Korg's European delivery misery: status update

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:07 pm

Great new, Jim! Looking forward to reading your review.

Laste7 · Post by **Laste7** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:53 pm

jimknopf wrote:Weird!!!

A few moments ago I suddenly get a message that my Kronos 73 (preorder from January, order from June) will be sent to me today. Have I been too explicit in this board?

Happy as I am - I still can't believe the communication chaos I went through over the last months. And I hope I'm not one of only a few happy ones with a good outcome here in Germany and Europe.

Jim, from a German Company??? The big T???

GiantSonicRobot · Post by **GiantSonicRobot** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:28 am

Laste7 wrote:The big T???

I just called Thomann yesterday, inquiring about a K 61. The answer was: "We are already sold out. All four units we are expecting to get are pre-ordered. Another shipment is scheduled for October 30.

Just to put things into perspective: The big T. is one of Europe's largest online retailers for musical instruments with currently over 3.6 million customers, and 760 employees. According to wikipedia, their revenue in 2009 was € 330 million.
In other words: They are huge. They sell boatloads of gear, and they certainly must be one of Korg's most important dealers.

They will get a total of four

KRONOS 61 this summer.

Abaek · Post by **Abaek** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:53 am

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Laste7 · Post by **Laste7** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:06 pm

GiantSonicRobot wrote:
Laste7 wrote:The big T???
Just to put things into perspective: The big T. is one of Europe's largest online retailers for musical instruments with currently over 3.6 million customers, and 760 employees. According to wikipedia, their revenue in 2009 was € 330 million.
In other words: They are huge. They sell boatloads of gear, and they certainly must be one of Korg's most important dealers.

They will get a total of four KRONOS 61 this summer.

I heard this before....back in May my Korg Dealer told me that he spoke with the Field Sales from Korg. Korg said, that the first shippment will be sold by some picked Dealers in Germany....and thomann is not one of them. I can understand this...if you send them just to Thomann they will be sold the same day to all Europe countries.
I was able to confirm my order in June and have a confirmed date for July. Ask your local Korg Dealer...I think this is the better way...

Abaek · Post by **Abaek** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:08 pm

One would think that the hardest part of purchasing a Kronos would be finding the money for it, but no, just getting to make an actual deal is a little bit harder. Why couldn't the huge quantities of Kroni shipping to the States be shared with the rest of the world? I don't get it...

Well, i guess my Kronos will arrive just in time for playing some christmas tunes...

Abaek · Post by **Abaek** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:24 pm

They should really inform us European peasants that our Kroni comes with BAD KARMA...

RKfan · Post by **RKfan** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:27 pm

Why dont we just import from the states - cut out the very inefficient middle men (Korg Europe) who hopefully will all get the sack for pricing wrong - oh and make hige €600 savings into the bargain?

There seem to be hundreds of US Kroni but only a few dozen EU ones. DOH someone at Korg EU made a boo boo....

There is a reason the US market is bigger - in the EU there is no product (so nothing to sell) - there seems to be some sort of protectionism going on too - its a bit mental... Not giving Thoman any instruments - DV hasn,t got any either.

But I am prepared to wait - a year more if I have to - not in a rush - maybe Korg marketing will have come to their senses by then - repriced (£2,250 not £2,599 for a 61 which is still 20% more than in the US) - fixed the bugs and bits that fall off - created the editor and all that other stuff people are moaning about.

I would really love to get a Kronos at a decent price soon, but I dont think its going to happen

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 12:56 pm

RKfan wrote:Why dont we just import from the states - cut out the very inefficient middle men (Korg Europe) who hopefully will all get the sack for pricing wrong - oh and make hige €600 savings into the bargain?

I also can wait.

However the price of a Kronos in the US is $3000 and shipping cost $220 making $3220. Including import tax (6%) over the total and Tax (19%) makes it $4060 which is E 2900 compared to E 3000 in the stores.
So that's not the E 600 difference but only E 100 or did I make a mistake?

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:42 pm

No, you are right, Michel.

Most people overestimate the bargain by importing. But then again, some gain more by big discounts from US sellers, summing up to 200 or even more $ (depending on the chosen model). Then even in your example you gain 300$.

Laste7 · Post by **Laste7** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:46 pm

michelkeijzers wrote:
RKfan wrote:Why dont we just import from the states - cut out the very inefficient middle men (Korg Europe) who hopefully will all get the sack for pricing wrong - oh and make hige €600 savings into the bargain?
I also can wait.

However the price of a Kronos in the US is $3000 and shipping cost $220 making $3220. Including import tax (6%) over the total and Tax (19%) makes it $4060 which is E 2900 compared to E 3000 in the stores.
So that's not the E 600 difference but only E 100 or did I make a mistake?

No, you are right....in Germany the difference is the import tax of 3,2%.
But you save just 100 Euro. To be honest, for me it was never possible to understand why some people have different Calculations. Of course, if you find a company invoicing a lower "Custom-Special" Price, it can be possible. But when importing I would calculate the worst case to be safe.
I know that a US-Distributor offered a special preorder Price of 2500 USD, perhaps this is still in the heads...

I also wanted to import, but for 100 Euro it is not worth to have these warranty things with sending it to the US etc. If I would have to wait again 6 months, then I would do it.
Also, it is pretty normal that the USD Price is converted 1:1 to the Euro in the Synth market. But I think that Korg does not get more money in the end. i think they get less money... The european Union has totally different importtaxes and rules than the US.
And also, in the US you just have a sale tax of 7-9%, not 19% like in germany. Also you should see, that Korg USA is a part of Korg Japan.
I think there are also different rules for intercompany business. The european "Korgs" do not belong to Korg Japan. They are just allowed to use the name for Marketing reasons...

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:55 pm

Laste7 wrote: No, you are right....in Germany the difference is the import tax of 3,2%.
But you save just 100 Euro. To be honest, for me it was never possible to understand why some people have different Calculations. Of course, if you find a company invoicing a lower "Custom-Special" Price, it can be possible. But when importing I would calculate the worst case to be safe.
I know that a US-Distributor offered a special preorder Price of 2500 USD, perhaps this is still in the heads...

The main reason why people have got it cheaper is that the US shops do not mention the price of $3000 on the shipping package but maybe half. So you only pay half of import and half of tax. In that case it would be:
(3000 + 220) + 1500 * (0.06 + 0.19) = 3600 dollar is 2570 dollar. If you have a prepaid price of like $2600 then you come to the 600 euro mentioned earlier. But it is mainly dependent on both the shop and the customs.

panrixx · Post by **panrixx** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:28 pm

In that case you need to clarify with the dealer that they will cover the full cost should the keyboard get badly damaged, or lost, in transit.

If the quoted price is, say, half it's real value then any insurance would only cover you for that amount.

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:39 pm

panrixx wrote:In that case you need to clarify with the dealer that they will cover the full cost should the keyboard get badly damaged, or lost, in transit.

If the quoted price is, say, half it's real value then any insurance would only cover you for that amount.

Yes, I'm not saying this is a favorite way to go. And if it might get broken it will cost the shipping back and forth to the US probably.

dangerousdave · Post by **dangerousdave** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 2:50 pm

michelkeijzers wrote: The main reason why people have got it cheaper is that the US shops do not mention the price of $3000 on the shipping package but maybe half. So you only pay half of import and half of tax.

I'd rather pay the extra tax than import and be dependent on the US seller committing tax fraud to get a good deal.