Buying from the USA

stayhigh65

Morning All

Hope everyone is all good and groovy.

I wondered about buying from the USA and taking advantage of the rather favourable exchange rates. Several places I've enquired to have quoted postage to the UK as being around £20 or there abouts so i wondered if I would have to pay import tax or anything similar?

The Big Cheese

Depends what you are buying and where you are buying from.

I use Aspire Velotech for Thomson and Easton and have never got charged!

Not sure what the deal is if you are buying a large item like a whole bike or a frame? :?

stayhigh65

I was looking at getting a new fork and rear shock. Is there any limit on the value of the items?

jackhunt

I think import tax for bits and frames is something like 7.4%. Then add VAT onto total ie.

((Item+import tax) + postage) + VAT = Total

Then you might be charged a 'handling charge' by the courier for processing through customs.

So do your sums otherwise it comes to a lot more than expected.

Or sometimes you get away with it.

Billy Whizz

I recently purchased some Yoshimura exhausts for my motorbike, the cheapest I could get them in the UK was £630, I purchased from the US for £341, I haven't paid any import tax, and the price included shipping.

Thing is........it depends who is shipping through the US, if you use some of the delivery companies (Fedex etc), they make sure that import taxes are applied, from my own personal experience, the company I purchased my cans from used USPS to ship, it only took 4 days :shock: from US to me, and I was astonished when I collected them from the local post office that they didn't ask for any dosh!

Go for it, it's the first time I've purchased anyting big from the states, and it won't be the last.

stayhigh65

Ive read about people getting the companies to state it is a gift on the postage label, any truth in this? What other places have people used?

Billy Whizz

Yeh, but the customs are wise to that one, some companies will still offer to do this though.

Another thing some companies will do, is mark down the value of the items in the box, so if you get stuffed for tax it will most likely be based on the marked up value (mine were marked at $100) so if I had got stuffed for tax it would have softenend the blow.

From my own limited experience (but more so from the advice of others that have done this many times) you are more likely to avoid additional fees if shipped by USPS (United States Postal Service).

Good luck!

stayhigh65

So looks like suggesting they use USPS is a good plan and asking if they can mark down price too. Well they can only say no lol

stayhigh65

Well Ive had a look at a couple of places, has anybody brought anything from US and where from?

GT Destroyer

I have just ordered a Chris King headset from Aspire Velotech. It was $129 which is way cheaper than here. I will let you know how I get on with the order.

The Big Cheese

as GTDestroyer said.

I have ordered CK headsets from Aspire - thomson stems and seatpost and Easton bars

Huge savings!

stayhigh65

I've had a look on the Aspire site but they don't appear to have any forks. I was looking to save some money on a new Float RLC.