[Shane D]

Actually, i meant making a sacrificial offering of bubble-wrap - the Shipping Gods are a fickle bunch. I guess now that I had to explain the joke, it must not have been all that good.
But $200 shipping… ouch!

It would have been $125.00 to ship it in slow motion, as I got it back. Yikes!

 

[joseph69]

No more European gear.

I made a promise to myself about this as well a few years back.

 

[cwoo]

It would have been $125.00 to ship it in slow motion, as I got it back. Yikes!

I'm not sure if I missed it, but what went wrong with it? Your story has me a bit scared for my v281.

 

[fidgeraldo]

As long as you are not in love with a pair of zmf headphones and living in Europe, specially Spain

Really...I pay 35-40% in total (no shipping calculated). Can you beat that??

Not a while ago, I ordered some cables from the UK.

The law is that you don't pay customs if you order below 150 euros. Hmm, yeah, but they found a way to rip you off even then.

The post office (a public company, obviously) billed me 25 euros more because they allegedly opened the package.

Wow, that was hard work. I completely understand why they had to be rewarded 25 euros for such work.

So...Spain

Cheers!

 

[Shane D]

I'm not sure if I missed it, but what went wrong with it? Your story has me a bit scared for my v281.

It just started cutting out and the bottom two lights would start flashing. As far as Violectric goes, I got this from Fried Reim:

"Hi Shane
We fixed your amp finally.
We replaced the input opamps and the fault never showed up during the past days.
We will ship tomorrow to your place, please check the address from the invoices attached.
Please note that this is no warranty repair because your item is too old (the 5-year warranty ended in November and I didn't have the receipt) and the fault was not caused by bad components or flaws from our work.
Maybe it was caused from EMC voltage on the inputs."

After speaking to Arthur, he dropped the service charge and I just paid shipping back. I still really have no idea what went wrong.

 

[fidgeraldo]

I don't know if Asian stuff is cheaper/easier for Europeans than North Americans?

I don't know about Canada...but the US gets cheaper than Europe, and that's not all.

We don't pay the same in Europe either.

My country is near the bottom of that list; we always pay a bit extra, VAT is different, and it is 25% in my country. or

But $200 shipping… ouch!

An example is when you order from the US.

 

[Shane D]

I don't know about Canada...but the US gets cheaper than Europe, and that's not all.

We don't pay the same in Europe either.

My country is near the bottom of that list; we always pay a bit extra, VAT is different, and it is 25% in my country. or



An example is when you order from the US.

Wow!
When we buy from the US we have to convert currencies (multiply the US price by about 1.35) and then pay tax at the border. For my province it is 15%. Not as bad as you guys, but it stings.

Asian stuff is usually free shipping and sometimes tax free.

 

[SenyorC]

The law is that you don't pay customs if you order below 150 euros. Hmm, yeah, but they found a way to rip you off even then.

That's not quite correct. Since the change of European law in 2021, all purchases, or even gifts, from outside the EU are eligible for VAT (IVA in Spain). Products under 22€ used to be exempt of VAT on import.

What they set up was a system where anything that costs less than 150€ from an online portal would have VAT added at source and then the government would claim that back from the portal (such as AliExpress, Amazon outside EU etc.).

However, the seller has to opt in to that system and if they are not in the system and don't pay the VAT at source, then it is the importer that has to pay it.

What this has led to is all imports that are under 150€ that originate from a company or individual not on the list get stopped by the courier and the courier pays the VAT so they can then charge you a "handling fee" on top of it.

In the case of some companies such as FedEx and our beloved Correos (post office) they like to open all the packages, even the ones that are in the system to "check that the declared value is correct". They then proceed to charge you a fee for this as they never decide that the value is correct.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

On my last leg of vacation and snagged a brand new BHA100 amp while in Singapore.
Hotel desktop setup

 

[fidgeraldo]

That's not quite correct.

Well, my point was completely taken out of context...but whatever...

Cheers!

 

[Shane D]

On my last leg of vacation and snagged a brand new BHA100 amp while in Singapore.
Hotel desktop setup

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay (= US dollars)? And how does it sound?
Are you using NDH30's with it?

 

[Shane D]

I don't know about Canada...but the US gets cheaper than Europe, and that's not all.

We don't pay the same in Europe either.

My country is near the bottom of that list; we always pay a bit extra, VAT is different, and it is 25% in my country. or



An example is when you order from the US.

If I ordered that item from the US, my cost in Canadian dollars would be about $1710.00. Then add 15% tax and you're up to $1,967.00, without shipping.

But then you are paying that amount in US$'s. Yikes!

This is not a hobby for a poor man.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay (= US dollars)? And how does it sound?
Are you using NDH30's with it?

Can’t comment on the sound just yet as I just set this up. Got it from Jaben for a really good price.. PM’d

 

[Mr Trev]

I don't know about Canada...but the US gets cheaper than Europe, and that's not all.

We don't pay the same in Europe either.

My country is near the bottom of that list; we always pay a bit extra, VAT is different, and it is 25% in my country. or



An example is when you order from the US.

Sweet mother. It'd be cheaper to just pay somebody to keister it into the country for you

 

[bagwell359]

Running simplified: