Buying from Thomann from the US:

[Em Tee]

Have any of y'all from the US made purchases from Thomann in Germany? What was your experience like? Did you have to pay duty fees to UPS upon delivery?

[Joseph Baker]

I purchased an Irish bouzouki from Thomann in Dec 2019.
I had a tracking number so I could follow its progress. All was going well.
The bouzouki flew in to Chicago on New Year's Eve.
It was stuck in Customs for 3 weeks.
Once it made it it of Customs, it arrived in a few days via the United States Postal Service.

The instrument arrived in good shape.
I had no duty fees.


The only difficulty was that 3 week wait on Customs.
We joked that maybe Customs didn't know the difference between a bouzouki and a bazooka.

Joseph Baker

[StringMeAlong]

I ordered an 8-course Renaissance Lute from Thomann in January of this year. It shipped really fast, they sent tracking, and it was ultimately delivered very quickly. I don't believe there was any additional customs charge.
I will say, there ended up being an issue with the instrument and their customer support was great to work with, as well as prompt and responsive. In brief, I got a more-than-fair resolution, and I would personally say I had a good experience with them.