Delivery from America...

Nidge

I suppose i am asking the people who've ordered guitars from Chris guitars and other shops in america, how long did your guitars take to be delivered from the day of sending? I was told by my seller that my guitar will be sent in express mail, then he said that would probably take 4-10 days. But from other stories i have heard people have been getting their guitars within this time limit from america anyway, so should express mail not be faster than that?

DamoRed

It depends what "express mail" means. If it's UPS, then a week is generally the norm. However, friends of mine have ordered other stuff, not instruments, that were supposed to be sent by the normal post system and they never got anything but trouble and hassle getting their money back.

If it's not too late, INSIST on UPS!


Damo

Nidge

cheers for that, yeah, i'm not sure what he meant by it, in one way he may have said it as if it was a good thing. See he is behind in his work so maybe he was saying it to imply he would get it to me the fastest way possible, i'll ask him again, thanks.

Johnny Storm

Nidge wrote:

cheers for that, yeah, i'm not sure what he meant by it, in one way he may have said it as if it was a good thing. See he is behind in his work so maybe he was saying it to imply he would get it to me the fastest way possible, i'll ask him again, thanks.

Who's paying for shipment? If its you then you decide. If not you then offer to pay extra to ship by a good courier such as Fedex or UPS.
FYI I had a guitar delivered in 2 days from Nashville by Fedex. Can't remember how much it cost but it was expensive. Basically the faster teh more expensive but also IMHO the less opportunity for your guitar to be damaged. The FedEx website will give you an idea of how much it will cost - it basically goes by weight.

is_that_so

and duty has to be paid on items over €45

david

is_that_so wrote:

and duty has to be paid on items over €45

Get them to send it to you in parts each worth less than €45

It wasn't me!

Or mark it as being under 45. the only issue with that is it'll only be insured for whatever it's marked as in case of an accident.

....or just pay the duty?

david

Deleted User wrote:

....or just pay the duty?

Wheres the excitement in that? I prefer my theory...

It wasn't me!

Yeah, and if you're buying expensive things, duty can be a bitch. Buy a Les Paul ofr 3000. Duty comes to 150. Now, I don't know about you, but if I can get away with not paying 150, I'm going to try.

consider it this way, you've spent 3,000 on a guitar, to save 150 you mark it is 44.50, in transit the neck is snapped off, all they can give you to fix it is 44.50.

happy bunny?
I don't think so.

It wasn't me!

If you're a gamblign man it's worth it. But with a guitar I don't think I could risk it. I have too soft a heart for guitars.

is_that_so

It wasn't me! wrote:

Yeah, and if you're buying expensive things, duty can be a bitch. Buy a Les Paul ofr 3000. Duty comes to 150. Now, I don't know about you, but if I can get away with not paying 150, I'm going to try.

Customs people can actually come into your house and confiscate stuff. :rolleyes:

It wasn't me!

Ah sure, 'tis all part of the risk.

that would be far far worse, to have it in your house for a week before being confiscated, it'd be like someone taking your brother away!

It wasn't me!

Jesus they can have my brother if they want, but I'll keep the guitar thanks.

Nidge

and for that reason i have altered this post...

Johnny Storm

It wasn't me! wrote:

Yeah, and if you're buying expensive things, duty can be a bitch. Buy a Les Paul ofr 3000. Duty comes to 150. Now, I don't know about you, but if I can get away with not paying 150, I'm going to try.

Dont forget VAT @ 21%.

The VAT and Duty on your 3000 LP comes to 765. PLUS you pay VAT and duty on the shipping and insurance cost too.

This applies to goods coming from outside the EU. From inside the EU VAt is already paid and there no duty.

Johnny Storm

Nidge wrote:

well to fill you in on the situation: i am paying for delivery, the guitar is worth €700 i think, he mentioned express mail. Also he is already marking it down as a gift worth $160 to avoid additional costs. Suggestions, is getting it a week earlier worth it, how much extra would i have to pay? Considering the guitar will be six weeks overdue by the time he is done.

Well as mentioned in an earlier post - if he marks it down to 160 then good luck with any insurance claims due to shipping damage or loss.
Is it worth it - up to you.
How much does it cost - look on fedex website.

FYI - I bought some toys for my kids from US before Christmas, they shipped via "Global Express" - (teh "deluxe" service of the US Mail system as far as I know) -very expensive AFAIR (USD 120?) - Santa was desperate - they arrived last day of January !!!!!!!! Santa must have had a car crash.......

Eoin Madsen

Express probably means USPS EMS - Global Express. I've had a few things shipped that way before, it usually takes 4-6 days. It's cheaper than Fedex and UPS but just as reliable in my experience. Most of the time I go with the cheaper USPS Airmail though... which generally takes a couple of weeks... sometimes three. I suspect at least half of that time is spent in Irish Customs.

Tax comes in at over €45 for a GIFT, over €22 for anything else.

I don't get the whole scamming customs craze, tbh. It's not "saving" money. You pay VAT on everything else. Would you go into a guitar shop, buy a guitar, and then steal 21% of the cost of the guitar from the till? Anyway, misdeclaring the value of the item is something a US shop will not risk, since they could be prosecuted for fraud.

BizzyC

Eoin Madsen wrote:

Express probably means USPS EMS - Global Express. I've had a few things shipped that way before, it usually takes 4-6 days. It's cheaper than Fedex and UPS but just as reliable in my experience. Most of the time I go with the cheaper USPS Airmail though... which generally takes a couple of weeks... sometimes three. I suspect at least half of that time is spent in Irish Customs.

Tax comes in at over €45 for a GIFT, over €22 for anything else.

I don't get the whole scamming customs craze, tbh. It's not "saving" money. You pay VAT on everything else. Would you go into a guitar shop, buy a guitar, and then steal 21% of the cost of the guitar from the till? Anyway, misdeclaring the value of the item is something a US shop will not risk, since they could be prosecuted for fraud.

I get my american brother in law to carry stuff back for me. Most of these places give free shipping within the US, so I time it for when he's coming over here, and as a US citizen, he doesn't have to pay customs tax to the Irish government, plus he can carry the stuff on so it'll be safe.