Shipbuktu http://www.shipbuktu.co.nz is a website that gives you a legitimate US shipping address so you can buy anything in the states and ship free of the import restrictions many brands have in place to protect local retailers.
I have had a great experience taking the Rockshop up on thier price challenge when buying my amp. I talked it through in this thread. http://nzguitars.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... &start=540
Its worth a try and you're supporting local business and get a local warranty which is a plus. Shipping from the states is expensive, but when the dollar is healthy it can still be worth the extra effort and risk.
But if you can buy local for near enough the price its well worth the extra peace of mind and much less hassle.
sambrowne wrote:I.......
Got a price (and link to price) from Musicians friend. US$599
.........
Are Musicians Friend prepared to ship to NZ? I tried to buy a dano longhorn re-issue from them and was OK until I proceeded to pay and confirmed my NZ address.
Also I tried to get the Shure in-ear system direct from Shure. They will not ship out of the US and suggested that they will stop their dealers doing so also if they find out. Much like Elixir strings have done damn it!
If you are buying a lot of stuff a US address could be helpful. Check out http://www.myus.com (too expensive for small amounts though)
Cdog wrote:Shipbuktu http://www.shipbuktu.co.nz is a website that gives you a legitimate US shipping address so you can buy anything in the states and ship free of the import restrictions many brands have in place to protect local retailers.
I have had a great experience taking the Rockshop up on thier price challenge when buying my amp. I talked it through in this thread. http://nzguitars.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... &start=540
Its worth a try and you're supporting local business and get a local warranty which is a plus. Shipping from the states is expensive, but when the dollar is healthy it can still be worth the extra effort and risk.
But if you can buy local for near enough the price its well worth the extra peace of mind and much less hassle.
the_haunted wrote:Just buy it from the states... Easy.
Cut out the rockshop altogether.
for a gigging band warranty is pretty important though. unless the savings is enough for a redundant set of kit.
Some Bozo wrote:dogs represent the qualities we like to see in a friend, and cats represent the qualites we'd like to be able to get away with in ourselves
that's interesting you say that, I've found the rockshop to be terrible with warrenty complaints, taking aaages to fix things, fixing them wrong etc. I've found it better to just take it to a luthier or tech I like, they seem to have a quicker turn around and do a better job
But, if I could afford the time rockshop seems to take on these things then I'd defintily opt for the warranty
and that said, I value the warrenty I have on my stuff from mojosound in Wellington, they've been great with answering questions and fixing stuff up
thanks for that shipbuktu link! I'd never heard of that, that sounds great! Has anyone here used it yet?
Well folks, Dave from the rockshop came through with these figures:
> US Price : $599
> US Freight : $60
> US Total : $659
> Convert to NZ Dollars : $878.xx
> Add GST to NZ Price : $987.xx
> Add C/Card Commission Fees : $1017.xx
> Add Power Transformer 110v - 230v + : $99+
> Suggested Landed Cost : $1116.xx
I had neglected the transformer which would be a real cost, not to mention a pain in the ass.
So, within 24 hours of my email being sent, Dave offered me the Shure PSM200, retailing in NZ for $1499, for $1100. That's 20% off the top just for taking the time to email them about the price challenge - well worth it and I'll certainly be using it again in the future. Rock shop gets two big thumbs up on this initiative.
I'm surprised to be honest, its pretty ballsy trying to match some of those cheap US stores. A still strong dollar against the US is probably helping things along. I guess on the one hand the rockshop is losing some profit, but on the other it's probably better to make a bit of money on a sale than to lose the sale entirely to overseas sites....
She told me baby when you race today just take along my love with you, and if ya knew how much I love you baby, nothin' could go wrong with you.
Some Bozo wrote:dogs represent the qualities we like to see in a friend, and cats represent the qualites we'd like to be able to get away with in ourselves
sambrowne wrote:Well folks, Dave from the rockshop came through with these figures:
> US Price : $599
> US Freight : $60
> US Total : $659
> Convert to NZ Dollars : $878.xx
> Add GST to NZ Price : $987.xx
> Add C/Card Commission Fees : $1017.xx
> Add Power Transformer 110v - 230v + : $99+
> Suggested Landed Cost : $1116.xx
I had neglected the transformer which would be a real cost, not to mention a pain in the ass.
So, within 24 hours of my email being sent, Dave offered me the Shure PSM200, retailing in NZ for $1499, for $1100. That's 20% off the top just for taking the time to email them about the price challenge - well worth it and I'll certainly be using it again in the future. Rock shop gets two big thumbs up on this initiative.
I was considering doing the same for this midi trigger pad thing. It retails for 1,000 but can be landed for $300 with all the costs accounted for. I just ordered it form the US place, figuring the rockshop wouldn't have put a 70 percent markup on the cost price, and so couldn't afford to give me this kind of discount
the_haunted wrote:Just buy it from the states... Easy.
Cut out the rockshop altogether.
for a gigging band warranty is pretty important though. unless the savings is enough for a redundant set of kit.
I'm pretty sure that warranties are very limited (12months usually) for paid gigging bands anyway... If you buy from overseas and have issues you must meet all the fat ass freight costs for gettin gear fixed back in the origin country under warranty... By the way if you are buying an amp or something that requires 110V (from the US) that you plan to use here in NZ with a stepdown transformer, chances are it will have NO warranty whatsoever!!!
Still sound like a good idea? It gets even better! Interestingly, if you do paying gigs and buy your gear in NZ anyway you may have a warranty but you aren't covered by the consumer guartantees act!
Mua ha haaaa!
bluesgeek wrote:how many synths have you got now? I sold the last of mine a year or so ago for what I'm doing, plugins are fine
A couple of monos that I use live, plus a yamaha motif that I use at home and an mpc sampler that I'm gearing up to use in a new band
I really want to get into plugins, to load into the sampler. What do you recommend? I use protools, I really need to get a small midi interface, they seem cheap as chips
I use cubase and have a crapload of plugins - some I've even bought depends what you like...
A couple of years ago I had a rack full of 'vintage' digital gear including an Akai sampler which managed a whopping 14 seconds of sound - it had 10 boxes of disks with it though. I sold everything when I realised that cubase and plugins were so much easier.... keyboard, laptop and away you go
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
Cubase, eh? I started out with a Juno 106 ontop of a Yamaha organ. Late 80's, had an Atari 1040ST running DrT KCS and then Steinberg connected to the Juno 106, Yamaha DX7s, Yamaha TX81Z and a Roland TR909. Early 90's took the plunge, PC and Cakewalk. The Juno disappeared .... bought and sold gear .... still PC and Cakewalk.
Now. The modern me, Roland Fantom X6 and a Novation KS5. No PC in the link. Hmm maybe if I had a Mac or tried Cubase, things could be different Its expensive this music business!
for what I'm doing, plugins are fine 
depends what you like... 