Members naboutboul Posted November 25, 2015 Members Share Posted November 25, 2015 So, I'm interested in purchasing a Farida guitar (it is my wife's name) from Dawson's in the UK. They don't ship to the U.S. Is there any way to have some type of intermediary that will receive the package in the UK or somewhere in the EU and send it over to the U.S. for me? I'm trying to get my hands on one of these - http://www.dawsons.co.uk/farida-ct-29-electric-guitar-olympic-white Is there any service that would do this or do I need to find an individual that would be able to receive the package and forward it to me? Any help is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted November 25, 2015 Members Share Posted November 25, 2015 I can't answer your question directly but I can tell you my experiences. First, I recently bought an amp kit from the UK - here is some information from their web page on how they do their shipping. (Note that they mostly use UPS) http://www.ampmaker.com/infocentre/thread-9.html Second, I just shipped a guitar from the US to the EU and more or less learned the drill. You will have to go thru this in reverse. First, you can choose your shipper and calculate the costs on line. My options for going to the EU was FedEx, UPS, USPS and a couple of third party shippers who will do all the boxing and paperwork for me. Costs for a guitar package (a little less than 20 pounds) ranged from $140 (USPS) to over $900 (one of the third party shippers). I filled out all the paperwork and paid on line, then simply delivered the box to the Post Office - you can probably get your seller to do this for you but you might have to mail the paperwork to them. Along with the cost of shipping, you will have to do certain customs and tax things. First, make sure that the guitar you are buying meets all the Lacey Act and CITES requirements - at that price it probably doesn't have any Appendix I materials but it is always good to check. Your seller can probably refund the VAT because you will be paying duties when it arrives in the US. The seller will declare the value which is used for both insurance and duties. Last thing is packaging for shipping - again, I would assume that your seller can do that for you. It should be no different that shipping within the EU - a good hardshell case, slacken the strings, pad the headstock and other parts that might be damaged. Multiple copies of all of the paper work in the little plastic baggies. After going through all of this with my guitar I can see why a store might not want to do it unless they did it a lot. It is a big hassle, I actually fooled around with this for several days. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members naboutboul Posted November 25, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 25, 2015 Thanks. Maybe I will pick one up when I travel to the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted November 25, 2015 Members Share Posted November 25, 2015 You would still have to declare it and pay customs. Also I feel a lot more confident having a guitar shipped than trying to fly with it. Have you tried contacting the manufacture directly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members naboutboul Posted November 26, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 26, 2015 Freeman, I've contacted the manufacturer. It is a house brand for a chain of UK shops called Dawson's. They will not ship to the U.S. and have no U.S.-based dealers. I would have to pay customs regardless so I don't mind showing the receipts and paying the taxes on it. It is only about $300 USD for the whole guitar so the damage wouldn't be much. Of course, I'll keep an eye out on Ebay for any Farida guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted November 26, 2015 Members Share Posted November 26, 2015 . . . Of course' date=' I'll keep an eye out on Ebay for any Farida guitars.[/quote'] Good luck with that. I just checked and there are two hollowbodies, both in Hong Kong, one without pickups or tuners, the other without pickups, tuners, pots or selector switch. $299.99 shipped for the one with pots and selector, $269.99 for the one without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted November 26, 2015 Members Share Posted November 26, 2015 We have a few members, particularly at the acoustic side of the forum, who live in the UK. It looks like Dawson's had a number of locations - why don't you pop over to the acoustic subforum and ask if anyone lives in a town with a Dawson's. If you get a reply you could do all the paper work and ask them to carry the guitar down to the post for you - might have to offer them a pint of bitter. However if that doesn't work the UK is a pretty fun place to visit - we've been there twice and you could combine a vacation with a little guitar shopping. Good luck with this, whatever you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 26, 2015 Moderators Share Posted November 26, 2015 OK, I'd be happy to assist you with that, but the cost of sending a guitar to the US is bloody expensive, and having seen a Farida or two, they ain't worth it. If you saw one in a local M&P or pawn shop maybe, but there are 10 other guitars you can get in the US thatw ill be way better than this. The only brand of guitar worth importuing into the US from the UK, are the Italian designed Tuscany and Carparelli brands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members naboutboul Posted November 26, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 26, 2015 OK, I'd be happy to assist you with that, but the cost of sending a guitar to the US is bloody expensive, and having seen a Farida or two, they ain't worth it. If you saw one in a local M&P or pawn shop maybe, but there are 10 other guitars you can get in the US thatw ill be way better than this. The only brand of guitar worth importuing into the US from the UK, are the Italian designed Tuscany and Carparelli brands. I know mate. I'm not expecting quality here. The thing is, the wife's name is Farida and since she recently bought me a USA standard strat, I think this would be a good gift. I'm trying to figure out what the shipping will cost. If you're in the UK, maybe you can pick one up and ship it to the U.S. for me and I'll pay you a service fee for the work involved. We can setup an Ebay auction or something similar to make sure everything is kosher. This is the one I'm thinking about - http://www.dawsons.co.uk/farida-ct-29-electric-guitar-olympic-white - it is 199 british pounds so roughly $300 USD. I figured shipping and taxes would run another $150 or so. Am I right or is the shipping that much more expensive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 27, 2015 Moderators Share Posted November 27, 2015 Shipping will be about $120 dollars, and I can keep the taxes as low as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 27, 2015 Moderators Share Posted November 27, 2015 Drop me a PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted November 27, 2015 Members Share Posted November 27, 2015 Ratae, you rock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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