The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Hardfeather on August 29, 2009, 10:25:26 pm

Title: Help please
Post by: Hardfeather on August 29, 2009, 10:25:26 pm
Would anyone like to look at this site http://www.aaronmartin.com/index.html and see if you agree with me on the uk price for the items?

There is a collar and hames advertised on the Dragon Driving website, and the seller is in Stranraer...........he says he has four 24 inch collars with hames @ £275 each (unused), and a used 22 inch with hames @ £200, so I looked on the Aaron Martin site and, as you'll see, the collars seem very inexpensive...........but then when you look at the prices of, say, traces, it all gets very confusing.

Perhaps I've got the exchange rate the wrong way round............ :-\ ??? :-[
Title: Re: Help please
Post by: doganjo on August 29, 2009, 10:39:47 pm
I think you need a horsey person to look at that - there are so many different types of harness and collars.
Title: Re: Help please
Post by: Roxy on August 29, 2009, 10:43:57 pm
Are the prices on that website canadian pounds .....or uk pounds?

And the collars on Dragon driving - are they English leather?

We drive, but don't use the full collars on our ponies, they have breast collars,or french brollers.

I go to carriage and harness sales, and you can buy collars cheaper than that, at the sales if you bid.
Having said that, the collars and hames do tend to be expensive.  I am only going off the ones I bought, which are purely for decoration purposes on my farmhouse wall, which came from an auction, and cost me £50
Title: Re: Help please
Post by: doganjo on August 29, 2009, 10:49:24 pm
That website uses Canadian Dollars - equals just over 50p - so Can $300 = £168.90 approx
Title: Re: Help please
Post by: Hardfeather on August 30, 2009, 08:09:53 am
I think you need a horsey person to look at that - there are so many different types of harness and collars.

Ha ha..............I am a horsey person  ;D

I work on a driving yard, have my own horses at home, and work freelance too.

It's the prices I can't get my head round. They are in Canadian dollars, which would make these collars very inexpensive in our money.
Quote
That website uses Canadian Dollars - equals just over 50p - so Can $300 = £168.90 approx
..........that is very reasonable, then. Thanks.

They won't be in English leather as it's a Canadian firm, but they seem to supply a wide range of needs.......from buggy harness through light working stuff, and into the heavy harness as well. I'll enquire on an American forum (Chronicles of the Horse) to see if anyone can vouch for their quality.

When I saw the one on Dragon Driving I thought it looked like a good piece of kit, but couldn't believe the seller only wanted £200 for the 22 inch collar................it seems he got for less than that from source.

I have a van collar here which I bought from McRosties of Glasgow some years ago, and paid £400 for, but I could do with another set of hames for it. I've ordered a catalogue from Aaron Martin, so we'll see.

Roxy, like you I attend the sales, and I buy used harness from other sources too, but I think you'll agree, everything has to be in proper working condition and safe when driving.  I would prefer to buy new if I could.

Do you do HDT, and what sort of ponies do you have?


Title: Re: Help please
Post by: Rosemary on August 30, 2009, 04:04:54 pm
You may be liable for import tax if the goods are coming from Canada. I bought boots from the States and got whacked for £22 import duty. Don't know if Canada is the same.
Title: Re: Help please
Post by: Hardfeather on August 30, 2009, 06:11:59 pm
Hmmm  :-\
Title: Re: Help please
Post by: cmorrell on August 30, 2009, 06:31:29 pm
When looking at prices from outside the UK, you need to remember to add the cost of transit, approx 5% import tax and VAT at the normal rate, so 15% for now. So cost of delivery plus 20% in taxes and the local prices you've mentioned are certainly nothing stunning, but don't seem too far off what I'd expect.