European music stores, buy now pay later?

How did you find it? Is it as hard to find sweet spots as some mention?

Off topic

Search for 100% Failure Within 72 Hours to hear the EP I made with it. It doesn’t sound like a Subharmonicon when I’ve sampled it :slight_smile:

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Well the thing is (and I’m probably not the only one) that those low on cash flow end up buying gear that they actually didn’t really want but got because it was a cheaper version of what they actually wanted.

So from that pov (and doing it wisely) I think it actually is worth it and keeps the studio growing with gear I really want.

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Champagne tastes. Beer budget. :wink:

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Hello western capitalism :raising_hand_man:

Cool will do :slightly_smiling_face:

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I’m not going to lecture you on the pros and cons of debt but I can talk to my own experience.

I’ve always been comfortable with big “serious” debt like a mortgage or car loans (of some sort). I’m not daft, I do my research and I know what I can afford. Things get a bit more slippery with the credit card though I’m reasonably ok with that. Where things went a little tits up for me was when the music bug bit 10 years or so ago. I didn’t get into financial bother but I did buy a shit load of stuff (mostly Elektrons…!) and the stress/guilt that built up purely down to some sense of not using them enough to get my monies worth was incredible. A real downer.

Flogged it all and now I’m sitting in a financially and mentally healthier space. The syntakt I bought isn’t getting used daily, neither is my AK or Ableton but I don’t feel that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach where I’m thinking about stuff all the time and wondering why I don’t play with this or that enough which leads to selling, and buying, and selling. What a waste of time and effort!

Anyway, that’s a long winded way of saying the grass isn’t always greener and be thankful for what you’ve got. And above all else, be careful. Don’t let this be a doorway into more and more purchases on tick.

This is about the most Dad-ish post I’ve ever made on Elektronauts :rofl:

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Slight OT regarding loans/etc in Europe/UK as I’m in the US, but anyways:

Was always afraid of credit, never bought anything unless outright,etcetc.

Realized I was being an idiot. Typically my rule is if I have cash in hand to buy outright, but can essentially pay $30 to not have to do that, that’s not a bad deal. Going a step further the pay in 3/6 easy payments is even better, because I don’t have to pay anything. It’s just an easy way to not part with a big chunk of cash all at once. Being able to manage liquidity can be valuable if you know you have the assets to back all the loans.

With that said, the big rule for me is that I have to already have the cash set aside. For me personally, I feel like if I go down the road of not having the cash and getting it via a loan, it gets messy, cause (for me personally), where does it end? Why not just buy literally everything I’ve ever wanted?

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Well you have to keep in check what the monthly payment is. Meaning that if the monthly payment is already uncomfortable high than its clearly going to end bad. If you keep that low than you minimize risk.

A wise man once told me:

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Yeah, i’ve got a tip for you:
Don’t go into debt for hobbies, vacations, consumer fun goods.
Never do that.

There are enough cheap options to satisfy boredom.

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Different story. :slight_smile:

That’s true, for sure. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking on a small, manageable loan to pay for something that you can afford.

For me personally, I only recently got comfortable with the idea of buying something with “someone else’s” money. In certain situations (car, home) it’s pretty hard to avoid. But for stuff that we don’t “need” I prefer to make any loan taken out in that context “work for me” in the sense that I can already pay for it, so it’s not a burden, just an opportunity to build credit. For me personally, anything else just gives me anxiety.

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I’ve allowed myself one “big” purchase per year for the last few years. In 2019 it was the dreadbox nyx v2, 2020 was a model cycles and probably a couple used pedals, 2021 was the polyend tracker. I’ve paid all that off and don’t feel too bad about it, especially because I used various 0% interest promo offers.

I do construction freelance work. Sometimes I have a few really good weeks, sometimes I stay mostly at home for months with the kids. I’ve never had a reliable gear budget. But anyone can slowly build credit enough to qualify for a 0% credit line promo for 12+ months. Just don’t slip up and make sure you make the payments. Great way to buy gear if you don’t have a tech salary.

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you can do both… :wink:

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There are people on welfare not being able to get a mortgage. It’s something I’ve always found very strange. They probably need it the most to save money but instead banks don’t allow them a mortgage and they end up renting which is way more expensive and basically pissing away money.

For me personally I’m never gonna buy a house. House prices have become insane and I don’t see them going down any time soon. I’ll probably end up getting my parents houses as I’m only child.

Don’t get in debt over non essential stuff. Been there done that, never again.

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I’m confused about the premise of this post… can’t you just buy things with a credit card in Europe too? In my experience in Europe, credit cards are allowed in stores…

And I just went to thomann for example and added a synth to cart and put that I was ordering it to France and Germany, both allowed me to pay with credit card…

So am I missing something?

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Creditcards is not a common thing in Europe as it is in America.
And credit checks are a pain to get through for people with a not so steady or low income.

lol. :grin: