Do Thomann still charge you in Euros?

[linear]

Anyone know?  Their price in Sterling for something I'm looking at is much lower than their Euro price converted to Sterling.

DV247 are similar.

Edited April 10, 2020 by linear

[CamdenRob]

I bought a bass from Thomann last year and was charged in euros. You’ll get whatever exchange rate your card provider gives you - not whatever Thomann say on the site  

Edited April 8, 2020 by CamdenRob

[kevin_lindsay]

You can search for the Thomann UK site, where all the prices are in sterling. 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/index.html

Edited April 8, 2020 by kevin_lindsay

[linear]

Yes, but there is something odd about the way they calculate the sterling price.  If you take the euro price and convert to sterling there is sometimes a large discrepancy with the sterling price Thomann display.  It can go either way, being higher on some items and lower on others.  So, in some cases, the price would you actually pay in sterling is a fair bit higher, and that's before you factor in the poorer exchange rate your card provider gives and any conversion charge.

I assumed they would update the nominal exchange rate across the board every week or so, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

[jrixn1]

I wonder if the cheapest way is bank transfer via Transferwise.  However, I've not actually tried that myself despite spending £££ at Thomann over the years.

Transferwise have a calculator here: https://transferwise.com/widget/calculator.  Enter the EUR price as displayed by Thomann into the box called "Recipient gets".
 

[redbandit599]

5 hours ago, CamdenRob said:

I bought a bass from Thomann last year and was charged in euros. You’ll get whatever exchange rate your card provider gives you - not whatever Thomann say on the site  

You should get a decent exchange rate from your bank,  what kills it is the ( typically) 3% FX conversion fee. Worth looking for cards that don't charge this on foreign transactions- I think they are designed mostly for travelling but it seems to work for purchases too. Halifax Clarity is an example. 

 

[Aidan63]

I bought some pickups off ThomannUK site yesterday, when I started looking into them were £111 and by the time I bought them after checking prices from other suppliers and checking out reviews they had gone down to £109 so they obviously update the prices pretty regularly, probably daily, as the currency changes; with paypal checkout there's no fees or currency charges you pay in £

Paypal billed me £109 as advertised and charged £109 to my bank account

Edited April 8, 2020 by Aidan63
further details

[itu]

If you change the country of residence, the price may be different because of different VAT.

[Muppet]

Thomann will always charge you in EUR. Their GBP prices are indicative only and their conversion rates don’t always match to what your bank will charge so its highly likely what you end up getting billed in GBP is not what you saw on screen In GBP. 

Someone on here told me once about using AmazonPay to get the best rates but I forget how that works, to be honest. 

[kevin_lindsay]

Nope, if you access the site by searching under "Thomann UK" you'll be charged the exact GBP price quoted. 

Here's a purchase I made a couple of weeks ago. 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by kevin_lindsay

[Muppet]

I stand corrected, although I have never been charged in GBP , I've always been charged the EUR rate converted, I've just looked at some recent statements. Maybe I'm accessing the wrong site.

 

[kevin_lindsay]

I only found out about the Thomann UK option a couple of months ago. I'd always used the Euro / GBP converted price site previously. 

[Muppet]

3 minutes ago, kevin_lindsay said:

I only found out about the Thomann UK option a couple of months ago. I'd always used the Euro / GBP converted price site previously. 

Does it work out cheaper or are the prices inflated to cover the exchange rate? 

[kevin_lindsay]

I got a better price on the UK site when I placed my own orders compared to the Euro version 

[jrixn1]

2 hours ago, kevin_lindsay said:

Nope, if you access the site by searching under "Thomann UK" you'll be charged the exact GBP price quoted. 

Here's a purchase I made a couple of weeks ago.

I just checked some old invoices and I've always been charged in EUR in the past, so this is good to know. Thanks for posting this!

[linear]

Good to know indeed.  I had a feeling something must have changed.   I did find it unlikely Thomann would be charging you €649 for a bass they list at £554; you'd actually be paying £570, with conversion charges on top of that.  I also noticed some items where the price was the same in euros, but different in sterling.

So, it would appear Thomann are setting their sterling prices manually, at least in some cases.  I guess either in preparation for the UK leaving the EU, or because their UK sales will have dropped markedly thanks to the poor exchange rate?

[Silvia Bluejay]

I'm not sure I understand this discussion. What do you guys mean by searching for Thomann UK on Google and ending up on a different site? I use www.thomann.de/gb/. I still end up exactly on that url if I search for Thomann UK. Yet I've always been charged in Euros with added conversions, fees etc., even when I bought something recently.

What's the url you guys are using to see/be charged prices in Sterling?

[Muppet]

2 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

What's the url you guys are using to see/be charged prices in Sterling?

I do exactly the same as you. Following @kevin_lindsay's advice I typed www.thomann.co.uk and it gave me a GBP only site. I haven't ordered from it yet but I will.

Now when I go to thomann.de/gb  I  get the GBP only version. I assume it's something to do with the stored cookies?

 

[linear]

19 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

I'm not sure I understand this discussion. What do you guys mean by searching for Thomann UK on Google and ending up on a different site? I use www.thomann.de/gb/. I still end up exactly on that url if I search for Thomann UK. Yet I've always been charged in Euros with added conversions, fees etc., even when I bought something recently.

What's the url you guys are using to see/be charged prices in Sterling?

You don't have to search for a special UK site.  Even if you put http://www.thomann.de into the address bar it detects you are accessing the site from the UK and redirects you so that the prices are displayed in sterling.  http://www.thomann.co.uk redirects to the same url.

I just happened to notice some inconsistencies between the sterling prices and the euro prices (you can switch to the price in euros using the little flag at the top left) and I wondered if they'd switched to charging UK customers in sterling, and it would appear that they have.

I think this switch to the price you see in sterling being the price you are charged in sterling must be pretty recent.

 

[Silvia Bluejay]

I see the prices in Sterling but I get charged in Euros!

[linear]

When did you place your last order?

[Silvia Bluejay]

2 minutes ago, linear said:

When did you place your last order?

January 2020

[linear]

I suspect the change has happened since then.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Ha! I'll remember all this when I place my next order, and make sure to check. Thanks

[CamdenRob]

16 minutes ago, linear said:

When did you place your last order?

 

14 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

January 2020

 

11 minutes ago, linear said:

I suspect the change has happened since then.

I suspect this is why I have also always paid in euros then... last order was 2019.