Buying Gear from the UK 2021

Believe me we all are. :slight_smile:

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As a rule of thumb, I only buy within the UK now, which is helping ‘local’ businesses in a way too. It’s just not worth trying to save a few quid by buying from the EU. I would even get a retailer to source something for me rather than buy direct from a company for the same reasons. It’s just not really worth the extra time, hassle and potential costs!

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Yes. This is great for local businesses. As long as they dont start to increase prices because they know you’ll pay more from abroad. I have a feeling not everyone will be so honest.

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I’m still expecting to get stiffed in some way with my Osmose order. They’ve agreed to offer UK preorders a “special price” to largely keep things in line with expectations (other than customs and fees) but will see when it arrives. After that, I don’t plan on further international music purchases for the foreseeable.

Sorry @Fin25, quoted you by accident then made an arse of the edit… Sake.

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Fantastic cure for GAS though

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Very much so! Though I’ve found my head getting turned on software now…

It’s not all bad though. Felt like the £ price on the Tracker AE’s was a fair chunk cheaper than US and Europe but might have been imagining that.

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Saw on another thread but useful here too:

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Interesting. I’d noticed VAT was back and I assumed it was a mistake. I expect they had a massive drop off of UK orders. I have avoided using them because I didn’t know how much things would cost.

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Aye it seemed like a major faff so I was avoiding it too.

So who’s paying the Tax Bill/Import duties etc? Cant see Thomann are as they would be losing money.

You are, in the price. But Thomann will sort out all the paperwork side of things for you.

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Ah. I thought it was too good to be true.

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It’ll be interesting to see how Thomann tries to compete on price with Andertons etc etc

When gas kicks in it’s not always about the price

It it meant I got things months earlier I’d probably pay a little extra.

Yes. I would imagine loyalty is the only reason to pay a bit more. I like the fact they use Royal mail.

Good point. If it means waiting a few extra months then you dont mind paying more to get it earlier under GAS conditions.

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This becomes a huge problem for gear that needs to be returned. UPS are currently taking the living piss with regards to a return to Elektron. I had a Digitakt for just 1 week but it developed a sloppy encoder really quickly so I’ve returned it. Literally just 2 days to get to Sweden from the UK, but held at a ‘secure facility’ in Sweden for the past 2 weeks pending some sort of agreement or paperwork. The whole process has taken so long, that UPS have taken my VAT notice offline, so I have no way of proving I’ve already paid the VAT on it (Tried saving it from the webpage at time of payment, but all the page settings were incorrect so it doesn’t display properly, or even print).

Elektron won’t give me another new unit because it will have to have new VAT paid on it, so I have to settle for a repair. The whole process with UPS has taken 5 weeks so far, and the parcel has been returned to me once already (because I didn’t provide 3 copies of the invoice, which wasn’t made clear in the first place).

Long story short, don’t bother importing stuff via UPS unless you are sure it won’t need returning.

At this point I’m wondering whether to just cut my losses on the VAT and open a Paypal dispute but this would be kind of unfair on Elektron as they haven’t even received the parcel for it to be repaired. From my experience I will likely never import from the EU again, especially not via UPS.

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Did you fill out and attach the CN23 paperwork?

I’m assuming Elektron sent you it mostly filled out?

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I have no idea what CN23 paperwork is so probably no, but support did query UPS on Monday and said that they have looked into it and can’t see any issues, just waiting for it to clear customs apparently. I guess its possible that support have already forwarded it to UPS though.

I know CN23 as the ineffective nerve gas in Aliens :crazy_face:

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Did Elektron pay the return postage and they chose to use UPS?.

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