Buying Direct from Spain
Are you considering ordering a guitar from a store or website based in Spain or anywhere outside of the U.S.? There are many reasons not to do this. Here are three:
1. You will not have a U.S. warranty. If you need any warranty work done on your guitar, you will have to send it back to the store that you bought it from. You will have to pay shipping both ways, plus customs duty to enter Spain, plus another duty to get it back to the U.S.
2. There will be additional charges beyond what the store in Spain will charge you. A customs duty of 8.75% plus 20% for the new tariffs will be billed to you by the U.S. government.
3. It could turn out to be a complete disaster. Please see the email below from a customer of XGuitars who tried to get warranty work for a guitar he bought directly from Spain.
Enticed by a low price and a 14 day return policy I ordered a Alhambra 7P from Barcelona. FedEx shipping cost me 130 Euros and the guitar arrived 12 days later. The instrument had an issue with the neck and I decided to return it.
I contacted the shop and got instructions for the return. I shipped it back at my expense. FedEx wanted $320! so I sent it Priority Mail Express for $156. It was held at Spanish Customs in Madrid for 18 days then without explanation it was sent back to me in California!
The post office said Spanish Customs “refused the import” but they didn’t know why. I contacted the shop in Barcelona, but they said there was nothing they could do.
Searching online for a possible solution I found numerous Expat discussions about major problems sending packages to Spain from the US whether thru USPS, Fedex, DHL etc.
So now I’m out 2 expensive shipping fees and still stuck with a defective instrument.
So, I’d say don’t buy a guitar from Spain unless you are willing to go over there yourself and check it out first.
-D. Atlas"