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Why so expensive in Europe?

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    Why so expensive in Europe?

    I'm posting this here since I haven't found a better place. We all agree that the US is the best place for BBQ gear. But why are we Europeans ripped off so bad concerning pricing? Out of interest I looked up the Masterbuilt Gravity 560. On their website it's $499. All European webhops I checked had it for €799. At the current exchange rate that ads up to a whoopin' 880 Dollars! Is there a good and logical reason that I'm unaware of?
    Same thing happened when I bought my PBC: The official German distributor charged 599 Euros, nearly double the US price. I bought it in the Netherlands instead...

    #2
    My guess would be added shipping expenses along with taxes, duties, and brokerage fees. Many Canadians will have items delivered to shipping centres in the States along the border and cross over to pick them up. Even with the fee paid to the centre, they save a tidy sum than if it were delivered into Canada.

    Comment


    • smokin fool
      smokin fool commented
      Editing a comment
      Yup, the old Buffalo P.O. box is alive and well

    • rodkeary
      rodkeary commented
      Editing a comment
      Ditto for a P.O. Box in Blaine WA. Although I can’t get to it until the border reopens.

    #3
    Probably a lot of different reasons besides transportation and fees. Things like supply and demand may play a part. Then the USA went wild with tariffs and then the EU filed retaliatory tariffs on many US products of an average 25% rate. Cooking equipment including grills is listed with a CN number of 73211190 http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/doc...doc_156909.pdf

    Comment


      #4
      I've noticed some of the pitmasters on YouTube from Europe using a lot of Napoleon cookers,that I believe are Canadian based. Don't know if that matters to all the taxes, freight and add on you encounter. One of our senior members, Henrik is from Sweden and he's a fabricator and knows a lot of folks in the business throughout Europe. You might want to contact him about best deals over there. Otherwise do what he's doing, build your own !!!

      Comment


        #5
        I was looking at shipping to Europe or fabricating pits in Spain before all this C virus happened. Will Concentrate on Mexico for now.

        Comment


        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          The EU imposes an insane level of safety requirements on products, even smokers and grills I imagine. I had to do a lot more testing and certification to ship products into the EU versus anywhere in North or South America. The only country we had issues with in the America’s was Brazil, as they had all in country test requirements, and did not accept test data from labs outside Brazil. Personally I think it was all who you paid off to get the paperwork done...

        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          Also the EU imposes a large 30-40% Value Added Tax or VAT on imports of products not made within the EU.

        #6
        Nils there is a lot of reasons that things are more expensive. Shipping, taxes and duties, the exchange rate. The dollar is very strong right now. At .91 Euro per dollar $449 is 493.5 Euros The 599 would be a good price in my mind knowing what German taxes and duties are. How much did you pay in the Netherlands. Well hope you enjoy your new grill.

        Comment


          #7
          Nils Feller having done a CE marked product for sale in the EU a few years ago, what you are seeing is the VAT added by the EU and the respective country you live in, on the import from the US or wherever Masterbuilt ships from (likely China).

          I worked with a distributor in London to sell a product that sold for $399 in the US, and the VAT at that time was 30 or 40 percent on goods that were not produced by an EU member nation. We produced our product 100% in the US, and the 40% VAT was imposed on all our shipments into Europe, driving the cost much higher than the exchange rate alone would indicate.

          So, blame the higher cost of the goods on the political structure, taxes and tariffs on goods produced outside the EU.

          Comment


            #8
            Looks like a great business opportunity....

            Comment


              #9
              Like many of you have said already, it’s all about politics, tariffs and VAT. A rip-off indeed, very frustrating.

              unfortunately, I haven’t found a good workaround yet. Most often I buy stuff from the UK (Amazon it local stores), because then I only have to deal with added freight, not VAT. But now that GB has left the EU, I guess I’m back to square one...

              Comment


              • Elton's BBQ
                Elton's BBQ commented
                Editing a comment
                Yeah...

              • jfmorris
                jfmorris commented
                Editing a comment
                Yes, the fact that GB left the EU means they now will be dealing with anything they produce getting hammered by the VAT on shipments into the EU. But, for GB on the flip side, cost of goods imported from elsewhere will likely go down for their citizens.

              • jfmorris
                jfmorris commented
                Editing a comment
                For a company in the US shipping to Europe, having GB leave the EU means MORE headaches. Now there are separate rules, certifications and crap to deal with, which was one nice thing about the just doing CE and knowing I could ship into any of their member nations.

              #10
              Thanks for all the info. Of course I was aware of shipping and tarriffs, but I wasn't aware that they were that high.
              This really is super frustrating... For 499, the Masterbbuilt looked like a nice choice for a 'fire and forget' smoker. Well, it was not meant to be.

              Comment

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