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Thunderbird Club

#20,341
EdO. said:
I have some experience shipping to Australia. My little internet based sideline business (in addition to a full time job, playing in two bands, and uh oh yeah... a marriage) is involved with tournament water skiing, slalom course skiing. I build and sell portable and permanent slalom course setups and Australia is a pretty good market for our brand, I ship several courses a year there.

For just an off the top of my head guestimate, to ship say an Epi T-Bird in case and properly boxed and padded, you're probably talking $350 USD-ish FedEx to the customer's door. My guess is no one would mess with it for less than $100-ish for time and labor so you've got that plus the cost of purchasing the instrument. Say you give $250 - 300 for a Bird (preferably) with a case, you'd be looking at $700 - 750 USD (920 - 986 AUD). And that doesn't include any import duties, taxes etc. Not too sure you're saving anything.
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I once tried to figure out a way to get a guitar to an Australian friend for less than what it cost in Oz... Sadly, ya just can't do it.

It's sad because my friend was a disabled Vietnam vet on a fixed income and the Epiphone Casino that he wanted ($500 USD at the time) cost over a THOUSAND dollars AUD. I was going to find him a good used one to save him as much money as possible, but after shipping, duties, tax, insurance, etc it's not much cheaper.

His family ended up pitching in together to get him a brand new Casino for Christmas, so the story has a happy ending, but man... The way guitar distributors operate in Australia is freakin criminal. I still get pissed off when I think about it.
 
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#20,344
Mosstone said:
I once tried to figure out a way to get a guitar to an Australian friend for less than what it cost in Oz... Sadly, ya just can't do it.

It's sad because my friend was a disabled Vietnam vet on a fixed income and the Epiphone Casino that he wanted ($500 USD at the time) cost over a THOUSAND dollars AUD. I was going to find him a good used one to save him as much money as possible, but after shipping, duties, tax, insurance, etc it's not much cheaper.

His family ended up pitching in together to get him a brand new Casino for Christmas, so the story has a happy ending, but man... The way guitar distributors operate in Australia is freakin criminal. I still get pissed off when I think about it.
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Sounds a lot like the marine market. It's a small focused niche market, if you want it (or need/have to have it) it's gonna cost you. Ever seen what tournament ski boats or wake board boats cost in Oz? Easily double US prices,which are already insane.
 
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#20,347
godofthunder59 said:
Total plank, not worth the price of shipping. I pumped quite few $$$ into one and it was still a dog.
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Thanks - I remember you getting one, then selling it. I really wanted one and you kept me from going down that road.
 
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#20,352
TBird1958 said:
Thanks - I remember you getting one, then selling it. I really wanted one and you kept me from going down that road.
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All hail the Queen!
Hopefully you were able to get some live action shots or video clips of your Halloween bash for those of us that are no longer gigging and want to live vicariously through you!
 
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#20,358
RedVee said:
Those JCs are looking nice at $799, except Silverburst.

Looks like a new Classic is $900+ without a case.
Nephew says he is keen so it will be interesting to watch developments.
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Tried to buy a case off them but despite their database saying there was one in the basement, they couldn't find it. Went to buy a 1m speaker cable, shortest they had was 20m (!) in a normal cable, so they knocked the price down on a premium Orange cable for me, which was nice but their stock control is obviously all over the place.

Oh ... and the cost of shipping tends to wipe out the 'online discount' and then some for smaller items.

But hey, they sell Gibson/Epi so you gotta love 'em.
 
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#20,359
kat888 said:
Tried to buy a case off them but despite their database saying there was one in the basement, they couldn't find it. Went to buy a 1m speaker cable, shortest they had was 20m (!) in a normal cable, so they knocked the price down on a premium Orange cable for me, which was nice but their stock control is obviously all over the place.

Oh ... and the cost of shipping tends to wipe out the 'online discount' and then some for smaller items.

But hey, they sell Gibson/Epi so you gotta love 'em.
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Well their Pitt St store is where I refound my bass love 'looking deeply into the eyes' of the Epi Jack Casadys...
 
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