I am buying a first DP (casio px330)online and want to have it shipped to my place in Switzerland. It is going to be a long way and I want to make sure that my stuff will arrive in a excellent condition.(I am aware that I have to pay the import tax. But I believe it is still cheaper with the import tax than getting one here because the price high is ridiculously expensive!)

I searched in this forum about which online store to choose from and I saw that you guys might be able to help me choose from my condition. I am choosing between this two site.

1. Music123 - shipping fee around 150$
2. Sweetwater - Shipping fee around 200$

In general what I have found in other posts about this is that Sweetwater is good because they have a very good after-purchased service. However, all I need is that I want to make sure that my item arrive in a perfect condition and if there is anything happened to my DP, I can get my money back. And the process of claiming should not be complicate. Also of course, I want to choose the one with the lowest shipping fee.

So if Sweetwater is better than Music123 just because they can tell you what to do this and that when you have a problem using the instrument, I will then just go for Music123. Do you people have any suggestion?

I have bought gear from both and had good results, but I'm not in Switzerland. Sweetwater puts you on a call list so that every 6 mos. or so some sales guy calls to see if you are in the market for any gear. If you need help with it, just ask all the experts on the forum! I'd just go with the cheapest site and make sure the package is insured! good luck, and good call - I lust after a px-330 myself.

I'm a big sweetwater fan. I'd ask them if they do anything extra for overseas shipping, they might offer some shipping option that would increase your chances of a safe delivery without any increase in price.

I've gotten great service from

www.americanmusicalsupply.com

and

www.kraftmusic.com

don't know about shipping to Switz though !

US domestic shipping usually has no problem with any online dealer. I just got mine shipped to me in good shape. but international shipping might be a different story. you might want to call them to see if they can guarantee the safe shipping to oversea locations.

In terms if customer service. Sweetwater is the best in the business. If there are any problems they will help. They also offer there own 2 year warranty in addition to whatever the manufacturer offers. Sweetwater will asing one person to you. So you know who to call for question and problems You will he will send you his personal e-mail and phone number when you place your first order. Then you do your nest orders with the same person.

Music123 on the other hand can be trusted to load boxes onto FedEx or UPS trucks. Don't expect anything more than that from them.

If all goes well the place with the lowest price is what you want. But if something happens, like the box is run over by a track while in transit or is stolen by the shipper or it is just broken then you will have to deal with customer service. But maybe there is only a one in a hundred chance of a problem like that.

Sweetwater has a large physical facility with performance space, recording studios, music lessons an so on. on-line retail is not their only business. Music123 is highly automated with just a few phone operators and a warehouse. There only business is loading boxes onto trucks.

Being semi-retired, I don't have a lot of funds to spare. I still buy from Sweetwater if possible. At least, they have been honest with me on items that were ordered which were not in stock.

Music123 had the use of my money for months while waiting for one particular back-ordered item. I did get the money back eventually after requesting it, but that was not super fast.

If I were shipping something overseas, especially considering that either one is going to result in import duties and so forth, I'd want the highest reputation for taking care of any problems.

On one piece of equipment where I had problems, Sweetwater issued a FedEx tag for the heavy keyboard, all I had to do was take it to the FedEx facility 10 miles from my home. That is the only piece that has given any problem, and I have bought a goodly number of items from them.