I REALLY have to whine about this issue !

Fender have some great competitions, and promotions.
BUT, these competitions etc. are NEVER applicable/available to South Africa.

I am an ardent Fender player/fan/supporter. Here in South Africa, it is extremely difficult for the man-in-the-street to be able to afford a genuine Fender product, as the price of a std Am Strat, is more than 4 times the average monthly full salary.

So, us Fender users/supporters here, have to really save up for months/years, even just to be able to purchase a Mex Strat (which is what I have, and it's great).

Then, just to poke us S Africans in the eye with a stick, we are never eligible for comps/promos etc.

Is there anybody out there, who would be able to effect change, and include us peeps way down south?

Pleeeeze

It's a leftover sanction from apartheid.

Nah seriously Fender do make some competitions worldwide. And when you win something big, you're liable for the import taxes.
Which is why not every competition is international.
Blame your government.

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No no and no

What! Something else to blame our gvt for . . . . . ! hehe

I'm just really sad that we pay SO much for Fender stuff (and all all other good music stuff), here. So it would be nice to be eligible to win something . . . . that's all . . . .

Anyway, we rock on, and make the best of what we do have. . . !!!

I too hate that the compititions don't usualy include us here in South Africa, and I too hate that the Fender Stuff is soooo expensive to us in South africa, compared to America, but there are forums on here where people all over the world have the same issues, but listening to the cost of their gear I believe South Africa has one of the highest retail markups when compared to American prices, if not the highest. But I don't believe it is 4 times the average monthly salary. Maybe 2 times. Unless you are talking junior and trainee positions, and comparing it to TOP END USA Fender Gear. Because of our markup in South Africa I import my gear direct from the USA and save 50% on our retail in total.

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GUITAR: Fender USA JazzMaster.
BASS: Fender USA 58'AVRI
AMP: Fender USA SuperSonicTwin - Blonde.

Sorry to hear about the prices you have to pay, Slyd and Aaron K. Could be interesting if you submitted your prices to this thread :
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=73766
Of course , this will not enlighten the whole picture , as the average wages also differs quite a bit
Rock on

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A-man

Slyd
You can rest assured mate that where they can tax you, they will. It's more or less the same for all of us. Imported goods are subject to value added tax and import taxes. You're not the only nation to suffer it mate. It puts big constraints on competitions and Fender don't really want a load of disgruntled Johnny Foreigner's sending in emails about how they were hit with a bill for 20% of the cost of the instrument (minimum in the UK) a month after they've had it.
I did win an international competition (The Dick Dale acoustic as the first prize) and that is exactly what happened to me. Not my fault, certainly not Fenders fault. But the bill had to be paid. Luckily I was in a position to pay it. I hate to think that it could have happened to some kid who couldn't. Then they be forced to sell the prize to pay the tax.
At the time I had a very good accountant playing bass in my band. He has lots of friends at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. They advised him that there was no way around it. If anyone would have tried anything not to pay tax, it's me.

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No no and no

I'd pick having Riddare av Koden over winning an instrument any day. You guys are lucky.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Yeah - they are pretty talented but not my sorta thing though. But I guess getting taxed on a prize must suck, so maybe we are better off not winning top of the line Fender Gear....... cause you have to be able to afford winning it for FREE.

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GUITAR: Fender USA JazzMaster.
BASS: Fender USA 58'AVRI
AMP: Fender USA SuperSonicTwin - Blonde.

Hello slyd and AaronK: Brad (Forum Admin) has explained the issue about this in the past. Most countries have legally binding rules about how promotional competitions are run, and those rules are often different from one country to another. For a company like Fender it is just too much of a headache complying with all the rules in all the countries - so they tend to make competitions just for their home market. Though Fender's operations in other countries also run their own competitions too; they do here in Europe, at any rate.

An exception has been a couple of the competitions we've had here on the Forum, which have been open to people around the world and of which Nikininja (above) and I have both been winners in the past. But that is made possible by Brad running those competitions off his own bat, "privately", so to speak. By that method he could side-step the legal issues - but it was a lot of hassle for him and I can see why he doesn't do it all the time.

Meantime. I loved visiting South Africa a few years ago. I can think of lots of excellent reasons to feel good about living there, regardless the price of guitars. Things ain't all bad.

Cheers - C

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Thanks for all the feedback and responses, everyone

I now have a better picture of the reasons for certain countries exclusions, and I understand fully.

I Lurv my strat

Shotto all

I say keep complaining. us Canadians were excluded for a long long time, because we were a different country but instruments are still distributed by fender of America, there is no Fender-Canada to run it's own contests.

we complained A LOT and now we are included in most contests.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Probably not much different from those discussed earlier. why contest fender not for all countries, like my country Indonesia. any fan of Fender guitar that does not have the money to buy a fender guitar, definitely look forward to participate in the contest, as I am a very dream of fender guitar in my hand today