Crazy

[Pops]

Having recently got myself a used Cutlass I thought I'd sell some of my other Non EBMM guitars
to fund a brand new Axis Super Sport or a Luke III.
Having checked out what's available in the UK there's not a lot of choice in stock regarding colours etc.
I have come to the conclusion I have more chance of being adopted by a millionaire family or appearing as the next James Bond than I have of affording a brand new EBMM with the price of these in the UK.
Basically the price in US dollars = the price in GBP so we pay a helluva lot more money than you lucky guys /gals in the USA.
I looked at importing a used EBMM from Japan or the US but by the time you add on Shipping,VAT @20% and Import duty of 3.2% it makes it too expensive and also risking that the courier will treat it with care.

Besides that the exchange rate is so low it's really upping the cost.

In the meantime if you live in the USA now would be the right time to visit or planning a trip next year or so buy GBP now as the exchange rate is amazingly low.
In 2007 I visited the USA cousins in Texas and it was just over $2.00 to the pound
Today the tourist rate is $1.27 for 1 GBP.
Now don't all rush there's plenty of cheap flights available and remember to pack warm clothes and your waterproofs.

 

[Tollywood]

...I thought I'd sell some of my other Non EBMM guitars
to fund a brand new Axis Super Sport or a Luke III.

This is a recurring theme here. I never get tired of reading that.

 

[TripHazard]

there is a really good uk. dealer that does good pricing on musicman. they have served me well on my last two purchases. PM me for details

 

[Magic Jason]

Selling all "non-MM" gear is really not an unheard story on this forum... Welcome!

 

[xjbebop]

Perhaps another trip to Tejas, buy the MM of your(current) dreams here and take it back with you??

 

[CaseyBall]

Getting international pricing down to a more customer friendly level is an issue we've been trying to deal with for some time. As you said, VAT, duties and taxes, shipping, and those are all unfortunately burdens on our int'l dealers. And all of that is on top of making a profitable markup. Exchange rate is another thorn when it comes to instrument prices overseas.

I know all our overseas customers have heard this before, but just rest assured that it is a priority to bring instrument cost down oustide of the US.

 

[Barny]

I know all our overseas customers have heard this before, but just rest assured that it is a priority to bring instrument cost down oustide of the US.

This is great to hear, as someone who used to enjoy being able to buy a new MM every other year the prices seemed to have jumped to put a new guitar out of my reach.

 

[Movielife]

Getting international pricing down to a more customer friendly level is an issue we've been trying to deal with for some time. As you said, VAT, duties and taxes, shipping, and those are all unfortunately burdens on our int'l dealers. And all of that is on top of making a profitable markup. Exchange rate is another thorn when it comes to instrument prices overseas.

I know all our overseas customers have heard this before, but just rest assured that it is a priority to bring instrument cost down oustide of the US.

Thanks - great post to hear from the Team. We are currently having a rough time over here in the UK. Not to go into ANY politics but we are paying through the roof for any imported items, especially high end items like high end USA guitars, because of the 20% VAT (which should really be at 17.5%) and the awful drop of the £.

Even effects pedals are coming out at crazy prices.

I honestly don't know what the best policy is for a guitar maker like EBMM; it isn't their fault the UK are in a bad position right now.

I'd love to pickup a new Valentine and/or St Vincent but the damn £ is making them further out of reach.

 

[mr.b]

Casey,

We know you guys do what you can for your dealers/customers outside of the US. From my POV, I have never had an issue paying for quality equipment and sure as sh*t MM guitars are top notch. In the UK currently, our frustrations stem from governance outwith your control combined with a weak pound. It is still comforting to us to know that you are aware of the concerns we have and at least you are a brand who is trying to do something to help your customers. Thank you.

 

[Magic Jason]

I doubt there is anything you can do but thanks for trying gentlemen : it's really nice to hear that MM is concerned.

As an example this very morning: a "regular" Majesty6 costs €3700... Which is around $4350. Out of reach for most of us.

 

[Pops]

I hope that things improve over here in the UK but you can name just about ANY product for
sale in the UK and it has VAT ( Value Added Tax) at 20% on it.
The list of VAT Exempt items in the UK effectively is very very small.
In effect that means the Government rake in one fifth of the purchase price on just about everything.

EG our kitchen was recently completely ripped out and renewed last year and the VAT was approx £2600 iirc.
However it's not just the UK that has that rate of VAT the whole of the EU is roughly the same.
So even if I bought a new guitar from say France.
Because the UK is still in the EU at the moment until 2019 I would still pay 20% VAT
but there would be no import charges so the cost of the guitar is approx the same as if I bought it in the UK.

 

[TripHazard]

What is the Sales tax in Cali Casey - which is essentially what we call VAT.
Is Sales tax included in California in the price of a guitar or is it added at the till, making say a 1500 Cutlass $1500+Sales tax?
I know sales tax varies from state to state.

 

[DrKev]

In the US sales tax is added at the sale to the end user and collected by the store. Usually less than 10%, sometimes it's zero if seller and buyer are in different states (though the buyer is then sometimes required to pay a "use tax" which many people never do).

Being an end user point-of-sale tax, the VAT/or sales tax people pay in the rest of the world is 20% (usually) paid on the cost of *every single thing* between the factory and the final customer; factory price, international freight, import duty, warehouseing, insurance, salaries and wages, warranty and service, showroom cost/rental, and of course add operating margins/profit for everyone along the way, and THEN add VAT to get the final retail price. It's actually a wonder the prices are as *low* as they are.

IIRC, in the US EBMM (like many manufacturers) supplies directly to stores, no distribution network, which lowers the prices compared to the rest of the world. But those distribution networks in other countries are just how the industry is set up and out of EBMMs control. But a small number of distributors deal with a large number of brands and products and related warranties and and servicing, so it's significantly cheaper than EBMM doing it all themselves all over the world and allows them a market presence that wouldn't be possible otherwise.

The catch-22 is that so many people compare their country's prices to the US and want to buy in the US when they travel for business or vacation. But if more instruments were sold in the rest of the world the price could come down and more stores would stock EBMM rather than risk stocking a relatively unknown yet expensive brand taking up space that 100 strats or LPs could have moved through in the time it takes for an Morse or Albert Lee to sell itself.

 

[CaseyBall]

I'm about to go off on a tangent, EU/GB people forgive me if I'm off base, feel free to correct me.

DrKev has brought up the classic problem of international pricing, Italian and French people nominally pay twice as much as Americans do for their own designer fashion brands. Everything is just cheaper here, regardless of the relative exchange rate of currencies. Which is, of course, patently absurd that its cheaper to manufacture something, have it shipped stateside, and then sell it for half price. In the inverse, its cheaper to produce something in the US, but street prices still double (1.5x in the case of the majesty) once it goes overseas.

Of course, nowadays Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton have stateside production plants, but still, if we have issues running a factory in California it would be four times as hard to open a guitar factory in London, Brussels, Milan, you name it. Even that may not guarantee lower prices for the customer. Maybe the Swiss would be happy to have some new manufacturing, on the other hand they don't want anyone taking up real estate that could go to watchmakers or bankers. Or bankers that make watches in their off time.

Trying to wrap this up with a cogent point, not sure if I have one. Just ruminating on the state of trans-Atlantic consumerism, which I probably have no business doing since I've never lived in the EU/GB/etc. Like DrKev said, when you compare everything to the price of goods in the states its hard not to get upset.

 

[TripHazard]

If musicman was made in the UK it would, I believe, diminish the brand. Part of the allure of Musicman, Fender, Gibson, PRS etc is that for many customers you're buying more than a guitar, you're buying a piece of a culture, so made in California or USA or whatever is really important. It's like when I drink a bottle of Sam Adams in the UK. Yeah, it tastes good, but when I read the label and find it's brewed in the UK under licence, the glamour fades a bit. Psychological really but it effects the experience.
I can accept having to pay a bit more, it's just got crazy since certain polical decisions happened here and our currency got effected.

 

[TripHazard]

Anyone from Canada able to chip in on the US / Canada trade angle? I'm completely ignorant in that respect

 

[beej]

Prices are higher here, too. Though we have a trade agreement with the US (NAFTA ... for the next while at least), we have regional distributors, higher taxes, and a lower dollar. So prices aren't as bad as in the UK/EU, but they're higher than in the USA.