Thomann Pricing

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Those Basschatters that have ordered stuff from thomann.de will know that the invoice is charged in euros and the credit card company will do the conversion and may charge a currency exchange fee in the form of adjusting the exchange rate in their favour by up to 5%. The only card I am aware of that doesn't do this and does the exchange at the basic rate shown on [url="http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp"]visa.com[/url] is the nationwide visa card which saved me a packet when I bought my NS upright.

However I have been looking at getting a Little Mark II to go with my Schroeder 1212L. Thomann appear to have it at a decent price, but not the cheapest I've seen however the £s price listed isn't what I'd be charged, I'd be charged the € price which will then be billed in £s on my card.

The Little Mark II is listed on Thomann as €639EUR which they also show as £434.52GBP, however going to the visa link above, the rate is:

1 Euro = 0.70 British Pounds
or 1 British Pound = 1.43 Euro

so instead of £434.52 as shown on the Thomann site, I'd be paying £447.30 at today's exchange rate (plus a bit more if I used a card that levys an additional fee)

Are they allowed to do this?
They probably have a disclaimer somewhere saying the £ prices are not accurate, but I couldn't see it.

Edited September 26, 2007 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Kiwi]

As far as I'm aware, we're all at the mercy of the credit card companies. They can more or less set whatever rates they like within reason as none of us are obliged to use them. We all know the financial institutions pride themselves on their ability to confuse otherwise straight forward matters so lesser mortals can't understand whats going on.

[odub]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='65871' date='Sep 26 2007, 01:41 PM']Those Basschatters that have ordered stuff from thomann.de will know that the invoice is charged in euros and the credit card company will do the conversion and may charge a currency exchange fee in the form of adjusting the exchange rate in their favour by up to 5%. The only card I am aware of that doesn't do this and does the exchange at the basic rate shown on [url="http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_services/consumer_ex_rates.jsp"]visa.com[/url] is the nationwide visa card which saved me a packet when I bought my NS upright.

However I have been looking at getting a Little Mark II to go with my Schroeder 1212L. Thomann appear to have it at a decent price, but not the cheapest I've seen however the £s price listed isn't what I'd be charged, I'd be charged the € price which will then be billed in £s on my card.

The Little Mark II is listed on Thomann as €639EUR which they also show as £434.52GBP, however going to the visa link above, the rate is:

1 Euro = 0.70 British Pounds
or 1 British Pound = 1.43 Euro

so instead of £434.52 as shown on the Thomann site, I'd be paying £447.30 at today's exchange rate (plus a bit more if I used a card that levys an additional fee)

Are they allowed to do this?
They probably have a disclaimer somewhere saying the £ prices are not accurate, but I couldn't see it.[/quote]

Well, the exchange rate constantly changes, even if they displayed it correct to the second on the website it'd still come down to what the bank decided to charge once the order actually went through, and of course the bank picks it's own sell price. As long as you are charged the Euro price, I doubt they could do anything about it anyway.

[R,5,R,5...]

I don't think one can really blame Thomann about this. They're trying to provide a service by displaying prices in GPB and cannot be responsible for the thieving credit card companies, or even for tracking the rate by the minute.

One solution if you think you'll be spending a lot more at Thomann's is to get a euro account with a debit/credit card. Most banks offer them these days.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Then surely putting the GBP price there is misleading?

I don't mind being charged in euros - I can find the rates and do the sums easily enough, but seeing a £s figure stated there many people will probably think that's what they'll be charged.

Its also easy enough to find out how much extra your credit card issuing bank will charge as an additional exchange fee and I'm sure most people realise that exchange rates fluctuate, but by stating the GBP price surely Thomann should either accept payment in that currency at the £ price listed or state clearly that its only a rough guide and you may be charged a fair bit more?

[odub]

Well its true, maybe they should just swallow the cost of the spread, but then all what would happen is they put their prices up to match. At least saying - you are charged in Euros, £ are estimates only.

Weirdly enough, the thing I'm doing right now is adding the line:

"The returns and amounts expressed in currencies other than the Fund's base currency, are provided for informational purposes only."

To a report. Spooky.

[R,5,R,5...]

You have a point in that it's hard to find -- however, in the FAQ section you will find this:

[code]Thomann Cyberstore FAQ List

How Can I pay?

...blather blather blather...

Credit card:
When ordering you state your type of credit card (we accept Visa, American Express, Eurocard, Mastercard, Barclaycard and Diners) and we debit the sum from your credit card account for the available goods at the date of shipping.

When paying by credit card please always use our Secure Server which is transferring encoded data.
If the Server does not work with your browser or company network please send us a short note and we will call you back for the credit card details.

Please note that our invoices will be in Euros and reflect the exchange rate of the day at www.oanda.com. Your credit card company may be giving you a slighly unfavourable exchange rate, and sometimes UK card companies make a small commission charge from Pound to Euro conversions.

Please check with your card company if in doubt.

With larger sums it may be much more cost effective to use a bank transfer.[/code]

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='R,5,R,5...' post='65935' date='Sep 26 2007, 03:53 PM']You have a point in that it's hard to find -- however, in the FAQ section you will find this:

[code]Thomann Cyberstore FAQ List

How Can I pay?

...blather blather blather...

Credit card:
When ordering you state your type of credit card (we accept Visa, American Express, Eurocard, Mastercard, Barclaycard and Diners) and we debit the sum from your credit card account for the available goods at the date of shipping.

When paying by credit card please always use our Secure Server which is transferring encoded data.
If the Server does not work with your browser or company network please send us a short note and we will call you back for the credit card details.

Please note that our invoices will be in Euros and reflect the exchange rate of the day at www.oanda.com. Your credit card company may be giving you a slighly unfavourable exchange rate, and sometimes UK card companies make a small commission charge from Pound to Euro conversions.

Please check with your card company if in doubt.

With larger sums it may be much more cost effective to use a bank transfer.[/code][/quote]

Thatcovers them!

To be fair, they should make it clearer that GBP prices are provided for guidance only.

[2wheeler]

I don't think Thomann are doing something that terrible but I did feel a bit stupid when I ordered my Line6 Studio 110 from them and it turned out to cost more than the UK site I had compared prices with (and who could have delivered sooner) rather than costing less. And I ended up with a Euro power lead instead of a UK one

Ho hum

It's still a great practice amp

[LukeFRC]

therefore europe should switch to our plugs and us to the Euro......
or we should get independence up here, then join the euro...

oh was that a hornets nest i hit with my stick?

[ZPQ]

Thanks for explaining Jean Luc, I had suspected it was the case, but nice to have to full explanation and it's good to be aware that the price is more of an estimate than an actual price.

I've found their free shipping probably helps - most places want £10 or so and I've always been so impressed with their way of doing things - sms message when the order is posted, lots of reassuring confirmation messages, no hassle replacements when there is a problem etc that I'll use them anyway regardless of the price difference.

Given the amount of gear I get from Thomann I should look into getting a Nationwide card pronto.

Thanks
John


the damned plus are really annoying aren't they.... especially on a wall wart.

Edited September 26, 2007 by ZPQ

[stingrayfan]

Worth knowing Jean-Luc, thanks.

[Mcgiver69]

I bought my Ashdown amp from Thomann and still the price was cheaper than rip off Britain and I didn't get extra charged. So As Jean Luc point out depends on your company.