would you believe Uncles and Qaudio charge $90 to ship to Australia. The Pronto is not sold here so you have to firstly make sure it is the one you want and then find a way to get it here. Can someone provide dimensions and weight so that I can determine if I am getting ripped off on freight (the price may include insurance?) Amazon freight seems alot cheaper.

JH

The actual box of the pronto is 9.5"W, 7.75" L, 2.25" H. I believe with the box it weighs 1.5lbs. Don't forget to add space and weight for the shipping carton.

Combined Pronto and packaging weighs in at 2 pounds overall. A dock adds another 2 pounds.
I haven't checked but shipping down under is probably around $30USD and can be confirmed at usps.com. We have shipped many a Pronto to distant places and find the postal express service to be fully reliable and the most cost effective means. Perhaps not quite as quick as FedEx, UPS or Airborne but reasonable. We always charge actual direct costs for shipping international packages. Postal Express also does have tracking although again, not quite as accurate to the minute as the others. Bottom line is it gets there safe and sound within a reasonable time frame.(3-5 days usually)

UPS Express from the eastcoast US to Sydney is US$30. Arrives in 3-4 days. USPS should be less, and are reliable for my other purchases, but at the money I'm paying for the Pronto, I am not taking any chances.

In fact, the postal service looses far fewer packages than UPS which is why we use them. They rarely loose packages as the stakes are much higher being a federally based agency with their own internal police force. UPS (and the other carriers) loose more packages in a week than the postal service looses in a year.

Mr. Hodgson incorrectly states that Q Audio charges $90 to ship to Australia. We charge $60 to ship to Australia and virtually anywhere else internationally. Our price for the Pronto is and has been $399 delivered UPS internationally since December, 1998. The breakdown is $339 plus $60 double boxed (10"x10"x3") insured and shipped via UPS Express. The dimensionalized, billable weight is 2 Lbs. Australia is UPS Express zone 904 from USA East Coast. UPS charge is $52.50. Insurance is $1.05. A 'double box' costs us $1.00. Early on in the distribution life cycle of the Pronto we established a $60 flat rate to arrive at an 'attractive' $399 price point. Some of our international shipments cost more than $60. Some less. Over time they evened themselves out. Worked for us. Times are changing. Prices are inching downward and supply is meeting demand. We are adjusting our price accordingly, too, and will meet a competitor's lower price when presented from a stocking, authorized Philips dealer. I'm sorry that Mr. Hodgson has attributed this "would you believe"......."if I'm getting ripped off on freight" Uncle's ($319 plus $90) quote to us.

Mr. Bevan, who purchased his Pronto from Q Audio at $399 delivered (like virtually everyone else), incorrectly states (see above) that "UPS Express from the eastcoast US to Sydney is US$30." A UPS Express LETTER costs more. USPS is not my preferred carrier. While their posted 'rate' is lower their insurance rate per $100 is much higher than UPS. In most cases I've not found there to be an appreciable difference in actual cost to ship between UPS and USPS yet, anecdotally, my experience with UPS claims settlement has been speedy and satisfying. With USPS it's been time wasteful and unsatisfying.

I stand (and sit) corrected....As Mr Q Audio said, I did in fact pay US$399, which included $60 in shipping...I had a lapse in memory when I posted the reply yesterday...

John (Hogdson), I read somewhere that J&R sells for a low price (about $319 from memory, but my memory is lousy so don't bash me if it's wrong!) and ships overseas for US$10, which I suspects comes via a rubber dinggy...but it may be worth your while to check them out.

I believe J&R don't ship internationally; will check it out..

Yes QAudio is correct it is about $60 with insurance to ship it to Australia; but I still don't find the base price of $339 competitive. Especially when people post that they have bought it for $319 including postage in the US. So if you take US postage off the Pronto should be about $309 base price but I have heard people pick it up for $299 + ship. So if I could get it for $309 + $60 for shipping then it is certainly more reasonable @ $369. So my "would you believe" attitude is correct and I think this is a fair price. Why charge us an extra $30 just because we live in Australia. At the end of the day it should all be about getting as many Pronto's out there as possible. Not about making a big profit although all businesses are entitled to making some profit.

JH

Unfortunately, many of these $299-$319 places don't ship overseas.

On the subject of USPS versus UPS, while it may be true that UPS loses more items in a week than USPS loses in a year, the other side of the equation is when it gets into Australia. UPS coming into Australia will still be UPS, while USPS coming into Australia becomes Australia Post...now I have lost even magazines by Australia Post (or sometimes they arrive in the condition as if someone's used it to kill a cockroach) and they can't seem to track the packages (while UPS can).

But let's face it: if the Aussie/US exchange rate was what it used to be a few years ago, we probably wouldn't be worrying about US$30...but I have my Pronto for about 2 months now, and I got it cheaper than what I would have paid for in Australia, and for the fun I got out of it, I don't regret paying the $399 (and went to UPS HQ to pick it up instead of waiting for it to be delivered the next day).