International buyers guide

[abt]

You have to realize that we are talking mainly about shipping second hand stuff in this thread. The retailers are only allowed to work in their region.

Yes, realize that. I think it is relevant. I fully support local retailers but sometimes there isn't one for that product or they don't want to get that product in.

You can also use this service to buy second hand products including from places like eBay where the seller doesn't want to ship outside of the US.

For the record I am in no way associated to this service.

 

[jangoux]

...and if you get caught, you are faced with customs fraud charges.

I was caught once..kinda. I bought a used Studio Projects VTB1 for like 80 bucks, and asked my buddy to declare it as $50. Once the package arrived in Brazil, It took a LONG time to it to get out of the customs. I received a mail telling me i had to pay taxes for this and was like 'huh?!'. I went to the mail office, picked up the package, and inside I found a paper with a printed Sweetwater page that listed the VTB1 for, i dunno, a lot more than i paid for it. So i ended up paying for the taxes of a new vtb1 - i could not argue because basically, i was doing a fraud.

 

[ahjteam]

I went to the mail office, picked up the package, and inside I found a paper with a printed Sweetwater page that listed the VTB1 for, i dunno, a lot more than i paid for it.

Was it worth the 5 dollars you could've saved?

 

[Eddy]

You have to realize that we are talking about shipping second hand stuff. For example Thomann has deal that the shipping costs are always a fixed cost (no matter what the weight, the shipping to Finland is always 20€).

Actually, nowadays it's 12€.

Great idea for a thread.

 

[Sacha]

You also can't claim insurance if you undervalue something, I'd rather have peace of mind and pay a bit extra in case those fucks lose / damage it (quite possible)

 

[jangoux]

Was it worth the 5 dollars you could've saved?

This time, no . But i've saved thousands of dollars doing this. The government says we have heavy taxes to protect the industry. But we don't have an industry for most music stuff, most pro audio stuff...We have great drums, but crap cymbals.One great guitar builder...that costs the price of a custom shop gibson, if not more...so in the end, it doesnt protect anything at all.

 

[ahjteam]

Lasse, can you please move (and sticky?) this to the Gear For Sale subforum?

 

[ahjteam]

bump

 

[ArthurD]

Wow, taxes in Finland are so cheap...
Here in Brazil is 60% of product price + shipping + VAT
So, if the produc+shipping costs 100 dollars, the tax would be 60 dollars + VAT
=P

 

[reg3n]

I'm trying to buy from Argentina, for a fucking year now already, and i CAN'T find a good solution, i only want to pay for an omen8 (which i know is not the best 8 out there, but fuck it) and i basically just CAN'T. Anybody knows any good way of buying from here?... if you want buy something close to decent from a local store their prices make you laugh so hard you can die of asphyxia...

Thanks to everyone for the info already posted.

 

[kev]

You have to realize that we are talking mainly about shipping second hand stuff in this thread. The retailers are only allowed to work in their region.



...and if you get caught, you are faced with customs fraud charges.

Import tax will negate the saving in many countires (even worse as shown in the Brazillian example), so its a risk that has to be taken if you're doing this to save cash. Especially with VAT being 20% atm. I wouldnt even bother these days without doing it I dont think. Worst thats going to happen is that they will make you pay the full extent with an additional fee for evasion.

Whilst on the subject, is it even possible to import a gift anymore without paying a charge? It seems ridiculous that fees should be paid for a legit gift. Tax blows my mind, and dont even get me started on petrol prices :Smokedev:

 

[ahjteam]

Alright, bump update to add the information in this... I ordered a 1U rack unit (Empirical Labs EL500) from the US, and I contacted them Empirical Labs to ask what do I need to do to make it work, and they said that you just needed to flip the switch inside from 120V to 230V and it should work just fine. They also said that the units made for the US market may not be ROHS compatible, and thus is not covered by their warranty. Unit weighted 20 lbs and shipping cost was $83 US dollars to Finland.