Parts from the UK

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Psamathe
Posts: 17650
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by Psamathe »

PH wrote:
Psamathe wrote:
PH wrote:It's been three weeks, was anyone thinking it would be a seamless transition?....

I thought we'd had many months "Transition Period" prior to 1 Jan 2021 - "Transition" as in transiting from one system to another.

Ian

Wasted time, as you well know. Were you thinking it was going to be seamless on 1st January?
.....

I think an important aspect is who was wasting that time vs who is suffering because the time was wasted. For months businesses have been clamouring for clarity yet those same businesses who were ignored by our politicians are now the ones going bust, making employees redundant and suffering.

Ian
PH
Posts: 13106
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 12:31am
Location: Derby
Contact:

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by PH »

hamster wrote:I suspect it's been scale, the Shimano importer in Germany....

Yes, there's lots of reasons and if it's worth it lots of opportunities.
If the situation in six months is still that SKS guards are 30% cheaper in Germany and buying is a hassle, I'll look into importing a van load to sell via ebay. I doubt I'm the only one considering these things.
PH
Posts: 13106
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 12:31am
Location: Derby
Contact:

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by PH »

Psamathe wrote:
PH wrote:
Psamathe wrote:I thought we'd had many months "Transition Period" prior to 1 Jan 2021 - "Transition" as in transiting from one system to another.

Ian

Wasted time, as you well know. Were you thinking it was going to be seamless on 1st January?
.....

I think an important aspect is who was wasting that time vs who is suffering because the time was wasted. For months businesses have been clamouring for clarity yet those same businesses who were ignored by our politicians are now the ones going bust, making employees redundant and suffering.
Ian

I don't disagree with any of that.
This thread is someone saying, from a consumer POV - This is how things were V's This is how things are.
I'm saying the way things are is unlikely to be the way things will remain.
roubaixtuesday
Posts: 5815
Joined: 18 Aug 2015, 7:05pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by roubaixtuesday »

PH wrote:However I am expecting the twenty mile queues at Dover and the inability to buy from Germany to be temporary.


I'm no expert, but I think this is wrong, as a result of the decision to exit the customs union, and "rules of origin"

Whilst there are no tariffs on goods originating in the EU, that requires there to a certain percentage of "value add" to be from processing in the EU.

This is to prevent getting around border tariffs by importing into the EU, then re-importing from there to here, thereby getting around the import tariff into the UK.

What that means is for bicycle parts which are simply imported to Germany from the far east (most of them), they will also be subject to a tariff on entering the UK. If there is significant "value add" then it will be tariff free. So if Rose build a wheel from far Eastern parts, it can come to the uk tariff free, but the same parts will be subject to tariffs if simply re-exported to the UK.

The same applies in the opposite direction, to prevent the UK setting zero import tariffs then acting as a tariff avoidance scheme into the EU.

All this is on top off the fiendishly complex VAT stuff.

I may have this wrong.
leftpoole
Posts: 1492
Joined: 12 Feb 2007, 9:31am
Location: Account closing 31st July '22

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by leftpoole »

In response to the opening posters question.
Not cycle related in any way, but I recently (January 2021) sold a Thorens record turntable (!) to someone via Ebay. The purchaser lived in Ireland. The box was duly posted and delivered by Parcelforce 48 hours later without a hitch. Buyer very happy both with service and Turntable.
John
reohn2
Posts: 45158
Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by reohn2 »

One thing that strikes me about Brexit so far is that it's the "little" wo/man and businesses that are suffering the most whether that be fishing,antiques or bike parts,etc,etc.
And should things not improve PDQ the small businesses who peviously exported/imported to and from the EU will go to the wall and people needing bike parts,etc(insert your prefered goods types previously bought from EU sources)will have to buy from UK sources (unless things improve dramatically)as a result,for the most part UK retailers will have a captive customer base with all that that entails.
Yes people will still be able to buy from anywhere in the world but many people don't for whatever reason and it's usually a lack of confidence in receiving their goods and redress if they don't.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
User avatar
willcee
Posts: 1438
Joined: 14 Aug 2008, 11:30pm
Location: castleroe,co.derryUlster

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by willcee »

Hi.. interesting discussions.. way I see it is that big business in the UK have been tearing the ass out of the market in everything for some time.. pushing what the market will bear on every product from SKS guards, tyres , tubes to nuts and bolts...I'm in Northern Ireland and have bought all over the UK and the Continent, I try to avoid USA because of duty and the vat and then the post office attaching a zealous fee for their duty in collecting same before delivery... what people in the UK need to know is that Eire had a real big say in the Brexit outcome because if they hadn't realistically their market for goods would have vanished, and sadly the dorks in Westminster hadn't realised this, strange as that may seem despite what the haulage companies and those who traded daily hourly with all parts of these Islands told them..what they also haven't realised that there are those in the EU part of these islands who are past masters at anything to do with avoiding tax duty or anything where a legal state needs recompense...as Regards postage ...I bought from Bikester Stuttgart a Humpert type raiser stem with sensible post cost 5 quid and its to be with me by monday they claim , contrast that with a pair of old school stem shifters that i put a wanted request on here recently, the sender was in England, offered me them FOC, i accepted sent my address and when they arrived 2 weeks later, when i looked at the well packed box... it seemed to have arrived from abroad, there was a customs form on it and what was the postage charged 5.95.. go figure...will
PH
Posts: 13106
Joined: 21 Jan 2007, 12:31am
Location: Derby
Contact:

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by PH »

roubaixtuesday wrote:
PH wrote:However I am expecting the twenty mile queues at Dover and the inability to buy from Germany to be temporary.

I'm no expert, but I think this is wrong, as a result of the decision to exit the customs union, and "rules of origin"

So, how is that different to buying from anywhere else in the World? 52% of our imports are from the EU, so it's a huge change. But I'm interested to hear why anyone thinks they won't become as straightforward as the other 48%.
I may have this wrong.

I'm not saying anyone has it wrong, just that it's too early to come to some of the conclusions that have been made.
roubaixtuesday
Posts: 5815
Joined: 18 Aug 2015, 7:05pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by roubaixtuesday »

PH wrote:So, how is that different to buying from anywhere else in the World? 52% of our imports are from the EU, so it's a huge change. But I'm interested to hear why anyone thinks they won't become as straightforward as the other 48%.


What's different is that the tariff ends up being paid twice, into Germany *and* into the UK, so it's not economic. Those European based businesses won't sell here, only uk based ones who import direct.

So, less competition, less choice, higher prices. Particularly for niche stuff like hub dynamos which are much commoner in Europe.

I don't know about the VAT stuff, it just sounds hideously complex.

And as I said, I may well have got something wrong here too.
thirdcrank
Posts: 36776
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by thirdcrank »

When making a comparison with the rest of the World, %ages referring to overall trade, be that with the RoW or EU include (a preponderance?) of wholesale transactions. ie the retail customer isn't directly affected by the formalities. I think the implication that retail imports from places outside the EU has been simple is mistaken. I've already posted on this thread or another similar that buying something small - in my case a woollen hat - was anything but simple, including a trip to the Royal Mail local delivery office to pay VAT and their fee (eight quid?) to collect the VAT.

So, I don't think it's a matter of just waiting till EU vendors and/or the UK government get things sorted before everything is hunky-dory. Looking on the bright side, anything which discourages imports is a Good Thing. Or so they say.
iandusud
Posts: 1577
Joined: 26 Mar 2018, 1:35pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by iandusud »

With regard to buying bicycle parts from European sellers (Rose etc) whilst it may mean not saving a few quid here and there it will mean that UK suppliers will get the business, and if that means that dedicated shops like Spa and many others, who not only do mail order but also a real shop, get more trade then I don't think it's necessarily such a bod thing. As it is it will all sort itself out sooner or later because as they say "money makes the world go around", in other words it's in everyone's interest to make trading as straightforward as possible within a given set of constraints.
Psamathe
Posts: 17650
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by Psamathe »

iandusud wrote:With regard to buying bicycle parts from European sellers (Rose etc) whilst it may mean not saving a few quid here and there it will mean that UK suppliers will get the business, and if that means that dedicated shops like Spa and many others, who not only do mail order but also a real shop, get more trade then I don't think it's necessarily such a bod thing.....

I think it may be more complex as it works both ways. UK customers might buy more from UK suppliers increasing their UK sales. However, EU customers will be more likely to buy from EU suppliers so UK will loose (some of) that EU business. And EU is a much bigger market than UK so much would depend on how much EU buy from UK suppliers and how much UK buy from EU suppliers.

Ian
Bmblbzzz
Posts: 6261
Joined: 18 May 2012, 7:56pm
Location: From here to there.

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by Bmblbzzz »

hamster wrote:
PH wrote:My crystal ball is no better than yours, at a guess I'd expect buying from Germany to save a fiver will be a thing of the past, but where it's previously been possible to save £10's or £100's it'll still be worth it, though not as much as previously. You might also ask why in a free market it's been common for a product to cost 30% less from the retailers in one country than in another, maybe there's a business opportunity there.


I suspect it's been scale, the Shimano importer in Germany / DACH also might be taking thinner margins on larger volumes. Certainly Germany has always seemed to offer much wider Shimano spares coverage than Madison ever brought into the UK (single cogs and replacement brake hoods for example).
Of course there are opportunities for cross-border arbitrage. Things are valued differently in different places: antique furniture in France is valueless, and hub dynamos are a niche in the UK but mainstream in Germany and NL.

I've never had reason to look for single cogs but replacement brake hoods are available in UK from either Spa or SJS (I can't now remember which) if not both and maybe others.
Jdsk
Posts: 24639
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by Jdsk »

iandusud wrote:With regard to buying bicycle parts from European sellers (Rose etc) whilst it may mean not saving a few quid here and there it will mean that UK suppliers will get the business, and if that means that dedicated shops like Spa and many others, who not only do mail order but also a real shop, get more trade then I don't think it's necessarily such a bod thing. As it is it will all sort itself out sooner or later because as they say "money makes the world go around", in other words it's in everyone's interest to make trading as straightforward as possible within a given set of constraints.

It might "sort itself out" at lower total sales, higher costs and less choice for consumers. And those are precisely what most economic theories predict and precisely why most countries put so much effort into reducing barriers to international trade.

Jonathan
Jdsk
Posts: 24639
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Parts from the UK

Post by Jdsk »

You couldn't make it up:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/23/brexit-hit-firms-advised-government-officials-set-up-shop-in-eu

"British businesses that export to the continent are being encouraged by government trade advisers to set up separate companies inside the EU in order to get around extra charges, paperwork and taxes resulting from Brexit... "

Jonathan
Post Reply