I got madera cranks, demo cassette hub, eastern sprocket, mosh sealed pedals, grips, and animal tyre off of danscomp for $350 aud delivered , when off of empire the same stuff would have cost over $500, and on strictly or an aus bikeshop it would cost more like $800 so if buying a lot of parts dans is cheaper.
A mate of mine got elementary stem, JC pedals, macneil pivotal seat and post, animal grips, metal barends, animal tyre, for $250 delivered. That's bloody cheap.
When buying a wheel off of dans the postage cost is so high that it really cancels out your saving on the cost of the parts. A frame postage is also very high, but there are some really cheap frames on dans so they still work out cheaper than strictly.
Obviously if only buying one part off of dans it is quite expensive, but a large order is good to do as the cost price is far lower than other online stores. Also to save on post put together with mates and make a large order. Also factor in that some banks charge a fee of around $20 for USD transactions on credit cards and such.
All up it is cheaper to buy off of dans for larger orders, excluding wheels, and in most cases frames. Empire is cheap if only ordering a few parts as post is low cost.