I have been racing for a while now and overseas online stores have been the only reason I can continue to race, as I, like many of the other people within the hobby, have a very modest budget which I must stick to in order to pay all of my bills.
In order to buy all of the necessary items to allow me to continue to participate in the races, I must unfortunately resort to buying the majority of my products online as they are a lot cheaper.
If I was to spend my budget within the Australian stores, I would not be able to obtain all of the necessary items I need to continue to race and therefore I would have to give up racing all together.
With regards to many Australian stores I have purchased from, I find the service to be very slow. I telephoned an Australia store last week and was assured that the product I needed would be delivered by Thursday last week to enable me to race this weekend. On the basis of this assurance, I ordered the product from this store. I have not received it yet and as a result I am unable to race this weekend.
If it was in fact just a diffence of a few dollars in the prices, I would purchase everything in Australia. However, many of the products have a price difference of up to $175.00, and I simply cannot afford to pay the difference and continue to race.
I would love to be able to support the Australian industry, and I realise that the owners of these stores have monthly bills and mortgages to pay, but I'm sorry to say that my bills and mortgages must take priority.
If I was to ever enter into business ownership, I would only do so in an industry that I have thoroughly investigated and satisfied myself that I have a reasonable expectancy to earn profits that would at least allow me to pay my monthly bills.
It is very unfortunate that owners of local Hobby Shops are struggling. If I was in this situation, I would cut my losses, get out of an industry that apparantly has not much potential of being successful, and get a job in order to pay my bills.
As I have said, I would love to be able to support the local industry and would welcome any suggestions anyone may have that would allow me to buy all of the same quality items I purchase online from a local hobby shop and stick within my budget.