Muad'zin
Fractal Fanatic
Most goes to the EUSSR-taxes (21% here)....
I did the math on getting another XL+ when they did the big pricedrop sale prior to the release of the III. Even including taxes I'd still save hundreds of euro's ordering directly from FAS in the US. G66 does take a markup as well. Nothing wrong with them making a buck, they are a business after all. But they're just a business with no competition whatsoever. Which is basically a monopoly. And that I don't like.
When I was still building pedals from Buildyourownclone I couldn't order from them directly as well, I had to order from European dealers as well. The biggest difference though was dealers as in plural. I ended up ordering from a UK dealer as that was cheaper then ordering from a Dutch dealer. You gotta love competition.
Why would FAS need to keep prices down? They can't supply enough units to meet demand (except via wait lists, etc.). Ever looked at prices being HIGHER than retail on evil-Bay or Reverb?
Except FAS does offer discounts to their customers. They do it all the time. But only to their North American ones. The rest can take a hike. That doesn't feel nice, or make me feel beloved.
YOU want to get it from the cheapest source. Cool! Who doesn't want that? Don't we all??
Right now the cheapest in Europe is G66.
No, they are the only dealer. That's not cheapest, that's a monopoly. Would you be happy if you could only get internet from one provider? If there was only a single supermarket chain? Competition is good. No competition is bad.
FAS has never (during my 10+ yr assoc. with them) bowed to customer demand(s).
I don't expect to see that change any time soon.
You make it sound like customer demands are a bad thing. You know what sets apart good companies from bad companies? The latter don't listen to their customers. There is of course a huge difference between I DEMAND LOWER PRICES or I DEMAND AMP X OR STOMPBOX Y IN THE NEXT FIRMWARE UPGRADE versus, you know, FAS, it might be a good idea if you did X, or added feature Y to your product. I daresay that by listening to what consumers wanted, a modeler that unlike those of Line 6 was actually good, FAS got where it is in the first place.
Shipping from China to the US or EU is no difference in price.
Chinese businesses takes advantage though of unfair government subsidies. For them shipping abroad is free. And Chinese companies know no morals when it comes to shipping. They'll list a lower value to deceive customs if you ask for it. Or just do it anyway. That way US and EU customs don't know how much to tax you.
I understand the VAT in the US depends on the state you're in and is lower than the european avg. Now customs duty is funny: isn't there a +25% for a lot of things coming from China to the US ?
I reckon that if you're not a consumer, but a business, there are probably legal loopholes around those tariffs. The point is to stop American consumers from buying Chinese goods, not to punish American business from importing the goods they make in China. That wouldn't go down well with corporate sponsors in Washington. And if you want to get re-elected you don't mess with your financial contributors.
I understand there cannot be the same price in the US and the EU but I don't get why it has to be that much higher even if I throw in 2 years of warranty EU customers get from G66. This is where competition would tell what the real price of a unit could be.
I bought a 2nd hand XL via Ebay from the US once, the customs duties came down to $400. So that would mean $500 or more is the markup G66 puts on their units. Probably even more since companies don't have to pay VAT. Only consumers have to do so. And companies often get lower rates for a lot of things as well.