Post-Brexit - buying bike parts abroad . . (incl. Rose/DutchBikeParts)

[[XAP]Bob]

One of the issues that seems to be causing big problems with the documentation and causing delays is that some of the portals require you to be running Internet Explorer, .....

How about Firefox? It's good to escape from the Microsoft stranglehold. Sorry, thread drift.

Thread drift indeed, I'm at a loss to understand why a difficulty in importing horticultural products has anything to do with "Post-Brexit - buying bike parts abroad . . (incl. Rose/DutchBikeParts)"
Seems to me that's a more general Brexit point that belongs somewhere other than the Cycling > Does anyone know...? section of the forum.

Because the delays at the customs border that the UK decided to erect has a direct impact on the import of anything... bike parts at least don't have a short shelf life...

[PH]

Because the delays at the customs border that the UK decided to erect has a direct impact on the import of anything... bike parts at least don't have a short shelf life...

Save me typing it again:

The full guidance for "Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad" has been in place since 1st Jan this year (Edit 2021), there are no changes due, details can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

Maybe some people are getting confused with regulations for importers, who from tomorrow (EDIT 1 Jan 2022) are required to have all the documentation in place at time of import rather than defer it to a later date. It's a whole different level of complexity, I'm glad I don't have to deal with it:
https://www.gov.uk/import-goods-into-uk

[[XAP]Bob]

And delays are delays - doesn't matter if your paperwork is fine if there is a several hour queue to get to/from the border, and fewer drivers wanting waste that time (not earning)...

[Psamathe]

I've been checking out buying a load of stuff from Radical Design in NL (recumbent panniers) and see

For orders above 250 euro we deduct VAT after you have placed and paid your order through our web shop. We have to increase the shipment and handling costs from 15 euro to 50 euro. We will return the difference to your bank account.

(My bold and colour)
Another benefit from Brexit?

Ian

[UpWrong]

Maybe the courier is charging 35 ,euro to collect UK VAT and duties. Looks like profiteering. Are there any EU retailers with stock who will sell to the UK?

[PH]

I've been checking out buying a load of stuff from Radical Design in NL (recumbent panniers) and see

For orders above 250 euro we deduct VAT after you have placed and paid your order through our web shop. We have to increase the shipment and handling costs from 15 euro to 50 euro. We will return the difference to your bank account.

(My bold and colour)
Another benefit from Brexit?

Ian

This part puzzles me even more:

For orders under 250 euro we don't deduct VAT and shipment and handling costs remain 15 euro.

Looks to me you'll be paying double VAT, they're charging it and if it's over £135 and the customs docs say so, you're going to be paying it again! I'm not even convinced they'd get orders under £135 correct, but that would at least be their problem rather than the customers, though you might be without the goods while it was sorted.
Though even this is an improvement, a year ago they weren't supplying to the UK at all, I could do with a different arm for my Chubby trailer so I can use it on another wheel size, but it can wait til they've got the hang of exports or I'm somewhere to collect one.
It is nice kit, if you were thinking of a trailer and the logistics work, might even make economical sense to collect. Is there a UK stockist? I did look but can't remember if I found one, certainly not one who had what I want.

[freiston]

On a different vein and posted in case anyone is interested, I purchased a Shimano freehub tool from Ebay on 07/02/2022 - cost £8.40, item location China, 2-4 week free delivery ("Economy SpeedPAK from Greater China"). It arrived today with a German prepaid postage label on it. On the other side of the package, there is a label stuck over another one but both have the item value as £4.19. Pics below with my name/address redacted.
P.S. The tool works fine

[Slowtwitch]

It's called ' drop ship', you're seemingly buying it from China, but the items are already in Germany, either through a third party or the seller has a warehouse there. That's how they get around the taxes, and usually why you get it relatively quickly.

[AMMoffat]

Just been on the Bike24 website for the first time in months. It would appear that they are again selling to GB customers. Not everything is shippable to GB but a lot of it seems to be again .

[UpWrong]

Hurrah!

[Jdsk]

"‘Brexit to blame’: UK shoppers pay up to 50% more than those in EU":
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/ ... -decathlon

Some interesting comparisons of the same goods from the same sellers in different countries. And for a Riverside eBike from Decathlon:

Decathlon, the French sports goods retailer that operates 2,000 stores across 56 countries, charges £1,299.99 for a Riverside electric bike in its UK stores, equal to €1,525. But in France, Spain and Italy, the price for the same item is €1,199. The e-bike buyer at Decathlon’s Brighton store is therefore paying €326 (£278) more than if they popped across the channel and bought it in Dieppe.

Decathlon largely blamed Brexit for the price differentials. It said: “The UK’s exit from the European Union has made it more expensive to import stock. It also meant that Decathlon UK had to expand the size of the supply team in order to deal with the additional administration, costs and duties associated with Britain’s exit from the customs union.

“In the UK specifically, we have the obvious challenges involved in dealing with constantly changing exchange rates, coupled with the post-Brexit burden of having to pay import duties twice on a number of products (once as goods enter the EU, and again once they enter the UK).”

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

I've been checking out buying a load of stuff from Radical Design in NL (recumbent panniers) and see

For orders above 250 euro we deduct VAT after you have placed and paid your order through our web shop. We have to increase the shipment and handling costs from 15 euro to 50 euro. We will return the difference to your bank account.

(My bold and colour)
Another benefit from Brexit?

Ian

This part puzzles me even more:

For orders under 250 euro we don't deduct VAT and shipment and handling costs remain 15 euro.

Looks to me you'll be paying double VAT, they're charging it and if it's over £135 and the customs docs say so, you're going to be paying it again! I'm not even convinced they'd get orders under £135 correct, but that would at least be their problem rather than the customers, though you might be without the goods while it was sorted.
Though even this is an improvement, a year ago they weren't supplying to the UK at all, I could do with a different arm for my Chubby trailer so I can use it on another wheel size, but it can wait til they've got the hang of exports or I'm somewhere to collect one.
It is nice kit, if you were thinking of a trailer and the logistics work, might even make economical sense to collect. Is there a UK stockist? I did look but can't remember if I found one, certainly not one who had what I want.

I think they just got the threshold amount wrong. Change €250 to be £135 and it would look (to my limited understanding) to be the system

Reality is for the UK they seem to be contracting all the admin out to a 3rd party that manages everything and "it isn't a problem" ....

Ian

[vanderfab]

I saw this in the Guardian today but it's suggesting that you can for example, go to Dieppe and pay much less in the Decathlon there for the same e-bike they feature in the article - I think from memory it was almost 300GBP - but isn't there import duty to pay on this purchase as it also says in the article that has to be paid on goods purchased in the EU..

quoted in the article..."If you spend more than £390 in shops elsewhere in Europe this summer, get ready to pay customs duties and VAT on your return – which can easily add 20% or more to the price paid".

So any savings will be surely eaten up anyway, plus the travel costs of getting to and from Dieppe...

I'm imagining that any UK import and/or VAT or other taxes would apply to purchasing a bike? Does anyone know?

Jo

[Jdsk]

The charges on personal import are probably upthread, where we discussed proof of purchase in the context of showing that bikes hadn't been bought abroad. The risk of that seemed greatest when several bikes were moved together eg in a van on a group tour.

What interested me was the explanation from Decathlon, and whether it gave any hope of improvement. It didn't seem to, and of course the UK has yet again delayed import checks.

"The government will publish a new target operating model of border controls in Autumn 2022. This will aim for the end of 2023 as the introduction date for the new regime.":
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/safety-and- ... rn-ireland

Jonathan

[PH]

I'm imagining that any UK import and/or VAT or other taxes would apply to purchasing a bike? Does anyone know?

Jo

In principle you shouldn't pay VAT twice. When you import something you are liable for the UK VAT and there's a system for reclaiming EU VAT. I haven't used it, I've read it's a lot of hassle and isn't working as smoothly as it should, no surprise there.
There's still any import duty due, a lot more for bikes than parts, this applies each time something is imported, there's no claim back on it. I don't know the numbers or details. I suspect the costs and the hassle will not be worth the savings.