Westmarine Australia

Hi All,


Anyone here have any idea what;s happened to wetmarine's austalian operation? Their website just gives me a blank page - no 404 error etc.

Have they closed their doors down here? Anyone able to shed any light?

Unaware they were here.
Coincidentally, I just received info that BIAS Marine went belly up and into liquidation a while back.
We still have Whitworths.

HI Bruce,

FYI 3 of the bias stores have reopned under a different name and management team. Won't do you much good in Sydney though

As a serial patroller of Ausfish I thought I'd spread the word about the future of Bias. As a past employee and store manager of 2 Bias stores it's not suprising to see them go down.
A group of past employees and owners of Bias are in the motions of purchasing 3 ex-Bias locations in QLD. Tingalpa, Slacks Creek and the Townsville store are the new locations.
The stores will be branded Boating and RV, our new venture currently in Capalaba.
The plan is to restore the stores to their former glory, provide competitive prices and unequalled customer service.
Feedback on anything regarding the old Bias stores and new Boating and RV is more than welcome.

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From this thread if you want to read more.

Good luck with the venture

No association with either westmarine or the new Boating and Rv stores here. Just passing on the info from another forum.

Yes, I was quite shocked when I went into a local Bias store just the other day, where I have shopped for boat stuff for years, and was met by the sad story. Apparently, even those lucky enough to be kept on by the new owner will have lost quite a bit, including in some cases unpaid wages, long service leave, and even super contributions had apparently not been paid in for some time. Rather sad, although they were glad to still have a job.

Westmarine do seem to have dropped their dedicated "Australian' site...but frankly, who cares? It was expensive and the range was limited. There are many other US sites these days that happily ship directly and inexpensively to Australia (eg: Defender, using USPS International Priority)

I"m not sure Aquabelle - the bits I was/am, looking for were very cheap on the US site but postage was the killer. I assumed they'd be siilar price on the aussie site but with less postage. I guess I'll never know.

Shufti: next time around, nominate "USPS International Priority" as your shipping method. If they don't offer it as a choice on-line, you can often email them and ask if they'll quote shipping based on that. I have found this super cost effective and have never had a delay or problem. Sometimes cheaper than sending something from Brisbane to Perth via AustPost!

USPS has worked for me too. Note that purchases from overseas under $1000 currently don`t get levied 10%GST(a kind of sales tax). Sometimes it pays to make 2 transactions to stay under the limit. I was surprised to find some US sellers well aware of it.

Guys I have found most US suppliers are eager to please and will break stuff down into parts if required to stay under the dreaded $1000.00


I also use Hop Shop and Go for suppliers who don't post outside the US.
Australia Post now also have an equivalent site (much to Gerry Harvey's disgust).
EG
Cafarmo fans used to be Aus $180.00 each from Whitworths (now about $130.00)
I would buy a few at a time from Defender Ind for US $89.00 each and postage worked out at about $30.00 each and they would be on my door step within a week.


Australian retailers wonder why we shop OS at times.
With that in mind there is still a lot of stuff I wouldn't buy OS for warranty and local produced reasons.


Cheers
Benn

Right on Benn. I bought TWO Johnson Ultra bilge pump switches from Amazon, even with shipping they cost about $3 more than ONE (@$80) from Whitworths.

US small time shippers perspective.

Being at an age where I am trying to get rid of half of what I own (called downsizing in the US) I have had a number of ebay listings purchased by folks in Australia. I have consistently used USPS International Priority for shipping and to date have not had a problem and have been surprised at the speed.

THanks guys - I've emailed westmarine (US) and requested USPS postal charges.

Bay Pelican - don't suppose you have any Noco dual 6v battery boxes for sale dooya?

I often ship to Australia. Priority Mail International is the way to go for stuff under thirty pounds. It's fast, reliable and cheap compared to UPS and FedEx. I use DHL for bigger items.

shufti said:

Bay Pelican - don't suppose you have any Noco dual 6v battery boxes for sale dooya?

Click to expand...

Hard to believe I have been actively selling for six years, little is left and no battery boxes.