Electronic goods retailers, like Jill Boswell of Snapshot in Hamilton, are having to pass on price rises thanks to the weakening Kiwi dollar.

People looking to buy electronic goods leading into Christmas may turn to the online or second hand market as the falling dollar means shoppers will face rising prices.

Changes in the exchange rate triggered by the weakening Kiwi dollar mean retailers are paying more for the goods they are importing to put on New Zealand shelves, with rises already starting to filter through on electrical goods such as cameras, personal computers, games consoles and televisions.

Since last September the New Zealand dollar has lost 20 cents against the greenback, dropping from US85 cents to US65 cents. The kiwi was trading at US65.72 cents and was slightly down on Monday morning at US65.42c .

And it's only likely to get worse.

Snapshot spokeswoman Jill Boswell, whose family owns and runs the camera store in Victoria St, Hamilton, said they were trying to hold prices down as long as they could.

"We ordered one lens in last week, having quoted a price, but the supplier had put the wholesale price up," Boswell said.

"We honoured our quote but I thought, we were not going to make any money on that. We ended up making a loss."

"Suppliers are telling us to expect some major price increases due to the weakening dollar. They are all saying that they really need to do it. Everything is made overseas, comes out of China, and gets sold by the US dollar."

Heathcote Appliances online and marketing manager Ricardo De Sousa said the electrical retailer had no comment on price rises.

But Waikato Need A Nerd director David Hallett recently saw the price of computer monitors supplied to his business jump 10 per cent over night.

"We cleared out a distributor's stock of $700 4K Asus monitors and re-ordered and the price was 10 per cent more. Once this consignment goes out of stock it's going to jump another 10 per cent," Hallett said.

"They will probably be closer to $900 then."

"Price increases have already started to filter through on computers and peripherals, and more increases are coming as new stock comes into the country."

JB Hi-Fi general manager, buying, Rod Korff, said he didn't want to comment and Australasian chains Dick Smith Electronics and Harvey Norman didn't respond to requests for an interview.

Hamilton Business Association general manager Sandy Turner said retailers in all sectors were getting nervous by what a weaker dollar meant for their businesses.

"The fall in the NZ/US dollar is major. Prices are rising out of China and margins are under pressure. We are going to see rising prices," Turner said.

"The outlook is never good when the dollar is weak, making imported goods expensive, leading to inflation, and or reduced demand if customers are not willing or able to handle those increased prices."

Turner said online retailers may be hoping the lower dollar would provide some relief in their battle with offshore competitors.

Waikato University senior lecturer in the Department of Economics, Dr Gazi Hassan, said rising prices caused by the falling dollar could lead shoppers to turn to the second hand market for Christmas presents.

"I would not be surprised to see prices rise because they always look for opportunities to put up the prices," Hassan said.

"I would postpone buying a new laptop when there's a second hand market on TradeMe and Facebook groups."

Microsoft NZ Consumer Channels director David Rayner said the exchange rate would have an impact on the landed costs of products imported to New Zealand.

"At some point that can get back to the consumers," Rayner, whose responsibility is the Surface tablet and Lumia smartphone, said.

He said prices on technology had been very competitive for a while, but he expected to see rises as old stock cleared out of warehouses and was replaced by new stock with better specifications.

"I don't think it's been that dramatic yet. Ultimately it comes down to how the Kiwi dollar goes."

Apple did not respond to an interview request.

But Consumer Electronics of New Zealand executive officer Garth Wyllie said price rises took a while to come through.

"It is however reasonable to expect that within the next couple of months there will be some movement upwards."

Wyllie said profit margins on electrical products were very small and it was unlikely retailers could absorb the rises.

"We would expect the pricing movement to be most evident in the new models as they come on stream since they will be most exposed to the increased costs from the exchange rate.

"Older models normally have stock in the country sufficient for several months which does mean that by Christmas most consumer electronics will be reflecting the exchange rate in their final pricing and of course over the next couple of months new stock targeted for the pre-Christmas period will be arriving."