[Elecraft] European Elecraft prices - comment from the man who makes the prices ;-)

[Peter Zenker]

Hi elecraft friends,


Some calculations have been posted regarding elecraft prices in Germany.
Most of them where right, some of them are a little bit short sightened,
because they forget to calculate ALL items. Thanks a lot for all the
calculations and comments on European prices. But do you realy believe =
ist
enough to compare the prices in two currencies? Do you realy believe it =
is
so simple? It=B4s everyones own decision to buy allways where he gets =
the
cheapest price, but is cheap always cheap if=20

At first, German distibutors are not allowed to publish prices not =
including
VAT in the internet. All prices include VAT

For all member countries of the EC (European Community) VAT is paid by =
the
importer. All EC endusers pay the same price. Therefore the price on our
price lists is the enduser price for all EC people.
Non members of EC like Swiss pay the German price MINUS German VAT, but =
they
have to pay their own VAT and custom if the K2 arrives in their country.

What I missed in all calculation:
Do you send the 599 USD in an envelope to USA?=20
If not, please add exchange fee and Transfer fee to your calculation. =
Yes, I
know, you will see this not on the invoice, but control your banc =
account
papers. The prices differe from bank too bank but the standard range is =
abt
50 EURO for a K2.

Whats about custom?=20
Yes, I know, that there is no Tax on ham radio kits (I know this so =
exactly,
because we German  QRPers some years made this agreement with European
custom) but you have to go to custom office, to pick up your K2 and to =
pay
the VAT. Happy if you live in a city with an TAX office. If not, you =
have to
drive to next town with such an office, and you have to fill half a =
dozen
forms using their special codings. You dont know how? Not a real =
problem,
you get help from any transporter company. In Berlin they take 50 EURO =
for
this little help

Whats about Warranty?=20
2 years warranty by European Law. Who pay this.

Whats about Repair.
Do you realy think you can send a K2 for repair to USA the same way you =
can
do this within EC? If you send it to USA, it leaves EC custom area. What
does the USA Custom say? If it comes back again to EC, it has to go to
custom again. Whats about VAT now? Do you know, that you have to pay VAT =
for
your own rig if you get it back from outside EC if it was an repair?

Whats about currency rate up and down?
The published calculation used the actual exchange rates from the =
internet,
the K2 in stock have been ordered and payed a month ot more before. The =
rate
is going up and down, but we cannot change the prices every day. Not if =
the
rate is going up and not if the rate is going down.

At the end:
We have not only elecraft but some dozen kits for QRP homebrewing in our
stock. Actually QRPproject has the greatest range of QRP kits worldwide =
in
stock. Most of them are new developed kits, designed by members of the
German QRP Club. Stocking kits and offering support makes a lot of cost. =
In
our case: > 150,000 EURO worth parts in stock, > 50,000 EURO worth =
measuring
equipment, 1200 EURO every month for the rooms, 3000 EURO every month =
for
the salery of one employer (the employer only gets 1000 of this, the =
rest is
for the government)
Some of the other QRP suppliers have still given up, because the margins =
are
too low. With less then 15% margin it is nearly impossible to keep the
business running. You need a fool like me to do 16 hours job without any
sallery. KANGA UK is to be sold, Sheldon Hands, my personaly favorite, =
has
drawn back his QRP Business by allmost 90% - I am afraid publishing of =
more
short sightened calculations will end up in world free of QRP suppliers. =
And
if you start summarising the prices of all parts used in a K2 to compare =
it
with its sales price we will end up in a world free of Kits because the
difference is too big. (of course only if you forget to calculate the =
phone
cost, shipping cost and so on you generate to get all those parts on =
your
work bench)


73 de DL2FI, Peter
Supporter of all QRPproject kits
*************************************************
Member BOD German Amateur Radio Club
Publisher QRPreport
QRP Editor FUNKAMATEUR Magazin
Founder of German QRP Club
HOF
www.dl-qrp-ag.de
www.qrpproject.de