But aren't your country's taxes high to keep your standard of living high as well? As soon as people start cheating on taxes, your government won't be able to keep up with what you've come to know as your standard of living. I agree taxes are no fun, but without them, our lives would be different. Maybe look for some good used equipment locally that will be a little cheaper in the end.

Sorry but as an importer of anything your liable to import tax, whether its repair or whatnot.

When I bought the trem unit off user Allthumbs, I incuured import duty on something labeled as a gift. You also pay your equivalent of Value Added Tax on the cost of shipping.

Now onto your previous statement blaming fender for the price you pay for guitars. I suggest you go look at your countries tax laws, apply the various equations used to calculate the many taxes onto the price of the guitar. Then explain to me how its fenders responsibility that the prices are high.

Not to mention that the price you first quoted was a utter rip off. You can get a masterbuilt 64 relic in Germany for 4000Euro. A lot more guitar than a timemachine series.

_________________
No no and no

According to Guitar Centre website- the price for an American Standard Strat is $1149.99 USD.
In our local music retail chain, $2499.00 NZD. So if I bought a strat in the US, $1NZD = $0.69USD

So, if I went to GC and bought that strat,

$1652.05 NZD.

It is better than buying here.

Add G.S.T to it: $1858.55

To be honest, I have never been hit with GST (Goods and Service Tax 12.75%) - even when I got my Plus, it flew through customs. same with my Deluxe. So I dont think you would need to take that into the equation unless you declared it and made a point of going to the duty officer and telling him you bought it new. Truth be told, people travel with guitars all the time. You will see it at your local airport..

Down in my neck of the woods, and Australia- you'd be a muppet if you paid full retail. Much cheaper ordering from the USA OR Japan. Id love to go to LA- that would make for one cool holiday to buy a new guitar




Just a wheelin and a dealin...Lovely Jubly, bobs your uncle mate

_________________

The majority of Europe is pretty stringent on imports coming in from outside the EU. I had a American Standard confiscated, at the airport. They knew exactly what I'd flown out with and wanted to examine the case contents on the way back in. They weren't taking any stories of "It was a gift from friends", the hangtags were the giveaway. The amount of duty and storage costs made the thing unfeasable to stump up for. It's probably still impounded since 2002.

_________________
No no and no

yeah I make sure tags and sales documents are in a separate bag. I know the EU are retentative... did you get your strat in the end?

_________________

No its still there. The duty on it costs more than the guitar now.

_________________
No no and no

the problem is not that taxes are extremely high, but that european prices are extremely over the top. my country doesnt get a penny when i buy a guitar from fender europa (situated in germany).
i'm just not willing to pay a price that has been set when a dollar was 2 swiss franks and remained that high although now we are talking 1=1.

other examples; when I buy a Xotic pedal in switzerland i pay 4 times the prize I pay compared to ordering at proguitarshop. eben IF i add the import taxes I end up paying WAY too much.

The import taxes are there to protect local economy and businesses from importers 'dumping' products into a market that will force those countrymen to go out of business and/or become 'dependent' on the foreign goods. Am almost certain you'll find several lobbyist working most governments to make sure that their products get protection from foreign competition to save local jobs. In the US we deal with that on a regular basis for similar items. I can recall wine imports being a big deal in France, beef in Japan, automobiles in the US, etc.

I am in South Africa - pricing here is approx. double that of the prices in the States...

app the local guys have to buy from the European distributor so you already have the higher European pricing + shipping + import duty

we have a custom regulation here though that if you bring in an item from a trip that's below a certain value, you can elect to pay a flat fee of 20% - which incl. VAT so if you go on a trip to the US it's worthwhile to bring back a guitar...assuming you don't have to pay for the 8kgs extra luggage

Well I think the queen has made a fortune off of Rock and Roll, as I remember an interview with the Stones talking about when they hit it big they were paying something like 90% tax on the dollar which I found insane and that is why everyone was trying to get out. Also a classic by George Harrison called Taxman comes to mind.lol.

Niki it seems like they hire ex players to work customs as you always state how well they know there axes. What if you buy a guitar on ebay used from the States say for $1,500 is that the end of it, or is there some other tax you have to pay on your end.

Well when it comes to something like this I am all for those who can save a couple of hundred dollars by figuring out a way. Just about every American looks to find the best accountant come tax season for just about the same reasons. To me there is a difference between bending the rules and down out defrauding to make a killing. The funny thing is it is always the wealthiest individuals who dont have to cheat at all, who are the greediest and defraud for millions.