ranjeetrain
New Member
Any other FMs interested in a group buy?
I am in the camp too, of people who sympathize with the Indian dealers. They swim against the current more often than not. That's why my first preference was to buy from the authorized Indian dealer. But when things don't work out people have to look for alternates.
BTW, when I had inquired about Harbeth the rupee was trading at 47 to a dollar. So this talk of drop in rupee is not applicable here. I can't even think how much Indian dealer would want for a SHL5 now, now that rupee has depreciated like 33%. May be north of 4.5 lacs? Or even higher?
Chinese dealers are in no way better situation than Indian dealers. Chinese economy faces an entirely different set of problems, which are not known in the outside world. I have lived in China for a long time and I know their economy inside-out. For the record's sake, Chinese retail prices are usually higher than Indian retail prices (or at least should be higher) owing to higher taxation and operating costs. But in this particular case even Chinese retail price is cheaper than the Indian retail.
No problem Arun, not such a big deal.
It's a big topic. Don't know where to start. If you have any specific question, I'd be happy to answer.
Any other FMs interested in a group buy?
Heavy or not, you can directly handle the consignment but is not advisable for onetime importer as managing the whole thing is tedious, vexatious and time consuming. For importing anything, one needs to have an IEC (Export Import Code) but for one off imports, they do have a procedure to allot a dummy IEC.you will also need to have a CHA (Clearance and Handling Agent) to release this from Customs (ie if Above 50Kg)
Else you will need an Export Import Certificate
I too would be interested in a group buy. However I read on the Harbeth website that the company does not support this sort of activity. Hence if we import from outside India, none of the products will be covered under any support or warranty by Harbeth.
Before embarking on the group buy, I suggest you seek some expert advise from someone who knows imports. Better still if you can speak to someone (known) in customs.
For the GR Research kits group buy, I had spoken to the Addl Commissioner of Customs just before making payments to the company. When the shipment arrived, he was not there and it took me some persuasion skills and ex Army credentials to convince his junior directly incharge of the department concerned to permit us to take delivery as a special case. Even then, at the Customs Warehouse, while the incharge was extra courteous with me, the junior level guy had the temerity to say "Who is he to permit you; along with you, he can also get into trouble"
Believe you me, they can put you to trouble and you can do nothing about it. Amongst other things, I've seen several exotic mobikes languishing there gathering dust.
Look before you leap.
Heavy or not, you can directly handle the consignment but is not advisable for onetime importer as managing the whole thing is tedious, vexatious and time consuming. For importing anything, one needs to have an IEC (Export Import Code) but for one off imports, they do have a procedure to allot a dummy IEC.
I guess one must acquire God-hood if one were to succeed in importing :lol: So much hassles eh
I am really having my doubts now. As a common man, can I succeed in getting the speakers here? I am so scared :sad:
what the electronics and component market is even like? Is it a purely "free for all" kind of a capitalistic setup, or is it controlled by key players? Is it regulated?
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Heavy or not, you can directly handle the consignment but is not advisable for onetime importer as managing the whole thing is tedious, vexatious and time consuming. For importing anything, one needs to have an IEC (Export Import Code) but for one off imports, they do have a procedure to allot a dummy IEC.
Ranjeet I held off commenting till now as I had imported my Harbeth SHl5 prior to Harbeth appointing an Indian dealer. First of all my savings was 25% of the retail in India at that time and at the $ value, about 2 years ago (since no dealer in India, I took US price and added 33%), once I factored my travel, stay, transport of speaker (air via thai airways), Clearing agent comission and custom duty. If you ask me will I do that again, I will say firmly for a 25% savings no way. Secondly when I saw how the speakers were handled at Hyderabad Airport storage (hi tech facility - outsourced) I was very concerned. Fortunately the speakers were fine but believe me they were one step from falling from a 8' tall storage rack while the fork lift guy was handling them as I was waiting there to clear customs. All in all IMO definitely not worth importing a high value component if there is a Indian dealer, unless you are carrying it with you as accompanied baggage. Of-course if it is not available in India it is a different story as it was in my case at that time. YMMV
Cheers,
Sid
EVERYTHING in Cheen is regulated. You can't move a finger in Cheen without government being aware of it. Everything I am writing here, it being routed through Cheeni servers (and potentially monitored). But that's besides the point.
The market is absolutely not "free-for-all". The industry here is primarily export-oriented. There are manufacturers completely catering to domestic consumers and they are doing some good work. You can buy 90-95% of Apple iPhone/Samsung Note performance at 1/4th the price.
WRT Hifi, there is a kind of small scale industry. Since all the manufacturing is here, it is not impossible for manufacturers to let some stock "slip into" local market for DIYers. You can get a Wilson Sophia copy at 1/4th or less of price. You won't know it's a fake unless someone tells you. It looks the same, feels the same, sounds the same. The only difference would be, it won't be supported by the manufacturer, it may not have a serial number, or may be even it's not called Wilson Sophia, rather than it's called Wilsom Sophia. Now the DIYer can't be sued.
If copyright infringements were a global crime, half the Cheeni industry would be shut down. There is very very little indigenous is being done. Most is ripping the western design. Of course, a by product of such a process is - sometimes they produce winners at a fraction of it's usual cost, which also happen to have a hint of being innovative design.
Once upon a time I heard a 25 watts SET tube amp. Asking price USD 125. It sounded great and I bought it immediately. It knocked the socks off my flagship reciever (more than USD 4k) on the dynamics and mid-range. Later when I reseached, I found that it was a shameless copy of a western design with an SRP of USD 900. I used the phrase shameless copy because except the labels there was nothing different. Same cabinet, same colors, same tubes, same input/outputs. Change the label and it's a USD 900 product.
This is just one example. Cheeni market is full of such "cheap wonders". I actually thought of importing 100 units of the above amp and distributing in Indian market. Imagine a tube amp costing around 10-12k and knocking the socks of SS amps costing 50-80k. That's Cheen for you. If you know how to tap their domestic market you can buy product that represent astonishing value, not even imagined the usual way.
I have seen superb copies of the Finite Element racks at Rs. 70,000-80,000 and even seen speakers which looked like the B&W 800 Diamonds...There are some very exotic looking amp. manufacturers like Jungson etc which give you good performance at the first listening but then we do not know if they last as long as the good western brands...
Would it be worth speaking with Prithvi for a special group discount. He had offered an introductory 10% at the time of the launch. Maybe push him for some more if we have some good numbers !!!! ????
I spoke to Prithvi today morning and a discount on Group Buy is possible based on the numbers. However, with the current economic situation, its not sure how much discount he can provide. So if we have numbers, then we can provide him the exact details and the discount can be worked out.
I can start a new thread to track the number of people interested. However, I would like Prithvi to comment on this plan as a confirmation.
Good work Prajith. Knowing the person Prithvi is, I'm sure he will offer us a price that makes business sense to all. Costing is no secret nowadays. I think the next step is to confirm the FMs interested along with details of the models, finishes and delivery locations. Prithvi as well as Harbeth may not have all required speakers in stock so some may have to wait or choose an alternative model.