Importing Guitars from the US

!_Brian_!

If i buy a guitar in the USA will it work alright over here?

Polaritys or amps or wattage wise or anything like that?

Would I be able to just straight plug in and play as normal??

Karl Hungus

Yes, a guitar from anywhere in the world will be the same, and it'll work fine.

!_Brian_!

danke




looking to get an ESP LTD F-400FM sent over from the either guitarshop.net or guitarplaza.com. Their offering it for around the €740 to €770 mark where as thomann.de and gak.co.uk et all are looking for between €950 to €995.

Was hoping there wasnt a catch somewhere like they have guitar "regions" or something!

Ruu_Old

Be careful of customs duty on that.:(

!_Brian_!

**** ... never thought of that. Any ideas what I'd be looking at?

Ruu_Old

I wouldn't have a clue, sorry buddy.

Karl Hungus

Roughly 25% of the value of the guitar and shipping. You'd probably be as well off to buy elsewhere.

But fret not! Click here, as guitarbargains.com have the very guitar for €878, and they're based in belgium, so you won't have to worry about being taxed. You might save quite a bit on shipping too.

-=al=-

the shipping and customs will make up for the cheaper cost... keep it in europe and it should be aok..

!_Brian_!

Karl Hungus wrote:

Roughly 25% of the value of the guitar and shipping. You'd probably be as well off to buy elsewhere.

But fret not! Click here, as guitarbargains.com have the very guitar for €878, and they're based in belgium, so you won't have to worry about being taxed. You might save quite a bit on shipping too.

leg end ..... €947 including shipping and "This price includes a complementary hardcase for guitar!" so thats a plus!!

Karl Hungus

!_Brian_! wrote:

leg end ..... €947 including shipping and "This price includes a complementary hardcase for guitar!" so thats a plus!!

Stick with the champ, I won't steer you wrong.

Johnny Storm

!_Brian_! wrote:

If i buy a guitar in the USA will it work alright over here?

Polaritys or amps or wattage wise or anything like that?

Would I be able to just straight plug in and play as normal??

Well, it'll work alright but it might need an exorcism

theshadow2001

To Import an instrument you got to pay for the instrument then add on shipping then multiply by 1.21 to get the 21% VAT then multiply by 1.05 to get the 5% import duty. Then you find out on revenue.ie what value they are currently using for their currency conversion. Use that to change the value to euro. If you pay by credit card you have to take into account the fee that they are going to charge you for making an international transaction (same way the bank charges for changing money to different currencies) For an AIB Visa thats an extra 2.75% so you have to add that to whatever amount you paid for in dollars (most likely cost of instrument and shipping but not VAT or Import Duty since thats paid here in Ireland.) There are other unexpected delivery charges to take into account such as home delivery (€3:eek: ) They would charge if they pay your duty or customs. If you pay COD they take a percentage because the payment has to be converted back into dollars etc.

On top of all that you have to fill out an SAD or Single Administrative Data form. This form has a document found on revenue.ie just telling you how to fill it out. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do by any means. All this plus some eejit throwing your instrument around on and off planes lorries etc.

It really seems to be quite a task to import something from over there. The only way I know people do it is just fly over and bring ti bacvk with them.

!_Brian_!

Wow ...... that is absolutly WAY too much effort! Think I'll stick with the crowd in belgium!

Just out of curiosity, who would you pay the customs duties too? Would you have to pay that seperatly like yourself? Or would you expect some kind of bill in the post?



:edit:


also in a very last minute change of heart I've decided to go with this beauty instead



ESP LTD Delux M-1000FM

Construction: Neck-thru-body

Scale: 25.5”

Body: Maple w/flamed maple top

Neck/Fretboard: 3-pc. maple/rosewood

Inlays: Abalone arrowheads w/model name at 12th fret

Pickups: EMG-81 active set

Electronics: Volume, tone, 3-way slotted toggle

Hardware: Black

Bridge: Original Floyd Rose

Binding: White w/abalone (neck, headstock)

Frets: 24 XJ

Colors: STBLK

Just look at that binding! My biggest hesitation about the F-400 was the lack of wammy bar but I thought I'd get over it cause previous experience with a flyod rose on a jackson RR3 was they were some laod of hassle and with the neck-thru-body and strings saddled thru the guitar the sustain would make up for it but it always sowed the slightest seed of doubt. The M-1000 retails at €1600 appearently but getting it for €1225 including shipping and hardcase.

CANT ****IN WAIT!!!

theshadow2001

You would pay tax and duty to customs the postman or the delivery company. Depending on how it's handled. The money and paper work (SAD + an invoice of what you bought) would have to be sent to customs before they will release it. that would take a couple of days as well.

It's a lot of hassle alright but it could be worth it if you want to get an instrument that's not available here. Like a sadowsky or something. www.sadowsky.com If you do import something you can pretty much do a $ per € conversion and add 1 or 2 hundred quid for good measure and you'll have a good estimate of what it would cost.