PSA: STEWMAX now available in the UK

Jimbro66

I've bought things from StewMac on a number of occasions but probably would have bought a lot more if their UK shipping charges were not so high. I just had an email today to say that the StewMax scheme is being extended to UK customers which means discounts on many items and no shipping charges. What the latter actually means is yet to be verified. So far the system has been pay a slightly higher than UK postage rate to get your StewMac product in about a month or pay an exorbitant charge to get it in several days. We'll see which is free under the StewMax scheme.

Nothing is really for free so joining StewMax costs $39.95 p/a, which doesn't make it viable for occasional small purchases but could be worthwhile for UK customers making larger or more regular purchases.

JD50

Kinda like Amazon prime then.... do they sell via Amazon?

Kalimna

Would this be the sort of thing a group buy might be helpful with?

gavin_axecaster

It's pretty much 2 orders - most stuff I've ordered has cost around $20 to ship and I've always selected the cheapest method.

Certainly worth it if you order a few times a year - especially as it includes free returns.

FelineGuitars

I think it is to inspire a flow of smaller orders rather than saving up for one killer order once a year

finest1

I saw this the other day ( I have never bought from them) when you have placed and received your orders have you ever had to pay extra customs charges?

Kalimna

Yes, and you should budget for those charges. I dont recall what those charges amount too, however.

Adam

Whistler

I find there is a limit, somewhere around £40, below which it seems that customs do not get charged, maybe because it would cost more than HMRC would earn. The customs charge is VAT, 20%, plus a flat fee for doing the customs work, from memory it is something like £4.50, and then there is the courier fee from the customs depot to you. In my mind I add 25% to the invoice price and I am then rarely surprised by the final price I have to pay.

gavin_axecaster

Anything imported through the mail with a value over £15 (including shipping) is subject to duty and VAT. If the duty that would be collected is below a certain amount (iirc £7) HMRC waive it, however the VAT is always collected assuming the parcel gets flagged (sometimes they can slip through)

Assuming they use USPS as the shipping then it will be delivered by Royal Mail. Royal Mail charge £8 or £13 admin for collecting the VAT/customs charges.

But all the above is true even if you don't pay for the service.

Assuming the Spanish distributor doesn't carry what you need and assuming you order 3+ times a year it's got to be worth it.

I wonder if they'll ship all the heavy machinery for free too?

TheOtherDennis

My experience of StewMac is mixed.

I bought a dreadnought kit with a bolt on neck and rosewood back and sides a few years ago. It was excellent. I completed it and it is my main acoustic, it sounds great and plays really well.

Having some spare cash and an inexplicable hankering to go through it all again, I bought another one, this time a bolt-on neck OM kit with walnut back and sides, which was advertised as a "master craftsman" kit. It certainly didn't appear it when it arrived.

To show this has not been entirely their fault, I somehow managed to get to the part where I glued the back on before I noticed that the two sides had not been cut evenly and left a sizeable gap between sides and the back at the neck end.

However, 600 quid for the kit (after the discount), 65 for transport and 156 for import duty seemed a lot of money for something that wasn't put together properly. Besides the uneven cutting, the sides and back showed some pretty hefty water marks.

To be fair to them, they not only offered to replace the sides, they offered to send some replacement kerfling, a new back, a new neck block and a new end block, as well as replacement back braces, way more parts than the necessary replacements.

So it seems a bit churlish of me to complain that when they sent the replacement parts for free, I still had to pay another 33 quid duty on them (not their fault, it's our customs office that did that), and they forgot to include the back braces.

Nevertheless, possibly because my mood is being affected by antibiotics for an abscess on a tooth, I'm not happy at a total of over £850 for a kit that isn't quite there. I could get a Taylor 114 for that, and I wouldn't have to build the fucker myself.

Having said that, Aaron at StewMac has been unfailingly polite and patient at every turn.

Oh, and their packaging is a lot better for the environment than most of the stuff that gets sent in this country - StewMac use cardboard boxes and all their protective stuff is crumpled up brown paper, which does just as good a job (imho) as any of the plastic that gets stuffed in these days.

So some good stuff, some bad, a definite attempt to compensate for the bad that didn't quite go as well as planned, and a lot more expensive than originally expected.

Probably doesn't help the OP much, I suppose, but it's what I've been through StewMac.

matone

gavin_axecaster said:

Anything imported through the mail with a value over £15 (including shipping) is subject to duty and VAT. If the duty that would be collected is below a certain amount (iirc £7) HMRC waive it, however the VAT is always collected assuming the parcel gets flagged (sometimes they can slip through)

Assuming they use USPS as the shipping then it will be delivered by Royal Mail. Royal Mail charge £8 or £13 admin for collecting the VAT/customs charges.

But all the above is true even if you don't pay for the service.

Assuming the Spanish distributor doesn't carry what you need and assuming you order 3+ times a year it's got to be worth it.

I wonder if they'll ship all the heavy machinery for free too?

It`s the Royal Mail fees that I think are the real ripoff,you`ve already paid to have it delivered!! That has stopped me making purchases from the US for quite some time now ,which is a shame.

TheOtherDennis

Update on my experience - StewMac have subsequently sent the replacement back braces, but DHL refuse to deliver them unless I pay them £3.95 in charges. StewMac have offered to reimburse these (as well as the £33 mentioned earlier) if I can get a receipt out of DHL, but all they'll provide me with is a payment number, so I'm down more money, time and effort.

So even when StewMac do their best to put things right, DHL fuck things over for them.

Personally, I'll never use StewMac again, no matter how nice and accommodating they've been because DHL and HMRC jump in and cock it all up, so no matter what happens I'm left feeling shafted.

NeilMcG

gavin_axecaster said:

Anything imported through the mail with a value over £15 (including shipping) is subject to duty and VAT. If the duty that would be collected is below a certain amount (iirc £7) HMRC waive it, however the VAT is always collected assuming the parcel gets flagged (sometimes they can slip through)

Assuming they use USPS as the shipping then it will be delivered by Royal Mail. Royal Mail charge £8 or £13 admin for collecting the VAT/customs charges.

But all the above is true even if you don't pay for the service.

Assuming the Spanish distributor doesn't carry what you need and assuming you order 3+ times a year it's got to be worth it.

I wonder if they'll ship all the heavy machinery for free too?

I want the little vice with the elongated jaws for doing nuts etc., but the shipping is ridiculously expensive due to the weight.

gavin_axecaster

Great vice - I picked one up off of here a while back.

Check when Madinter is getting stock in and see if the shipping will be less. At least there won't be any duty/tax to add.

https://www.madinter.com/en/stewmac-en/stewmac-nut-and-saddle-vise.html