Euro Tumble


With the euro and dollar worth the same for the first time in 2 decades, I’m thinking of buying my speakers from Europe and importing them into the USA.

Does anyone have any experience about which European website to use that ships to the USA?

I’m thinking Focal, MBL, PMC and I’m sure I’m missing lots of others.

Does anyone know how duty works?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

Chuck 

 

chweiner1990

If you buy from Europe a speaker that does have US distribution, it is unlikely to have any warranty service available in the US. That is often part of what the distributor does.

If you buy from Europe a speaker that does not have US distribution, you will have to ship it back to Europe if any issues arise.

I would not like either situation.

I bought a new turntable from the UK and it was a hassle free experience. It shipped in two large boxes via DHL. After about 5 or 6 days in transit I got an email from DHL asking that I go to their website to pay import duty. It took five minutes to figure out and the duty was about $40 on a $4000 package. As soon as I paid I got a notification saying that the package was being processed, it arrived around 2/3 days later. The shipping cost was about $150, but that was around 3 years ago, I’m sure it’s doubled since.

Anyway, I wouldn’t hesitate to do this again. The table I bought wasn’t represented through a dealer here in the USA  so the manufacturer extended me a full warranty. 
 

 

 

Interesting and thanks for all the comments. What about used gear? Any reputable dealers in Europe that I could contact?

Thanks!

Chuck

Chuck, curious as to why/need to buy from Europe?  What brand/model makes you feel the need to by from Europe?  I get doing a Euro delivery on a BMW, Porsche etc as you get a nice romp through the country side in your new ride but speakers don’t offer the same effect.  Your $$$ you can spend it any way you want but none of the brands listed don’t come sprinkled with pixie dust to make it any more exciting of a purchase.

Go visit the country where the speaker is made.

Buy a used pair recently made.

Bring them home.

Duty is minimal.