Buying musical devices such as guitars, keyboards, microphones etc has been an expensive task for those who’re dwelling outside of the USA. Often local music stores inflate their costs and they end up costing you up to THREE TIMES what you’d pay for an area USA shop. An extreme instance of this can be present in New Zealand where that John Mayer Stratocaster prices $999 USD in the United States, but by the point it’s shipped to New Zealand with employees prices, lease prices, inflation, markup and taxes – you’ll be paying thrice more! For this very reason many musicians worldwide choose to purchase from USA stores who ship internationally.
Though they must advertise their products as non-worldwide, a easy phone call to any of these companies can have your item shipped internationally. Most retailers provide DHL, USPS and FEDEX.
For piece of thoughts you possibly can ship DHL/FEDEX but can be paying twice as a lot as USPS rates. USPS have more widespread occurrences of goods being damaged in transit, or being lost altogether while FEDEX/DHL are very diligent most of the time. Google the above business names and I am positive you will discover a shipper who can deliver musical instruments to your international location for a fraction of the value you could purchase at locally. Though do keep in mind foreign money conversions and 110VOLT/240VOLT adapter differences as you would not wish to plugin your new item solely to have it explode because you didn’t take the time to check this minor detail.
Other things to consider when shopping for on-line are:
* Power provides – do they match your native voltage?
* Warranty – what support will you receive in your country?
* Currency conversions – check your bank rates before shopping for on-line!
* PayPal safety – Always shop utilizing PayPal so you will be covered in the event of problems.
* Import taxes/duties – presently Hong Kong is the one country which won’t cost you additional taxes when importing gear from overseas. Some nations similar to Australia have a threshold so any value underneath $a thousand won’t incur import tax/duty.
As to the question of why American listed costs are generally much decrease than their retail counterparts within the UK, Australia, NZ, etc. This query has many answers:
For the last 30-forty years the American Musical Instrument trade and their retailers have been battling it out, making an attempt to beat each other on price – because the years have gone by, these price pressures have forced costs down very low while this aggressive market continues to be in its infancy in different countries. A typical clarification given by retailers in other countries as to why their prices are so much higher comes right down to their insistence on client warranties – they may argue that their Fender John Mayer guitar costs $500 more because they provide native warranty and Violin repair if required. This is absolutely true and in many cases you may be better of buying a guitar,microphone or piece of DJ gear for that little bit more understanding you will be covered should you face any problems. The complication arises for high ticket items, comparable to John Mayer Signature Fender Guitar – the place the savings can get into the 1000’s and the selling level of local warranty becomes less attractive. A few of the largest Music Stores in America corresponding to Guitar Center and Musician’s Good friend retail most of their objects online which reduces operating costs while many bricks and mortar stores throughout the world should pay a large proportion of their income towards hire, tax, employees etc.
In conclusion, I’d say for gadgets valued below $1500 you’d be higher off shopping for locally, assuming the worth is right. If your subsequent guitar is going to cost more than this, it might well pay to phone an American retailer and haggle with value and pay shut consideration to the unit’s voltage (110VOLT or 240VOLT) and request they declare the value low so you will not get stung by customs on tax and/or GST. Australia, for example, won’t charge you any import tax/duty for objects DECLARED at beneath $1000 Australian dollars. For this reason it perhaps helpful to ask the USA shipper to declare your shipment at a low value. However, if the unit sustains damage in transit – you will only be covered under this declared value.