NZSnowboard.com - The home of New Zealand Snowboarding

Hey just wondering if anyone has used this site at all, they offer pretty ridiculous prices and seem happy to do all sales through ebay and paypal and that. But lets be honest they are on the other side of the world...

Check it out....

They can get me a Gnu riders choice and ride nitranes to my door for NZ$1000 I cant get them for under $1500 here

Sounds legit enough but I wonder if it's worth the hassle.

They are charging $65 to send a pair of boots or bindings over? (I assume it's U.S., but even if it's NZ it's a little on the expensive side - of course it also depends on target delivery time, insurance coverage, and type of service)
But lets say they find me my boots for $150US+$65 shipping. We're looking at around $300NZ which isn't much better than buying new here.

You also need to think about tax cost for customs etc. which could bump you up another $50 or so.

Yes, snowboards will work out cheaper. By maybe $100-300

Then you should think about the warranty. What kind of receipt are they going to provide and who will accept it?


Judging by the price they have for that LibTech on their main page and the price of other LibTech's on online clearance stores I think they are just buying from them anyway.

Hey, yea Chris and the guys are all good! I have ordered from them in the past with no problems. I have also never been hit with a customs charge. It can take up to 4 days for them to get the gear and then 4-5 day for it to arrive here.

I have Ride Contraband's coming for $315 N.Z. (landed) which is crazy. The Nitrane's are only $35 more, they retail for $550 N.Z. So there is defiantly a benefit if you are on a budget.

It is also only an extra $25 (US) or something to ship an extra board so if you can find someone else that wants a board shipping is just over $80 N.Z each.

The benefit I found with using them was they are able to send brands that other sites aren't allowed to ship. Pretty much all of the best sites are unable to ship the brands we want.

hey guys, this is chris from cheapsnowboards4u. i googled our domain name and found that there was a post about our site on this forum so i just wanted to chime in. i hope it is okay. im not here to advertise our service or the site itself.

i just want you guys to know that we specialize in hard to find gear or sold out items. we are not competing with any stores or online retailers from NZ. we dont plan to and we never will. we support of idea of supporting your local shops and we mean this 100%. my partner and i snowboard 100+ days a season and we are doing this to help out other snowboarders because we simply love snowboarding. this isnt profit for us. i just wanted to clear this up because we have been getting a lot of exposure for some odd reason and didnt want to cause a scene.

about the shipping price, yes it is $65usd to ship boots or bindings to NZ or Australia. this is the cheapest shipping and the postage sticker will indicate exactly how much we pay. we dont hide anything. It actually cost us $63usd, factor in paypal fee, yea it's no brainer. we dont make $ off of shipping. shipping 7 lb boxes somewhere 9000 miles isnt cheap you know.

NZ tax & customs, yea i dont know how much you guys have to pay but Australia doesnt have this as long as your order is under $1000 so it is better for them to order than you guys.

warranty wise, yea you can't get it. some people order boards that are not available in your area or the fact that you didnt purchase from a NZ dealer. this is something you have to consider before ordering. it's not like we lie and say "yes, you could get it warrantied"

and to the person who said
"Judging by the price they have for that LibTech on their main page and the price of other LibTech's on online clearance stores I think they are just buying from them anyway."

this is true, but we do want to emphasize that if someone cant afford snowboarding but wants to board, we help them out. we do get snowboards from other stores at their prices but it is not like we are flipping boards and selling them at FULL US retail prices like some ebay users. our motives different. we really want to point that out.

if you could buy them from your local stores, you always should. if you are low on cash but wants to board then this is where we step in. yes there is no warranty but thats something you are willing to risk to save more $ for more riding days. besides we ship first grade boards not blemishes or b stocks and they should hold up just fine.

have a good season though! i cant wait until we get some snow in 5 months!


chris

I have an idea. How about trying to support the companies in NZ that support shredding in NZ....rather than going straight to an off shore company who give nothing to NZ shredding. spend an extra $100 here & you'll get better warranty service, & maybe some of that cash will get pumped back into our industry - not those offshore! support the NZ scene!

grinchy,

can you please explain fully what the average punter gets back from "the local industry" as you call it. Also please explain your definition on the "local industry"

So far the "local industry" seems to be a certain group of importers and retailers who self proclaim themselves as the "local industry" however they like to leave out shops like mine that parallel import some goods, we also have exclusive brands of our own and we do work with some suppliers in NZ. It appears "the local industry" excludes us, yet our Rider X at Broken River has the largest prize pool for any event this year in the Canterbury area, also sponsoring the Canterbury school champs at Mt Cheeseman, the Parklike Mini shred series, sponsoring two riders and looking at a couple more now.

We cannot get access to some brands from the NZ distributors. Yet we run the largest snowboard shop in Canterbury.

Why do you not point out to the average buyer, why they should support their local industry, I mean your self proclaimed local industry. Where the $1050 for that skate banana ends up. It is all good for people who work in the industry and either get stuff for free or cost, but for those people not so lucky, which is 98%, they don't care a couple of dudes get free boards to go shred, how many snowboarders in NZ get paid, maybe a travel budget, but who gets paid to ride?

I am sure you will unleash about how bad my shop is and stuff, but please back it up with some information, not just make statements. I am happy to listen and talk, but all we get is doors slammed in our faces over how bad we are for the industry.

Thanks, Greg

Hot damn! Looks like a good old fashioned hate fest. Their haint been one of these for a while now. HATE FEST hahahahahaha.

haha, guess mine comes out like a hater, but I am just sick of hearing about "support your local industry", for the average joe blogs, what does this self proclaimed local industry do for them.

As shops we sell gear for people to go snowboarding, so we need snow and resorts, resorts do not care where customers purchased their gear, they care about people buying lift passes. If people have nice gear they might ride better and come more often. So lets rule club fields and commercial resorts out of this so called "local industry"

With exception to one brand, all other snowboards are made outside of New Zealand, so its not like your buying kiwi made and supporting local industry. What they mean by "local industry" is buy from a shop, who takes some profit, after they purchased it from a distributer, who took some profit, who purchased from the head company, mostly American, who got their boards made in China (but not all) and made a profit. This whole bunch of lies, like they do it for the love, they do it too support magazines and pro riders. Yeah right, they do it to pay the bills and make money, they place ads in mags to sell stuff, they sponsor riders to sell stuff. Do you see many Kiwi pro riders driving nice cars, living in their own homes with mortgages, cause they have an income so good the bank loans them money. No, they sleep on couches, bum lifts up the hill and live the dream, shred back to back seasons, great live, but don't tell me it is because the "local industry" supports them.

What is happening is after over two decades of having total control over the snow scene and snow retail, these shops and distributors can no longer charge like a wounded bull, they can no longer capture all the sales, they are losing sales hand over fist to the internet, shops like mine, mates bringing gear back, etc. There is so much gear now hitting the snow that did not get purchased from the "local industry" so in their desperation, they are throwing out lies and scaremongering to make people feel guilty about buying stuff for cheap and not lining their pockets and paying their bills.

We have people come try stuff on, gather information then go buy cheaper elsewhere, so what, I have to focus on people who spend money with us, giving a good service at the time, backing it up with good service afterwards. The days of distributors in NZ is limited, unless they bring the price of goods in NZ comparable to the US. Actually take brands like Flow and Electric, their prices in NZ are not that different than the US, but then take K2 and Ride are really expensive.

How can a $170US K2 Formula binding, (works out at about $240NZ on the current exchange rate) hit NZ an become $440NZ, almost double the price, yet Flow can bring in a $210US binding The Five (works out at $300NZ), and sell it in NZ for $400NZ, which is not that much more really. And here is Sportive in New Zealand, screaming "support your local industry" because their sales have dropped huge amounts due to people importing it themselves on the internet. People are still going to buy from a shop, most people like the shopping experience, they like getting advice and looking at stuff, but hey, we have that K2 Formula in our shop for $339, $100 less than the RRP other shops are following, $100 more than the US price, except it is here NZ, with a warranty from us, you can come get the service and help from the store or have it shipped 1-2 working days for $6 shipping. You would be buying from a local kiwi owner, who sponsors riders and comps, puts ads in magazines and advertisers with online sites. I almost forgot, we are not part of the self proclaimed "local industry" so go buy your bindings from a shop charging $440 and ask them where all the extra money is going and then ask them to "thank you:" for supporting the local industry and not buying elsewhere.

Man if it was the case of $100 and my local store stocked them I would be there in a shot, but seriously they want $1800 retail for that gear that Chris can get to me delivered for under $1000 at current exchange rates! BWM I like your pricing, its realistic. And I do support local, shelled out close to $1500 last season on new gear from underground skate in Orewa.

Seriously shops do have to wake up, they need to employ people who know their stuff better, want to cut deals and work on turnover rather than expensive sales.

Wow wow wow, Mr BWM slow down there. Firstly you should read my post again before ranting in all 3 of your posts - & backing up your cause. I was talking about people buying shit from off shore sites. You are in NZ so should be supporting my view (if you actually read my post properly). However, personally I wouldn't buy from you either, If a core store has what Im after I would much rather give my cash to them...the ones that were here from the start, supporting the growth of shredding in NZ from day 1, not some bro who has come in mid way & seen a way to make a quick buck from the lifestyle & passion that the core stores have helped us build since back in the day.
My point....read the post PROPERLY, and respect where I'm coming from, cos it's kinda for your cause too!

What makes you think I am in for a quick buck, have you seen my store this year, seen our new website this year. This is the 6th winter for my company. Been riding since 1995. I actually think many of 'core' shops have lost their way and more into selling t-shirts and belts. I rang a 'core' shop the other day to see if they had replacement audio ear pads for my helmet and she told me that RED ones fit GIRO helmets. You have to get the right year RED helmet to fit the right kind of RED audio pads, let alone another brand. lol.

Sorry grinchy, I did vent a bit hard in my 3 posts before. There has been a couple of things I have read this year which anger me, as it is scaremongering and lies. One of them is a 'core' shop that advertisers on this site. I really do not believe in buying from shops just because they have been around for decades. They have tied the marketplace up so badly that people cannot even get supply to open new shops. Nothing wrong with fresh blood coming into the market, but the old school has it on the lock down. I have pushed my way in by parallel importing and now we have suppliers sitting down at the table and talking about opening up the supply chain. We give more back to our local scene than the other shops in Christchurch. We have some cool brands like Smokin Snowboards and Banshee Bungee. Our staff snowboard and we do not sell stuff outside of the snow market.

It is not my cause, we have loyal customers and lots of new customers each year, they appreciate the knowledge, service and price we offer. If they wish to go buy online offshore, so be it. You cannot worry about what sales you are losing, but concentrate on what sales you can get. That is what I see as the main problem with many other shops, times have changed, adapt or die. Who cares what you sold 5yrs ago, what can you sell now, who are your customers, what do they want, what price will they pay. We are willing to sit down and do business with importers and do so now. But based on what can we sell here in NZ, in the shop, online, but what business can we do.