I believe I’ve already outlined the main reasons for the price difference, but to revisit your calculation above: the US price you quoted is $787. Once you add 20% VAT—which is unavoidable for UK retail—that becomes $944.40. And that still doesn’t include freight, import duties, currency exchange fees, business operating costs, or after-sales support. Simply converting USD to GBP doesn’t reflect what it actually costs to bring a product into the UK or Europe and support it properly.
Having lived in the US for a few years and having run a UK software business for many years that relied on importing components, I’ve experienced first-hand that products from overseas will always be more expensive once they reach the UK, because of those costs. This is true for every distributor, not just us.
Providing a good service is also more than just adding a margin. Reliable stock management, fast shipping, genuine multi-country/multi-language customer support, and handling issues transparently all add real cost. Not every distributor approaches this the same way, and a recent experience I had illustrated that clearly.
Last week I bought a new wireless system - I won't say where from, but from an authorised reseller/distributor NOT based in the UK (but they ship across Europe). I did it this way as the UK retailers were all out of stock until mid-December at the earliest and I needed it for some upcoming gigs with my band (having cleverly sold my rack based wireless setup before securing a replacement!). I got an immediate order confirmation and it arrived about 5 days after ordering in a brand-new box that was sealed. When I opened it up, I was shocked to find the unit covered in fingerprints and there were scuff marks on the bottom. It had obviously been used/returned by someone but put back in the box without properly checking it over and resold as new. To make things worse, it came with a European plug and no adapter. I thought, OK.... Adding insult to this (after stealing an adapter from my wife's hair straightening irons) when I plugged it in, it didn't work! I emailed the distributor and waited 2 days... no reply (to be fair it was over the weekend, but still…). In frustration, I tracked down a 3rd party PSU among a box of old spares I had in my shed to see if the issue was with the power or the unit and the unit came to life; the issue was the power supply. I'm fairly chill in general so accepted this and figured the distributor would put things right somehow, now that I had done the troubleshooting for them.
Two more days passed and no word from the distributor (it was now Tuesday), so I called them, left a message, emailed them again and also left a message via their online chat to explain the situation, that I had done some trouble shooting and found the issue was the PSU, but that I was very disappointed to have received what appears to be a used item, sold at new price. That hadn't been tested. The NEXT day (now 5 days since receiving the package), they emailed and said "oh, we're so sorry you received it in that way - we get these new from XXXX and then ship them out - they shouldn't arrive like that. We're very sorry for the experience you had". That was it!!! No offer to replace, fix, send a plug, look into it, buy me some cider and flowers...NOTHING. I informed them I would be returning the item for a refund (including shipping both ways) and would wait to buy from a UK retailer (albeit for a higher price). It's been a few days and I still don't have a refund, so a call to my CC company is happening today.
I can’t speak to how that distributor operates internally (I would speculate they get units at £X, slap on a margin and then ship out at £Y and that's their business model - but really that’s not my concern – all I need to know is I am paying £Y and then expect to get product+service), but I can say this: businesses like G66 - and my own ZenRigs - invest heavily in doing things properly. That includes ensuring products are new, properly set-up, tested, supported, and backed by real customer service across multiple countries and (in the case of G66) languages. Those things have costs attached, and they’re part of what you pay for when buying from a reputable distributor.
.
