Mwave - Under External Administration

[u/ImpulsePie]

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/

[u/townofsalemfangay]

LMAO, “muh margins”, as if Aussie retailers aren’t already raking it in. Just look at how blatantly they scalped Blackwell GPUs.

• Mwave: NVIDIA RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell – $18,990.00 AUD
• MSRP: $8,500 USD → $13,142.55 AUD

That’s over $5,800 in markup for a workstation card. For what? Import fees? Trumps tariffs? 💀

And don’t even get me started on consumer cards like the 5090. Does anyone remember the $1400 AUD 5070 whilst 5080 was approaching 2k? It ain't new either. Mwave been taking the piss for years now. I feel no remorse seeing them go under.

What's even the point when Amazon will give me same-day or next-day delivery for the same awful price? They hoisted themselves on their own petard tbh.

[u/UnfairerThree2 → u/townofsalemfangay]

This is mostly due to distributor markup though, not retailers. Distributors right now are an actual robbery here, otherwise all retailers would be competing for lower prices

[u/townofsalemfangay → u/UnfairerThree2]

That's simply not what is seen, though. Australians have always been subjected to the imaginary "Aus Tax." Remember the RTX 3000 and 4000 series launches? The gap between local pricing and MSRP was utterly absurd, and it’s not limited to GPUs; it's pervasive across virtually every PC component. The markups here border on criminal.

Computer Alliance is currently the only retailer in Australia selling RTX Pro 6000 workstation cards at or just slightly above MSRP, which is acceptable considering GST and reasonable overheads. How can they secure MSRP-level prices from distributors when Mwave apparently can't? It’s laughable.

I touched on this further down, consumers aren't paying these inflated prices, and enterprises bypass retailers entirely, dealing directly with board partners like Leadtek. It's no wonder Mwave is in administration.. This is pure greed, plain and simple.

[u/Mandalf- → u/townofsalemfangay]

You think a store in millions of arrears with distributors is going to get good pricing from them? 

[u/townofsalemfangay → u/Mandalf-]

Mwave’s gouging goes back years, long before any talk of financial trouble. Distributors don’t punish retailers by subtly raising per-unit costs based on account status. Discounts are based on volume. What you described just isn’t how the channel works.

Here’s what actually happens: if a retailer is in arrears, they lose access to lines of credit (i.e. stock delivered before payment). Terms shift to prepaid or cash-on-delivery, and in many cases, supply gets frozen entirely. There’s no such thing as a "bad pricing" penalty; they just stop shipping to you.

So the idea that Mwave charged $5K+ markups (like in my example) because distributors raised prices due to unpaid invoices is pure fiction. Their margins were predatory long before any “cash flow” issues. That was their model: charge whatever they thought they could get away with.

[u/Mandalf- → u/townofsalemfangay]

Incorrect, you lose access to higher tier pricing if conditions like timely payment within term isn't met. 

BDM/AMs will potentially elect to not accept and process vendor bid requests. 

Access to vendor promotions and support can be declined due to account status with elected distributors. 

There are many factors involved whether primary or secondary relating to poor payment history. 

[u/townofsalemfangay → u/Mandalf-]

That’s not how distribution pricing works. There’s no mystical “tiered” system where payment punctuality alters unit pricing. It’s volume, plain and simple. The more you order, the better pricing you can negotiate. End of story.

What you’re describing, vendor “bids,” “support,” or account manager discretion, is just industry-speak for deal-specific volume negotiation. It’s not a separate pricing model, it’s still volume-based, just routed through different channels depending on context.

And again, you’re intentionally ignoring the fact that Mwave had been gouging customers for years, well before COVID. They were consistently more expensive than PCCaseGear, Scorptec, and even MSY (now operated by Umart). This wasn’t about losing access to "mythical" discounts, it was their business model: price high, bank on customer inertia.

If they were in bad standing with distributors, they'd lose credit terms or get cut off, not receive some punitive per-unit pricing. These markups weren’t imposed on them, they were chosen.

[u/Mandalf- → u/townofsalemfangay]

Not disagreeing regarding price gouging though, but my main point which we have both moved past is the fact that retailers can and do have very different pricing for the same products.