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Original thread:
Post 24 made on Tuesday September 28, 2004 at 05:13
bassfiend
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
September 2003
149

Hello Phil
You mean that it's impossible for your company,
to import from US, the GC-100 ?

Not impossible but it is a pain in the backside when you have to bring stuff in specially ... warranties become a headache for example. Plus of course the home automation market in the UK is minute compared to the US so you'll probably only do a few units a year.

Also it's illegal for us to sell something that isn't CE certified for use within the UK or Europe without making it very clear that the product *ISN'T* CE approved and therefore should not be used within the EU - most people can't work out (and of course we can't tell them) that that is a legal requirement and that the equipment itself won't simply explode when they plug it in.

The other problem is that if we did bring in - say - the GC-100 then, as a business, we have to pay shipping (obviously), import duty and VAT. That has to be rolled into our selling price (along with some profit for us of course - we are a business after all) and then there's shipping out to the customer too. Now, the first thing that the techno-savvy punter does is go - "Hmmm ... wonder if I can find it cheaper? Oh look - it's nn% cheaper if I buy direct from the US." So they whack off an email to us telling us that we're robbing S.O.B.'s for charging "x" when they can source it for "y" direct from the US. :-)

We do buy in quite a bit of kit from the US but we have to be carefull exactly what we do buy in.

Phil


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