Buying stuff from G...
 

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Buying stuff from Germany (again - sorry!)

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Not bought anything from R2, Bike Components or Bike Discount since Brexit!

They have some stuff that is a fair bit cheaper than others.

Appreciate that they now have a minimum spend of £175 inc postage - but how do the taxes/import work once they've sent it?


 
Posted : 02/08/2023 2:54 pm
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Not worth it

I've just paid £50 in various charges on a £170 order


 
Posted : 02/08/2023 2:57 pm
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It was worth it if you kept under the £135, but then they introduced that £175 min spend... all saving are now buggered


 
Posted : 02/08/2023 3:21 pm
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If it's in stock in the UK, buy it here.

Most of the stuff I just bought (a week ago) wasn't, so bought from Bike-Discount. Order was circa £420, just been charged £111 (handling charge, import duty and VAT).

Ended up about the same price as the UK.


 
Posted : 02/08/2023 3:27 pm
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Whats the minmum spend about? Is it just certain shops?


 
Posted : 02/08/2023 3:37 pm
 poah
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mantel will only ship if it is under 135.  some things can be bought cheaper but most are not.


 
Posted : 02/08/2023 5:56 pm
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Loads of stuff I want to buy is not in stock anywhere in the UK but can be had from abroad for more than it would have costed in the UK. I got caught with the minimum £175 spend bollox and had to add loads of sundries to my order to make up the total in order to get what I wanted quickly, then they didn't ship it because part of my order was not in stock.  Then they shipped it in two packages but the invoice taped to both the packages was for the value of the whole order so I got taxed for the full amount twice along with some made up arbitrary handling charge on each package. The whole system is f*** up...


 
Posted : 02/08/2023 6:36 pm
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@poah
mantel will only ship if it is under 135.  some things can be bought cheaper but most are not.

Just checked on Mantel - what I want is £137.........

Thanks all - think I'll give it a miss and wait for stuff to come back in stock over here.


 
Posted : 03/08/2023 8:56 am
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It’s a struggle not to post the usual post Brexit heart break comment on this thread. But I’d just like to say that I run a french company, and almost all our products come from the UK (we are a distributor for a UK company). The reverse direction (UK to france) is just as bad. We used to be able to order parts for customer breakdowns and have them shipped straight to site for next day delivery. Now, we have to ship to our workshop, it takes about 4-5 days to arrive, and duties and importation fees make the cost much higher.

there is no point to my post whatsoever except to feel sorry for myself (ourselves?).


 
Posted : 03/08/2023 9:11 am
inlikeflynn, kelvin, tjagain and 1 people reacted
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I'm buying car parts from Autodoc Germany above £135 and haven't been hit with any import duties/fees yet.🤷‍♂️


 
Posted : 03/08/2023 9:27 am
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Took a punt on Bike24 as they had what I wanted in stock and under the £135.

Ordered on the 4th - arrived today, not extra charges.


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 1:02 am
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They have some stuff that is a fair bit cheaper than others.

Are you sure the price isn't ex-VAT for UK customers? I got excited at super low prices then realised they were knocking off the German tax and you'd be liable for VAT (and the rest) on import. I mean, you might get lucky...


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 7:43 am
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Took a punt on Bike24 as they had what I wanted in stock and under the £135.

Ordered on the 4th – arrived today, not extra charges.

You shouldn't get charged if the total value of goods is under £135, the seller should be charging you vat.


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 7:55 am
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seems to be a bit of lottery still. i've had 2 orders form bike discount in Germany in the past couple of months both for c £200. first one didn't attract any additional charges and turned up in 4 days so saved myself c £100 on buying the parts in the UK (would still of been c £40 cheaper with the charges). The second one got picked up by customs so needed to pay the VAT, customs duty and clearance fee to get it released. even with the charges it still worked out c £40 cheaper than buying the same bits at the lowest prices i could find in the UK


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 8:44 am
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Has anyone reliably used an intermediary service? I'm trying to get hold of some touch up paint from abroad, seller won't ship to UK. I don't care about duties and taxes as it'll be relatively cheap regardless, I just need to find someone prepared to send a small vial of paint from the EU to the UK!


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 10:09 am
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When I lived in CH, not in the EU, there a great line of business for companies that set up a PO Box just over the border in Germany to take receipt of EU based items and not have to deal with the insane CH import/handling charges.

Worked great. https://www.las-burg.de/

Now, if only we were not an island...

Is there any bloody way we could make that work for the UK?


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 10:14 am
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You have Northern Ireland for that, although it's a bit of a trek


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 12:20 pm
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You have Northern Ireland for that, although it’s a bit of a trek

Sounds like an idea for the next family holiday, so long as wife and child don't twig we're just doing it so I can pick up some touch up paint 😂


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 12:29 pm
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Took a punt on Bike24 as they had what I wanted in stock and under the £135.

Ditto, and arrived promptly (within a week) without extra charges. In my case it was some Manitou components (<£135) and as they currently don’t have a UK distributor, Germany was the the best option.


 
Posted : 10/08/2023 8:11 pm

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