barrow Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 Hi Guys, I have moaned about the excruciating cost of the Epi’s in Australia and have seen others feel the same pain here and in other countries too. I was wondering if anyone has a cost effective alternative to buying their guitar locally. Has anyone gone to the source and bought it from the country of manufacture how was your experience? Just bought a guitar from a country other than there own? any warrantee issues? What should I be careful of? Recommend any music shops that you have dealt with that provided a good service. How did you ship the guitar and was it worth the cost? Ok then who is coming to Oz and wants to bring a LP studio in their luggage for me lol Cheers barrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron G Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 It's probably cheaper to move! Hmmmm.....what about buying a broad and shipping her home? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrow Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 Ron I like the way you think...but one broad affecting my guitar time is enough. Had a quick look at shipping cost for a guitar sized package and it would cost the same as a US guitar $300 and $300 for shipping customs etc = price here in Oz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookelputz Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 RonI like the way you think...but one broad affecting my guitar time is enough. Had a quick look at shipping cost for a guitar sized package and it would cost the same as a US guitar $300 and $300 for shipping customs etc = price here in Oz If you haven't, check the exchange rate to see how much the dollar needs to change to make it worthwhile and keep an eye on it. I had friends in London during the '80s who told me it was cheaper to fly to America, buy a Harley and ship it back to England, duties and all, than to buy one from the only European dealership (and very VERY limited selection of models). At the time I arrived, exchange rate was about $1.92/pound. By the time I left 3 years later, the exchange rate and VAT were enough different that it no longer mattered. Might change enough to make such things doable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrow Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 Oz$ to US$ at the moment is almost 1:1 but an epi LP Studio is $300 in the US and $600 in Oz. So not quite the same saving as a Harley but it does feel like the Oz dealers are taking the p*ss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanessa Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Epiphone has the only plant outside USA that manufactures its guitars and it's in China now . Here is the reason why you can always get the best deal there : 1) The low exchange rate between the Yuan and Australian currency 2) It's a common practice for Chinese manufacturers to overproduce the production quota then sell the intentional surplus to the gray market . And this is why the price is always low in China . The issue is : How can you contact a dealer in China to buy the guitar , other than travel to China during a vacation trip and look for the dealer yourself ? BTW, you are alots closer to China than any of us ! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pohatu771 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 While I'm sure that there are guitars coming out of the factory, I'd probably prefer not to buy one of those. Buying from an actual store gives me a warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digger Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 RonI like the way you think...but one broad affecting my guitar time is enough. Had a quick look at shipping cost for a guitar sized package and it would cost the same as a US guitar $300 and $300 for shipping customs etc = price here in Oz G'day Mate, I have had discussion with our customs people and they tell me that there is no duty payable on an imported guitar if it costs less than $1000. Secondly as a comparison, Rondo Music in the States quote a bit more than $100 US for shipping a guitar to Oz. All the above makes it a viable proposition to import a guitar from America except of course you are buying sight unseen so you have to trust your supplier. There are suppliers in the US who enjoy a very good reputation in their customer dealings......do some research. Good luck Dig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digger Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Oz$ to US$ at the moment is almost 1:1 but an epi LP Studio is $300 in the US and $600 in Oz. So not quite the same saving as a Harley but it does feel like the Oz dealers are taking the p*ss All us Aussies feel like we are shafted by our importer and their retail arm (Gallins) are so slack in Melbourne that half the Epi stock on display is crook. Hard to take after a 4 hour drive to buy a guitar. You'd reckon that it would be in Epiphone's interests to find someone better ~ Dig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iansmitchell Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Epiphone has the only plant outside USA that manufactures its guitars and it's in China now . Here is the reason why you can always get the best deal there : 1) The low exchange rate between the Yuan and Australian currency 2) It's a common practice for Chinese manufacturers to overproduce the production quota then sell the intentional surplus to the gray market . And this is why the price is always low in China . The issue is : How can you contact a dealer in China to buy the guitar ' date=' other than travel to China during a vacation trip and look for the dealer yourself ? BTW, you are alots closer to China than any of us ! :-) [/quote'] Problem with gray market buying and china is, you have no warantee and no guarentee what you're buying is genuine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pohatu771 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I just did a price check with the USPS website, and it says shipping would be between $50 and $150 to Australia, for a ten pound box. http://ircalc.usps.gov/IntlMailServices.aspx?Country=10013&M=2&P=10&O=0&sd=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomheart Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 How can any American wanna buy a guitar abroad? You have 50 states to shop in and very low taxes. The dollar is so weak nowadays that it must be very expensive to shop in any European country? I'd never ship to America due to shipping costs and all kinda strange customs problems that I've experienced before during eBay sales; I've got items sent back without any good explanation. If I'd go shopping somewhere it would be in America! I see bargin guitars every week on eBay - USA Shipping Only. Example: An Epiphone Les Paul '56 costs $1100 in stores in Sweden. That includes our 25% tax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pohatu771 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 It's an Australian wants to buy a guitar from the United States, not the other way around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Find a nice (lovely) young "Import/Export" lady, that can help you out! ;>) Worked for me, back in the day. She was Chinese, and could get almost anything I needed/wanted that was made in China, for her cost. What's the old saying..."it's not what you know, but WHO?!" Fringe benifits were nice, too. Hmmmmm, wonder where her number is? LOL! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Generally the regular(non-Elitist) Epi LP Customs price I can get over here(Europe) for $630 doesn't justify having it shipped from abroad. Not with added shipping(±140 bucks), importduties+VAT(23%). But it gets really interesting when I would be in the market for more expensive Epiphones like a $1000 ZW Bullseye or Slash model. I'd buy an Elitist or LP-clone from Edwards, Burny and spend maybe a 100 or 200 bucks more for a noticable upgrade in quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 But it gets really interesting when I would be in the market for more expensive Epiphones like a $1000 ZW Bullseye or Slash model. I agree. The used markets of Gibsons is even more lucrative, thinking about something like a couple of five year old LP Standard which from what I've heard should go for approx $1200-1500 in the US if you're lucky (on average 1800-2000 euros here), or a bunch of SG Standards. It looks like I have to start saving up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybrid77 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Ishibashi "outlet/clearance" online store http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pohatu771 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 http://www.excite-webtl.jp/world/english/web/?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ishibashi.co.jp%2Fu_box%2F&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2 Translated version of the page. Yen to AUD is almost 100:1. A 69,800 yen Strat was $680 AUD. You also pay slightly less because the tax is added to these prices, but you don't pay it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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