Brexit and consequences

[Decdog]

[MOD EDIT: I’m renaming this (off-topic) conversation because it goes further off topic. Keep it mind to stay respectful when expressing political opinions, please, even when talking about bloody d%mb%£ss mess, thank you for your understanding ]

Hello folks - I’m eyeing a Peak to scale up my poly capabilities… Getting quite excited and trying to restrain my GAS…

quick question - I’m based in the UK, but recently Google has started through up results from European retailers. And these prices look quite attractive. See attached screenshot. At c.£950 new, there isn’t much difference with used prices (trending at £800-900 on eBay here), but I was wondering: is there any downside/risk to buying from EU? (except for the EU plug!) no further shipping fees according to Recordcase.de…

[tdmusic]

Not sure why your post has been hidden, spam filter gone wrong maybe, but Bax Shop have them at £809: https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/synthesizer/novation-peak-polyphonic-synthesizer?q=peak. I believe they ship from NL, but all the transactions go through a UK company in GBP. I noticed on the invoice they include an EU to UK plug, so they must be EU stock. Not sure why they are not visible on Google Shopping.

I ordered one yesterday and it should be with me on Monday. Never ordered from them before, there are a few negative reviews where people had issues but I think they are legit, I phoned them to check my address and they were very helpful and picked up instantly. I’ll let you know when it actually arrives!

(Amazon had them at £845, then £785 recentlyish, so I think they maybe did some kind of price match? As it used to be £785 on Bax. But now Amazon are expensive again, except for one clear scam at £715)

Edit: I’ve used a few pieces of EU gear in the past without issue, I think the voltages etc. are close enough that all your need is a plug adapter

[LyingDalai]

Precisions

@tdmusic

why your post has been hidden

IMO the discussion is more about buying gear outside of UK than really belonging to Peak discussion. Thus moving it in a more appropriate place.

[tdmusic]

@LyingDalai

Thus moving it in a more appropriate place.

Gotcha

[LyingDalai]

@Decdog as I told you in PM, in my personal experience buying abroad is risky, so I would not take such risks for some 1k€ gear.

Examples: the gear gets damaged or lost during transport, or you don’t like it that much and you want to return it ⇒ who pays the extra costs? How to get back to the seller if they ignore you?

[tdmusic]

@LyingDalai

Examples: the gear gets damaged or lost during transport, or you don’t like it that much and you want to return it ⇒ who pays the extra costs? How to get back to the seller if they ignore you?

I would definitely not buy second hand from abroad without a really good reason again, I had a bad experience with an MD I bought from here from within the EU, which turned up badly packaged and broken and the seller wouldn’t accept resposibility despite the packaging. Luckily the shipping insurance paid out. Although the same could have still happened within the UK I guess, but there’s more chance of it getting bashed around in longer transit I guess and it just made it a bit more awkward.

In this case, as Bax have a UK presence and a return policy with free shipping, I’m willing to be the “canary in the coalmine” here I paid on my credit card directly so any issues should be covered.

Edit: I did note they ship with Hermes (plus their international equivalent) who are the crappest of all the delivery services in my experience, so fingers crossed for that part lol.

[Skypainter]

No problem until there’s a no deal Brexit then you may get hit with import tax. AFAIK VAT on some electronic goods in Germany has been reduced as part of Covid economic measures. I bought three modules from Schneiders and the lower VAT rates meant no dealer in UK or EU had lower prices.

[tdmusic]

@Skypainter

No problem until there’s a no deal Brexit then you may get hit with import tax.

Don’t!

[Skypainter]

The upside could be much lower import taxes on gear from the US and Canada!

[tdmusic]

Every cloud… lol

[craig]

I’ve had no problems doing it the other way round. I’m in Malta, where we use three-pin British plugs (because of colonialism), so I regularly get gear from the UK to have a matching plug. And there are some bargains there too sometimes. For example, a black AR Mk2 cost me £1,299 (~€1,425) from Andertons in the UK, whereas Thomann in Europe was charging a ridiculous €1,625! Anyway, my point is, if the retailer is reputable, there’s no risk buying from the EU. Having said that, I would never buy from the US, Japan, or Australia (to name but a few) because of import taxes.

[finalform]

Bax tend to supply an EU plug / PSU with an adaptor. Which works fine but can get annoying.

Stuff with internal power supplies or external PSUs with kettle leads = no problem. Also increasingly you see universal PSUs with different clip on plug pins for multiple regions, which is even better (eg Model: series).

I bought my Peak from Bax because it was the best price at the time and it came with a UK PSU. I wondered if it was because Novation are a UK company.

[tdmusic]

@finalform

I bought my Peak from Bax because it was the best price at the time and it came with a UK PSU. I wondered if it was because Novation are a UK company.

Interesting, I’ll let you know what mine comes with! They included an adapter but maybe this is standard. Glad to hear you successfully bought one from Bax anyway, they are like £300 less than anywhere else right now, seems like a lot of synth for the money

[SoundRider]

Disclaimer: This post is not inteded to start any political discussion

As long as the UK was a member of the EU all business made inside EU member states were under equal conditions. To buy from a shop with good reputation inside the EU is not risky.

The “plug” is a minor annoyance, if not delivered correctly. Example: Gear4Music sent me one the other day after sending them an email

But the situation for the UK and the EU has changed and until know it’s unclear for the near future, how they will get along, particularly after the London parliament decided to break the contract with the EU. I would recommend to buy in your local commercial community and prevent future issues, which we can’t foresee.

[frosty_raver]

I’m hazarding a guess that someone who starts a comment saying they dont want to start a political discussion, then makes political comments about a political decision made my a political body (also making a political statement by misnaming a political body by using a politically loaded regional term) and then makes loaded political comments probably isnt trying very hard to avoid a political discussion.

[sabana]

I hope you dont need to return an item to Bax as their customer service is almost non existent(its a receptionist who knows nothing just a fall guy). It took me 3 months to get a refund (with me threatening to sue them), that somehow got lost on return to their warehouse despite tracking. It was a dreadful experience. They use a courier called Mondial Relay which i later discovered are probably the worst and cheapest in Europe with no ratings. So thats the risk you take.

[og_tea_boi]

Bax are legit but a bit ropey when it comes to customer support.

[tdmusic]

Yeah I read this on a few reviews and figured I would risk it for a saving of like 25%+ versus anywhere else… may live to regret it I know but at least have some degree of coverage with credit card etc

[tdmusic]

Now of course the fact that I had one from Amazon but returned it when they dropped the price by a further £70 a day later and wouldn’t refund anything, then the cheaper one got cancelled, may haunt me as amazon CS is usually good… lol

Edit: but given its basically what it would cost on eBay I figure not too much to lose

[sabana]

If you do return an item do it yourself its really worth the extra as even Bax told me at the end Modial Relay dont tell them anything if it goes missing. Like the Bermuda Triangle.