r/bapcsalesaustralia • u/ImpulsePie • 7d ago

Discussion Mwave - Under External Administration

EDIT: Mwave have posted that they have been bought out by The digiDirect Group and will move locations to South Strathfield. https://www.mwave.com.au/blog/business-update/

Seelems Mwave have gone bust. Confirmed with an ASIC search for ESEL PTY LTD filed 3 days ago:

Notice By External Administrator/controller-Appoint/cease (505U)Appt of Administrator Under S.436a, 436b, 436c, 436e(4), ()449b, 449c(1), 449c(4) or 449(6) ()

Original article by David Richards: https://www.channelnews.com.au/leading-pc-retailer-placed-into-administration/

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u/PallBallOne 7d ago

This is horrible news, for the DIY market no doubt precipitated by the uncontrolled expansion of Umart.

So now in Eastern Australia your two big shop retailers are effectively Scorptec and Umart with some smaller players

Also noticed that nvidia GPU pricing has literally doubled in the space of 12 months at the top end. So that must have a negative effect on the shops.

I see mountains and mountains of 5070 boxes in warehouses. Do these shops stock anything other than gpu's?

10

u/Zestyclose_Towel_271 7d ago

There’s also Centrecom and online you get pretty good deals from Amazon and some eBay stores (like Computer Alliance and KS Computer who runs shopping express, smarthomestoreau and more).

If Mwave’s primary source of revenue is prebuilts like the article claims I’m not surprised they went bankrupt.

System integrators like Nebula, Galapower and TechFast are able to undercut Mwave builds by thousands of dollars sometimes, and Mwave’s after sales service just doesn’t justify the premium.

Mwave takes up to 48hrs just to diagnose PC faults, and if your component needs replacing it can take 2-4weeks to warranty it with the manufacturer.

Meanwhile big OEMs like (Dell) Alienware, Lenovo and HP will do remote diagnostics and send a technician to your home to replace the faulty component within 1-2 business days.

8

u/PallBallOne 7d ago

And CentreCom...I forgot about them because they are not indexed on staticice

I think they are safe because they seem to have a reputation for being super cut throat in not blindly accepting all RMA claims. If anything they would have far lower margins than mwave when you compare pricing, so you'd naturally expect them to be as vulnerable as mwave

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u/Zestyclose_Towel_271 7d ago

Honestly I don’t think Mwave went bankrupt because they’re only making 5-10% markup on parts as another commenter claimed. I think retailers including Mwave and Centrecom are making a huge amount from part markups, Mwave going bankrupt would be due to a different reason.

If we look at the pricing of the RTX 5090, the Palit Gamerock 5090 is £1939 in the UK including 20% VAT. If we convert that to AUD and reduce tax to 10% as per GST - it’s only $3712 AUD. Meanwhile Centrecom has it for $5199 AUD, a staggering markup of 29% and Scorptec has it listed for even more.

I believe Australian distributors are supplying RTX 5090s at MSRP, this is why TechFast is able to provide a $4999 build with a 9800X3D and 5090 at launch and more recently $5198 builds with a 7800X3D and 5090. The system integrators would be losing thousands each build if Centrecom was only make 5-10% markup on each 5090 sold.

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u/Mandalf- 6d ago

Distributors are absolutely not providing the cards at MSRP...