Imported goods: Import duty, Vat and surcharges including postage/freight make this country expensive for imported goods.

If you want to buy at American prices, you should probably go and live in the US. As an importer of musical instruments, we face this problem all the time. For example, a Gibson Les Paul recently cost a friend just under 3,000, including taxes and charges, from the US. We retail them for 2,499, which is not a rip-off after all. Suck it up, folks. - Stephen