[jarnopp]

Seems to me that the current exchange is around one point three dollars to the British pound and with a price of around 4,500 pounds including sales tax that the price is okay and there is no motive or evidence of greed. Please understand that to sell anything in the USA is not inexpensive especially when marketing and sales costs including travel and support at shows are considered properly. I think its always a cheap shot to cry foul at our distributor that their making too much money when they are mostly providing good and valuable service.

OK, so looks like a few things have changed since I last looked, and TT2 seems like a reasonable deal, comparatively. Though, John, the price actually appears to be more like 3,995 (http://www.nintronics.co.uk/brands/chord-electronics/chord-electronics-hugo-tt2.html) which would be $5257. $6000 is a 14% premium, which actually I can live with.

Looking at other products (Audio Sanctuary in UK price vs Moon Audio Price, the premiums over the exchange rate are way higher:
Mojo +23%
Poly +37%
Hugo2 +37%
Qutest +45%

So, Nick - yes, there are some explainable differences, but I still consider the 30's-40s too high a percentage. it indicated inefficiency as these UK prices include VAT and US import duties are not as high.

But, for TT2, It seems reasonable.

 

[dawktah2]

Seems to me that the current exchange is around one point three dollars to the British pound and with a price of around 4,500 pounds including sales tax that the price is okay and there is no motive or evidence of greed. Please understand that to sell anything in the USA is not inexpensive especially when marketing and sales costs including travel and support at shows are considered properly. I think its always a cheap shot to cry foul at our distributor that their making too much money when they are mostly providing good and valuable service.

I personally am not accusing distributor of anything foul I am just trying to understand the math. The marketing and sales costs are built into the UK price so why is there an additional cost above the exchange, duty and taxes? The 3995 includes VAT right? Export there is no VAT, I thought

OK, so looks like a few things have changed since I last looked, and TT2 seems like a reasonable deal, comparatively. Though, John, the price actually appears to be more like 3,995 (http://www.nintronics.co.uk/brands/chord-electronics/chord-electronics-hugo-tt2.html) which would be $5257. $6000 is a 14% premium, which actually I can live with.

Looking at other products (Audio Sanctuary in UK price vs Moon Audio Price, the premiums over the exchange rate are way higher:
Mojo +23%
Poly +37%
Hugo2 +37%
Qutest +45%

So, Nick - yes, there are some explainable differences, but I still consider the 30's-40s too high a percentage. it indicated inefficiency as these UK prices include VAT and US import duties are not as high.

But, for TT2, It seems reasonable.

What is the price of TT 2 and mSCaler no VAT?

 

[AndrewOld]

Fanthorpes in the U.K. retail the M Scaler for an extremely reasonable £3495. That includes 20% VAT, so net of that the price is £2912.59. GBP USD rate today is 1.32 so that translates to $3844 give or take. There’s already a dealer margin in the U.K price and somehow it got to the retailer so there must be costs of distribution too. You can ship a 5kg package UPS from the U.K. to the US for £30/$40.

https://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/hi-fi-separates/dacs/chord-electronics-hugo-m-scaler/

 

[Mediahound]

Fanthorpes in the U.K. retail the M Scaler for an extremely reasonable £3495. That includes 20% VAT, so net of that the price is £2912.59. GBP USD rate today is 1.32 so that translates to $3844 give or take. There’s already a dealer margin in the U.K price and somehow it got to the retailer so there must be costs of distribution too. You can ship a 5kg package UPS from the U.K. to the US for £30/$40.

https://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/hi-fi-separates/dacs/chord-electronics-hugo-m-scaler/

I think UK dealers are not allowed to ship outside of their territory.

 

[rayl]

I think UK dealers are not allowed to ship outside of their territory.

I am not recommending this as a path... but if one were set on it.. as I was with another (non-Chord) product that happened to be avail in UK and a few other countries in Europe, but not in N America.... there are plenty of concierge services in London who will make arrangements to pick up and send via FedEx... for just tens of pound Sterling. We probably have the amount of foreign transplants in London to thank for that. (But of course, as mentioned earlier, dealing with import costs will add quite a bit to the total bill.)

 

[tekkster]

Fanthorpes in the U.K. retail the M Scaler for an extremely reasonable £3495. That includes 20% VAT, so net of that the price is £2912.59. GBP USD rate today is 1.32 so that translates to $3844 give or take. There’s already a dealer margin in the U.K price and somehow it got to the retailer so there must be costs of distribution too. You can ship a 5kg package UPS from the U.K. to the US for £30/$40.

https://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/hi-fi-separates/dacs/chord-electronics-hugo-m-scaler/

I think UK dealers are not allowed to ship outside of their territory.

I am not recommending this as a path... but if one were set on it.. as I was with another (non-Chord) product that happened to be avail in UK and a few other countries in Europe, but not in N America.... there are plenty of concierge services in London who will make arrangements to pick up and send via FedEx... for just tens of pound Sterling. We probably have the amount of foreign transplants in London to thank for that. (But of course, as mentioned earlier, dealing with import costs will add quite a bit to the total bill.)

This is an illustration on how to get excited and then immediately depressed in 60 seconds.

 

[AndrewOld]

I am sure U.K. dealers aren’t allowed to ship outside their territory, and I wasn’t trying to encourage unfair behaviour, but if you are having a discussion about a fair price then the facts are a good place to start. For sure you guys in the States will have to pay import taxes, and that nice Mr Trump seems quite keen on raising them, and local taxes.

 

[tekkster]

Side note: I probably give the impression that I'm complaining about the price set by Chord or distributors/retailers.

To correctly state the nuance of my previous two comments (today and a few days ago): I'm not upset at the price, not at all. I'm not complaining about the prices set by Chord, or distributors/resellers, and I'm certainly not implying that the product isn't worth the price.
I'm upset at my false sense of being able to afford it (before, when I thought it would be about $3500), and the current realization that it's actually $5K, so I can't afford it. The feelings are directed inward...There is a difference (^_^).

 

[Jozurr]

I am not recommending this as a path... but if one were set on it.. as I was with another (non-Chord) product that happened to be avail in UK and a few other countries in Europe, but not in N America.... there are plenty of concierge services in London who will make arrangements to pick up and send via FedEx... for just tens of pound Sterling. We probably have the amount of foreign transplants in London to thank for that. (But of course, as mentioned earlier, dealing with import costs will add quite a bit to the total bill.)

Also, if the mscaler is bought in the UK by the concierge service, you cant get rid of the VAT so it will end up being much more expensive to bring it that way to the US since youll be paying VAT+import duties both.

Essentially the price in the US should be the same except for distributor margin - 20% reduction in VAT due to being outside of UK and the increase of may be up to 20% due to import duties. 3495 GBP price in the UK (including VAT) translates to the current rate at 4600 USD - and then if you add the distributor margin, the price seems very fair at $4995. In the UK, the 3495GBP would include the 20% VAT and the US instead of VAT you pay import duties.

Of course this does not account for places like california where you will aslo have to pay 9% sales tax.

 

[austinpop]

Has anyone researched what the US import duty for this class of product is?

Assuming you declare it upon arrival - in the proverbial red channel.

I’ve tried looking up before, with other products, and the document governing this is a multi volume tome!

 

[adyc]

I suspect the price in US is much higher because the distributor and dealers each want to take a cut. In UK, there are only dealers. UK is not the only place one can buy M scaler. There are a quite few countries that don’t have sales tax and there are channels you can buy from there. The only risk is the warranty.

 

[dawktah2]

Also, if the mscaler is bought in the UK by the concierge service, you cant get rid of the VAT so it will end up being much more expensive to bring it that way to the US since youll be paying VAT+import duties both.

Essentially the price in the US should be the same except for distributor margin - 20% reduction in VAT due to being outside of UK and the increase of may be up to 20% due to import duties. 3495 GBP price in the UK (including VAT) translates to the current rate at 4600 USD - and then if you add the distributor margin, the price seems very fair at $4995. In the UK, the 3495GBP would include the 20% VAT and the US instead of VAT you pay import duties.

Of course this does not account for places like california where you will aslo have to pay 9% sales tax.

I guess that's my thing it should be the SAME price after exchange, taxes and fees and it is not.

Has anyone researched what the US import duty for this class of product is?

Assuming you declare it upon arrival - in the proverbial red channel.

I’ve tried looking up before, with other products, and the document governing this is a multi volume tome!

Been looking into this https://hts.usitc.gov/current

 

[Jozurr]

I guess that's my thing it should be the SAME price after exchange, taxes and fees and it is not.

The difference being the $400? Doesn't seem THAT high for products from another country.. it's under 10% all things considered (except state taxes in some states). The counter side of american goods in the Europe are at least 20% expensive if not more

 

[Mediahound]

Yeah, as much as it sucks having to pay more just because we are not in the UK, I guess we in the USA shouldn't complain too much.

I've heard countless complaints over the years from those in countries in Europe and Australia about how expensive USA made items are there. Sometimes they are like 40% higher, etc.

 

[dawktah2]

The difference being the $400? Doesn't seem THAT high for products from another country.. it's under 10% all things considered (except state taxes in some states). The counter side of american goods in the Europe are at least 20% expensive if not more

I guess I'm thinking this all needs to get worked out (all companies) we now live in a global society that is no longer as compartmentalized as it used to be. Pay the duty/tariff/tax and buy from wherever.

I buy things on Amazon and it ships from all over the globe...