guitars from america

Hello , i'm sure its been asked before , but, if i buy a guitar from an american ad, will i have to pay anything when it arrives at my door in the

Yep

Usually get hit by customs etc so I think u pay about 22% or something. Still usually works out cheaper to buy from the US than the UK.

Customs Duty and VAT. The VAT will be added last and is also added to the shipping costs. In total, about an extra 21%

Plus the post office may charge you for opening the package for customs...

Yep, unfortunaley you will. First of all VAT (17.5%) and also import duty which I belive is 3% this is customs and excsize charges plus a handeling charge will be placed by the post office dunno what this is, if I didn't know better i'd say they plucked a figure out of thin air! Unless you have a fantastic bargin this will make buying from the US about the same as from the UK

What I do is to get the company sending the guitar to put a value of $150 on it, this will leave you with abut £30 to pay in fee's, that's Duty, VAT, handling charges etc.

I've done this quite a few times and never had a problem, but it's a risk if the guitar goes missing you will only be able to claim about £100, so do the maths.

Yes, you will. The FAQ for this very newsgroup has more info.

It probably only makes sense to individually import expensive guitars (high-end PRS, for instance).

Cheers,

I've found the cheapest shipping method is US Mail and you can insure very cheaply up to a limit of $2200. Bear in mind that you may have difficulty claiming under warranty if it's a new guitar you are buying. UK importers won't want to take responsibility so it might mean shipping back to the US which will not make economic sense.

I find comparing prices paid on Ebay in the US (ebay.com) and the UK (ebay.co.uk) a good comparison. Often the US price isn't really much cheaper after duty and VAT are added. Wherever you purchase a guitar you have to get to over $2000 or so before real savings kick in. That's around £1250.

Air fares are really cheap at the moment (around £200 to NYC including tax) and I'd suggest that if you are intending to spend a lot of money, you should go over for a few days and actually play the guitars you might want to buy. You can also haggle with the shop. Discounts on list price of 40% or more are not unusual. Then you can bring the guitar back with you rather than risk shipping. I almost always carry my guitar on as hand luggage.

NYC Youth Hostel costs less than twenty quid by the way and is comfortable. I've used it. (and I'm 50)

Chris

But the real deal is getting to drop UK prices (In the same manner as car dealers) Guitars have a certain perceptive value (I guess it varies from person to person) For me, Gibson, Taylor, G+L and Martin always seem too pricey. Conversly, PRS seem about right. Fender offer the best deals, together with Ibanez. I'd be interested to know if some of the companies are trying to gain 'the Rolls Royce of guitars' tag, by charging mucho moolah.