Contractually Obligated

Hi everybody,

Today after quite a few attempts, and with the latest Skype and Chatting technologies available to any online customer, I located three items that I need on the internet.

After I had put everything in the basket and wanted to pay with my Paypal account, there was a drop down list of Canada, USA, Germany and England. No other countries in that list, but with the option of a "live chatting" facility i spoke to a chap by the name of Matthew at "Musician's Friend".

Further on you will see the text exchange. The explanation given by Matthew is : Contractually Obligated. Are there contracts out to deal with only four countries internationally as shown on their dropdown list?? Is there such a thing as a contractual obligation for a music shop to not do bussiness with international countries other then the 4 countries mentioned?

Can this be true, or is this narrow-mindedness, ignorance, fear?
( I have taken out my personal name and used my initials only)



Matthew: Hi, my name is Matthew. How may I help you?

H.... B...: Hi, I am in the process of buying a harmonica + 2 Harmonica holders

H.... B....: The problem is that there is no option to purchase other then in the UK Canada and 2 other options.

H..... B.....: I live in South Africa, and would like to buy a Suzuki Promaster (tuned in B), and two Harmonica holders. Can anything be done about that ??

Matthew: I'm sorry, we are completely unable to ship those products to you.

Matthew: We would only be able to shipped used items to South Africa.

H.... B....: Shipping to South Africa is impossible?

Matthew: On new items, it is impossible. We can only shipped used items internationally.

H.... B.....: Well thank you for your reply, but it sounds very strange and disaapointing as to what you have just written. Do you perhaps know why it is impossible?

Matthew: We are contractually obligated to not ship new products internationally.

H..... B......: OK thank you for your reply. Good Bye. H.....

Matthew: +Thanks for chatting. Have a good day.

Sounds like a dealer issue. If you have friends in one of those countries. Perhaps they could purchase for you and ship to you. Are there any dealers in S. Africa?

I don't really know for sure, but my thoughts are that the manufacturer has put those limitations in place to "protect" their distributors. They probably have a distributor for your part of the world and Restrict all others from selling there. We run in to dealer restrictions in our business all the time that are put there by the manufacturers distribution network.

kenikas said:

I don't really know for sure, but my thoughts are that the manufacturer has put those limitations in place to "protect" their distributors. They probably have a distributor for your part of the world and Restrict all others from selling there. We run in to dealer restrictions in our business all the time that are put there by the manufacturers distribution network.

Click to expand...

+1

I believe DiMarzio (Bass pickups) are the same, although I called one distributor who changed their website (cuz of me) and added in "United States" instead of North America so Hawaii is included. . . more sales for them.

It sounds very controlling. Unfortunately Elderly could not supply as I have succesfully dealt with them, and I have not had a problem with MGM.... Maybe from here onwards all Internet Bussinesses should stipulate whether they are contractually obligated not to sell overseas...through some sort of legislation if the replies that I have received are true?? The previously mentioned merchants (substantial ones I may add) do not seem to have those "trading restrictions" . So I am not so convinced that there are legal obligations. Are there any other dealers on this forum that can perhaps shed more light on these.....legal obligations.......

On the MF home page, top right, is a link to international shipping where it states:

"Certain manufacturers do not permit us to ship new products outside the USA."

itsme said:

On the MF home page, top right, is a link to international shipping where it states:

"Certain manufacturers do not permit us to ship new products outside the USA."

Click to expand...

Exactly. There is no evil conspiracy at work and they never claimed it was a legal issue - they called a contractual obligation. A contract between a vendor and a retailer is not law - it's a business agreement designed to protect the vendor and retailer. If the retailer breaks the contract they risk losing the vendor's products.

Lots of US-based online stores aren't aware of other countries in the world. They're not even aware that if they ship to Germany, they could just as well ship to any EU member nation.

The reason is to protect middlemen distributors for whatever brand. Not all brands participate in this, but the online stores will often just blanket not-ship anything to your country.

The frustrating thing is, if you follow the trail to the middleman being protected, it seems on their pretty websites that they do carry the product you want... BUT, they don't actively distribute it to any of their partner stores. It's a real WTF moment. They demand protection, but won't distribute the freaking product. Yay for supply chain fail!

When I moved here, I learned the worldwide web is not worldwide at all. Good luck on getting what you need. There are middleman companies that give you a fake US address and then ship your purchases to you, but they cost an arm and a leg.

Interesting and good choice of harmonica. Suzuki is made in Japan. Go to their website and find the dealer in South Africa. Or... order direct from Suzuki.

I suspect you need to order from the distributor in South Africa. and wait. That's the problem. It sometimes takes 2-3 months to get a shipment whereas you see online somebody has it instock and you want it now.

Lots of people asking about Suzuki harmonicas lately. I thought I was the only person who knew about them. You will love that harp.