Buy musical instruments such as guitars, keyboards, microphones, etc. been an expensive undertaking if you live outside of the US. Local music stores often inflate their prices and end up costing you up to THREE TIMES what you would pay for a local US store. An extreme example of this can be find in New Zealand, where the John Mayer Stratocaster is $999 USD in the US, but by the time it ships to New Zealand with staffing costs, rental costs, inflation, markup, and taxes, you’ll be paying three times as much! For this very reason, many musicians around the world choose to shop at US stores that ship internationally.
Although they must advertise their products as non-international, a simple phone call to any of these companies can get your item shipped internationally. DHL, USPS, and FEDEX are offered by most retailers.
For your peace of mind, you can ship DHL/FEDEX but you will pay twice the USPS rates. USPS has more common occurrences of goods being damaged in transit or lost entirely, while FEDEX/DHL are very diligent most of the time. Google the trade names above and I’m sure you’ll find a carrier that can deliver musical instruments to your international location for a fraction of the price you can buy locally. Although be aware of currency conversions and 110 VOLT/240 VOLT adapter differences, you don’t want to plug in your new item only to have it blow up because you didn’t take the time to check this minor detail.
Other things to keep in mind when shopping online are:
* Power supplies: do they match your local voltage?
* Warranty: what support will you receive in your country?
* Currency conversions – check your bank’s rates before buying online!
* PayPal Protection – Always shop with PayPal to be covered in case of problems.
* Import taxes/duties: Hong Kong is currently the only country that will not charge you additional taxes when importing equipment from abroad. Some countries, such as Australia, have a threshold, so anything less than $1000 will not incur import taxes/duties.
As to the question why US list prices are generally so much lower than their retail counterparts in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc. This question has many answers:
For the last 30-40 years, the American musical instrument industry and its retailers have been struggling, trying to win each other over on price; As the years have gone by, these pricing pressures have pushed prices down a lot while this competitive market is still in its infancy in other countries. A common explanation given by retailers in other countries for why their prices are so much higher boils down to their insistence on consumer warranties: they may argue that their Fender John Mayer guitar costs $500 more because they offer a local warranty and repair if necessary. This is absolutely true, and in many cases, you’ll be better off buying a guitar, microphone, or DJ gear to know a little more that you’ll be covered should you run into any issues. The complication arises for big-ticket items like the John Mayer Signature Fender guitar, where savings can run into the thousands and the local warranty point of sale becomes less attractive. Some of the largest music stores in the United States, such as Guitar Center and Musician’s Friend, retail most of their items online, which reduces operating costs, while many brick-and-mortar stores around the world must pay a large percentage of your income on rent, taxes, personal, etc.
In conclusion, I’d say that for items valued at less than $1500, you’d be better off buying locally, assuming the price is correct. If your next guitar is going to cost more than this, it may well be worth calling an American retailer and haggling over the price and paying close attention to the voltage of the unit (110 VOLTS or 240 VOLTS) and asking them to declare the low value for that you won’t be stung by customs on taxes and/or GST. Australia, for example, will not charge you any import duty/tax on items DECLARED under $1,000 Australian dollars. For this reason, it may be beneficial to ask the US shipper to declare your shipment at a low value. However, if the unit is damaged in transit, it will only be covered by this declared value.
