UK market-Is it now best to order AF3 from Fractal in the US going forward?

I expect the three-year warranty is part of EU law. (Just googled it, and it appears electronic goods must be warrantied for a minimum of two years). I guess we don't know as yet what requirement the UK government may impose. I can't help but feel this will increase costs and add time for us in the UK. A few months ago I ordered some Floyd Rose parts. Like an idiot, I ordered them from the US rather than the UK. FedEx delivered them, eventually. After a while I wondered where they were and contacted FedEx. They were at customs, waiting for the duty to be paid. I had to pay FedEx, who paid the government, and also charged me a handling fee, and eventually the goods showed up. I seem to recall they charge something like the duty + their own cut, or a fixed fee, whichever is the larger. This is for import duty. VAT is on top of that, and may or may not stay at the same rate as the rest of Europe. I'm (semi-)seriously considering ordering a Strandberg from their Swedish site before the end of the year....
 
@stevejon38

The units sold in the US don't include a 3-year warranty AND if you have to use the (1-year) warranty, paying for shipping both ways isn't going to be cheap...

Just something to include in your comparison.
If I was paying $2000 for a piece of high end electronics like this, then one of the merits is that on the whole the probability of a fault occurring is less than a lower cost option.

Fractal have a huge list of very high profile musician advocates on their website who are more than happy to allow their name to be used to help endorse this great product, people who I guess wouldn't be prepared to buy the products and say nice things about it if it wasn't up to scratch.

This is why I never understood the 1 year warranty, maybe they take a different view of these things in the US, but it's always seems to me like they're reluctant to back what is a wonderful and world beating design with a class leading warranty.

I guess that no Fractal owner wouldn't say no to and have the greater piece of mind that an extended warranty brings. If the product is bomb proof then it makes good business sense because you enhance the perception of the product without it costing you a lot more to do so.

The company that I sell has recently increased it's warranty from three to five years on one of it's products. This cost of replacing and fitting faulty hardware in this design is significant, yet they feel that the potential additional costs of fixing faults in years 4 & 5 are outweighed by the enhanced perception about the reliability of the product.
 
I expect the three-year warranty is part of EU law. (Just googled it, and it appears electronic goods must be warrantied for a minimum of two years). I guess we don't know as yet what requirement the UK government may impose. I can't help but feel this will increase costs and add time for us in the UK. A few months ago I ordered some Floyd Rose parts. Like an idiot, I ordered them from the US rather than the UK. FedEx delivered them, eventually. After a while I wondered where they were and contacted FedEx. They were at customs, waiting for the duty to be paid. I had to pay FedEx, who paid the government, and also charged me a handling fee, and eventually the goods showed up. I seem to recall they charge something like the duty + their own cut, or a fixed fee, whichever is the larger. This is for import duty. VAT is on top of that, and may or may not stay at the same rate as the rest of Europe. I'm (semi-)seriously considering ordering a Strandberg from their Swedish site before the end of the year....
You're correct in that the in the EU, electronics have to have a minimum two year warranty, so any Fractal distributor would have to give that warranty as a minimum.

However, my experience of previous Fractal products has been very positive, with the only blemish being that I had a one faulty PSU in an Axe FX2, which the kind people at G66 sent me to fit. So I believe it wouldn't be a significant overhead for Fractal to improve the warranty status on what is the world's premier modeller.

I had forgotten that the courier may also charge a handling fee as well to cover the cost of their admin, and this I assume will apply to any UK order shipped from G66 going forward.
 
You're correct in that the in the EU, electronics have to have a minimum two year warranty, so any Fractal distributor would have to give that warranty as a minimum.

However, my experience of previous Fractal products has been very positive, with the only blemish being that I had a one faulty PSU in an Axe FX2, which the kind people at G66 sent me to fit. So I believe it wouldn't be a significant overhead for Fractal to improve the warranty status on what is the world's premier modeller.

I had forgotten that the courier may also charge a handling fee as well to cover the cost of their admin, and this I assume will apply to any UK order shipped from G66 going forward.
Postage fees to and from England have always been a PITA, with or without this country applying EC rulings, it can't get worse in fact. Also, G66 actually service their unit for free wide beyond the warranty period. Got mine back in 2017 for an out1 problem. The unit got tested and I only paid the departure postage. This year the fan became noisy, they send me another free of charges. I don't see nor imagine any British distributor deliver that kind of service.
 
To give context. Here in the UK, should I be interested in buying a Helix or Quad Cortex or Kemper, then I know what the price will be.

It's not really incumbent on G66 to provide details of the full price for UK purchasers now, I assume that they will ship the product with no VAT and with no delivery cost.

These new additional costs are added on when they reach the UK.

Having now done more research and assuming free shipping, I think that the cost from G66 will now be £1918.00 exc. VAT (20%) + 3.70% customs duty =£1989.00 + VAT (£2387.00). Currency fluctuations will apply.
 
Everything will likely become less sticky when it comes to payments and international sales between the US and the UK. Shipping costs should also reduce.

You can probably buy it the same way thru Germany... not too much will really change. A fee from the credit card or bank to convert currency. Your currency will be stronger than the euro? Isn't that the thought behind Brexit.
 
No reason to see any change, now there’s a trade agreement in place. Same as for other Non-EU European countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. UK is now the same as them. it’s all good. G66 are rally good and cool to deal with 👍
 
No reason to see any change, now there’s a trade agreement in place. Same as for other Non-EU European countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. UK is now the same as them. it’s all good. G66 are rally good and cool to deal with 👍
You'll now need a customs check and the associated cost with that. nothing good about it.
 
You'll now need a customs check and the associated cost with that. nothing good about it.
The customs charges are tiny in comparison to the value of the goods. I import from Norway and Iceland all the time into the UK. I’m a logistics/clearing agent by profession. The main gripe European customers have had for years has been the VAT/import charges fro the US into the EU, and it’s way worse into Australia.
 
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Everything will likely become less sticky when it comes to payments and international sales between the US and the UK. Shipping costs should also reduce.

You can probably buy it the same way thru Germany... not too much will really change. A fee from the credit card or bank to convert currency. Your currency will be stronger than the euro? Isn't that the thought behind Brexit.
The customs charges are tiny in comparison to the value of the goods. I import from Norway and Iceland all the time into the UK. I’m a logistics/clearing agent by profession. The main gripe European customers have had for years has been the VAT/import charges fro the US into the EU, and it’s way worse into Australia.
The fact that you say that VAT/import charges are worse into Australia is interesting because oddly it appears slightly cheaper for Australians to buy from Independent Music in Australia than Europeans buying from G66.

UK customs increase now on G66 price, I guess will be around 4.5%.
 
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