Thomann embargo for some brands in the US?

[clintolsen]

A friend was considering Neumann KH-150 and noticed that when he tried to purchase them it said they cannot ship to the US.

I was also interested in Genelec and noticed the same thing.

Are these kinds of restrictions new or have they always been there?

 

[ivayvr]

They have been there for a while and I don't think they are imposed by Thomann but rather by the specific manufacturers.
I am just guessing here but specific agreement between the manufacturer and a distributor for the specific country may be behind that.
It is more or less the same for the Gear4Music, another fairly big online store.

 

[sweetchaos]

Why would you use Thomann (European dealer/reseller) to ship to USA, when USA has several dealers/resellers that sell Genelec already?

Here's Genelec dealers/resellers in USA:

Where To Buy Genelec Monitors? - Genelec.com

Find your closest dealer, showroom, technical service or distributor.

www.genelec.com

 

[clintolsen]

Why would you use Thomann (European dealer/reseller) to ship to USA, when USA has several dealers/resellers that sell Genelec already?

Here's Genelec dealers/resellers in USA:

Where To Buy Genelec Monitors? - Genelec.com

Find your closest dealer, showroom, technical service or distributor.

www.genelec.com

I was under the impression that Thomann had a US presence, but maybe I'm wrong.

I've used that dealer finder, and my experience on the west coast has been...underwhelming.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

I was under the impression that Thomann had a US presence, but maybe I'm wrong.

I've used that dealer finder, and my experience on the west coast has been...underwhelming.

Could you send Thomann an email and see what they say?

 

[Freeway]

KH 150 6.5-inch 2-way Powered Studio Monitor - Anthracite - Sweetwater

Looking for Active Monitors? Sweetwater has Easy Payments, FREE Shipping, and FREE Sweetwater Support for Active Monitors!

www.sweetwater.com

 

[clintolsen]

Could you send Thomann an email and see what they say?

Out of curiosity, I did that. 11/1 appears to be a holiday, so maybe I'll hear back in another day or two. I'll update with what they say. Although I would expect the response to be something along the lines with what @ivayvr suggested.

 

[CtheArgie]

Try KMR, they ship to the US.

 

[ivayvr]

You may try some of the Canadian retailers. Due to high USD some items may be cheaper. My understanding is that personal tax free limit for the shipments to the States is USD 800 so you may need to break shipments in two if they are in excess of that amount.
AVS, Music City Canada, Studio Economik, Long & McQuade come to mind..

 

[jhaider]

Thomann has gotten more restrictive recently IME. I've bought K&M mic and speaker stands from them before - most recently last November. They no longer ship K&M to the US. German pricing on K&M is so much better that it's usually a fair bit cheaper to ship even a small purchase than buy from a US seller. For example, their p/n 19780, a tilt-able bracket to mount small monitors on standard PA speaker stands (35 mm pole) is $34 each plus shipping (and use tax, if applicable in your state) at Thomann but a ridiculous $80 each from the usual suspects here. I don't blame the US stores, mind - the subsidiary/distributor sets pricing and anti-consumer trade politics also likely play some role at the business-to-business or large volume level.

 

[Chrispy]

If you did buy from Thomann (if they were allowed to ship, which I also assume are due assigned distributorships), what would you do if you had a warranty issue, ship it back to Thomann? Does someone like Genelec or Neumann offer warranty in the US for goods not purchased in the US?

 

[clintolsen]

If you did buy from Thomann (if they were allowed to ship, which I also assume are due assigned distributorships), what would you do if you had a warranty issue, ship it back to Thomann? Does someone like Genelec or Neumann offer warranty in the US for goods not purchased in the US?

When I looked several months ago, Thomann's FAQ indicated they were an authorized dealer. There was no qualification on the destination country. I agree that ensuring warranty coverage is an important consideration for a purchase of this magnitude.

 

[Chrispy]

When I looked several months ago, Thomann's FAQ indicated they were an authorized dealer. There was no qualification on the destination country. I agree that ensuring warranty coverage is an important consideration for a purchase of this magnitude.

Being an authorized dealer can be limited by territory, tho and usually that's something you'd see from the manufacturer's side for limitation more than a retailer anticipating any possible destination in such. Perhaps within the EU is their normal assumption? Or maybe just Germany?

 

[clintolsen]

Response from Thomann:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, we are not able to sell these products to customers in your region. We are prohibited by existing agreements between manufacturers and distributors from selling some items within certain territories.

This is something over which we have no influence – nor can we predict when, or if, the situation will change.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience.

Kind regards,

 

[Webninja]

I got my Neumanns from Sweetwater, but I’ve ordered stands and brackets from Thomann.

 

[Music707]

Response from Thomann:

You might be more successful with ordering from musicstore.de. (They are quite similar to Thomann.)
I tried to create an order and it seems they would ship the KH-150s to the US.