Because shipping is around $100, customs I'm not sure about, that could be 4,5% (TARIC-Code 8518 40 80 91 which could be wrong, but I didn't find anything better), Tax is 19% which adds up to 23,5% onto $2.200 /1,4273 = 1.541 EUR x 1,235 = 1.903 EUR. And that's calculated from the sales price. G66 needs the 400 EUR per Axe I'm sure, pay rooms, personnel and live of it. But I'm also sure, the price they pay is not dramatically low (from my experiences trying to find a MusicMan JP, I assume some companies - not just US - sell their goods at pretty high rates in export). People just keep forgetting that all sales prices are net in the US and you have to add VAT in your state (or am I wrong at this point?). And VAT ist something between 6.5 and 8.5% from what I've seen so far in the States and it's 19% in Germany + shipping + customs.