webasto ebay prices
I have noticed that vendors from Germany and Britain are advertising
webasto heaters (eg. air top 3900) for about 1/3 the price of that in the
US. Import duty on these is only about 3% so I don't understand the huge
difference in price. For example an air top 3900 with all the things
required for installation is about $1300 with free shipping. The equivalent
package in the U.S is close to $3,000.
Has anyone on this list ever purchased a Webasto heater from a non U.S.
ebay store or does anyone understand the price difference?
Richard P.
Perhaps??? Due to the drop in the Euro vs. the USD the past months?
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=EUR&to=USD&view=2Y
Down to $1.11 at last close. . .
-al-
Viking Star
45' Monk Sr. / McQueen
mvVikingStar.blogspot.com
I don't know anything about Webasto in particular. In many cases, imported goods come through a single importer/distributor into the US with exclusive rights. Such a distributor sets his own pricing, depending on the market and competition in the US. The internet may endanger such exclusive distribution deals. I love the internet.
Mark Richter
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 25, 2015, at 6:37 PM, Richard E Packard wrote:
I have noticed that vendors from Germany and Britain are advertising
webasto heaters (eg. air top 3900) for about 1/3 the price of that in the
US. Import duty on these is only about 3% so I don't understand the huge
difference in price. For example an air top 3900 with all the things
required for installation is about $1300 with free shipping. The equivalent
package in the U.S is close to $3,000.
Has anyone on this list ever purchased a Webasto heater from a non U.S.
ebay store or does anyone understand the price difference?
There's also a very real issue as to whether the warranty (if one
exists) will be honored in the US for good purchased out of the US. If
you have to rely on a US importer (and it's network of dealers) for
warranty service, you may find that they won't provide the service you
need when there's a problem.
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Web: http://cruising.mvsanderling.net/
On 1/25/2015 9:10 PM, Mark Richter via Trawlers-and-Trawlering wrote:
I don't know anything about Webasto in particular. In many cases, imported goods come through a single importer/distributor into the US with exclusive rights. Such a distributor sets his own pricing, depending on the market and competition in the US. The internet may endanger such exclusive distribution deals. I love the internet.
Mark Richter
On 26/01/2015 03:48, Bob McLeran via Trawlers-and-Trawlering wrote:
There's also a very real issue as to whether the warranty (if one
exists) will be honored in the US
A $1600 plus price differential buys a lot of spares.
P.
I have some direct experience on this issue.
I purchased items for LeeZe’s new construction stateside even though they are available locally.
Two items failed during warranty.
Local distributor was reluctant to touch them even though warranty was “world-wide.”
Got the manufacturer invalided and resolved.
With a webasto, warranty gets interesting. While it may be a world wide warranty , there could be a lot finger pointing as to why it failed if the installation was done by you.
Even if you pull the part and send it back, they “could” say the cause of failure was your improper installation.
So, for my Nav system, SIMRAD Turkey installed it all and mage it all work, even with the ICOM radios I supplied.
The ONE time I needed them (knock on wood) there was no finger pointing. They admitted then blew it and came to fix it, even though I was hundreds of kilometers away.
The trip charge, was waived (normally never covered by a warranty) because I noted that had they had a proper test plan, this problem would have popped.
As for buying something stateside from Europe, be sure to research the duties and fees, and if an agent is required to handle the shipment. These fees could eat away at the savings.
Lastly, heating units are on MANY boats here, and my unit from Finland is on tens of thousands of boats there. Europe has been slowly chipping away as exclusive distributors and in this case, if a distributor in Germany has a higher price than the one next store, a simple boat ride resolves that issue.
Lastly, make sure you are comparing like-to-like. Products exported to the US where there is not much support (example), may have included within them higher quality parts. Some of my Victron power supplies are the models they ship to the USA. I know this because the part numbers the local Victron had were slightly different, and in resolving those differences, come to learn they were “euro-spec” parts. The USA parts were SLIGHTLY more expensive and required a direct shipment from Holland into the yard.
Lee
Çanakkale, Turkey