Rose (Germany)

[ukdodger]

If you haven't seen this thread then note that it can be cheaper shopping in Euro rather than £ on the RoseBikes site (change the dropdown choice at top right of the RoseBike page) if you have the right credit card with a 0% Visa currency conversion fee.

That's interesting.

[JonMcD]

If you haven't seen this thread then note that it can be cheaper shopping in Euro rather than £ on the RoseBikes site (change the dropdown choice at top right of the RoseBike page) if you have the right credit card with a 0% Visa currency conversion fee.

Scratch my previous post.

Just put in an order to RoseBikes and at the final checkout stage my order was converted to £ and the VAT changed to the UK rate. The VAT change wasn’t too bad (19% Germany, 20% UK) but the exchange rate was criminal. Together they added 12% to my order compared to the Euro price converted at the current Visa currency rate with 0% fee and German VAT.

I emailed RoseBikes who responded:

As soon as we deliver goods to an EU country where our turnover exceeds a certain amount, we are committed to pay turnover tax into the country and need to calculate the tax and currency of the country for the goods we send there. This is an EU Directive which every company should follow.

I bet the EU Directive doesn’t say they have to gouge customers on the exchange rate, although it is not unheard of. I have seen warnings about paying by credit card when visiting Europe where for Euro priced goods or services some shops and hotels “helpfully” debit your card in £ at a very poor exchange rate.

Fortunately other German on-line shops like http://www.bike-components.de charge in Euro with German VAT rates.

[RickH]

Just put in an order to RoseBikes and at the final checkout stage my order was converted to £ and the VAT changed to the UK rate. The VAT change wasn’t too bad (19% Germany, 20% UK) but the exchange rate was criminal. Together they added 12% to my order compared to the Euro price converted at the current Visa currency rate with 0% fee and German VAT.

Rosebikes do appear (although I've not actually tried to buy anything using the option) give you the option to pay in Euros (& still use English as the language) if you don't like their exchange rate.

Rick.

[JonMcD]

Rosebikes do appear (although I've not actually tried to buy anything using the option) give you the option to pay in Euros (& still use English as the language) if you don't like their exchange rate.

Rick.

You can shop in € and your basket will show € but at the final payment stage you will get red text for every item in your basket saying:

your product price for XXXX has changed. Please note that the VAT charged has been adjusted to the country of delivery.

and a final line of red text saying

The currency has been adapted to the delivery country.

and that's the end of your Euro shopping. So if you have a UK delivery address you are charged the UK VAT rate and € prices are converted to £s at a pretty awful exchange rate.

[RickH]

OK! I stand (or sit) corrected!

I tend to use Bike24, who charge in Euros, as their prices are generally comparable & they do good prices on 20" tyres (c£13 for a 406-50 or 406-55 Schwalbe Big Apple compared to £25-30 from UK suppliers).

Rick

[JonMcD]

I didn't used to have this nonsense with RoseBikes and I wonder if the problem started when they launched their UK site with prices in £. They probably don't want to keep amending the UK prices to track the £/€ exchange rate. I timed my shopping to when the € had sunk to almost €1.40 = £1. Perhaps on another day the difference between € prices and £ prices wouldn't have been so stark.
I have taken advantage of the keen prices offered by other German sites like http://www.bike24.com/, http://www.bike-mailorder.de and http://www.hibike.com/ but RoseBikes good own brand products and low prices for spokes means I will probably, reluctantly, use them again.

[ChrisF]

Lots of comments here about buying parts from Rose but has anyone purchased a complete bike from them? I'm considering this http://www.rosebikes.com/bike/rose-activa-pro-v-carbon-drive which appears very good value but I have found few reviews of their bikes anywhere.

[rfryer]

I bought a carbon road bike from them a couple of years ago and have been very happy with it; comfortable and fast.

[Flinders]

If you haven't seen this thread then note that it can be cheaper shopping in Euro rather than £ on the RoseBikes site (change the dropdown choice at top right of the RoseBike page) if you have the right credit card with a 0% Visa currency conversion fee.

Scratch my previous post.

Just put in an order to RoseBikes and at the final checkout stage my order was converted to £ and the VAT changed to the UK rate. The VAT change wasn’t too bad (19% Germany, 20% UK) but the exchange rate was criminal. Together they added 12% to my order compared to the Euro price converted at the current Visa currency rate with 0% fee and German VAT.

I emailed RoseBikes who responded:

As soon as we deliver goods to an EU country where our turnover exceeds a certain amount, we are committed to pay turnover tax into the country and need to calculate the tax and currency of the country for the goods we send there. This is an EU Directive which every company should follow.

I bet the EU Directive doesn’t say they have to gouge customers on the exchange rate, although it is not unheard of. I have seen warnings about paying by credit card when visiting Europe where for Euro priced goods or services some shops and hotels “helpfully” debit your card in £ at a very poor exchange rate.

Fortunately other German on-line shops like http://www.bike-components.de charge in Euro with German VAT rates.

Do Amazon pay turnover tax? I'm not holding my breath.

[[XAP]Bob]

Well I've just had a couple of framelocks delivered - which are great... but..

They were meant to be a "keyed alike" pair, with four keys. From looking at the box it had a hard time with the courier, and two of the keys are missing.

They immediately offered a prepaid return for a replacement, but I suggested that just ordering some new keys from the manufacturer might be a cheaper solution all round - and as I have two keys, I don't need the others instantly.
They agreed, and two new keys will be with me shortly.

So much nicer to deal with companies who correct their errors, and are flexible with their returns etc...

[truckturner]

Just bought 3 Tubus Racks from Rose all prices quoted in pounds prior to checkout and deliverd within 3 days Saved a massive £120 over best UK web price. Excellent

[Redvee]

I use Rosebikes for spokes and the last order I placed with tehm came up short and only realised when I was building the wheel, did the first lot of 8, then the second. Finished the third eight and ran out of spokes, checked the invoice and I did order enough so emailed them but didn't get any response but did have the shortfall arrive a few days later.

[broadway]

If you haven't seen this thread then note that it can be cheaper shopping in Euro rather than £ on the RoseBikes site (change the dropdown choice at top right of the RoseBike page) if you have the right credit card with a 0% Visa currency conversion fee.

Scratch my previous post.

Just put in an order to RoseBikes and at the final checkout stage my order was converted to £ and the VAT changed to the UK rate. The VAT change wasn’t too bad (19% Germany, 20% UK) but the exchange rate was criminal. Together they added 12% to my order compared to the Euro price converted at the current Visa currency rate with 0% fee and German VAT.

I emailed RoseBikes who responded:

As soon as we deliver goods to an EU country where our turnover exceeds a certain amount, we are committed to pay turnover tax into the country and need to calculate the tax and currency of the country for the goods we send there. This is an EU Directive which every company should follow.

I bet the EU Directive doesn’t say they have to gouge customers on the exchange rate, although it is not unheard of. I have seen warnings about paying by credit card when visiting Europe where for Euro priced goods or services some shops and hotels “helpfully” debit your card in £ at a very poor exchange rate.

Fortunately other German on-line shops like http://www.bike-components.de charge in Euro with German VAT rates.

Do Amazon pay turnover tax? I'm not holding my breath.

I think by turnover tax they mean VAT. Does this mean that when their turnover to a country exceeds a certain value the VAT rules mean a payment is made to the country receiving the goods?

[old_windbag]

I've used Rosebikes several times. They sell excellent low cost dynamo hub wheelsets and lights, tyres etc. Their pricing is very competitive and any emails I've sent have been answered promptly with the good answers. I've noticed several people have commented on delivery charges, if you sign up to their email newsletter( you aren't bombarded with spam, just a once or twice a week offers email ) then they will give you 10 euros voucher code. Also they'll often send out discount codes on flyers for orders above 50 or 100 euro's if memory serves me right.

Not a bad company at all, sad that the fantastic catalogue went. But it is costly tree/energy wise, it was a pleasure to look through and I kept mine from 3yrs ago as a reference, unfortunately it'll soon be too dated.

[peetee]

An excellent company to deal with. Clearly postage is not going to be overnight but in every other respect I wouldn't fail to use them.
Pre-Brexit they were the cheapest option out there for lots of top notch parts. Now they are no worse than comparable so still a viable option.
Best choice at the moment for Shimano brake cable sets and DT spokes.