As I've continued my search for a possible instrument to begin my adventures on the Concertina, I can't help but notice that most of the used instruments are found "across the pond" over in Great Britain. Man, you Brits have all the luck

Are there any additional costs (other than greater shipping costs) that I should factor into my deliberations when considering an instrument from outside the U.S.? Will I have to pay duty? What is the process? Does the package have to go through customs, and if so, how is that worked out? Any other warnings or caveats that I should know about when conducting an overseas transaction?

Thanks for your responses!

Bill Erickson

Lisa and I recently transacted intercontinental commerce (well there's no law against it), it was easy from my end to ship Fedex and I am sure Lisa can fill in the blanks about US Customs and any import duty.

Well, the exchange rate is horrible right now (from the USA), but other than that, I've had no problems in several trans-Atlantic transactions, concertina-related and other. The international postal system gets things here just fine, and the customs process (whatever it is) has always been invisible to me. Now, I've got a Crane Duet coming from Barleycorn as we speak, so I hope this pattern holds.

One issue which has come up from time to time has been payment. While most commercial dealers in the UK will accept a wire transfer, American banks tend to be a bit less techno-savvy than Euro ones, and at least outside major cities, I've found this to be a serious pain. Further complicating matters is that most small businesses, like musical instrument makers and dealers, find credit card service and setup fees to be onerous. One alternative that I've used happily is www.cashbycourier.com. This is a Canadian service that will send you a bank check in quite a few foreign currencies by overnight mail. Of course, you pay for it, but I've found them reasonable (more than a VISA, but less than Thomas Cook or American Express). The convenience of next-day delivery is nice, and they're sticklers for credit card accuracy and fraud prevention. I've got no relationship to this company other than as a satisfied customer.

Good luck,

Tim Hall

When I bought the button accordion from Lester he sent it Fed-Ex overnight, which was a great idea. That way the instrument wasn't banging around in transit for 10 days. A week after it arrived Fed-Ex sent me a bill for somewhere around $35 for duty. Fairly painless and WELL worth it!

One other cost you'll want to keep in mind is the cost of the financial transaction. A few options were given above, but keep in mind that an international wire transfer will probably cost something on the order of $40. When I bought my concertina (from Australia), my credit union could not do the transfer in Aussie dollars, so I went to another major bank where I have an account, and they had no problem with it. Therefore, I think larger institutions are probably a better bet, because they have processes in place for this sort of thing.

Good luck, and I hope you get a great concertina and love playing it!


Steven