Possible to custom order from Europe?

[daangroen]

Okay this might be a very dumb question, but im gonna ask it anyway

is it possible to like custom order (that is possible right?, that u can pick your own colour pickup config etc.) directly from Ernie ball when you live in Europe or not? if so would you pay like the same if u were to live in the US (except import +shipping ofcourse)

soo desperate need to order a bongo 6 .. stankyburst..mhmm

thanks in advance

 

[mynan]

You would have to order it through your European distributor...

 

[daangroen]

oh dear, then it would cost a fortune, guess i'll wait till one will pop on the internet, when the y come out. thanks for your answer.

thread answerd

 

[MrMusashi]

im sure there are dutch dealers lurking around here (you were in holland, aiight? )

they will probably be more than happy to give ya a price quote. it might not be as bad as you think it is!

MrM

 

[oli@bass]

it might not be as bad as you think it is!

No! It might be worse!!!

 

[Raimond S]

Somebody in EBMM needs to communicate to European distributors/retailers that keeping the prices artificially high because of their own greed is immoral and is keeping sales low. This especially with the low Dollar vs Euro ratio.
Let's say we have MM basses priced more similar to in the U.S. +shipping costs/handling fee for Europe. Why is this not possible?

I'll do an example.
Price on Bongo 5 HH in (random online store) Music123.com is 1627$
Price on Bongo 5 HH in (random online store) Idmusikk.no is 3517$ (17995NOK)

Norway has 25% import tax. So let's say I buy from Music123.com :
1627$ + 200$ shipping to Norway(a guess) = 1827$ + 25% tax of that(457$). Total price of the imported Bongo 5 HH is then 2284$.

This is one person, paying full USA-store price, paying all the shipping on one item. I still come out 1200$ lower in price than buying it here in Norway. Imagine if I were a distributor, buying for distributor's price, shipped in bulkloads. I'm no commerce expert, but is this normal on other wares, or is EBMM and it's European end users being screwed over?

 

[Sonnyonbass]

Buy a ticket to the US. Very cheap now. 400 Euro's for a ticket to Miami from Holland.

Tour the country a bit, then go to Basscentral or any other pro bass store. Buy a few (MMEB) basses.... go back home and start gigging! Oh. Beaver @ basscentral is buying lunch if you come over from Europe i heard. So don't forget. haha

 

[bovinehost]

Raimond, the issue of non-US pricing has come up before - many, many times. If you'll use the search function, you'll surely find more than one post in which BP and the foreign sales staff has addressed this issue quite thoroughly.

Thanks - Jack

 

[Aziah]

My suggestion would be to order through a US dealer. You'll still have to pay extra shipping, customs and taxes, but I will still probably be cheaper for you.

US dealers are not allowed to export

 

[TheStiffness]

Raimond, the issue of non-US pricing has come up before - many, many times. If you'll use the search function, you'll surely find more than one post in which BP and the foreign sales staff has addressed this issue quite thoroughly.

Thanks - Jack

Thank you, Jack.

While there is no great need to dive into a topic that has already been addressed -- multiple times -- I believe it's important to stress one thing:

Warranty.

We regularly receive emails and phone calls from our much appreciated international customers concering instruments purchased outside of the customer's country of residence . Below, I have included several generic and simplified versions of these emails/calls.

"Hello. My guitar has problem. I purchased it recently and just recieved it yesterday. I live in (Country A), but I purchased it in (Country B). I need to get it repaired. Is this (generic issue) coverd by the warranty?"

"Hello. My bass was damaged in shipping. I live in (Country C), but I bought my bass for a better price in (Country B). Can you send me a warranty replacement."

So on and so forth.

Repairs can be incredibly expensive. Especially when they are unable to be covered by a warranty because that instrument's warranty was voided the moment the instrument crossed a border by means other than through the authorized Music Man distributor for that specific country.

Folks, by no means are we unaware of the international price differences - differences that are entirely justified, I might add. However, in our profesional and honest opinion -- one cannot put a price on a warranty as solid as that of EB/MM. For the money , the customer not only receives an instrument of EXCEPTIONAL quality, but also the full support of the distributor for that country's customer service - service which, with the help of the highly knowledgable EB/MM staff, is of the same incomparable calibre as the instruments the service supports.

Trust us.

 

[Raimond S]

Ok thanks for the answers. I guess it's so easy now after the Internet came (hehe) to compare pricing on wares in all industries, across geographical boundaries.

Earlier you'd have to hear from your buddy's cousin who went to USA last year and allegedly bought this item for half the price etc. Now you can check the price online in seconds, worldwide!

So yeah, warranty, I can understand that some of the money customers pay, go to the wages of the support staff. So the high wages in my country is what the local distributor raises the prices to cover? Alright, I guess that's an answer.

Edit: Sorry for beating the dead horse then, but perceived injustice/unfair etc may get one fired up a little

 

[bovinehost]

No problems....it's just that it's come up, oh, about a MILLION times over the last few years!

 

[Raimond S]

Thanks Jack. Well, with 13 stickies on top of the forum, you'd think at least one of them would address something that's being discussed or misunderstood "about a MILLION times over the last few years!"

 

[mynan]

No more stickies, please...

 

[MrMusashi]

hmm... i work at a guitar store and i dont know why people seem to think all of us are greedy. even if the retail price in a catalogue is high, doesnt mean that we will charge that price for it. its the same thing in the usa.. msrp and street price are 2 different things

ask around, there are dealers who pay attention to things like these. you just need to find him/her

MrM

 

[oli@bass]

The interesting part starts when the dealer is paying for the instrument more than the street price in the US.

PS: Oh, and BTW, no that the dollar went down so much, the Swiss distributor decided to adjust the prices, because they haven't done so for several years. The prices are... going up!

PPS: I put my order in for the old prices as long as I could...

 

[PzoLover]

dumb questions

Okay this might be a very dumb question, but im gonna ask it anyway

is it possible to like custom order (that is possible right?, that u can pick your own colour pickup config etc.) directly from Ernie ball when you live in Europe or not? if so would you pay like the same if u were to live in the US (except import +shipping ofcourse)

soo desperate need to order a bongo 6 .. stankyburst..mhmm

thanks in advance

Hey Daan, as someone once said to me, "There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers ... and it seems you've had plenty of good and smart anawers to your smart question, and as one who lives close enough to the US border, I understand your question, but I'm lucky to have 2 good retailers nearby and great luck with special orders and retailer customer suport and the Warranty issue, even though I've never needed a claim with my SR5s, I would consider very important and reason enough to stay within official channels, so, good luck on your 20008 LEBongo6 special order and I hope that Dr. Stankface will offer his blessing for it once you've landed it to your practice room and of course, I wish you good health all through the acquisition and playing stages
All The Bass,
/PL

 

[Dellers]

To you guys talking about high prices outside the US....Prices usually are good compared to how much people earn in a country, and say here in Norway EBMM prices are about 2.6x american price (as the $ went down, difference got higher of course), but it's still affortable here. I'd gladly pay what it costs for a Stingray
I used ebay anyway, found a nice canadian seller with american prices, so no matter where you live you can get really good prices if you want.