Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Just got an e mail from a shop down south in England giving me the price of a MG C64. £2299UK.
I'm actually speechless.

Yep. the UK is expensive. Better off having one shipped from the USA.

I know. How ridiculous a situation is that!?!

whoa! sorry man

This translates to $4,179. Now, if you buy directly from a US dealer, that's about $1,900 street price, plus, say, $300 for shipping, plus 17% VAT = $2,574. What am I doing wrong here? Where did the extra $1,605 come from?

profit?

Jag-u-ar?

If you think thats bad, try www.rickenbacker-asia.com, an MG c64 goes for 360,000 yen, which in my currency is about.. 4000+ (singapore dollars) and 3,408 USD minus shipping. Damn horrifying..there's a general lack of Ricks in my region, especially Singapore. I've got the only 4003 i know! suits me fine actually.

Jared: $1,605 profit on a $1,900 bass, that's 84%! and it sure doesn't cost the dealer $1,900. Something is very wrong here. If you can import your own bass and save over $1,600, I can't see why anyone would want to buy from the UK dealer.

I'd hate to think what a C64 would cost in Israel...well, most likely not as high as in the UK but also not USA prices. Although, have not seen C64's for sale here. Am I correct on the price issue, Ilan?

I THINK US dealers cannot ship outside N.America.

Could be wrong but there must be a licensing agreement somewhere.

Ilan-84%. You are practically buying 2 basses there. I only wish I WAS going to get two if I was going to part with that amount of cash!
However, it does look as if I have it slightly easier than anyone in Asia!
If it was possible, getting one from the US would be the only way to go. However, I'm a wee bit wary of the horror stories I've seen on other threads about instruments arriving in bits (and that's just WITHIN the US!!).
There must be a way of bypassing the UK dealers when buying new.....but how....
Anyone else know about any possible licensing agreement that Jared spoke of?

Rory, try contacting them and see what their overseas policy is. I know NCM are great but not sure if they ship abroad. Mike Parks maybe or Pick of the Ricks.

Besides this point, the C64 MG is amazing.

Hope it works out for you

Thanks marc, something always comes along.

Rory, I would keep my eye on Ebay.If not, one of us American residents guys will have to step up, purchase the bass and ship it to you.

As far as I am aware, the only way of getting a new Ric in the UK is via Rosetti,who are the sole importers/dealers of Rics over here.

There is a policy that US dealers can't ship new Rics or Ric parts to the UK.

I enquired at Mike Parks about some spares, because the US prices are so much cheaper and he e-mailed me saying sorry, but new Rics or parts can't be shipped to the UK.

As an example a replacement nut from Rosetti is £8.50....that's $15.6165!

This is not just a Rickenbacker thing....all guitars and parts are very expensive here...as well as other goods.