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Are pro wireless mics too expensive in 2014? Your thoughts?


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When you invest in professional wireless from small business such as Lectrosonics or Zaxcom your investing not only in top of the line performance, but also the back end service from a company who picks up the phone, a company that will have a conversation with you and that will expedite your needs based on your individual situation.

We are bombarded with consumer advertising daily to have us believe that lower prices equals the greatest value. Low quality workmanship and materials, outsourcing, and cheap labor are the side affects. The worst side affect is this mentology closes small business and opens more Walmarts

Imagine if the price of pro wireless was half, are you willing to accept half the quality of service, parts and reliability? What if camera ops could easily purchase 411's. why not let the AC run sound, its just ENG right? If they can purchase the gear for less why not do it and save the production your day rate?

I enjoy telling customers, that the 411 / SMQV combo is not only expensive but one of the best that money can buy because their production deserves the best in quality. Keeping prices for top of the line gear at top tier levels and especially supporting small business is good for all !

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Constantine: " Many of his posts are very tongue-in-cheek "

thank you for noting that...

and his TIC comment actually does not express whether the writer favors it or not!

 

AFMY: " After 10 years, shave of a few bucks.. "

actually the modest increases have not completely caught up with the rising costs (inflation!) of delivering the finished products to market.

 

and I'm with Tom B...

 

Malcolm: " Because of the high threshold of compulsory registration most jobbing sound recordist's in the UK are not registered. "

but once registered, there is the cost (and not just money) of being registered that goes with it...

and the dealers are registered, and need to charge enough to keep up their businesses...

Edited by studiomprd
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I enjoy telling customers, that the 411 / SMQV combo is not only expensive but one of the best that money can buy because their production deserves the best in quality.

what do you tell your customers about your 788T (if you have one)? It's very good, but it's not the most expensive by far, and arguably not even one of the best, and it's made in the US, and they offer good service, and so on. And yet it costs only about half of what the next more expensive competitor costs
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" but once registered, there is the cost (and not just money) of being registered that goes with it...

and the dealers are registered, and need to charge enough to keep up their businesses...

well, in the UK, if you are registered for VAT, you have to pay for a piece of equipment e.g. £1000. if you are NOT registered you have to pay £1200. that's £200 for a small registration that comes without any ties, except doing a monthly VAT return - which will save time at the end of the year. Contrary to what Senator says, there are virtually no costs involved, but a lot of savings
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well, in the UK, if you are registered for VAT, you have to pay for a piece of equipment e.g. £1000. if you are NOT registered you have to pay £1200. that's £200 for a small registration that comes without any ties, except doing a monthly VAT return - which will save time at the end of the year. Contrary to what Senator says, there are virtually no costs involved, but a lot of savings

Except that London, for example, is awash with tiny production companies (such as those set up for a single project) and shooter-directors (i.e. sole traders) who may well hire a "jobbing sound recordist", as Malcolm put it, to work alongside them. Partly because the compulsory registration threshold is relatively high (£81k turnover), many of these will not be VAT-registered themselves, and there may be difficulty charging them VAT. If the maximum they are willing to pay after hard fought negotiation is, say, £400 per day including basic kit, they are not going to be too pleased when you tell them there will be an extra 20% on top. In fact, you will end up absorbing the tax yourself rather than lose the client.

 

So, when you start out (or if you work for other freelancers), there is some risk to immediately volunteering for VAT registration: how many days work you may lose v. the VAT saved on expenses. As the clients get bigger, the problem shrinks, and the balance tips in favour of registration.

 

The much lower threshold that you say applies for Germany makes much more sense - everyone involved in business basically HAS to deal with VAT, and is familiar with the concept, whereas in the UK there is a sizeable grey area.

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There's a little-known version of VAT in the UK, called the Flat Rate Scheme that makes it much less complicated to be VAT registered. As far as I can tell from a brief perusal of the system, you estimate your annual turnover and then pay a flat rate - 13% for those in our business - on that. You still charge your customers the full 20% standard rate and the difference between what you charge and what you pay HMRC works as an approximation of what you would claim back in a year. You only have to make a return once a year, so the accounting procedure is much simpler. There's an added advantage for people who have make large capital purchases, under the current rules it's any single item over £2,000, whereby you can claim back the full VAT charged on to you by the supplier. If you want the full explanation, just do a search for HMRC Flat Rate Scheme For Small Businesses. I only found out about this last year and as I'm getting on a bit now, I'm not sure it's much use to me, but for younger folk in the UK, it seems to offer a lot of advantages, particularly when buying new kit.

Regards,

John

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

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There's a little-known version of VAT in the UK, called the Flat Rate Scheme that makes it much less complicated to be VAT registered. As far as I can tell from a brief perusal of the system, you estimate your annual turnover and then pay a flat rate - 13% for those in our business - on that. You still charge your customers the full 20% standard rate and the difference between what you charge and what you pay HMRC works as an approximation of what you would claim back in a year. You only have to make a return once a year, so the accounting procedure is much simpler. There's an added advantage for people who have make large capital purchases, under the current rules it's any single item over £2,000, whereby you can claim back the full VAT charged on to you by the supplier. If you want the full explanation, just do a search for HMRC Flat Rate Scheme For Small Businesses. I only found out about this last year and as I'm getting on a bit now, I'm not sure it's much use to me, but for younger folk in the UK, it seems to offer a lot of advantages, particularly when buying new kit.

Regards,

John

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

John,

You are correct. I'm 'flat-rate' for VAT and it really does lessen considerably the paperwork. You do still have to submit a VAT return each quarter but a slightly modified return in accordance with the way the form is filled within the scheme. 13% of your earnings for that quarter (including VAT) is all you have to account for taking into consideration any capital purchases of £2000 (including VAT).

It's a time saver.

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This is all very intersting guys, thank you. I never knew there were such stark differences between countries within the EU. Following from what Andrew wrote above, I still wonder why the one-project companies and others don't register for VAT, as even they would save a bit of money. I don't know how complicated the registration is, though. Here it's quite simple, but once you've registered you can't turn back for 5 years (always assuming you're staying below the 17.500€). But for a company that's set up for just one job, that doesn't matter.

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just FYI: in Canada we have GST (goods and sevices tax) which is Federal, plus provincial sales tax on goods and services. some provinces, like Ontario where I live have a combo tax: HST (harmonized sales tax) which is 13%. I charge customers HST on all work I do and send the money to the govt. I claim back all HST paid on the purchase of any Capital equipment. This is a simplification of course. anything to do with the government ain't simple. Canada has the flat rate scheme also. Any electronic gear manufactured in the US and imported into Canada is free of import duties. Unfortunately our dollar is in the shitter at the moment, trading at around 90 cents, so those Lectros do cost us more here.

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