Mannys Blog

Buy local – MANNYS PROMISE

October 4th, 2011 | no comments

MANNYS’ PROMISE

I understand the reasons people are buying some of their gear from overseas (mainly the US). There are many reasons, some obvious ones for example:

Strong Aussie Dollar – cheaper now more than ever (#1 reason). No need to come into the store. You can usually get what you need – a lot of stores in Australia don’t have what you want/need.

I also understand that;

• the lack of warranty
• buying gear sight unseen
• the possibility of having to pay duty and GST
• power supply issues
• not getting what you paid for

may not stop some from buying overseas – it’s worth the gamble for the price paid!

But in support of Aussie music retailers/wholesalers – here are some issues you may not have considered:

JOBS: We employ a huge number of people who work in the music industry, both Retail and Wholesale. If the purchasing of gear from overseas continues on this upward spiral jobs will go. All the guys who work for me are muso’s who need to work to supplement their gig income; these guys know a lot about gear and their expertise is invaluable. PRICE: There are huge costs incurred when importing gear including shipping, GST, import duties, government compliance costs, customs clearance – the list goes on. Hence the disparity in prices. WHO’S THE WINNER? Some prices end up being much the same when you add back freight, GST, customs charges and the like.

Both wholesalers and retailers are aware of the situation and we are trying to get some pricing parity from manufacturers to combat this issue.

Now a lot of you may consider all of the above of no consequence to you as your only concern is getting stuff cheap – even to the extent of going into your local music store, trying gear out and then buying overseas.

Can you understand why this would upset your local music store owner?

Imagine if club owners employed only artists from overseas as they were cheaper – eliminating the need to employ Aussie musicians; or sending all TV and film work offshore – the printing industry has already gone this way and has basically eliminated most of the local print industry.

OK, so I’ve had my say, and you may say “Yeah what’s new, he’s just telling us stuff we already know – what’s he going to do for us?” Fair question; so here is what I’m offering.

MANNYS PROMISE

We at Mannys will go out of our way to match all bona-fide* overseas prices. Just give us a go. Tell us what you want, where you’re getting your prices from, and the TOTAL cost of getting it here and we will look at our costs and talk to local importers and try and do the deal.

There will be times when we just can’t match some OS prices but we will do our utmost to get as close as possible.

* Some overseas stores will NOT ship overseas, so there’s no point quoting their on-line prices when you can’t actually buy at these prices.

Buy from Mannys and you will get all the support and warranties you’re entitled to, plus professional service.

What do you say?

Manny