Rickenbacker Gutars may only be exported to Canada or Mexico by franchise restrictions. If you live in Europe, South America, Asia, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, or anywhere outside the US, Mexico, or Canada, I cannot sell you a RIC guitar, bass, strings, or replacement part.

Hofner Guitars/Basses and Jerry Jones Sitars are double boxed by North Coast Music for export shipment, as shown at right.

Gretsch Guitars are overboxed from the factory, no further export packaging is provided.

Shipments by Mail: North Coast Music does not ship guitars using the mail for two reasons. The box sizes are simply too large for the international shipping size limitations. Also, there is no shipment tracking or delivery verification services available on internationally mailed shipments.

Shipping Carriers: I generally ship to Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada using Fed Ex economy service. Shipments to Mexico are by Fed Ex air service, as Fed Ex does not offer ground shipping from the US to Mexico. Shipments to Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America are completed using an air transport service that purchases excess baggage space on the airlines. This service is considerably cheaper than UPS or Fed Ex to these same locations, and does offer door to door service.

These cost estimates are very conservative. If you live far from an international airport, these costs could be considerably more expensive than shown here. It is a near certainty that the shipping costs will not be less than those shown in the table below.

Import Duties: Not included in these shipping costs are any taxes, import duties, VAT (value added taxes) or tariffs that might be charged by your local government. Shipments to Alaska and Hawaii pay no taxes. In most countries, these taxes will add 10% to 20% to the total purchase price including shipping. I recommend that you check with your local import authorities prior to ordering to learn what these import taxes will be. Many have asked if I would be willing to undervalue the shipment to save on the cost of duties. I can only insure the package against loss or damage to the amount claimed for cutoms value.

Warranty: It is also important to understand the the factory warranty for these guitars is only in effect when the repair is completed in a US based factory authorized repair center. There will be no local warranty service on guitars purchased from the US and shipped to another country.

Many discover by looking at this table that the cost of shipping is simply too expensive to be practical. If you find these minimum shipping cost estimates to be within your budget, and you are ready to purchase a guitar or bass today, please contact me with your complete address for a final and exact shipping quote. Please don't ask for a quote unless you are ready to purchase immediately as these lower cost "excess airline baggage space" quotes are only good for several days and are rather time consuming to receive from the shipper.