germany and brought it with me when coming back from holidays in Europe earlier this year.

It was cheaper than buying it here (WA) even with the extra cost to take it on the plane with me. It was brand new and I saved couple of 100's $$$.

Good point about warranty, but I think that large brand would cover their products worldwide. But I agree that if you buy local it would be easier to deal with the warranty claim.

Few other things to consider before you buy:
- import tax, not sure about the rules but you might be required to pay some.
- potential damage to the board while in transit (mine made it with a little ding, cost $50 to fix). You should not have the same problem with sails and other gear though.

Sailhack, I'm not sure why buying local should make a difference when I want to buy other stuff @ local shops. I still go there for repairs and other equipment. It was simply cheaper to buy the board overseas and that's it. Don't really see a reason to pay extra $$$ if I can get the same thing cheaper elsewhere and it's worth the trouble.

www.surfconnect.com

padi will hook you up. great gear. better guy.

so should we or should we not buy from windsurfing sales (loft/gun gear) if we have local shops? all i've heard is good things about their service and equipment. i'm in the market for a boom and $140 from them sounds a lot nicer than $250 in a shop. i'm not trying to start a war here. i think it's more a horses for courses thing. some people like to touch, smell, see their gear before buying. some dont give a rats.

Hi Gazza

Just be careful about warranty with electronics from overseas. I used to work in a marine shop and had quite a few occasions where people had bought electronic gear overseas and tried to get issues fixed. As all warranty items had to have the original sales docket attached, when we submitted it to the local importer for warranty, they wouldn't touch it and the customer was left to look after getting it sent back overseas. This happened with a few different companies. They aren't obligated to honor the warranty if you bring in the gear yourself as you are the importer.

I'v bought a loft sail and a carbon art board but at least they are based in Australia/NZ and will cover any warranty problems. I would never buy from an overseas distributor for all the problems and risks mentioned by others. But I do also support local shops as I think the sport needs them to grow, I can't imagine someone thinking about entering the sport would go and buy everything from an online overseas online dealer. Local shops can provide demos and give lessons and without new people our sport will decline. I don't live near a shop (weel 4 hr round trip) but I have also bought a lot of gear from my nearest shop Wind surf n snow in Sydney over the phone and they have delivered it within 24 hours with no postage costs and offer good advice you can't alwys get from an online provider.

what is the point when they never have stock.

go to a windsurfing shop not a clothes shop that is mailorder windsurfing on the side.