Buying from the USA....?

[tonewheelkev]

I'm considering whether this might be worthwhile, and wondering if any members have experience of this? ..... Pluses, minuses .....pitfalls, costs etc

All comments gratefully received!

[Jason Lynch]

Plus side:you can get the instrument you want without being limeted to whats available in the UK.
Price, initially, can be quite keen. (The seller may, However, add a 3% charge for using paypal)
Minus side:Import duty. They WILL sting you for this. I imported a BMI SD10, price $1500 (about £950) and Duty came to £284. Some people I know have paid over £500.
Shipping. I paid Fed-Ex $483, so with total Cost, shipping, duty and 3% paypal charge it all came to just over £1500. Still a keen price I thought, for such a fine instrument as this, but worth considering all the same.

Some other points to remember.Give the seller your UK phone number. that way, the shipper will be able to contact you regarding inport duty. this saves them holding your item at the airport frieight terminal whilst they send you a letter!
where possilbe, find a seller that someone on this forum knows. helps avoid scammers. US or UK based!
Good luck.

[Malcolm]

Kev, if you plan to holiday in States, buy guitar and bring it back as baggage.Weight is obviously a condsideration with baggage charges so go for a lighter model, plenty now on market, EG Justice , Rittenberry, Mullen, ETS, etc all have lightweight models, which all come under the "magic" 50lbs airlines in general adopt.