Buying from america

always_tyred

Should you give yourself points on your driving licence if they catch yourself doing 33 in a 30 zone? Why not? - its speeding. Its against the law. There's no effective difference between that and doing 70mph is there?

.... or is there??.... only you can decide.....

fossyant

Jash - what "shop" ahem are you using for the castelli stuff....been a long time fan of the stuff since I first got into cycling....

Cajun

IMHO.....if you're saving about £600, I would be too concerned, even if it cost you £100 to get it to you....you'd still be £500 ahead of the game to spend in your home country ; and in response to the gents dickering about supporting the tax systems, I think it's human nature to want to save money on any purchase.... if governments spent tax money wisely, or even reasonably, there might be suitable causes for debate, but I can attest the US wastes more money in a minute than I want to think about.... the wealthy know how to beat the system, it's 'us' that carries the unfair burden :evil:

btw...the US shops are all having sales to get rid of the 2007 stuff left over from last season....

Mercury-10

and dont forget if it comes royal mail thats an extra £8.00 hadling fee for taking the taxes

vanleapo

I've ordered one of the Group Buys from Pedalforce so I've been working out what it will cost, so just to clarify things for anybody importimg stuff from the US.

Import duty on cycle parts is 4.7%
So on £600 wheels that's £628

You then pay VAT @ 17.5% on the total amount including post & packaging.
So lets say £15 for postage £628 + £15 = £643

£643 x 0.175 = £112.5

Total amount £643 + £112 = £755.

Plus the Parcelforce fee, which I think is £8 - £10

Also most credit cards charge 2.5% on foreign currency transactions.
I would advise you to get a Nationwide credit card as they don't charge.

By the way if you were to import a complete bike the import duty is even higher.

bhm100

Hi vanleapo,

Many thanks for that post.

As another in the pedalforce buy I'll be really pleased if the import duty is 4.7% because the best I've found is 15% on bicycles. I assumed that's on complete bikes so asked the direct question to C&E about cycle components, but all I got in reply was complete waffle with no figures at all - basically "import it and we'll work it out then"

Considering how the UK claims to promote "green" transport the rate of import duty is ridiculous - in the table I found only tobacco products were more highly rated....

vanleapo

Hi bhm100

Take a look at this link:-
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dd ... ction=1#OK

The import duty info. is not easy to find but I eventually tracked the website down.

bhm100

hey - you're right, it's well hidden ! But thanks to your link I found it and it's cheered me up no end as I'd been expecting to fork out 15%.

I had made the silly mistake of looking on the UK Customs & Excise site which gives the 15% rate. I then made the even sillier mistake of asking them a direct question......

aracer

Just to confirm, I paid 4.7% duty when I imported a PF frame.

ademort

Some time ago i purchased a Ferrari F20 PC monitor from the U.S it cost $375 or £190. I received a letter with the delivery from DHL saying that as it it,s imported from the U.S. to an EEC country i had to pay import tax, which for the value of this item was a further £31 and V.A.T. which was another£55. The total for the monitor was £276. I found the same monitor today on a u.k. website for £538. Looking back i got a bargain Greetings Ademort

feel

I recently bought a saddle from the states, came in a week and even with postage was cheaper than similar in the UK, did not have to pay any import tax, I don't know why, but i'm not complaining