Posted by jeff miller on December 14, 2003 at 10:05:54:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Yorkbrunner for sale posted by Josh on December 13, 2003 at 13:05:17:
Hi,
All the rubbish below aside, let me just state that there's a lot more to buying a horn from the factory than meets the eye. It may still be cheaper or worth the trouble, but to get a true comparison between direct factory buying and buying from a dealer, you would need to consider all of the following, as the extras add up to a significant amount:
cost of the tuba
cost of the ticket
cost of shipping the tuba or getting the tuba back on the plane (another ticket or probably excess baggage charges, plus grief from the airline people)
Cost of a case or crate, if shipped or going in the cargo hold of the plane.
Sales tax on the tuba (must be paid at factory if you take the instrument with you)
US Sales tax and customs on the tuba
cost of train/taxi/car rental from foreign airport to factory and back (add a few extra hundred dollars here)
cost of staying overnight in foreign country (food + lodging)
cost of getting to and from your local airport
and, last but certainly not least:
bank fees and commission to exchange currency and order a bank transfer
Anyway, this stuff can easily add up to match or exceed a dealer's cost on an instrument (although it may not, of course).
Also, the time and effort to organise all this stuff is considerable; whether it's worth the potential savings or not is up to you, of course!
I hope that's useful.
Jeff