Thread: I hate Musicians Friend

Probably because they only have a contract to ship within the USA, some other bugger has the oz contract.

Get it shipped to one of your online mates in the US, they can forward it onto you.

www.music123.com will ship to Oz and it's not that expensive either. That is if you really get to pay the online shipping quotes.

Originally Posted by Phil Mailloux

www.music123.com will ship to Oz and it's not that expensive either. That is if you really get to pay the online shipping quotes.

They obey some restrictions as well.

I believe Must123 will not sell Gibson & Fenders overseas becuase of pressure on the parent companies from local distributors.

Some years ago I bought a jazz bass & amp - when the exchange rate shot up from 0.50 to 0.78, and shortly afterwards I was refused when I wanted to but something elses...I forget exactly what.

They do sell other stuff to overseas addresses though.

RobSm

They need to change their name to "American Musicians Friend".

Major brand guitars have their dealers in each country....if everyone starts buying their guitars off the net direct fromt the US then youll see music shops die here in Oz.

Not just the music business, the internet killed my importing business about 10 years ago as one of orders (from Aus customers) didn't attract tax/tariff/duty but my large orders did.
I fell foul of some US retailers when I was underselling them in the USA by buying from the manufacturers and having goods sent direct to US customers.
As the goods never left the country I never paid import duty etc and because I was an importer I was US tax exempt.
All of this using US magazines, an email and fax, took two years for them to stop me though.

Originally Posted by craigb

Because they have really good prices for their instruments but they won't ship to Oz.

There are ways around that little problem. Go to www.shopthestates.com. They have closed but they list alternatives on the site.

trust me your not missing much I work in a music store and musicians friend is not well known for quality granted I have gotten 2 guitars from both under $400 and both are great but I have seen some customers come in with disasters becuase the get guitars in cardboard boxes and and then they set in a warehouse till someone buys it and since some guitars are manufactured in korea or vchina they can go through alot of climate change from there to kansas city MO which can easily cause finish checking and alot of times finish flaws aren't under warranty so unless your buying say a $2000 gibson you can't be sure on quality but if I am spending that much on a guitar I personally like to it before I buy it to look for the one with the best wood so I would suggest ebay.

p.s. Alot of this goes the same for guitar center.

Depending on what you are looking to buy there may be options other than MF or Music 123 and while savings can be made, some things just don't carry sufficient price difference to make it viable.

The last guitar we purchased (2 years ago) was a new LP Std Limited Edition just before they were available out here, final cost was slightly over half the then Aust., RRP of $5999, however, when you factor in the almost obligatory 20% discount of retail, the savings aren't quite as impressive.

To anyone "attracted" to US pricing, I seriously suggest doing your homework first.......research supplier options, shipping options and costs, import duties, etc..........in other words, know EXACTLY what you are getting into before making any commitment. We have imported quite a lot of studio equipment and instruments and have learnt from the experience.........thankfully, for us, all experiences have been good.

I'd hate to see the demise of music shops. There are a few bad ones but there also the ones that bust their boiler to help the struggling musician. I have fond memories of CJ's music shop in Christchurch New Zealand where the owner would frequently lend out gear to musicians with no request for a deposit...it was all based purely on trust. If you wanted a guitar but couldnt quite afford the price you could put down what you had on you and then paid of the rest when you could. People always paid their bills eventually.

Buy overseas and save some dollars if you must but if you can, try and give your support to the music shops that support musicians.

I agree about supporting the local businesses but some times they just don't stock items that are available OS

The Epiphone Eliteist range is a case in point. People in the US reckon that these guitars are equivelent quality to Gibsons yet nobody in Oz stocks them.

Probably because the distibuter doesn't bring them in.

Well chaps I may be able to help here (Have I got a deal for you )

While I cant access the " restricted lines" which are lets face it mostly gituars & drums. I have accounts with several of the music industry suppliers & would be happy to " do some deals".

Bear in mind that I don't stock anything much, and the big boys can swat me like a roach on quite a bit of stuff, but If I can make a modest profit and get you fellas some deals, we're all happy.

I should do you all up a propper list but I know I can do well on.

VELCRO.... I'm a distributer.... Onewrap is probaly the one of interest.

Pro audio commodity lines like cable, connectors......

Some brands of electronics and speakers I have agencies for.

Equipment cases and hardware.

I don't know instruments well so if you are looking for instruments you will need to know exactly waht you want and it will probaly need to be generic.

feel free to P.M. me if I can help.

The funny thing is when the bigger stores that are basicly using unfair price selling, get zipped on price & hear about it they get realy cut and go winging to the wholesalers.

It is interesting to see the advertised price in the US on some items and see the austrialian wholsale price on some lines.
In many cases we are paying 3 times the US retail as a wholsale price here.
NO WAY that is all freight.
There are some huge margins in the system. when a wholesaler can give less 30%, less 30%, less10% and less 5% for prompt settlement (work that one back) off retail to large volume buyers. there is some margin about. particularly on generics.


I could regail you all with stories, but I'll refrain.

cheers

I have to agree with Soundman on this.

Even where bigger stores are concerned, they are frequently (depending on the importer/distributor's policies), between a rock and a hard place.

Up till 2 or 3 years ago Behringer had been using an established distributor here in Aust., and as an example, the ECM8000 mic was retailing at $299 while guys in the US were buying it for way less than $100AU. Immediately after Behringer replaced the importer/distributor with what was essentially their own people, the RRP dropped to the current $99 and as I understand it, the retailers margins haven't been overly affected by the distribution change although I know of some stores who will not deal with them.

I know of another local importer/distributor of studio gear that thinks nothing of trying to make a 100% profit for himself on some items while being notoriously difficult to deal with from a retailer's point of view.

Where guitars are concerned, Fender Aust., have usually kept prices to a realisic RRP compared to the US, whereas there has always been some imbalance with Gibson's pricing although that does seem to be slowly changing.

The problem is not always the fault of the retailers and consider this fact.............we, as the consumer, have the ability to shop around for the best price, the retailer on the other hand doesn't have this luxury, they HAVE TO buy from the distributor at whatever price the distributor dictates.

More and more overseas manufacturers are becoming aware of this situation and the main thing stopping most of them from doing something to rectify the issue is the fact that the Aust., market is only small compared to the US or Europe, consequently, we don't justify the costs involved with companies ditching the current importers in preference for setting up their own distribution system.

One simple reason alot of things are cheaper in US is because there's a larger population and therefore a larger market. Its also the reason there are more luthiers making a living out of their craft in the US then there are here in Australia.

One thing to be thankfull for is that we do prety well in comparison to the UK and the US on powertool prices, geneeraly.

there are a couple of brands that are overpriced..... both beginning with "F".

cheers