GOOD NEWS FOR OUR AWESOME UK CUSTOMERS: FINAL PRICING IS COMING HOME!

199 comments

Looks like it’s Gibsons and Epiphones again. Oh well I did manage to get a Harley Benton Les Paul in gloss black delivered before Xmas, and before all this extra costs arrived. So it looks like it’s going to be my only one now as I refuse to pay so much more for the same item!
So it’s a sad goodbye….

It’s inevitable and regrettable that many of us will purchase our items from within the U.K. l have always preferred buying from Thomson but sadly this will change

I’m just looking at some pedals I would like, If they get rid of the£11.50 charge from UPS, WHY is it compulsory when you can deal with it yourself? UPS, thieves.
I’ll find something elsewhere.
Thomann need to deal with this, they must be feeling the loss by now

All seems fair to me the prices on line have been dropped to reflect the VAT charges and I’d normally pay up to £10 for delivery on certain items I think your all doing a great job and thanks!

Thanks for the detailed update about future orders. Its early days but I am sure it will all settle down at some point. Thanks for the great service I have had over the years from you guys and I look forward to many more. Cheers ????

Living in Northern Ireland I’m hoping these changes won’t affect me too much, but regardless of any extra cost the Harley Benton range of products and quality will suffice for me over other more expensive and inferior quality brands fom the US.

It is what it is. I’ve been a customer of yours for many years and I hope to remain as one for a long time to come.
Hope your business survives well into the future. Keep up the good work..!

Thank you so much for the fantastic service you’ve given me whenever I’ve come and bought from you. You’ve been my go-to supplier for many years.
My best wishes for the future.
I can only hope a future UK government will reverse the damage being done.

The bit I object to paying is the courier admin charge for handling the VAT. Import duty is sadly unavoidable and you guys can charge what you need to for delivery, but having the courier charge an unknown amount to take one online payment that would have rathe have been taken at checkout is a discouragement.

Thank you so much for your years of great value and service . Luckily my entire pa system and other large instruments and add ons where delivered before this started.I only hope once this has calmed down and things become a lot clearer we can continue to use you more in the future!??

Thank you for the information….
As a UK resident I have always strongly disagreed with this shitshow…

I wish I was still an EU citizen.

Living in Northern Ireland I very recently made a £180 order.
I noticed that the website was showing the ex VAT price and was interested to see how you’d process it.
I see you initially processed it for the ex VAT price , but , before dispatch , you adjusted the PayPal debit for the full price inc. VAT.
Transaction completed seamlessly.no extra charges levied by UPS at delivery.
All good! Thanks

As long as you keep banging out astonishingly good value guitars, I’ll continue to buy one whenever I can afford one. I have quite a long wishlist to complete!

Why doesn’t Thomann register with HMRC for VAT in the UK? Anyone from the EU can do this? It wont stop the possible handling charges but at least the VAT portion will be covered.

Sorry I’m a bit slow wrapping my head around this.
If my order is over £135 I pay 20% VAT on delivery.. Plus the Courier Handling Fees?
Or is that for orders less than £135

Thanks for the clear description of the situation our idiot boomers have caused. Bollocks to Brexit.

Agree with confused customer. You could simply register for UK VAT and stop f**king your customers unnecessarily. As one of my colleagues said, Thomann is not a tinpot operation. I’ve pointed out numerous times in emails that the measures you’ve introduced against UK customers are, at least in part, NOT required of you by the new regulations, but seemingly as a result of you not being bothered to simply register once and be done with it. Sure, paperwork sucks. I get it. But why not? As others, I wont be shopping at Thomann for the foreseeable future. Why would I, when practically zero other EU stores are taking such absurd measures? Just register, get over it, stop screwing people for no reason.

To be clear, I have NO problem with the additional fees related to couriers etc. That’s totally understandable. But this VAT issue is just blatant nonsense. You’re better than this.

Measures against UK customers? The UK chose to become a third country. The UK decided to leave and have these additional charges and all the extra hassle. This was a UK decision voted for repeatedly by the British people. How can you point the finger of blame at a German company? You need help.

I think the point he’s trying to make is that if thomann valued its UK customer base it would simply apply for VAT registration as to ease the process … and please let’s not forget not all British people voted to leave the EU, I’m Scottish and voted to stay and now I’m I can’t buy from one of the best music stores in the world ..

Can’t really see any reason to purchase goods from Thomann anymore due to the Brexit fiasco. Far too complicated and unnecessary, alas. I will go to local UK stores!

Ok so after digging for about 5+ hours I slightly understand this rats nest of a system a bit better.
If my order is over £135 I pay the VAT to the courier PLUS A further 2% for Government Fees.
Here’s the bit that gets my back up..
UPS Will ask a MINIMUM Of £11.50 for “HANDLING FEES” But there is no set amount and it depends on the Nature of the item and how Complicated they deem the item to be. (Basically this grant’s the courier the ability to skyrocket that brokerage fee which is causing a total sh*t show) I must say that not specifying a maximum amount a Courier can charge a customer for “Taking care of the item” doesn’t help if they’re going to charge the customer ridiculous amounts. It gets to the stage where the value of the product isn’t worth the money to import.

Indeed I have just been to pick up an order delivered to a local shop (which I wasn’t notified of) and been confronted with a £104 ‘import fee’. I of course didn’t pay such a ludicrous sum so what the fuck happens now!?

Yeah same here, I bought a 2×12 cab and UPS want £50 for them to deliver it, I’m not paying them, but will I get a refund and will I have to pay to send it back?

You can tell the quitlings whinging in the comments here by them blaming Thomann for something they voted for, instead of sucking up the consequences of their own actions. Twats.

Just to remind you that ups screwing us all over is not because of brexit. It’s thanks to brexit because ups have realised they can take thep*iss. Keep your minority political rudeness to yourself.

Howard – I didn’t vote to leave. What I and others are saying is entirely true – the VAT situation is nonsense, and if we’re going to be needlessly punished for this, we’ll go elsewhere. It isn’t whinging. It’s just what’s happening. Maybe instead of telling others to ‘suck up the consequences’ you should actually go do some independent research on the topic? But that might be a bit too much like hard work, I guess.

I guess you could always ship from China. After all, thats where most of the stuff is made.
Outside the EU so no problem.

I voted remain. And I’m disgusted by our Tory government. Not just over Brexit, either. Right now it’s embarrassing being British. But when it comes to buying from you, or anyone else in the EU, it’ll be simple brutal econonics, for me. Any added complexity or difficult in ordering will be a major deterrent, obviously. Even more so, any added costs. I hope one day soon a better government will return us to the EU. But for now I suspect I won’t be ordering from you anymore. Sad!

Dealing with UPS and providing £120.42 in VAT and Admin was stressful to say the least, paid a woman over the phone, as the online bit wouldn’t take my card, I thought it was a scam, her English was poor, helpful tho, they did eventually deliver it, a week late, the delivery guy called me and asked for payment, I explained to him I’d paid, 15 mins later he released it and I got my 2600.

Calling an 0303 number 4 times for a total of 90 mins when I should be work. That’s a stress.

Thank Brexshit.

Register your company here, as some of ours are in Europe. Easing the issues massively..

Yes, register your company overthere, hire one or two more people to handle all the paperwork that comes with the uk registration and refer all those cost back to your wise ass “do your research, stoopid” UK customers.
But seriously, you almost think they all run international online retail businesses, while all they can do is google and they’re not even good at that, bloody know it alls, blaming Thomann for the shitshow their government brought onto them.

Really sorry to hear this and I appreciate you have done what you can.

I sincerely hope that one day this country will come to its senses and rejoin the free world, but I am not holding my breath.

EU protectionism = “Free world”. LOL. Hope they don’t cut off your electricity or try and steal a bit of your country…

Anyway, the VAT amount at 20% is no different from normal. Import duty is piddling small so really no issue. But UPS’s extra handling charge being “unknown” is a licence to profiteer. I suggest Thomann do what the UK did in protest at unpleasant bullying – vote with you feet. Find a new courier.

Unlikely to order again until the broker fee is sorted out, VAT yes, carriage yes, but giving UPS a minimum level just gives them an excuse for extortion.

Would still be good value but for UPS.

It’s interesting how DV247/Musicstore (Germany) and Bax Musc (Netherlands) haven’t changed their prices or ordering arrangements at all. It currently makes them a far more attractive proposition. I love Thomann but I feel that my loyalty is unjustified these days.

Thomann is just ahead of their competitors. If the other stores you mentioned are still charging VAT at point of sale (as they appear to be, with no option to remove VAT, even when shipping to UK, although admittedly, I didn’t actually ‘checkout’), then you will most likely end up paying VAT TWICE as you will be charged again (by the courier) upon delivery. So watch out for any retailer who has not updated their website to reflect the new arrangements! It’s all quite a mess at the moment…

I have enjoyed shopping with Thomann up until now. With these extra charges (brokerage, etc) and the hassle of having to pay for these separately, it’s just not going to be viable for me to continue to use Thomann. It’s such a shame, especially as I was/am opposed to Brexit.

I’ve now discovered that my item has been delayed in Germany because of Brexit issues, and that the delivery is likely to take a week from the time of order. I don’t need this hassle.

Could someone at Thomann write about the contentious UPS ‘handling charge’, which appears to be highly anarchic and potentially corrupt ? This seems to be the one scary issue at the heart if customer anxiety and frustration.

Item (under £135)ordered on the 4th of Jan in the hands of UPS on the 21st and delivery date postponed 3 times already with an estimated delivery date of 4th of Feb. Checked tracking today and it has not even left the depot in Germany!
Don’t think I will be ordering any thing from the continent for the next 6 months at least

Did you have to pay an duty charges from UPS etc. I bought an item under £135 and now UPS are trying to charge me £45 import duties. Thanks

Thanks for the explanation. I agree with those who are unhappy with paying the UPS fee. Sadly, that will make Thomann less competitive on price. Very sad, I like dealing with Thomann and I’ll continue to consider them, but other suppliers are now more likely to get my custom.

You can only register for VAT in the UK if you have a physical presence in the UK and Thomson doesn’t, it is NOT their fault. Can I say as “boomer” that I did not vote leave and most people I know of my age didn’t. Unfortunately some fxxxwits did…

For those disagreeing with the VAT situation, and oversampling the solution:

Thomann are obliged to register for UK VAT with HMRC in order to collect the VAT on <£135/€150 orders; that is one of the new rules imposed as part of the agreement.

This doesn't solve the problems they have with orders over the duty threshold. For those goods, because they are shipping from the other side of the EU duty border, they are unable to collect the VAT, and the goods will attract VAT from the UK authorities alongside import duty.

There is no simple way for them to circumvent this despite the many suggestions that there is.

Unfortunately the EU missed the lesson on trade being a 2 way street, so now people will buy locally, second hand or direct from China, where most of the Thomann stuff comes from anyway. Its a shame but there ya go

No, the EU didn’t “miss the memo”.

The people who voted for Brexit, believing the patent bull that nothing would change except for getting £350m for the NHS (How’s that coming on, btw?) are the ones who missed the repeated abd very clear memos that they chose to dismiss as “project fear”.

I might have to move to Norn Iron.
Need my regular Harley Benton fix. I’m already getting twitchy.

I will not shopping with Thomann or any other EU company after the the way the EU has treated and indeed still is treating the UK. I have nothing against Thomann, you are a good and reliable company, but until the UK gets some respect from the EU I will take all my business elsewhere – my holiday to Majorca has already been cancelled!

I hope this is satire

I will not be shopping with Thomann or any other EU company after the way the EU has treated and indeed still is treating the UK over vaccines. I have nothing against Thomann, you are a good and reliable company, but until the UK gets some respect from the EU I will take all my business elsewhere – my holiday to Majorca has already been cancelled!

Good work Thomann, thanks for the updates. To all the moaners, this problem is completely of the UK’s making and is exactly the same as if you buy something from the USA or China. I remember when the Thomann leaflets appeared in the 90’s and all the rip off British dealers said they were cheap because they were copies or fraudsters, they changed the whole landscape.

I have used Thomann for a long time – you are the best.
Sadly, thanks to the stupidity of the English meaning we have left the EU, I will probably be using a UK-based company now.
Thanks for all your great service in the past.

I am a fan of your selection of stage lighting products and these changes had put me off ordering from outside the UK. I’m really pleased you are looking at solutions so the price in the website is the final price and hope you can do something to sort out the problems created by brexit.

Of course its sad news. As a UK resident it is of course difficult and more expensive. I am a regular user for decades now. Brexit was such a stupid idea, soon everyone will get to understand it. I laugh at the guys who mention buying from China OR from UK stores..Good luck with QC from China and where do you think the UK stores get their good from eh??? Don’t tell me they go through…boarders….

Thomann’s comments about Brexit have been very restrained, so I’ll say it for them. Brexit is monumentally stupid, catastrophic and destructive. There is not a single benefit (just ask touring musicians). Give it 6 months and it’ll be hard to find anyone who’ll admit to voting for this nonsense. Thomann is fully entitled to be frustrated about its processes now being needlessly choked with extra bureaucracy and red tape. I’ll be sticking with them, however, as their quality, value and customer service is second to none. Thanks guys.

Ditto, Thomann is unmatched. Luckily I live in the Republic of Ireland but in my own way have to endure the repercussions of Cambridge Analytica et al. Boris, Nigel, self serving agendas.

I’d just like say how regrettable the situation is and send sincere best wishes to Thomann, other businesses and my many lifelong friends in Germany.

I’ll be honest and it could be completely circumstantial, I took the risk of placing a high value order (£190+) with you after the changes to see if it was still viable for me to order from you in future, as I prefer buying from you…. After all was said and done and the additional costs were paid, buying from you still worked out cheaper that buying from within the UK…

“If the other stores you mentioned are still charging VAT at point of sale (as they appear to be, with no option to remove VAT, even when shipping to UK, although admittedly, I didn’t actually ‘checkout’), then you will most likely end up paying VAT TWICE as you will be charged again (by the courier) upon delivery. So watch out for any retailer who has not updated their website to reflect the new arrangements!” – false. Don’t spread misinformation.

“You can only register for VAT in the UK if you have a physical presence in the UK and Thomson doesn’t, it is NOT their fault” – false. Don’t spread misinformation. Any company in the EU can register for UK VAT without a local presence. There’s absolutely no reason why Thomann can’t do this.

“do your research, stoopid” – I never called anyone stupid – I simply urged them to actually spend a couple minutes reading up on the real changes, rather than listening to nonsense.

The only country ever that imposed tarrifs on itself.
Bad news for importing, exporting and freedom of movement, great news for GAK, GuitarGuitar etc as Thomann is no longer a rival

So, anyone complaining about the Import and handling fees charged by UPS has never ordered anything over £35 from outside the EU before I take it?

Hate to break it to all of you saying you’ll just order it from China… You’re still going to get charged. Import duty from a none EU country has always been a thing. A letter from DHL, UPS, TNT with an invoice for VAT and duty and a fee which you had to pay before goods would be released had always been a thing.

Now it just happens from everywhere.

Thank you for this detailed update. While it is not, of course, good news, I really do appreciate you providing as much information as you can. Moreover, having been one of the customers you mentioned who have asked you directly, I must express my appreciation for the detailed email response you set on that (even when you didn’t have as clear an idea of charges as you do now). I was particularly impressed by that.

Unfortunately, while you have been as transparent as possible, it’s UPS’ rather vague charges (where I note they claim a minimum of 11.50 on some parts of their website, and a minimum of 4.50 on others – not technically a contradiction, but quite unsatisfactory) which make me wary of putting orders in.

Well it will get sorted, it must, I am sure Thoman is losing trade and all the EU lovers, well it would of been fine if they only Free Trade Deal, but the EU wanted more the EU wanted control over borders laws, etc, mark my word there will be more countries getting ready to leave,,
There is a loads to work out the courier companies, everyone, but I do agree with many stating getting VAT registered should be done, that would help, but the courier companies they also have to get their acts together,

“mark my word there will be more countries getting ready to leave”

I don’t think so. All Brexit has done for the EU is strengthened it and made it realise how much the Brits are full of themselves.

In case you hadn’t been paying attention, most of the anti-EU political leaders in Europe have now been shown the door, and even people like Marine Le Pen are no longer pushing for EU exit.

I know you don’t like to see the EU flourishing but that’s exactly what’s going to happen. The UK on the other hand will split up and the economy will tank (well worse than it already has).

But you carry on being bitter reading the Express and enjoy your import charges.

Thanks for the clarification, Thomann.

Apologies to the rest of Europe for the shit-show that is Brexit. Unfortunately, our general populace have Stockholm Syndrome with the Tories and are generally, quite unwilling to see things for what they are, even when it’s slapping them in the face.

I can only hope a future government reverse this catastrophic decision.

I’ll still continue to order from Thomann where possible.

So, just bought an Amorok 6 for £278 b stock. Item arrived to UK and then to local depot at Swansea. Customs charges of £78 before item released and deliverd. I payed a 28% increase of guitar’s value. What if the item is faulty and have to send it back, do I lose £78??

Goodbye Thomann, until next time

So you have paid about £22 for docs and handling paperwork. The other £56 was VAT that you would have paid anyway.
Main question is, after all that, is the guitar still good value?
If yes, maybe buy something again.
If no – move next order to a.n.other in UK – but who, and for what quality ?

Very sad state of affairs.

The Tories sold off everything british many years ago yet their voters scream “buy british”

I sure hope things get ironed out soon, I truly miss thomann and especially HB products.

Thanks for nothing Tories. ;-(

Just to add that prominent british musicians who voted for this shower of brexsh** are actually petitioning the Tory party to allow them to gig in europe freely.

loonacy.

Move on mate, we’ve left get over it…life is too short ?

Time to move on mate, we’ve left get over it…life is too short ?

I find it deceptive that in search listings like duckduckgo you are listed as Thomann UK and only once we click through we find you are NOT a UK company but an EU company and the prices listed are excluding VAT and you have all sorts of complications servicing UK customers because you are NOT really “Thomann UK” as shown in the listings and the prices shown are nowhere near the real prices charged as you are really “Thomann DE”!

Please correct how your business name is presented on search engines to avoid this deceptive click bait of good looking prices that are then increased by VAT and potentially customs tariffs as well as items being held hostage by couriers unless an extortionate admin “brokerage” fee is also paid!

I ordered just before and just after 1st Jan 21.
There was no difference in the delivery time with either order, (about 6-7 days). Yes I did have to pay the vat separately on the second order, and there was a charge of £11.50 from UPS.

My order total was £145, the total charge from UPS was £48.37 that’s a total of £193.37, here is where it gets interesting….

1. The items I ordered weren’t in stock in the UK for several months.
2. The pre-order price for the same items listed on UK stores would have totalled £199.98

Please people, do the mathematics, Thoman are a good company and they certainly don’t deserve some of the comments on here.

I will be using Thoman again ??

So, am I right in thinking that if my order is say £130, Thomann will charge me the VAT plus £8 delivery and I will not have to pay anything to UPS upon reciept?

So orders below £135 the VAT will be charged by Thomann and that’s it? That’s what I understood. And as I’m already paying £8 for shipping why should I be paying more shipping fee? That’s bullshit! I’m cancelling my order now!!!!

Seems like the courier is getting paid twice £8 delivery and £10 for adjusting their paperwork… regardless of many of the comments above… Thomann will lose a lot of UK business… Thomann you need to take the hit of courier moneygrabbing fees or at least put pressure on them to not be so greedy. My loss is your loss but I can get my gear in the UK… you can’t get my custom anywhere else. regards

UpS have had my order for a month !!

I’ve had several emails stating a date for delivery-
“ your parcel has left the country of origin and is in transit. It will be delivered to you by the end of the day”
I’ve tried the useless UPS app , I’ve phoned UPS and even their staff don’t know where my parcel is.
She told me it had left Germany and is now in Frankfurt! Seriously???!!

It turns out one month later, my parcel is still in Frankfurt Germany.
This is clearly the blame of UPS as other orders from the continent this year have took less than a week to arrive.

The lowered costs of items on Thomann is because you pay the VAT at a later date. That’s to be expected.

However, After reading this blog and all the extra costs. 2.5% for this an unknown customs charge and god knows whAt else. A tip for the van drivers dog ??
Its still a mystery how much extra I will have to pay.
And the ridiculous time it’s took waiting for my delivery. Which is unacceptable;

this will have to be my final purchase from Thomann.

Unless Thomann decided to open a branch in the UK

Until then , it’s …
Good Buy Thomann,
Good Bye Thomann

Everything was great trading with Europe before dec 31 2020.

This is what brexit voters wanted, now they are moaning about what they actually voted for.

Politics 101.

What a shame, loved Thomann and spent thousands with you… like the majority of U.K. citizens I will buy from elsewhere (in the U.K.) from now on…it’s the customs charges and the unnecessary charges that UPS are trying to rip us all off with?
Handling charges? Didn’t they handle our goods when we were in the EU?
Thanks for great service Thomann and good bye ?

@ Andy Power

Yes they did but we had customs free imports before brexit, now couriers have to fill lots of paperwork so charge (like any non eu import)

But hey, brexit voters knew this right 😉

Move on mate, we’ve left, get over it…life is too short ?

Sorry, but this whole thing is a complete farce and whoever dreamed this up should be certified. Shame really. Hope sanity will ultimately return soon, but in the meantime, I will not be purchasing anything from an EU country.

looks like too big a hassle to order from thomann now. get rid of the conservative government. vote Labour…always. why is it called thomannuk if there is no uk shop?

well goodbye Thomann, its been a blast. What a shame all of this has happened

Wont’ be ordering from Thomann again…. Won’t even bother checking their site.
A major company (they say ‘The major company’) in the field should have the wherewithal to arrange their courier services to give the customer a one-stop-shop for ordering.

As a previous poster said “It all comes from China anyway.” Might as well oder direct from the source.

As it turns out, not such a ‘pro’ company after all.

We will never know because most hardcore brexit voters will NEVER admit they where wrong.

But at a guess the majority that are blaming Thomann (and all other eu retailers) voted for it.

The EU Commission has done nothing but make Brexit as bad as possible for the UK to protect its little empire. We won’t know if Brexit is a success for at least 5 years, if you love the EU so much then why don’t you go and live there.

Tired of reading this rubbish from bitter remainers, just get on with your life mate, it is too short to spend worrying about stuff you can’t change ?

Not sure I get this right for orders under £135.
When I buy goods for £100 (excl. VAT), Thomann will add £20 of VAT plus £8 for shipping so I will pay £128 to Thomann. That part is clear. Do I still have to pay UPS or HMRC on top of that?

Thanks for our recent purchase, although seriously delayed by logistic issues.
Couple of points arising:
The free kettle lead turned out to be chargeable for duty & VAT, as it had been (quite correctly) assigned a value on the commercial invoice submitted with the shipment.
The commercial invoice was issued in EUR, for a different amount than the actual GBP price I paid to Thomann – for which I have been invoiced.
I contacted UPS UK Brokerage, who agreed to use my GBP invoice to reduce the Duty and VAT charged, albeit by only a relatively small amount. I found UPS very helpful, although of course the handling and shipment times have become ridiculously long, compared to the former Free Movement situation.
I will continue to use Thomann, as a good service is what matters. Let’s hope that the VAT and clearance issues become smoother in due course.
The charges from HMRC are particularly upsetting, it’s “Invoice value * duty * VAT + Vat Value Adjustment” so we actually pay VAT on the Duty charged (concealed robbery)
Brexit was bound to be a serious impediment to International trade, and it’s not comforting to think that a return to EU Membership is unlikely to happen in my lifetime.

Just if anybody is still reading this far down – I ordered £150 of equipment on the 26th Jan, the additional charges were £49 (£30 VAT, £7.50 import duty and that contentious £11.50 UPS charge). So for £199 I got another fantastic HB guitar, a wah-wah, a couple of leads, a tuner and some other small trinkets all in my hand by the 6th Feb…there is absolutely nowhere on earth I could have got better value.
I really don’t know what all the moaning is about…. or what people actually expect.

Keep up the good work Thomann.

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

NO duty or handling charges on items less than £135…

Are you sure about it? Can you guarantee that? Thank you

Thank you Stan!

Non-politically, if you work out an item is now more cost effective to buy from a UK supplier currently, then do so. If trade switches to UK traders, the deals due to increased UK buying power will improve over time. Buy British if it works for you, and then our UK companies are more likely to win better worldwide trade deals. It’s early days so read the terms of your purchase it’s now from the EU. We’re not part of it anymore… move on!

Regular customer. Just bought a Harley Benton guitar. £170. Paid £38 VAT as expected, Then brokerage charge £11.50 and duties £3.38. UPS driver let me pay by cash or card, and he gave me a full signed receipt. There is no UPS rip off charges and I was pleasantly surprised. Will buy with Thomann again. Cheers gang.

Hi all hope this helps, Purchased a Fender Pinwheel February 3 2021 via Thomann Uk £135 + £27vat shipping included .. now the package is shipped via Germany to the UK .. UPS want to charge me £46.05p government charges including handling fee of £11.50, which I have not consented to by the way as no other option was given to self broker .. £135 is the limit before UK government apply charges .. I spoke to HMRC to confirm this and they said if any charges exist as I’ve paid the VAT any excise duty if applicable would amount to less than £4 .. UPS will not give me a breakdown of the charges but referred me to ukbrokerage@ups.com . I’ve sent them an email regarding the charges including a copy of the invoice from Thomann and not even an acknowledgement that they have received the email so it appears someone somewhere has made an error in the calculations .. I spoke to a rude man at my local UPS office and he said it’s Vat charges and international shipping duties oh c’mon I wasn’t on the last banana boat into the UK to be told rubbish he would not even help with any other UPS contact information, could it be UPS don’t care and are just out to grab your money at any excuse

Can confirm the UPS brokerage fee was as high as £21.80 for a £137 order (pre VAT).

I wasn’t careful enough when reading this and I thought the order needs to be OVER £135 to avoid paying higher taxes… ended up paying the unnecessarily high brokerage fee. Two items were shipped in two separate packages and contained quite a few mixed items, perhaps this could explain the higher charges?

Very annoying, but can’t blame Thomann in any way.

I was going to order a guitar kit – it was in the shopping cart – but then I started reading the fine print, and the comments on this page – I know it’s not Thomann’s fault, but there are too many unknowns and it isn’t clear how much extra I’ll have to pay on delivery. I’m going to wait until this is sorted.

Let’s hope this all gets sorted as soon as possible. I’ve always been impressed by Thomann’s products and customer support and look forward to normal service being restored as soon as possible!

As a company we have used Thomann for many years and we have just looked to get costs for again, but with the order over £6200 (ex vat) we will have to leave it and look elsewhere. It’s a damn shame as we have no issues with the equipment and even with our 30 years trading and good UK discounts we still find Thomann great value for money and a great one stop shop. But with the UPS issues that are being talked about we cannot risk giving them a blank cheque, just not worth it at all. Yes Bexit has caused the issues, but allowing UPS free reign to charge what they want and with the horror stories about rude customer support this means we have to go elsewhere. Thanks for the support and great service over the years and it’s a shame that a delivery company causes the loss of sales!

Hi, Item is £137 b stock. Why not charge £34.99? It’s been there for 2 months.
Except for this item I have always thought them expensive – as I buy used or MiC.
Thanks Thomann for the lovely humour – not so taxing. ?
Adolf had a hi-tech free daily Air delivery service and was attempting a personal sea/land alternative too……………. Blitzmail.

Reading through this.keep your orders below 135.00 and its BAU.no change except 8.00 postage.The postal threshold used to be 100.

So really it’s down to UPS to provide breakdown of charges prior to placing order at Thomann so that we don’t get any nasty surprises.
Hope this is what Thomann are working towards achieving or going to another courier if need be.
UPS will be losing a lot of Business if Thomann go elsewhere.
Put my orders on hold for now, will place them when this fiasco is sorted.
Also don’t think the French have helped with delivery times.

It’s not a UK specific issue. It’s been caused by Brexit (idiots) but the UK is not unique. I’ve just moved back to the UK from living in Switzerland (big mistake) and we faced the same scenario as Switzerland is not in the EU either.

UPS in Switzerland robbed us blind as much as possible, they inevitably got things wrong and never apologized or offered refunds. I used to ask that they ship via other than UPS and Thomann normally obliged. I’m not sure if this is an option for the UK, you could ask?

Brexit is a mess, these consequences were there to be seen before voting by looking at how things worked at other non-EU locations but I know it’s too late now.

To be frank, Thomann’s service isn’t great, I’ve had a few arguments over how they hide behind ‘warranty terms’ but in this instance, I have to agree with those that call out that it’s not their fault. It’s not.

The courier (e.g. UPS) should be charging a FIXED FEE for admin (e.g. £5 per shipment) instead of charging a percentage fee (e.g. 2.5%). It does not cost more in admin (paperwork) just because the item costs more. They are just exploiting the situation to make money, and in doing so turning people away from Thomann (and other EU suppliers). Shame. Perhaps Thomann needs to find an ethical courier? Dump UPS.

Good point Dave. There’s an opportunity here for another courier company.

ok a few quid more to pay on a guitar, we are getting our jabs, the EU is well behind so don’t forget the benefits of brexit

What benefits??? Leaving the EU is the mitigated disaster everyone was told would happen but its even worse. Bollocks to an injection that could kill you, what the fuck has that to do with losing access for thousands of musicians, because of the extra costs,
to the best Music retailer in EUROPE

I shall continue to purchase knowing the new calcs etc. And appreciate your kind advice Thomann is a great provider of quality goods.
It is sad we left the EU and I await the day we rejoin and incarcerate Johnson and co.

The whole problem is NOT knowing the calcs! The UPS charge is stated as a minimum of £11.50, but it could be anything above that – we just don’t know when we are placing the order. UPS are a bunch of useless money-grabbing tw@ts and I wouldn’t trust them to ONLY apply a charge of £11.50 to my order. I was about to order a guitar today for £439 from Thomann, but after reading this, and having an unknown charge also to be applied, I’m not going to bother. I’ll order from a UK based company when they are back in stock. Also, if I returned an item because it was faulty, or not suitable, who do I claim the VAT back from???

Good Lord. Thoman, why the hell have you NOT just given some hard fast EXAMPLES off your UK web page or EU web page …….if we were shopping at either from the UK.

For gods sake, just show CLIPS of your online webpages and some prices shown at say 135 euros or whatever the cut off rules are regarding VAT….THEN SHOW THE UK CUSTOMER WHAT THEY FINALLY WILL END UP PAYING FOR THAT PRODUCT.

Its astonishing that you have not had the intelligence to show 3 simple examples that cover the price CUT OFF rules regarding VAT etc……………..how could you neglect to do these EXAMPLES to a whole country of possible continued customers that you are trying to maintain………..?

what a bunch of idiots you are.

Me says., your a prick

It seems the big issue here is the UPS charge. Please get onto them and get them to make it a fixed charge. Threaten them with using a different courier, there are quite a few that would love to acquire that business, should make them jump a bit.
I got stung with this and I will not order again until it’s resolved, it’s cured my G-A-S for a while at least!

UPS stands for Uncertain Postal Surcharge

I would bet on DV247/Musicstore, they have a very competitive price on the X32 Rack ((£6659:00) which includes delivery & shipping but what they don’t tell you is that once you have purchased, you’ll receive an order email but stating in big red letters “Some customers are experiencing issues with UPS as they have made a mistake, you will be charged for the shipping & customs duties on the package but we will credit your account once we receive the paid invoice” No-where does it say how long before you get you money back for the shipping & customs duties & the website doesn’t show this (advertised as free shipping & delivery from the uk). I had contacted the UK, French & German telephone support lines & support emails but no-one had come back to me. I had to go back to Paypal before they contacted me. Do not buy from this company, all you will get is no-response to any concerns unless you go through paypal. DO NOT TRUST DV247/Musicstore Period. Customer services is poor, I would have rather ordered through Thomann De & paid the customs duties as i worked out the same as DV247/Musicstore!

Apologies…

I wouldn’t bet on DV247/Musicstore, they have a very competitive price on the X32 Rack (£659:00)

Hello friends at Thomann,

Any news on your new process? We know we have to pay VAT, but the current situation with non-transparent UPS fees is not good, won’t be ordering until the full price is known.

I second the above question – Is there any more of an ETA on the current situation, or a bit more guidance on what the UPS fees turn out to be? From what I can glean from internet search and doing the maths the final price ends up somewhere between 1.23 and 1.35 x the price on Thomann, but it would be nice to have a bit more certainty before placing an order!

Thank you for persevering, and ignore the negative comments from those who are blaming you for their own ignorance.

Brexit has only recently come into being, hence the confusion and apparent teething problems concerning purchases from EU.

Give it a few months, —— it will be even worse I bet ! —– should have stayed in as almost half of the UK voted for.

I live in the UK and don’t mind saying that I voted to remain in the EU, as I loved being part of Europe. I thought there would be problems with Brexit, so bought as much from Thomann as I could before the sh** hit the fan. The only problem being that I’ve now seen (yet) another guitar on their website that I really want, so may have to pay a bit extra for it. Thomann has been one of my favourite online shops for a number of years, and I hope to be able to continue to buy from them in the future. And hope we can join the Union again one day.

I came here to order a new Harley Benton guitar but if you cant tell me what I will be charged theres no way Im going to buy anything.

How can you turn away your UK slice of the market like this? If UPS cant give you a fixed price for UK delivery or even a percentage, or at least an honest answer then I shall buy elsewhere and if I really want a Harley Benton Ill just buy one used off ebay here in the UK.

Please sort this out and stop giving ex VAT prices on your web site Its confusing and just plain WRONG.

So say I buy and download Waves Platinum what happens ? Just the VAT to top ?

Explanation is still so unclear.

Fourth paragraph: VAT will be added and charged if value is less than £135. In this case new price (inclusive of VAT) will be provided by email and no additional fee paid on delivery.

Fifth paragraph: Orders less than £135 will incur an £8 shipping fee. Not related to fees paid to the courier. This is contradictory to the above which suggests there would be no fee paid to the courier anyway?!

Sixth paragraph: 20% VAT and possible (which we all now know to be likely, and ridiculous) handling fees paid to the courier on deliver.

So I’m not sure. If my item is below £135 I pay my VAT to Thomann, and I pay an £8 shipping charge and that’s it, right?

Thomann could’ve structured this blog so much clearer with a clear and concise breakdown (bullets or a table) of what you would be liable to pay and what you wouldn’t be liable to pay above/below the threshold rather than wrapping it up in verbose paragraphs.

And secondly, UPS’s abuse of this is absolutely disgusting.

Thanks for the clear explanation Thomann. I just want to say that I voted for Brexit – and so did most people, hence we won the vote! I’m happy to still buy from Thomann as I just priced up a Fender 75th anniversary MIM Telecaster and it still ends up cheaper than most retailers in the UK. It will be terrific when you can sort out the arrangement with UPS, best of luck!

BTW, I don’t know why people are criticising UPS for making a customs clearance charge – all couriers do including Royal Mail, who, unlike the others, actually hold on to your stuff and write to you asking for payment before they will deliver. UPS and Fedex trust you and bill you. (I used to work at Fedex and we always had a lot of bad debts from it being uneconomical to chase smaller amounts of Duties & Taxes and clearance fees…!)

I have placed and received two “experimental” orders from Thomann this month.

Order 1: A travel case for a Behringer power mixer which had a net price (without VAT) of less than £135, so Thomann add on the VAT (20%) plus £8 delivery fee.

Order 2: An EV ELX112 passive speaker £188 net (without VAT). This time UPS collect the VAT (20%) and add their other charges, which presumably include import tax. The UPS invoice quotes “Import VAT” £41.36, plus “Brokerage charges” £11.50 which gives a total of £52.86. This equates to just over 28% of £188. It is disappointing that UPS do not break down the invoice to “Their charges”, VAT and Import Tax. £188 + £52.86 = £240.86 total.

Both were delivered (to the North West Highlands) one week after dispatch.

What happens for digital only items, I won’t be getting anything other than a email with a product code how does that work?

I asked the same above – VAT only added ?
Copy and paste from basket:

Shopping Basket
1x Avid Pro Tools Update Plan New £157
Available immediately
Shipping Costs £0
Total
The prices shown exclude VAT £157

Who knows ATM ?

For specialist items that are only available in Germany (like special order items from B&S) I will continue to use Thomann, but for practical reasons, it is now easier to use a UK supplier for general musical items.

Just thought it was worth sharing my experience on this as of today. Purchased a Seagull Artist Mosaic late last Sunday evening (14th March) £939 VAT free pricing for UK. Shipped UPS leaving Thomann early Tuesday morning (16th). Notification from UPS to pay taxes and duties Wednesday evening (17th) – very easy to do and transparent: ~£230 which cover the 20% VAT, 3.2% duties for importing a guitar, and £11.50 ‘Brokerage Fee’. Delivered this morning and couldn’t be happier. £1,169 total delivered price for this guitar which is retailing in the UK @ £1,339 and not easy to find. Felt like I was taking a slight risk and in the hands of UPS with unknown fess etc, however there was absolutely no need to worry.

Ill be honest…
I’m still confused.

The prices on the store are Ex VAT. Okay I get that.
I expected to pay the UK 20% VAT we always pay, no matter where we buy from, on or offline.

But my question.
That I did send to Thomann a couple of days ago, with no response yet..
Was.. is..

Do we have to also pay “import tax” now.

So the base cost.. yes.
VAT = 20% for the UK ..yes.
Import tax on top?

Does anyone know please.
And if so how much is it.

Thanks for any help.

Thomann price + 20% VAT + 3.2% import duty + £11.50 brokerage fee = rip off.

Those who voted for Brexit and I am sure are many of you here, should stay shut and not moan. These are the rules negotiated by a clown and their poppets. You should also try to write to Nigel Farage instead of unloading all your frustration against Thomann German company.

If you don’t like or do not agree with the relations of trade with the EU, buy from Japan, with that Country Brexit regulations are different, due to trade agreements , if you buy from Japan you don’t pay import or tax. it would just be as if it was bought in the UK.

I requested on Reverb and ebay if it is legal to charge import plus VAT etc, it should also be compelled to display full prices including import and VAT plus including the always unknown Customs percentage , because that depends how the assessment officer has woken up on that day, it is what a memeber of Customs told me over the phone, it is not only 2.5%. Then is another 20% VAT that keeps the rock stars well fed and living in luxury , telling us what to do or what to wear. But this 20% is not only from the cost of the item, this will be calculated when is known the final value including Postage delivery costs.

This is why many US compamies despite their broterhood with UK, etc simple say Fc off uk and do not sell to the UK. Ask Sweetwater, Adorama, etc. Why they should bother to then be bombarded by comments complaining.

This is what is about Brexit, now simply digest it! Your choice was integrate with your neighbours, or become an isolated sinking ship. Sometimes wheteher we like , agree or disagree , we have to accept the consequences of some irresponsible politicians.

On the up side, thanks to Brexit, the UK is 3 months ahead of the EU with covid-19 vaccinations thus saving thousands of lives. 😉

The UK could have done all that whilst still in the EU. It’s ahead in its vaccination programme because AstraZeneca is prioritizing UK deliveries of vaccine over EU deliveries (in breach of its contractual obligations). Basically, the UK’s vaccination success was stolen from Europeans who paid for it.

It says a lot about you that you are able to post a smirking emoji in the face of the tens of thousands of deaths of elderly and vulnerable people this despicable behaviour is causing on the Continent.

Dave that is just not true. We could have purchased our own vaccines with our own contracts if we were still in the EU. If you’re going to bigup Brexit perks at least make them real ones otherwise you just look like a bit of a tit.

Its not Thomanns fault,If you want a Harley benton you will have to bite the bullet and play the game.no one wants to pay more and no one likes change.
I’m now retired and just got my last Harley.Total of 4 now.The top liners and the big heavy stuff all gone.The only one I play to now is the wife and the cat.There are more positives than Negatives in Brexet.Look at the bigger picture.If you can’t?then there’s plenty shops in the UK.

None of this is Thomann’s fault. In fact, we should all respect them for continuing to sell into the UK when many other European companies have given up.

Don’t moan. Find some of the 52% living locally and try to explain to them what mind-numbing idiots they are.

If any of us Brits turn up in Treppendorf and buy in your shop – will we be charged VAT etc

I have just received my second item priced at over £135 (net).
Consistences in both purchases are:

1. Net price on Thomann website + 22% + £11.50 “UPS Brokerage”.
2. Delivered in one week (which was my experience before Brexit).
3. Total cost still comes in less than UK suppliers, who are often out of stock.

For these reasons I will be sticking with Thomann for now.

Thanks to those who have shared their experiences and broken down the actual charges for their purchases since January. I had been trying to pin down actual costings from Thomann for an item priced below £135 (net). Hopefully their stated aim of getting a ‘door-to-door’ price for UK buyers will materialise soon.
I think I’ll hold off from making any further purchases until this is formed up.

Thought I would provide update on recent purchase of HB Big Tone. Item purchased online on Friday 19th March for £211. Fully aware of additional UK charges as per site info. Guitar was despatched on Tuesday 23rd and collected by UPS. All the way through UPS site kept me updated with progress of guitar on their tracking system. I received the guitar today, 29th March in England, a day earlier than previously advised. Full cost breakdown advised by UPS several days before delivery, 20% VAT, import fee and UPS charge £11.50. (Import cost £7.71) Total cost of charges £62.71, almost exactly as expected. Total cost of guitar £273.71. (Guitar price before brexit was £269 for UK) Hardly any real difference and service from Thomann and UPS excellent! I haven’t played guitar yet as it’s a Birthday present but I was allowed to check it over briefly and it looks lovely!

It’s been a couple months since this post.

Any progress on adding an all inclusive delivery + VAT price on the website yet for anything above £135? Having to deal with couriers is a no for me.

This “because of Brexit you deserve to pay for it now” thread is hilarious. I didn’t vote for Brexit, but, after seeing some of the quite nasty comments allowed on here I now wish I had voted for Brexit.

And as for Thomanns being so great, I have used them for a cheap deal before on speakers ONCE and when they arrived , one of the inside boxes had pressure dents like it was dropped, not the shipping box but one of the speaker boxes, and now, I have a faulty speaker with a loose connection internally, which are now faulty within the 3 yrs warranty and would have to pay over £100 for RTB under warranty to get a £10 fix by bob down the road to resolder the dodgy connection back on what was obviously B stock sold to me as new.

As for local UK shops ripping us local uk musicians off, then you haven’t really spoken to the local guys properly then have you, or bothered to talk to them like real people, because using local shops is more than just getting a cheap chinese deal, it’s about buying from real musicians and not just a company and sometimes that is whats needed, real hands on, chatting, getting real info from real people who use it all themselves too, and who join in with you, end up being mates, followers, even your own customers if like me you have a semi-pro studio that depends on the skills of local muso shops, engineers and hands-on showrooms.

what a farce, I can see now why some people did vote for Brexit after getting some idea of the hate… sad isn’t it that Brexit has shown some people up for what they are?

cant we all just get on, sort it out and work it out, because quite frankly if y’all con’t be bothered to do that, then why be so bothered about being part of one so called EU family if there was so much intra hate anyways….

what a sad farce…

I will see what Thomanns sort out by registering as a legal VAT entity before buying any more cheapo deal from them, if they don’t then there are other EU companies or Amazon, eBay (they kept it going properly) that already have registered just like we have to register for US royalties (like the W8-BEN) so the supply chain is still there for pro & semi-pro and even just local musos, and the costs are up-front and fully disclosed rather than a nasty surprise penalty (for leaving the EU) that some customers of Thomanns have received.

Either way, local knowledge and face to face is always best anyway I have found for new gear & kit – WHEREVER YOU ARE – and it’s great to be sociable & friendly, unlike on this comment thread…. hahah

And for allowing such a thread and some of the comments, I don’t think I want to buy from Thomanns any more to be honest, I don’t give a damn about cheap if that means quality of service is either crap (because we’re not in the EU anymore) or if good service is now reluctantly given (also just because we are no longer in the EU), because that’s really not how to win any custom or respect is it?

This is the end beautiful friend, sadly. I see no reason to incur excessive post sales charges, goodbye and, ‘thanks for all the fish’… 🙁

I learned an important lesson today, so please read if you want to know about brokerage fees.

My latest order from Thomann led to UPS wanting £109.35 from me in brokerage fees (on top of the VAT and duty). Obviously this was crazy, so I chased it with them. It’s worth mentioning that trying to speak to someone was like getting blood from a stone; I only got a response because someone on Facebook gave me a manager’s email address to contact directly.

The reason it was so high is because UPS add a surcharge for ‘complex orders’. Each item you order from Thomann has a UK commodity code attached to it – they’re super-specific codes for determining VAT. An example would be 82041100, for a “non-adjustable, hand-operated spanner or wrench, made in whole or in part from base metal, individually packaged”. I ordered a bunch of things that were all different commodity codes – 24 codes in total. UPS charge £5.15, per code, for any order with more than 5 codes. 19 additional codes gave me £97.85 extra to pay.

None of this is at all transparent from UPS; it’s not displayed on their website, and is buried on page 52 of their 387-page service and tariff guide. You also won’t routinely be provided with an invoice that shows commodity codes – I had to get this especially.

What this means is that if you buy 300 XLR cables, or twenty different guitars, your invoice will only have one commodity code on it. If, however, you were to buy strings, a string retainer, bridge pins, a tuning fork and a peg winder, you’d have five different commodity codes. Add in some plectrums, and UPS will charge you £5.15 for having more than 5 codes, even though your order barely adds up to £10 in total.

If, like me, you tend to save your Thomann orders up and get a bunch of stuff all at once, you’d be better splitting it into different orders where possible.

Very interesting post. This could explain some of the other comments made by UK buyers, that they seemed to have excessive courier costs associated with their recent orders. Like you say, it seems to be neither straightforward, or transparent practice from UPS, although I appreciate the rules may well be complex.
So, if a purchaser is making small, diverse purchases from Thomann (or presumably from other EU sllers), it is likely – based upon different commodity codes- that they will like get ‘reamed’ by these extra costings.

Super super helpful and insightful! Thank you.

I found some general info on the new UK rules here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/postage-delivery/changing-delivery-address-method/international-purchases-postage?id=4057

I apologise if someone’s already mentioned the Global Shipping Programme but it sounds like it would be a good move for Thomann if it doesn’t cost too much to join.

Ordered some sound stuff a while back before all of the brexit stuff happened. Hoping to order again to keep Thomann in business but nervous of all the changes. I for one am still wishing we were in the EU. Boris is a nugget who has no clue what he is doing. Much love from Scotland an #leavealightonforscotland

Come on Thomann. Please register for UK VAT.
You’re excellent at what you do and, that has to remain an international option.
Final cost at checkout.
It’s UPS charging whatever the hell they want that really grips my you know what! Opportunistic I’d say…
Shall we also plug all the latent racism?! The obvious segway to directly criticise all UK customers?! Get a grip!
Boris is undoubtably a spanner! Then again, Merkle doesn’t seem overly reliable! Do any of them?
Since when RECENTLY has voting for anything ever resulted in much good? It only results in the result the leaders want!
This shouldn’t be political. It’s financial.
I’ve purchased a number of pairs of ON Running shoes from outside the UK. They now seem to have mastered it (paperwork etc) Total price charged at end of transaction.
Come on Thomann. Expedite the process. It’s within your gift.
Thank you all.
No hate…

Dear Thomann,

You don’t have to set up shop next to Koko in Camden. None of your UK customers bought from you last year because you had a centrally located fancy dan store. They bought from you because of your internet presence and because you were often the cheapest. That would continue to be the same if you registered in some British village backwater and still sold via the internet at cheap prices (without any hidden costs and extra faff). At the end of the day, Thomann is a good brand name.

As others have said, Brexit is what it is. If you want UK custom as I imagine you do, think outside the box a little. The solution is easier than you think. Lots of others have. Don’t let them steal a march.

I considered buying a Roland TD-17KVX off you earlier this year as you were still the cheapest even taking the VAT into the consideration. But I simply refuse to deal with any extra faff with couriers, so I went with a UK vendor instead.

Here to help.

It would be quite funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

I wonder how many of the British buyers that are moaning about all the extra ‘faff’ actually voted to leave The EU? Quite a few i suspect.

Did they ever hear about turkeys voting for Christmas?

Unfortunately, things are now as they – thanks to the 17 million ‘leave voters’ that shafted the 16 million of us that wanted to remain with our European family in The EU.

Apart from Brexit…I found that UPS sucks big time. I bought a microphone from Hong Kong and the seller didn’t disclose the price so I was severely gouged £££ by UPS for my trouble.. almost the value of the item. Even though UPS knew the real price and real shipping price, from their shipping manifest. It is/was a real rip off.

This is the nub of the issue – if the UPS charges were transparent and reasonble there wouldn’t be too much of a problem. They charged me £55.00 VAT on £145.00 worth of goods, with no itemised explanation. The only possible way to get to £55.00 VAT on a £145.00 order would be for shipping and insurance charges adding to the ‘Landed Value’ of the items, but that would mean shipping and insurance at well over £110.00 – not very plausible. Admin and duty took the whole UPS bill to £68.00 – heading towards 50% of the value of the items.

Brexit has just moved when and where the VAT is collected; customers being stiched up by UPS is the real problem.

This is no longer about Brexit ,(stupid word), this has happened and it is what it is.
It is now up to individual companies to adapt and respond to the present situation for themselves and their global customer base.
Get a wiggle on Thomann!.

Absolutely: If you want ALL your UK customer base back then (Thomann) please get the door-to-door pricing in place that you have indicated is in progress. I would then look forward to ordering again from you.

All the difficulties that are present in the world … are absurd, of course I hope that all of this will change soon … Regards

Just goes to show how many British people that had no idea how Brexit would affect them on a personal level.
At least we got our 350m for the NHS though ;o)

No problems still ordering from Thomann to UK, still works out cheaper, great service as always, keep up the great work

I am going to have to just pay the ferryman and still use this site. No shops or online sites have half the stock i am looking for. I mean what kind of drum shop has 1 ahead tip in stock? I need my music gear to complete writing songs about how much i hate Cameron and Boris J. It’s not your fault Thomann and keep up the great work

I can’t believe how many Brexity idiots are leaving stupid comments about Vaccines Spitfires, Stone Henge Lady Di and fuck knows what else.

The Referendum has fucked us up not Thomann.
An honest and fair company. We chose this.

I will continue to order from and trust Thomann

Hi i order the zen go at thoman uk its say it’s s available when i paid for it .suddenly its being ship from Germany with ups and they are asking for 86 gbp for shipping when it clearly said free shipping in uk .and it’s been a week my package still not deliver. I will never by anything from thoman again and the weight of the package suddenly change in the shipping process.

i order the zen go at thoman uk its say it’s s available when i paid for it .suddenly its being ship from Germany with ups and they are asking for 86 gbp for shipping when it clearly said free shipping in uk .and it’s been a week my package still not deliver. I will never by anything from thoman again and the weight of the package suddenly change in the shipping process.

What a total embarrassment it is to be British, I know no musician who voted for Brexit! we are a laughing stock.

Thomann are the best, now this has prevented me ordering anything else. What an utter nightmare, end of an era.

Thank you for all your help over the years. UK is a sh..hole.

Maybe just leave the UK if you hate it and democracy so much.

But don’t go to France – a majority there want Frexit now.

I think Germany still loves the empire – until they have to pay the trillion TARGET2 debt…

This is obviously a complex set off problems, which were obvious and predicted, and which those ignorant fools who voted for brexit chose to ignore. Their stupidity is breathtaking and embarrasing. Congratulations on “taking back control”. Who’s laughing now?

If UPS were to be transparent and consistent about their import duty paperwork handling charges, then at least they could be incorporated into the thomann website for price comparison purposes, and possibly even collected and passed on to UPS to streamline the whole purchase experience. Seems unlikely to happen any time soon…
Another solution would be for thomann to open a shop or warehouse in the UK. Seems unlikely to happen anytime soon…
The third and final solution would be for the UK to rejoin the European Union. Seems unlikely to happen anytime soon…
What a sorry mess. Thanks, Mr Cameron. Thanks, Mr Johnson. Thanks, millions of obtuse, racist fuckwits.

Time to leave GB SHIT HOLE. This Country is a joke.

Please do, fuck off and don’t come back – I hear Syria are looking for sheep like you. Your are an embarrassment to your Grandparents who I imagine fought for our country and secured your freedom. Look at the state of your Labour Party, how proud you must be. You and all the other leftist tits in this thread are the laughing stock crying over a bloody shopping site – is this really the sum total of what is important to you and your miserable little lives. PMSL.

Thank god I voted for Brexit!

Careful who you thank.
God would have voted remain.
One people.
No tariffs.

Hi I look forward to you openning a store in the Barras. Or Scotland gets back in the EU through getting independence. I love our service and products, which are geart value and quality. Brothers and sisters of Europe keep the light on for the musicians of Scotland. We’ll be back shortly.

“Or Scotland gets back in the EU through getting independence.”

Hilarious that you can’t see the irony in that statement, but the best of luck to you pal – you’re gonna need it if Jimmy Krankie gets her way.

Just imported a b-stock bass for £280. UPS charged £11.50 as expected and the import duty was £5.70. All fine so far. However, on top of that was a whopping £74.91 in import VAT, in other words 27% the cost of the bass! I thought VAT was 20%. I’m currently trying to find out from HMRC where the additional 7% has come from. With the total of £91 in import charges, my bass has cost me £371 in total. I had expected an additional £75 import charge total (max).

Zeer efficiënt geschreven informatie. Het is gunstig voor iedereen die het gebruikt, ook voor mij. Ga zo door. Ik zal zeker meer berichten bekijken. Deze site lijkt veel bezoekers te trekken.

Look at the evidence –
In 2021 it became more difficult for UK musicians to buy from Thomann.
In 2021 we got no points at the Eurovision Song Contest!
There must be a connection.

Stop blaming Brexit! We’re done with it. Whether or not you voted for it, it’s been implemented. Live with it or go away!
I was attracted by the low price of an item by Thomann, but it was the 3 year warranty which swung it for me. However I never buy ANYTHING unless I know what the final cost will be. And despite following up on UPS’ confusing information pages, I’m still none-the-wiser.
It sounds like Thomann will lose business as they’re not adapting enough to provide simple purchase option with clear pricing. I don’t mind paying VAT to the courier, and can somewhat tolerate a broking fee as long as I know how much it is. But if it’s unlimited then this is not acceptable.

Unfortunately in my case I cannot do business with a company that doesn’t provide transparency. Unless these fees are created through some kind of random system, they must be determined and written somewhere. I simply want to know where and how much in the case of what I’m buying. However, I’m not prepared to take the massive risk in purchasing from outside UK, unless I know for sure the savings and 3 year warranty will be worth it. Sorry Thomann

I would like to point out a couple of things for the less informed people reading this who aren’t up to speed with British politics:

1. The anti-British, pro EU people you see in this discussion were the main driving force for why the Uk voted LEAVE. These people heaped so much hatred onto ordinary British working-class people over a 4-5 year period that it drove the majority to vote LEAVE.

2. These same people have also caused the complete collapse of the Labour party in the Uk which they have turned into a new party who’s primary enemy is the working classes of the nation – exactly the very people the Labour Party was established to serve.

So give yourselves a round of applause.

Now on to your wonderful EU, part of who’s remit is to prevent monopolies and restrictive trade practices apparently.

You’ll be pleased to learn the EU has waved through or not challenged a major change to music gear retailing by the world largest music-tech manufacturing group which will see the death of every smaller independent music-tech retailer across the entire EU over the next 12 months.

I got caught by the change in early Jan 2021. I ordered a bass guitar. Nowhere at checkout did it alert me to the fact that VAT was NOT included in the price and would have to be paid by the customer on import + courier handling fees. This made the instrument about the same price as those sold in the UK but with the delays and further payment demands, added an extra hurdle in the whole process. Sadly, having been a customer of Thomann for years, it’s unlikely I’ll be buying from you particularly for high value items. Shame.

What makes people think Thomann cares about losing UK business. Their UK business is probably insignificant compared to their EU and rest of the world business. I think we need to get real, face it, we’re not worth the hassle!

I like others am disappointed in the situation, yes UPS are ripping us off but only recently, not like the UK retailers who have been ripping us off since the start of time, that’s what we should really be complaining about!

So a £163 order has just arrived and the driver said i owed £94. How the hell is that correct? Ive refused the order and have contacted my credit card company about a refund. Im sorry but i cannot afford that cost and if i had been aware of that, i simply would have bought he guitar from amazon. Its absolutly disgusting. Ive tried contact Thomman, but its a bank holiday in German.

I can work out what 20% VAT looks like, but I’m not prepared to use Thomann any more with this ridiculously ambiguous “minimum £11.50 handling charge” nonsense allowing UPS to add an unspecified amount to the cost of an item.

If I purchase anything I want to know exactly what it’s going to cost me upfront.

Go Little Britain!

I truly get that this situation is one created by the UK. All the worse then that most of us Scots did not want to leave the EU.

I have just gone ahead and bought some kit from Thomann without being fully aware of the changed situation (my bad), so have ended up paying 9% more than from an alternative supplier based in UK. “Minimum brokerage charges” plus “2.5% additional Government charges” ?*!

I feel that Thomann has a way to go in being more transparent in these additional charges as I don’t think it’s enough to have a sales page that says free delivery, but the small print on extra charges is hidden away on a news page and you only get a hint of this after the order has gone through.

Just got to wonder how the UK sites can do it – after all the kit I bought is not made in UK….

So what’s the answer? I chose Thomann as my supplier based on good service to date – and you still have to appreciate the 3 year warranty, but for an additional 9% I will need to think again for my next order – that’s the reality.

I placed a bass guitar and some other bits after the Brexit nonsense. I ended up paying an extra 27% for VAT and UPS great van robbery fees. So bear that in mind before placing your orders.

I didn’t like the bass and ended up returning it after a few days. Thomann were great as usual, the return from the UK to Germany was free and they refunded me pretty quickly after receiving the guitar back.

The problem is that our great British government has still not refunded the VAT I had to pay on the guitar ( about £120)

After several weeks and numerous emails to UPS who collected the VAT on behalf of BoJo the clown, I am finally now told that I have to submit a request to Customs and Duty to get my refund ???

I don’t know what form I am supposed to use and now I have to call Customs to try and find out how to get my money back.

This is such a hassle ! Returns used to be so easy ! I don’t know if I will be using Thomann again because of all these complications.

Mr Thomann, do us a favour and open a shop somewhere in the UK please, so we, UK customers can have an easy life again and do away with all this nonsense !

This is useful:

https://cigilovic.com/buying-from-thomann-in-uk-brexit/

So, the website states a price, it takes my money, then after paying, the invoice you email me states there will be added charges.

UPS turn up on the door demanding an extra 23.5% in various charges (including tax). I immediately think this is a con and refuse to pay.

After speaking to the helpline, Brexit is blamed for it…Now however much I detest the Brexit/UK government, I dont think the website is being upfront about what it will cost to purchase goods when paying at the checkout..

I chose to buy from Thomann as you were cheaper than a UK company for the same product.
I will think very carefully in future whether I can trust the website again.

‘Coming home’ is an England reference not a UK one.

Independence now! ???????

The new system worked!
I just bought a griego alessi 1C trombone mouthpiece (couldn’t find anywhere in uk) and the all inclusive price was even cheaper than a secondhand one from America! (on which i would have had the familiar problems with customs vat and postage) I ordered on Friday 9th July and it arrived Thursday 15th July – No extra costs! just the advertised price!
Excellent service! Thank you to all at Thomann First class!

Boy it’s almost like you could have just applied for UK VAT all along and avoided losing customers.

It wasn’t the vat that caused all the problems (that rate stayed the same and was easy to work out, and we knew we had to pay it!) It was the addition of customs (another stealth tax by the UK government) agents fees and the cost of the additional red tape to the hauliers, but that’s what we in the UK voted for when we took the decision to leave the previous trading agreements. It was our choice, and we all knew what we were voting for (so we are constantly told!) thank goodness Deutsche Post set up a subsidiary company (UK Mail) to help simplify matters. (I wonder if they could set up a subsidiary government, as the rabid clique we have at the moment are making a right johnson of things!)

What a precious little island we’ve become! We in the UK created all the additional barriers to our own trading abilities, and now We expect others (in this case Thomann) to solve all our problems for us! Its just like shooting ourselves in the foot, complaining that it hurts and having the cheek to blame someone else! whilst expecting them to put the situation right! I for one am grateful that Thomann have gone the extra mile to help us, they could, like many other companies just have stopped shipping to the UK (given the market share available over here) Das wir immer noch Freunde haben bedeutet uns sehr viel. Danke Thomann!

This is one small step for Thomann – one giant sigh of relief from us!

ATTENTION ALL ups VICTIMS
I am shaking with excitement at the news that Thomann have largely dumped the atrocious ups and found a new courier and reverted to their old system of payment and delivery.
I’m sure I can’t be alone in suffering, as a Thomann fan and customer, at the hands of the unbelievable behaviour of ups. Go to https://www.complaintsdepartment.co.uk/ups-uk/ and read the comments there.
My story.
I made an order to Thomann in late December, 2020. Unfortunately the order didn’t get processed until the new year. When the package arrived I rejected it on the grounds of the ups’ outrageous charges (complex entry for example ha ha). Delivery man totally understood and took the package back.
Three weeks later I was woken up by a ring at the door. Opened up to see a package package on the front step, delivery man slinking off (could see nothing to say it was a ups man).Once I collected myself, it turned out to be the package return to Thomann three weeks earlier. Subsequently ups claimed (not to me) that this constituted a delivery and an acceptance by me of the package.
Spent hours and hours on the telephone and writing emails to various ups contact addresses and phone numbers to discuss this “ambush”. I received nearly no response on any level from them.
On 17th March I paid the VAT and duty due into ups’ hsbc bank account, having still had no response to my approaches. Receipt demanded, none given.
7th July I was contacted by a debt collection company demanding effectively the full amount of the disputed invoice. It wasn’t exactly the amount??!!??, a bit less.??!!??, but clearly not allowing that I had paid them the VAT and the duty.
My dispute with ups is that they did not show due care in returning the package to me and ignoring my instruction to return the package to Thomann. But who would alone pursue a contested invoice worth c£35, with a company that refuses to address the situation? Anyway, this is not about the money, it is about a multi-national company just riding roughshod over individuals and showing zero respect. This is how the world is going.
My situation now is that the invoice has been passed to the debt company.
Has anyone else had similar or relative problems with ups?
Just to finish, and in part a postscript to my last paragraph, Thomann were fantastic. What else can I say? They were faced with a situation, not of their making, ridiculously sent into our lives by our government, at very late notice and without being properly organised and they dealt with it splendidly in all aspects. Communication, help, practicalities, communication again etc. Compare this to ups.
Thank you Thomann.

Delivery tracking seems to only start after the parcel gets to a UK depot. So don’t worry if you hear nothing for a few days. (a small thing – but it’s good to know what to expect).

Otherwise it just works ?

Thankyou Thomann staff!

Yes my order about six weeks ago took 5 days from processing to arriving in UK and then the tracking started. There is a ‘countdown’ of deliveries until it gets to you. No extra charges. No problems.

£250 charge for “paperwork”……. Seriously.

was just about to place an order for a guitar and then an amp later if service was good.
just read the confusing long winded waffle about customs charges and courier admin charges.
so unfortunately its a big goodbye from me