Buying guitar gear from the states

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

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10 Mar 2006
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Anybody do this much? What with the pound being so strong at the moment it seems that it'd be almost rude to not take advantage of it and spend some money.

I know there's a good chance that I'll have to pay VAT and import tax, but with almost $2 to the £ I'm sure it'd still be cheaper.

Thing is, where is good to get stuff from? I'm looking at pickups and hardware, but if the price is right a new guitar wouldn't go a-miss. Can anybody recommend anything?
 
I bought a set of EMG 81/85 pickups from the US 'bay and even with shipping and import duty they were £30 cheaper than the UK :p You should definitely factor in the import duty 'cause there's a good chance you will get stung.

I would be wary of buying a guitar from the US purely because if it is damaged you would have a mare of a time getting it sent back/replaced etc..?
 
ive got a few places that i buy from, dont want it to become "public knowledge" as they might end up putting their prices up but ive been buying Dimarzios at half price for a year or so :)

catch me in trust ;)

not right now though, off to uni lol.
 
I was looking at the eBay after being recommended to get some pickups from an ebay store in the US, which I'll probably go for if there's nothing else available.

$60 for a DiMarzio pickup does seem pretty awesome though, they're that price in pounds over here!
 
I bought my ESP EC-1000 from the states about a year and a half ago when the exchange rate was criminal, to cut a long story short, I got a grands worth of guitar delivered to my door for £450 all in :D

Best part is I didnt get charged customs or duty, he marked it as a test sample and it got through somehow - no idea whether it was that or just fluke.

My advice is to look for reseller recommendations in the particular item's manufacturer forums if possible, preferably with international selling.

Email the reseller and get the jist of whether he'll do it and what the arrangement will be. If he doesn't appear to be trustworthy then walk away.

At the end of the day you are facing a risk, you COULD get shafted, it COULD get damaged in transit. Its all about limiting the chance of it happening. I think my email correspondance with my reseller was over 50 emails in length regarding packaging, payment etc etc

Try and get the guitar sent in a hard case if possible.

Most importantly, don't take the money to the table if you can't afford to lose it.
 
I appreciate your concern, definitely. I think I'll test the waters with a couple of pickups to start off with and see how that goes. I can afford to lose $120, but not $1000 certainly!
 
A lot depends on the shipping company as well. Most big ones like Fedex & DHL add their own "admin fee" for sorting out customs paperwork which is often more outrageous than custom charges. About two years ago I was robbed £30 plus VAT on top of customs on an item that was $120 in value. All in all the extras practically doubled the bill.
 
well, just to show that buying stuff from the states does work - ive just paid (including delivery)

£17.36 for a Dimarzio Super Distortion Tele Pickup - i dont even own a Tele but i felt at that cheap a price i can easily sell it on :p
 
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