Has anyone ordered from GC & SW to Europe?

[Jamallica]

Hi guys. I've been looking into Guitar center & Sweetwater and find most of their prices 2good2betrue. So I was wondering if someone here from Europe has ordered from them? And could tell me how the shipping price was, how the packaging was, if anything was damaged etc. etc.

I'm looking to order a 7-string from them in the near future and don't want to get something that broke off during the shipping.

The ultimate would've been if someone here has ordered from them to Sweden.

 

[yingmin]

I don't believe GC offers international shipping. I haven't dealt with Sweetwater, so I don't know what their policies are. I would suspect from your comment that prices are too good to be true that they also would not, because that would essentially be a betrayal of their vendors. Manufacturers typically have different vendor agreements with dealers in different countries/regions. If GC or Sweetwater shipped guitars outside North America for prices drastically lower prices than could be found in those countries, there would hardly be a reason to buy locally.

 

[Jamallica]

I don't believe GC offers international shipping. I haven't dealt with Sweetwater, so I don't know what their policies are. I would suspect from your comment that prices are too good to be true that they also would not, because that would essentially be a betrayal of their vendors. Manufacturers typically have different vendor agreements with dealers in different countries/regions. If GC or Sweetwater shipped guitars outside North America for prices drastically lower prices than could be found in those countries, there would hardly be a reason to buy locally.

From what I've seen on their website, they do offer international shipping now.

"Guitar Center is excited to offer international shipping to over 90 countries. Shop our site in your preferred currency. Your order total is guaranteed at the exchange rate set when your order is placed. View the order total (including shipping fees, duties and taxes) at checkout", taken from their website

 

[Grief]

Looks like Sweetwater may be a no-no, but you can always ask. I've found their service and packaging to be great. I'm in the US though.

GC i've not used but there were some complaints here recently about them sending out damaged demo shop stock.

In any case, it's best to check return policies and costs in case you need to send something back. In the US returns are often subject to deduction of original shipping cost, restocking fees, etc. You also have the local VAT to consider plus any other importation fees, plus understand what fees you can recover and how to recover them if you send the guitar back.

So it is not without risk. Good luck.

 

[yingmin]

From what I've seen on their website, they do offer international shipping now.

"Guitar Center is excited to offer international shipping to over 90 countries. Shop our site in your preferred currency. Your order total is guaranteed at the exchange rate set when your order is placed. View the order total (including shipping fees, duties and taxes) at checkout", taken from their website

Have you actually followed through and switched to the Swedish version of GC's site? I picked the RGIT20FE as a test case, because its price in the US is an even $1000. After switching to the Swedish site, I searched for that model. No results. I searched for Iron Label. No results. I browsed all electric guitars and found that only 19 electric guitars were available, from such legendary and desirable brands as Rogue, Michael Kelly and AXL.

There are certainly things that you can order from GC and have shipped directly to you, but they're probably at a price similar to what you'd pay from a local dealer. It's not as simple as ordering anything you want at the US price, for the reasons I outlined above. I'm sure GC would love to offer their domestic prices internationally, but they just can't.

 

[Jamallica]

Have you actually followed through and switched to the Swedish version of GC's site? I picked the RGIT20FE as a test case, because its price in the US is an even $1000. After switching to the Swedish site, I searched for that model. No results. I searched for Iron Label. No results. I browsed all electric guitars and found that only 19 electric guitars were available, from such legendary and desirable brands as Rogue, Michael Kelly and AXL.

There are certainly things that you can order from GC and have shipped directly to you, but they're probably at a price similar to what you'd pay from a local dealer. It's not as simple as ordering anything you want at the US price, for the reasons I outlined above. I'm sure GC would love to offer their domestic prices internationally, but they just can't.

I just noticed that some seconds ago, that they don't have a lot of guitars but I'm mostly just looking for used gear since the lms I have called 4sound doesnt have a lot of cheap 7-strings.