Buying Warmoth products from Switzerland - customs procedures and costs

[marco5150]

Dear all,

I'm planning my Warmoth build.
Does anyone know how much will I pay to import in Switzerland the following items?
Does anyone know if there are some restrictions on the woods?

body: carved tele, mahogany body, (probably) alder top
neck: quartersawn maple
wilkinson VS100 bridge (should i use the wilkison routing?)
+ various bits and pieces

the total should be around USD 1'300.00

I just ordered some tubes/valves from Doug's tube in NY and I paid around USD 40.00 customs against USD 138.00 worth of goods...that's scary.
Same thing when I order from Stringjoy.

Thank you guys!

 

[DaveT]

I'm sure the Swiss government has a website where you can find all the rules for imports.

Here in the UK they add 20% VAT and $40 or so handling charge and sometimes a few percent import duty depending on exactly what the item is. So add $250 to $300 to that $1300 purchase price and you won't be far off!
Unless Switzerland has really nice rules of course.

I'm currently waiting for Linkert carburettor parts for my WLA45 to arrive, being low value they might arrive without having to pay tax...

 

[marco5150]

I'm sure the Swiss government has a website where you can find all the rules for imports.

Here in the UK they add 20% VAT and $40 or so handling charge and sometimes a few percent import duty depending on exactly what the item is. So add $250 to $300 to that $1300 purchase price and you won't be far off!
Unless Switzerland has really nice rules of course.

I'm currently waiting for Linkert carburettor parts for my WLA45 to arrive, being low value they might arrive without having to pay tax...

Thank you.
we have 7.7% VAT here, it's not that much, but importing goods have odd procedure which i really do not understand.
Also, since we have 4 official languages here and i'm from the Italian speaking side, the translations from German sometimes are a bit...wonky.

have you ever ordered from Warmoth? the UK can be a good comparison

 

[stratamania]

In the UK for goods costing over £135 you would pay 2.5% customs fees + 20% VAT and this is applied to the purchase cost of the goods and the shipping. The carrier will also usually add a handling charge for collecting these import costs from you.

So if your total goods and shipping came to £1000, I would expect about 23% in top = £230 of fees to pay. But Switzerland has a VAT rate of 7.7% so it would be lower.

Swiss details are here. The import procedure and what you would need to pay is taken care of by the carrier and you pay what is owed to them.

https://www.ch.ch/en/ordering-goods-abroad/

 

[marco5150]

Thank you both! I can live with those charges. I'm used to overcharges on guitars being left handed

I'm trying to understand what is the procedure now for the mahogany; maple and alder should be ok

 

[DaveT]

The impossible to understand CITES website may help with your question about mahogany.
It seems to depend on the exact species of mahogany...

https://cites.org/eng/prog/mwg.php

I did buy from Warmoth, and those costs I quoted were correct!
(very nice Tele thinline body and Superwide roasted maple neck since you ask)

You ought to be able to buy the Wilkinson parts from a shop in Switzerland.

 

[marco5150]

thank you.

i'm currently reading this:
https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2013/602/it#annex_1/lvl_d881e27
as far as i understand, for mahogany a declaration is enough (sorry, no link in english).

About the Wilkinson...sadly not the left handed version :/

Love the thinline, I have a Fender MIJ 2014 (I guess) version, awesome guitar

 

[Logrinn]

I just ordered some tubes/valves from Doug's tube in NY and I paid around USD 40.00 customs against USD 138.00 worth of goods...that's scary.

Here’s a tip if you intend to buy more tubes in the future:

Banzai music in Germany

Should be cheaper, I’m guessing.

 

[stratamania]

In terms of maple and alder it is okay and not subject to CITES. Most of what is sold as Mahogany including the African Mahogany - Khaya ivorensis that Warmoth uses that would not be subject to CITES either.

However if you were to find something like older stock of Brazilian Mahogany - Swietenia Macrophylla would rightly require a CITES export permit. But Warmoth does not sell it in any case.

Other things to be aware of Warmoth no longer will provide necks outside of the USA with abalone or other shell type inlays due to certificates being or potentially being needed. This was not always the case.

So in short if you order something from Warmoth and they will ship it to CH then you should have nothing to worry about.

 

[JPOL007]

I will never complain about a $39.00 shipping fee ever again. Much love and respect for you guys. Unbelievable what you have to go through to buy from outside of where you live.

 

[marco5150]

In terms of maple and alder it is okay and not subject to CITES. Most of what is sold as Mahogany including the African Mahogany - Khaya ivorensis that Warmoth uses that would not be subject to CITES either.

However if you were to find something like older stock of Brazilian Mahogany - Swietenia Macrophylla would rightly require a CITES export permit. But Warmoth does not sell it in any case.

Other things to be aware of Warmoth no longer will provide necks outside of the USA with abalone or other shell type inlays due to certificates being or potentially being needed. This was not always the case.

So in short if you order something from Warmoth and they will ship it to CH then you should have nothing to worry about.

my build is not that fancy (some stuff are still to be decided though), so i think everything will go smoothly.
thank you for your help, i really appreciate it

 

[marco5150]

I will never complain about a $39.00 shipping fee ever again. Much love and respect for you guys. Unbelievable what you have to go through to buy from outside of where you live.

yeah sometimes the US has awesome things...especially in music.
I will spend a lot less anyway ordering from Warmoth rather than going to a luthier here or in another country.
my bassist just did a custom build with Sandberg (Germany)...it's stunning; these guys are impressive. but they do not have a left handed option

 

[marco5150]

I just ordered some tubes/valves from Doug's tube in NY and I paid around USD 40.00 customs against USD 138.00 worth of goods...that's scary.

Here’s a tip if you intend to buy more tubes in the future:

Banzai music in Germany

Should be cheaper, I’m guessing.

interesting, thank you! bookmarked

 

[ValeBliz]

Here in italy i always took a beating, considering the customs duty it basically becomes a 1:1 conversion from $ to €, and they apply 22%+2% flat rat vat on the whole order shipping included.

 

[marco5150]

Here in italy i always took a beating, considering the customs duty it basically becomes a 1:1 conversion from $ to €, and they apply 22%+2% flat rat vat on the whole order shipping included.

eh l'IVA in Italia è altissima...
ma includono nel valore della merce pure il trasporto? ma non ha senso, non è un bene importato!
considerando che già sono sfigato di mio ad essere mancino, warmoth mi conviene a prescindere se voglio qualcosa di un po' vagamente particolare....

 

[ValeBliz]

eh l'IVA in Italia è altissima...
ma includono nel valore della merce pure il trasporto? ma non ha senso, non è un bene importato!

Eh lo so, è veramente un furto mettere il trasporto dentro al calcolo delle tasse, ma è pratica standard della dogana qui. C'è da dire che come qualità dei legni hai comunque risultati migliori rispetto a comprare "di marca" sulle stesse cifre. Io ho una tele am pro ed è decisamente meno entusiasmante delle partscaster che mi sono costruito, pur avendola pagata quasi 1800€...