I was in the final stages of ordering me a nice American Standard HSS last night, only to find out that Guitar Center online had a tax on it. The whole purpose of the online purchase was to avoid that massive tax.

I live in an area that has an usually high sales tax (8.75%), but to see an additional $100.00 added to the final seems ridiculous...kind of ruins the purpose of online shopping.

There is a GC in my area, so I was going to pick it up there, but WOW...thats a pretty steep tax.

QUESTION; Are all online dealers like that or is GC trailblazing into unwanted territory?

Thank you for inquiring

In the USA the rule is, if the store you are shopping at online has a location in your state then they must charge the sales tax as if you bought at the local store. There are no exceptions of which I am aware.

Sucks... doesn't it?

Yes VT is right if there is a store in your state that is the rules. But there are plenty of great online stores with great reputations so just order from them as they all are priced to match most of the time.

right on- check online stores that do not have brick and mortar stores, or at least not in your state- no tax

watch out, however, for shipping charges. i have been shopping for a new amp, and the peavey bandit is on my list. the various web sites i looked at had it fo 299. while some offered free shipping, one said that due to size/ weight, that there was no free shipping on this item. i know who i won't be buying from

I have been happy with things I have bought online from both World Music Supply and The Perfect Guitar.

They're not chains, so chances are good there's no store in your state. So no tax and free shipping.

You might even try my favorite store in San Antonio, Redbone Guitar Boutique. They do a lot of mail order. They don't a have a big selection, but what they do have is top quality.

Good luck!


Edited to fix a really dumb typo.

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

World Music Supply is good from personal experience as well, and I can also recommend GearTree.com and AmericanMusical.com too. I have heard nothing but great things about Sweetwater.com, but personally have not used them. Also read the fine print, as for some reason, certain states always charge tax...

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

+1 on American Musical...good service, pleasant to deal with.

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

I deal with 3 places and all of them are fantastic American Musical, Musicians Friend and Sweetwater. All offer a great selection and have great customer service. Sweetwater has a great idea where they have a sales engineer who you work with...I deal with Tom and it is awesome because everytime you call you deal with one person and they know what is going on plus they will always beat any price.
ABS

[quote="russianracehorse"]I have been happy with things I have bought online from both World Music Supply and The Perfect Guitar.

Hey RR, The Perfect Guitar and The Perfect Bass have their one and only brick and mortar store close by me in Baton Rouge,La. I've bought all of my gear from them. They are good people and will go the extra mile to please you.
Not meaning to advertise for them but I find them one of the best.

For on line stuff you can go to ELDERLY INSTRUMENTS its like dealing with a local Mom Pop Dealer. Great people to deal with and everything is check for problems and set up before it ships! No tax unless you live in MI.

http://elderly.com/welcome.htm

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Ha! No offense taken at all, Hop. I got my Super Champ XD from The Perfect Guitar, and I was very satisfied.

And if you look carefully at my original post, you'll see that I plugged my local guitar shop as well. I don't see the harm in touting local businesses that have treated us right.

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

If what you are wanting to buy is from GC you can get the same at Musician's Friend (owned by same corp that owns GC) and they don't have any brick and mortar locations so the same item from MF will be no sales tax.
Hope this helps!

Not true, because according to the MF site:
We are required to collect sales tax on all orders shipped to Utah, Indiana, Missouri, and Washington State.
http://mf.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/mf.cfg/p ... faqid=1254

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

Try Sweetwater, Sam Ash and Musicians friend is good too.