Buy gear from Australia?

Hi guys,

I live in china, it's not easy to buy skydiving gears because the skydiving community is relatively small.  Used gears are expensive and dealers often told me to wait for a year if i order a new container...

my friend is returning from Australia next month so i'm thinking that i should take a look at Australia, i guess australia has a much larger skydiving community.

Are there any well known shops/websites in Australia for buying new/used gears? 

thanks.

If you can find what you're looking for then why not, what you can do is have the container or canopy sent to a rigging loft to be inspected and then if your happy purchase the gear. do you know what size container your looking for?

Mee Loft Rigging

Downward Trend

Parachutes Australia >  if your looking for new, they make the Talon FS

Most second hand gear over here seems to get sold on the Facebook group 'Skydiving Gear 4 Sale (New & Used) AUSTRALIA'. I understand Facebook is blocked in China but, if you have access to a VPN to access Facebook or if your Australian-based friend can get on it then the best bet is to join that group and post an ad asking for whatever you want. I think you'll have a good response.

For new gear, as Greekos said above, Parachutes Australia can get you a rig pretty quickly while Precision Rigging, Downward Trend or Mee loft can help with rigs from the US-based manufacturers although the wait times are astronomical if you order a Vector or Javelin. Canopy wait times are also very long. I don't think anything new is an option if you're looking to have it brought back next month.

17 hours ago, Greekos said:

If you can find what you're looking for then why not, what you can do is have the container or canopy sent to a rigging loft to be inspected and then if your happy purchase the gear. do you know what size container your looking for?

Mee Loft Rigging

Downward Trend

Parachutes Australia >  if your looking for new, they make the Talon FS

I‘m a rookie of  80KG weight,  so i wish the container can hold main size 190 Max to 150 Minimum.

12 hours ago, base615 said:

Most second hand gear over here seems to get sold on the Facebook group 'Skydiving Gear 4 Sale (New & Used) AUSTRALIA'. I understand Facebook is blocked in China but, if you have access to a VPN to access Facebook or if your Australian-based friend can get on it then the best bet is to join that group and post an ad asking for whatever you want. I think you'll have a good response.

For new gear, as Greekos said above, Parachutes Australia can get you a rig pretty quickly while Precision Rigging, Downward Trend or Mee loft can help with rigs from the US-based manufacturers although the wait times are astronomical if you order a Vector or Javelin. Canopy wait times are also very long. I don't think anything new is an option if you're looking to have it brought back next month.

fortunately, I have VPN to access Facebook and many other blocked sites, but maybe i don't have enough time to buy from other skydivers. having their gear sent to a rigger( I don't know any rigger lol), getting gears checked, then send to my friend's place, could take few weeks.

Ordering a new container from stores seems very unlikely, i might have to choose from whatever they have in stock(if they have any).  

thank you and Greekos for the info, i will contact those stores shortly.

All good advice above.

Protect yourself by having any purchases inspected by a well-known loft before it shipped across the border. A complete inspection of harness, container, AAD and reserve is the same as the cost ($80 to $100 Canadian) of a regular reserve inspect-and-repack. Expect to pay another $30 for for a main inspection.

An independent loft will tell you honestly whether any second-hand gear is worth four dollars/yen/yuan/euros/etc.

If the equipment needs any repairs (e.g. new line set) you are best to have the Australian loft do the work before the gear crosses the border.

On 2/2/2023 at 4:02 AM, chen said:

fortunately, I have VPN to access Facebook and many other blocked sites, but maybe i don't have enough time to buy from other skydivers. having their gear sent to a rigger( I don't know any rigger lol), getting gears checked, then send to my friend's place, could take few weeks.

Ordering a new container from stores seems very unlikely, i might have to choose from whatever they have in stock(if they have any).  

thank you and Greekos for the info, i will contact those stores shortly.

 

Hi

at Mee Loft we have a number of used rigs that might suit or be adjusted to suit depending on your build as well as some new stock rigs here that could be viable again depending on your build. 

If you see something on FB that you like we can inspect it for you as well and assist with shipping.  We have dealt with customers from China for some years now.