Who wants a VH-13? What would you pay?

[Tommy_D]

So, we all know the VH-13 is pretty awesome when paired up with a TD-30 module, but damn, at $750 for a hi-hat that's a lot of money. Since most of the magic is in the module I see a lot of people upgrading to the TD-30 and foregoing the VH-13 until they either find a great deal on a used one on eBay, or saving up a ton of money and buying new. Now, I know RMC probably has the best deal on a VH-13. I don't know what their price is, but considering they sold a used one for $650 I cant see their pricing being much better than $750.

I guess I'm bringing up this post because I am wondering what people would be willing to pay for a new VH-13 hi hat. Since I already own a TD-30KV, I have a VH-13 and don't really need another one, however I have an opportunity to buy a few in a bit of a "bulk buy" deal. The problem is, I don't need them, and if I cant sell them to the community to help you guys out, I don't want to get involved.

I am guessing I can't get them for much less than $50-75 less than buying them new individually, but who knows. If there is enough interest in purchasing them for $600-650, I can always see if that is a feasible bulk buy price.

Anyone think its worth looking in to?

[Tazed]

Probably not worth the effort, TBH.
In the last 2 years, the 2nd hand market has almost vanished.
Don't know why - possibly because of the latest round of very good modules and kits - but there's hardly a VH-11 or 12 to be had and hardly any pads trading (compared to then).
Personally, I'd love the performance of the VH-13 over my VH-11, but I can't see the point in spending anything like that amount (and it's $1000 here in Aus) to get the 10-15% better performance from it. I tend to play music where you smash semi-opened hats, so the nuances are probably lost on me anyway.
So even at $600 (plus some post to Aus) it's not worth the money.
Plus, it wouldn't match my other cymbals...

[Tommy_D]

I just checked the exchange rate and at $600US it would be $662.32Aus according to Google. Not, sure what postage would cost to NZ, but its probably around ~$40. That would put it at your door for around $700. That's a pretty good savings. Maybe its not enough for you, but 30% off is a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Like I said I would only do this if there were interest. I'm not a reseller, I don't carry a warranty, nor have a return policy. But if you want a good deal, this might be a way to find one.

Just thought I would bring it up before I do something stupid and end with a bunch of VH-13's sitting in boxes collecting dust.

[campster]

Tommy_D - you forgot add the Australia Tax - everything here is like 200% the cost of US products - why? because retailers get away with it. It's a joke...I'd buy from you anyday with your rates, but I already own a VH-13 and to get the most out of it I'd have to buy a second drum module such a shame modules don't support dual hihat controllers

[Tommy_D]

Campster, is that an import tax/duty that you have to pay, or just some price gouging tax that is enforced by the gov't through retailers. For example, if you buy a VH-13 through a store you pay ~$1000, but if you bought through me and I shipped it to you, you would pay what? Would you be charged a rediculous tax on the product? As I aaid in a previous post, I'm not a retail store. I'm just a regular guy. What if the product was "used?" Would that have an affect on any sort of import tax/duty?

[campster]

it's not an official tax, although we do have an official 10% tax (GST = Goods and Services Tax) on goods imported that are more than $1000, think this applies to both new/used. They're trying to lower this $1000 threshold, because retailers blame the 10% tax on why it's more expensive...read on...

"The Australia Tax" is more a term used to describe retailers here who whinge about losing sales to online stores, but continue to charge extraordinary prices on goods (like 150-200% more) on the same items. On top of my music, I also do wedding photography and I once worked out it would be cheaper for me to fly to the US, stay a few nights, buy my gear and fly back then it was to buy the gear here. Adobe recently got slapped for charging $100's more for the exact same digital download in Australia than in the US. Funnily enough when I purchased Photoshop through the Australian online shop, the transaction on my CC went through Europe...

Drum gear in OZ is very hard to come buy, quite often have to order stuff and wait months for it to be shipped out. I recently wanted some L-arms for my DW tom stands (to fit vdrums) , there were none in Oz and the wait was 2 months. After calling around the big drum shops here, I called DW in the US to ask about buying directly from them, but they said no and that they had just some to gear to Oz...and my response was "yeah, by boat, that takes 2-3 months" and they refused to ship by air freight (even though the L-arms are small).

Also, many of the online music stores in the US don't ship to Oz as there are official supply lines, but as I just mentioned, got to deal with waits of months

end of rant!!

pretty sure other parts of the world get this too, not just in Australia.

[Tommy_D]

Okay Campster, so if someone were to buy a VH-13 from me, it would be under $1000 saving an Aussie from having to pay the 10% tax. Since I am not a retailer, and don't work through supply lines, I wouldn't deny selling to an Aussie on the grounds of working through specific supply lines, etc. In general, it sounds like purchasing something from me, or any regular bloke who is not tied to a retail/online store, is the best way for someone to get a product at a reasonable price. Am in incorrect in my line of thought?

It sucks how you are getting screwed over by retailers, and the government, for buying goods.

[campster]

That's correct, if an Aussie were to buy stuff from you under that threshold, you wouldn't have to worry about the GST (tax) etc. I'm not sure above that and if there's a distinction between private / retails sales.

I dare say unless you're doing it regularly, it would probably be considered a private sale so not many questions would be asked...but i could be wrong

[jammin777]

i bought mine for 360 shipped from sweet water Ebay was used only for a clinic and looked new! that deal was unheard of and never saw such a deal again! I noticed quite the difference from the vh 12, i would have never been able to buy them at full price.

[Tommy_D]

Yeah, jammin, you got a pretty darn good deal on your VH-13, but unfortunately that deal came around once in a lifetime.

Owning a VH-13, I know how amazing it is. It is literally like playing an acoustic hi hat in how it responds. I haven't tried a VH-11 or 12 with the TD-30, but from what others have said, the VH-13 is a huge improvement over these other hi-hats. If price is making it near impossible for people to get these items, I'm just trying to see if I can help.

[csnow]

Tommy_D - Not sure if you are aware but RMC Audio has them for (removed price) with free shipping. They don't advertise their prices on the web but you can email Eric and verify.

[Tommy_D]

Wow, that's a good price. Probably not a good idea to advertise that price on an open forum, since they (RMC) have to work with MAP pricing and probably don't want to lose their ability to sell Roland gear in the future.

So that pretty much solidifies for me to not try and do any bulk purchase to help the forum.

[csnow]

Good point, I edited it. I just wanted to let you know before you fronted a bunch of money.

[fulrmr(Daniel)]

Yeah....I've bought a lot from them....RMC usually has the best prices...but Kraft did match them for me when I bought my TD-30/VH-13/PD-128 combo. Just worth the mention I thought.

[Tommy_D]

Good point, I edited it. I just wanted to let you know before you fronted a bunch of money.

Yeah, thanks for saving me a bunch of fronted money. Best to just order from RMC or Kraft.