i want that strat!

I am not sure about this, but I think the reason US internet music sites will not ship to the UK is that there are customs fees or VAT or some such! There should be at least one or two good UK music sites.

could be? i asked and they said it was the manufatures wishes,you'd think they'd wish to sell guitars! :lol: it was a cool strat and an even better price the same guitar seens to be between £200-£300 more on U.K. site. Get me a flight ill be stopping at your house for a few days :lol: thanks

If you have any family or friends in the USA, have them order the guitar, have it shipped to their address, then have them send the box to you. Will only cost you the extra shipping charge from USA to you.

ive been try to convince myself that i have a long lost relative in america,but its no good,its just not true! No friends out there either, booo hoooo Im thinking of sending my girfriend out there to work for a while............"and while your there darling could you just?........." :lol: The cheapest i can get the exact same guitar for is still £200 more on uk sites ive searched hi and low, its just too much money.Thanks for the thought though :)

fender doesn't allow it, mainly because that will force retailers in the UK to drop their prices, which will result in a lower profit for Fender and the music stores. Fender is deliberatily screwing us. Maybe try some German stores like http://www.thomann.de and http://www.musikproduktiv.de .

I just checked: thomann.de is 160 GBP cheaper then musicstreet.co.uk. Shipping from Germany to the UK would be about 7 GBP.

thanks for the posts,much appreciated :) :) :(

thanks for your time sleutelbos im cchecking it out now :)

they don't ship to canada for the same reason :cry:

Hi GuitarMonkey,

If you can get your Strat from the German site you shouldn't have to pay customs duty or VAT. Just make sure that the price includes the German VAT, or Gordon Brown will clobber you for 17.5%

Fender is deliberatily screwing us. .

Amen, how much i agree with the words of thou wise Sleutelbos.

I just checked: thomann.de is 160 GBP cheaper then musicstreet.co.uk. Shipping from Germany to the UK would be about 7 GBP.

This just floors me. How a product sold worldwide can vary so wildly in price from one country to another. No arguing that shipping to Germany is wildly less expensive than to the U.K.
I'll always shop local when I can, but in a case like this I'd be on the thomann.de site in a second.

It's simple. Fender guesses are less inclined to order from the continent so they charge retailers more, who then have to increase their prices. Apart from that is Fender probably trying to protect both it's brand image and the squier line. If Fender would drop they'd have to drop on Squier as well. Slightly higher prices can give the illusion of superiority to customers.

maybe you can find a dealer on this list that orders in enough bulk to offer a more competitive price.
http://www.fender.co.uk/dealer_finder/index.php

It's simple. Fender guesses are less inclined to order from the continent so they charge retailers more, who then have to increase their prices. Apart from that is Fender probably trying to protect both it's brand image and the squier line. If Fender would drop they'd have to drop on Squier as well. Slightly higher prices can give the illusion of superiority to customers.

But that doesn't answer how or when prices between 2 relatively close countries got so wildly divergent.
Any idea if it was the same case 10 years ago; sort of pre-internet?