 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kentlarinet
Date: 2011-05-19 17:29
It's more of an economical question, but I was wondering why clarinets in other countries (ex: Japan) are more expensive than in the United States? Are all countries importing clarinets from a factory at a same fixed price? If it isn't, I'm also wondering if the qualities of the instrument are the same too just for a business practice.
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2011-05-19 20:13
I would imagine that the base price of a clarinet is the same for all importers. However, the shipping fees, customs fees, and operating overhead of the importing company will all vary by location. Since all of these get rolled into the selling price of products they acount for a good portion of the price difference.
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Author: jasperbay
Date: 2011-05-19 22:21
TAXES !!! Import Duties, Tariffs, Value Added Tax, etc. All those cute anti-free-trade revenue enhancers that protect your native 'cottage industries', and employ ever more government 'workers' for your Socialist Utopia.
Don't worry, big-government Stateism is making big strides in the US, so we'll be paying more for everything real soon, and 'leveling the playing field'!! YeeeHaww
Clark G. Sherwood
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2011-05-19 22:42
I have it on well informed sources that a lot of manufacturers (namely those that forbid grey imports or cross-border business) aim at a consumer-price-index adjusted suggested retail price, eg a clarinet model XYZ should cost as much as say 200 hamburgers, wherever you are.
This is not about "equal treatment" but rather skimming the consumer surplus (the delta between actual and "maximum bid" price). That's why eg Yamaha does not allow out-of-country buyers to buy their instruments at WWBW's.
And that's why their instruments cost twice as much here as they cost in the USA. This has nothing to do with taxes and duties, or free trade. No stateism involved here. It's only the manufacturer, and no one else. Capitalism at work.
--
Ben
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2011-05-20 05:12
>> I would imagine that the base price of a clarinet is the same for all importers. <<
I don't know, but I imagine this is not correct. It's even likely that a big importer who buys a lot more instruments pays less per instrument. I know some importers nagotiate. Other factors are VAT, import taxes, importing fees, shipping, etc. Other factors that definitely have an effect are both reasonable and unreasonable decisions of the sellers regarding the price based on what they can do.
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2011-05-20 05:36
"Maybe because the value of the US dollar is in the toilet?"
Should have the opposite effect (make U.S. prices higher, not lower -- unless the yen is even further down the toilet).
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-05-21 04:25
True about the dollar, since it's so low our products cost less abroad and their products cost more here. It takes about $1.35 to buy something from Europe for what used to only cost about a dollar. I may have the amount wrong but you get the idea. All the other things are right, taxes, duties, tariffs and profit margin. Because there's so much competition in America you can pretty much get a new clarinet for about half the list price, at least forty percent off in most of the big stores today. The markup is hugh. A big store selling 1000 clarinets a year can be satisfied with a couple hundred dollars profit on each one but if a store only sells a dozen they may need to mark it up much more. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2011-05-22 12:47
The OP referred to Japan, so I guess my two yen might shed some light...
[Sorry, but a lot of this sounds sarcastic, but I am just telling it like it is.]
One of the common things that musicians do in the US is to buy a brand new pro-model instrument that has almost never been played... and then send it to the repair shop for "set-up".
Often, "set-up" often includes changing many or all the pads and doing a bit of mechanical work to get the instrument playing really well.
This is not necessary in Japan because new instruments have a warranty for a year or more. This will cover anything that you want done- if you want to change to all fish skin or all leather, it is covered. If a pad leaks or a key clicks, that is covered, too.
Further, there is no real need for major "set-up" because the clarinets come to you in a much better state. This is regardless of new or used instruments. Basic things like having the pads seal are not one of the "finer points" of a wind instrument- it's step one- and the instruments sold here are not offered to customers in an unplayable state.
So I would say that there is not an "increase" in price in Japan as much as there is a "discount" in the US. Essentially, the money that you would spend for "set-up" is included in the price of the instrument and when you buy the instrument, you don't need to have any "set-up" repair.
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