Our clients and friends outside of the USA are an essential part of Gamut Music. We are always trying to develop better service procedures to make it easier to get orders to everyone in the most comfortable, economical way.
We have discontinued the First Class Mail service because too many packages were lost in the mail and had to be replaced, which is expensive for us, and inconvenient for our customers. Fortunately, we have negotiated very low rates from UPS, so we can offer their services at a greatly reduced rate for secure transit to out clients..
The two most significant problems with getting orders to those non-US customers have always been paying taxes and duties and having reliable shipping options. We now have a new system that we believe will solve these problems by offering safe and dependable transportation and transparent landed costs* of orders.
Now, when you enter the Gamut store (www.shop.gamutmusic.com) from outside of the USA, you will notice that the prices are in your local currency, and that there is a circle in the lower right-hand corner that represents the flag of your country.
Example:
When you click on that circle, a panel will open to display the rules concerning taxes and duties.
Example:
In this panel, you can also click on the country name at the top, which will bring up a list of countries, and you can change to a different country to see the rules for that nation. This function is handy for clients ordering while in one country but having the order sent to another country.
Example:
Resulting panel:
You can then put the necessary items into the shopping cart and click the "Checkout" button, which will tank you to the checkout window. After placing your address and other information into the form on the left-hand side of the window and select the shipping option, the "Payment" window will be populated with:
1) Cart subtotal: the cost of the items you have chosen in your local currency.
2) Shipping cost in your local currency.
3) Taxes and duties on the things you have selected.
4) Order Total, which is the sum of these three costs.
Example:
With this system, you will be prepaying all of the costs related to the order. Gamut Music will transfer the taxes and duties to your country so that the order will arrive at your door with no further charges. This system will eliminate surprise expenses and delivery delays that customers used to experience. You will know all of the related costs before you place the order.
This new ordering system has been developed in cooperation with UPS, who will be the exclusive shipping agent for all international orders from now on. We have negotiated low shipping rates with them to have an economical and reliable delivery of your order. You can track and manage your shipment through their website: https://www.ups.com/. The information about your shipment will also be transmitted to the local customs agents to create a smooth and quick passage through the entry process.
* The "Landed cost" of the order is the sum of the items, transportation, taxes and duties related to the order.