i have been shopping online and have come across the Korg PA1x. I have never purchased anythoing on the net befoe. The borad is at $3100 or £1660 english pounds. It says that it has free shipping costs and its froma company called Same Day music www.samedaymusic.com has anyone purchased from them before ?. what do i need to be wary of ? Is there any other cost that i would have to pay ? are they a reputable company.your help would be much appreciated as i am ready to purchase. George Kaye if you are listening i would like to buy from you but this price is real good if you can assist lets work something out

First, I have nothing to sell.

Are you UK? I think the story might be different if you buy from US. You might have to pay duties.

I moved to the UK from America a few years ago. They tried to charge me VAT on my own belongings when I shipped them over! In other words, I strongly suspect customs will charge you VAT on the item.

Unless of course you know someone in America (relatives, etc) who can ship it to you. You might be able to get away with saying it's a gift then.

On the down side, if anything's wrong with it, you'll have to pay to ship it all the way back, and they might not accept the warranty cause you took it out of the US.

Carrie

yes i am uk based. It says we do not collect "sales tax except 6% on orders shipped to NJ." Dont know what that means

Hehe, it means if you live in New Jersey, you need to pay sales tax which is 6%.

I used to send stuff to Canada, they collect heft amount of duties. I think they might collect in UK too, even for gifts.

One tip: if the shipper ships via US Postal Service, you might get away with duties. At least in the case of Canada, most items I send to my friend via USPS is "duty free", but every time I ship via Fedex or UPS got checkec by the Customs Office and was levied heavy duties and fines.






[This message has been edited by tigerfool (edited 11-24-2004).]

spalding,you will pay import duty,i ordered some goods from usa,i had to pay it,i think the only way round it is if you go to usa and bring it back with you,mike

When a US-based retailer sells to the US customer, they may be required to collect sales tax - in this case they only collect sales tax for orders shipped to New Jersey, probably because that's where they are located.

When a product is shipped to a different country, the customs in that country collect the local taxes and duties. Duties are tariffs (extra charges) imposed on the objects of different kinds at different rates.

When you buy duty-free at the airport for taking with you out of the country, the stuff you buy is not subject to local taxes, duties, etc. However, when you bring it with you to the country of your destination, you have to declare it, and there is a potential that if you bring too much with you, you will be charged duties. Canadians bringing alcohol/tobacco from the US know well how this works.

If you were to bring with you a piece of electronic equipment (e.g. a keyboard), your country (UK) may require a proof that you did not buy it abroad during this trip. If you do not have such a proof, they may charge us duties and taxes. Although this has gotten more lax in recent days with everyone carrying portable computers, but still, the burden of proof is on you.

all electronics except portable ones that you can get away with (camcoders,etc)you'll have to pay duty(it could be more than you might think)so consider that too.[/

I am considering imnporting to Canada and called customs. They told me that the customs duty on a musical keyboard would be 6%. This isn't so bad. You should call your local customs office and find out what the cost would be. Not sure why you would have to return it to the country of origin for warranty. Can't you bring it to any Korg dealer?
Starkeeper

i will call my tax office tommorrow.thanks

However, in addition to the customs duty, you will also pay the local sales taxes (GST+PST = 15% in Canada, 17% (?) VAT in the UK. The manufacturers usually try to provide warranty coverage only in the country of purchase - this is how they protect the dealers' turf. This is, of course, not fair to the customers - if the keyboard is made by, say, Korg, Korg should be required to honor its warranty obligations wherever their dealer/repair center is, but that is not how it works now. I guess with none of us touring internationally, there have been no complaints to the manufacturers.

I don't sell keyboards out of the USA. First, you will not have a warranty in the UK if you buy a keyboard from me or any other US store. Next, I believe strongly that you need support from someone in your country if you have problems or need to repair or exhange your keyboard. The internet makes it seems to easy to just order something from anywhere and have it show up at your front door. But there are more things to be aware of.


------------------
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

By the way the power cable will not be the UK square pins. I assume the power supply is switchable to 240v, but you had better check.

Why not buy from a UK retailer/ dealer?

PS I have bought stuff from SameDayMusic and been happy (once they sent me something I did not think was factory sealed but they replaced it without argument and at their expense.)

Graham

------------------
Graham

George got a point. Yes, when you buy a keyboard, you not only buy the keyboard, you are also buying service. I begin to believe in this day by day, especially after hanging around in this board.

So your best bet might be to buy from UK.

i would love to buy from the uk but the cost is quite crippling. Either i buy now and finish the project on time or buy in the sales in January and part complete the work. I dont have a lot of options

George, I had a question for you. Do you anticipate Korg lowering the price
on the Pa1Xpro now that Roland will be introducing their flagship
arranger, the G70 at the NAMM show in January.

The Roland G70 will have a list price around $3000.

Tapas

Tapas,
I don't anticipate any lowering of prices from Korg. The Roland will be less expensive but it also won't have as many features or options such as CD recording, sampling and the technology Korg had to buy from TC electronics for the rights to use sombody elses design for a harmonizer.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Thank you George for the information. Your word is just as good as hearing from
Korg. I think the Pa1Xpro is still the very best professional arranger workstation
in the market.

I used to go to Synthony Music in Phoenix and play on it. Too bad they closed shop
and I cannot find a single dealer in Arizona that carries one in stock. They all say it
has to be special ordered.

I love the Pa1Xpro and I am going to get one early next year. Perhaps I can get
this from you. You are probably the #1 dealer for this keyboard in the US. Thank you
for keeping us informed of all the late breaking news.

Tapas

i called customs and excise. I would be charged VAT and a Duty cost if iimported the keyboard from the states so it negates the benefit in reduced initial price . oh well....