Anybody else import from Online or use Reverb?

[Gitar]

Use PayPal and you can't go wrong, don't drink and Reverb

That my friend is a thing of beuaty and not a one nighter to be shamed of. Id love a Kramer like that.

So with Reverb, any tips on finding good deals and getting good prices on shipping? Shipping looks like $200 for most at the mo. Even at Thomman and Sweetwater.

RE Paypal, why do I use Paypal? can I return payment if it doesnt turn up? but what protects them from people falsely claiming so?

What Im after is Floyd Rose, dont mind if single or double cut, but if single needs to be nice and thin and countoured like LTD, would like to be able to put a single coil or a nice HB sized p90 in the neck. Of course if a super strat with single coils I will just put a quality Single Duncan coil in neck. Most importantly I need a modern C neck like schecter or a thin U like ESP. ie something like 42mm nut, 19mm at the 1st fret and 21mm at the 12th fret. Id love a baked maple neck but getting a bit picky.

Wanting to pay about $700 all up.

[Slowy]

The Working Tariif Doc list Duty charges: https://www.customs.govt.nz/globalasset ... i-2022.pdf

It's no wonder there's so many mental health issues in the workplace. Imagine spending your day writing that!

[ChAoZ]

That my friend is a thing of beuaty and not a one nighter to be shamed of. Id love a Kramer like that.

So with Reverb, any tips on finding good deals and getting good prices on shipping? Shipping looks like $200 for most at the mo. Even at Thomman and Sweetwater.

RE Paypal, why do I use Paypal? can I return payment if it doesnt turn up? but what protects them from people falsely claiming so?

What Im after is Floyd Rose, dont mind if single or double cut, but if single needs to be nice and thin and countoured like LTD, would like to be able to put a single coil or a nice HB sized p90 in the neck. Of course if a super strat with single coils I will just put a quality Single Duncan coil in neck. Most importantly I need a modern C neck like schecter or a thin U like ESP. ie something like 42mm nut, 19mm at the 1st fret and 21mm at the 12th fret. Id love a baked maple neck but getting a bit picky.

Wanting to pay about $700 all up.

I always wanted a Kramer and that one came up at the right price, had a few undisclosed issues on arrival but fixed up fine, the Seymour Duncan perpetual burn I installed absolutely rips
With reverb I enter a few parameters and start searching lowest price first, need to factor in shipping on top of the deal and GST too
I always use Paypal for the buyer protection, but I guess there is nothing stopping someone from falsely claiming except for common courtesy and karma
Good luck in your search but you might need to find a few extra hundred?

[Green Bastard]

Thomann charges nz gst on checkout (anything doing over 60k or 80k per year of nz sales is supposed to) but if you pass the 1k nzd mark they refund the gst and you need to sort it with customs/shipping company on arrival, so getting an importer code and think a further 50 bux processing fee, no big deal but I last bought through thomann as I was thinking they sort all the gst so save some hassle on a 3k purchase, but then had to faff about with customs forms and payments.
Some other smaller overseas retailers don't include the gst charge and remove their own vat at check out so if you keep it under 1k incl shipping can get effectively 20% discount. andertons.co.uk is one I've used for small things and they had pretty decent shipping prices

[Gitar]

Thomann charges nz gst on checkout
Some other smaller overseas retailers don't include the gst charge and remove their own vat at check out so if you keep it under 1k incl shipping can get effectively 20% discount. andertons.co.uk is one I've used for small things and they had pretty decent shipping prices

Thanks GB

A lot of helpful info in this thread, appreciate it people.

I contacted Thomann and sure enough. This is irish to me. They charged GST on behalf of NZ for items under $1000 but not on items over $1000. Is there any logic in that? If they charge the GST, as you say, can that limit me by 15%, or does NZ consider the GST charged not part of the $1000 limit and will refund it?

If Im buying used off Ebay from a personal seller, can I still get charged GST? Also a lot of people on Ebay from the US are not shipping to NZ at the mo, is it worth trying Aussie ebay? At the mo Im finding prices on Reverb just arent worth it and the ones that were (5/5) said they arent shipping here at the moment either.

I didnt realise Andertons shipped to NZ, I will check out their prices.

[jeremyb]

I contacted Thomann and sure enough. This is irish to me. They charged GST on behalf of NZ for items under $1000 but not on items over $1000. Is there any logic in that? If they charge the GST, as you say, can that limit me by 15%, or does NZ consider the GST charged not part of the $1000 limit and will refund it?

They're just following the rules, unless a retailer sells over $60k of stuff to kiwis a year they don't have to charge GST, so customs collect GST on things $1k and over just so big priced things don't slip through

[Gitar]

I contacted Thomann and sure enough. This is irish to me. They charged GST on behalf of NZ for items under $1000 but not on items over $1000. Is there any logic in that? If they charge the GST, as you say, can that limit me by 15%, or does NZ consider the GST charged not part of the $1000 limit and will refund it?

They're just following the rules, unless a retailer sells over $60k of stuff to kiwis a year they don't have to charge GST, so customs collect GST on things $1k and over just so big priced things don't slip through

But they do collect GST, just in reverse to the NZ law, thats what I dont understand. Are you saying the logic is that NZ Customs do not check items with GST applied, only items over $1k with no GST applied? That really would be Irish haha. I guess making things the direct opposite on NZ law would create more jobs ;-p

What I really want to know is, if you buy a guitar for under $1k, but they add the 15%, does NZ customs then say the product is priced over $1k even though GST shouldnt have been charged in the first place, or do they just reverse the GST via direct deposit or something?

[jeremyb]

I contacted Thomann and sure enough. This is irish to me. They charged GST on behalf of NZ for items under $1000 but not on items over $1000. Is there any logic in that? If they charge the GST, as you say, can that limit me by 15%, or does NZ consider the GST charged not part of the $1000 limit and will refund it?

They're just following the rules, unless a retailer sells over $60k of stuff to kiwis a year they don't have to charge GST, so customs collect GST on things $1k and over just so big priced things don't slip through

But they do collect GST, just in reverse to the NZ law, thats what I dont understand. Are you saying the logic is that NZ Customs do not check items with GST applied, only items over $1k with no GST applied? That really would be Irish haha. I guess making things the direct opposite on NZ law would create more jobs ;-p

What I really want to know is, if you buy a guitar for under $1k, but they add the 15%, does NZ customs then say the product is priced over $1k even though GST shouldnt have been charged in the first place, or do they just reverse the GST via direct deposit or something?

Customs may still charge gst on items under $1k but it’s unlikely, so if you buy a guitar for $999 online and it gets gst on it then it should show that tax was paid on the declaration and you won’t get pinged

[Gitar]

Customs may still charge gst on items under $1k but it’s unlikely, so if you buy a guitar for $999 online and it gets gst on it then it should show that tax was paid on the declaration and you won’t get pinged

Cheers

I was just reiterating what another poster had said, Ive checked with Thomann and they do in fact charge GST on sub $1k items but not on items over $1k (the reverse of what NZ enforces).

For me, I just can't understand the logic in it, all it does is make Kiwis look elsewhere where there is no hassle of having to reclaim GST. I also think it makes more sense to actually charge GST as per NZ law, customs should check everything anyway, at least that way no items over $1k should make it through with 2 layers of GST checking (by Thomman and by Customs).

Just wish I could understand their logic is all haha.

Thinking about re enabling an Ebay account as there are a lot of good items in Aus, our used market is very limited and Reverb seems mostly retail (plus few are shipping). But havnt used Ebay to buy from Aus before.

[jeremyb]

I was just reiterating what another poster had said, Ive checked with Thomann and they do in fact charge GST on sub $1k items but not on items over $1k (the reverse of what NZ enforces

No I think you're confused, thats exactly what the regulations are for overseas sellers

[dayl]

How good is Thomman compared to buying local? any examples? as I get older I try to find reasons to keep money spent local... but man.. it asint alway easy in the musical instrument arena

[Gitar]

How good is Thomman compared to buying local? any examples? as I get older I try to find reasons to keep money spent local... but man.. it asint alway easy in the musical instrument arena

It was better prior to this economy, NZ dollar has dropped a lot on the US very quickly. But it also depends what you are buying, it still can be very good, when I say very, not like free very haha, but say 30%. The other cost that has gone up, partly due to US$, is UPS shipping. I find Thomman pretty much the norm, around $220 for a gat, some other shops $160, some places in the world which are much closer $400, so have to keep in mind shipping as thats part of the sub $1k pricing.

Im with you on the older and trying to stay local, once things rebound I will struggle to find reasons. In saying that some gats arent any cheaper. I made a thread on the JS32 being NZs best value local guitar. I think last I looked it actually cost more to buy from Thomann. $650 local, lovely scarf joint, Floyd Rose (special) and that awesome 12-16" radius speed neck that makes open chords comfortable as well as shredding (similar to some of Charvel's fender made gats)

But so many guitars Ive bought from overseas have been well over $1k, stuff you simply cant get here, although thats the same for many sub $1k products.

The site allows you to convert price to any currency (top right), have a shop around, just keep in mind shipping.

[Gitar]

I was just reiterating what another poster had said, Ive checked with Thomann and they do in fact charge GST on sub $1k items but not on items over $1k (the reverse of what NZ enforces

No I think you're confused, thats exactly what the regulations are for overseas sellers

haha if you saw the replies you would be too. I now have someone not just in customer service. My understanding they are obliged to remove GST on items over $1k as customs apply upon entry. Im just clarifying something about the sub $1k orders though as they telling me something new which Ive asked clarification on.

Compared to Sweetwater I find most gats cheaper, so probably worth hitting customs up if GST is applied either way. I havnt bought from Andertons before.

[jeremyb]

How good is Thomman compared to buying local? any examples? as I get older I try to find reasons to keep money spent local... but man.. it asint alway easy in the musical instrument arena

Thomann's shipping is a killer so I tend to buy multiple things at once to make it worthwhile, at that way you will usually save 25-40% on local prices

They used to have a flat rate of 50 euro for shipping internationally, was amazing, now its more like 100 euro for something like a guitar...

[jhyang549]

How good is Thomman compared to buying local? any examples? as I get older I try to find reasons to keep money spent local... but man.. it asint alway easy in the musical instrument arena

Thomann's shipping is a killer so I tend to buy multiple things at once to make it worthwhile, at that way you will usually save 25-40% on local prices

They used to have a flat rate of 50 euro for shipping internationally, was amazing, now its more like 100 euro for something like a guitar...

Yeah, I was interested in buying a premium guitar of the Harley Benton range but the shipping was a third of the guitar cost.