Mark W Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Hey all, Basically, when Sikamon was over today we were checking out prices for Chris King BMX hubs. He didn't believe me that they cost £425+, so I showed him. Searched on an American BMX site, and they were selling the Chris King front hub and the rear cassette hub as a pair for $445.99. This works out as £238.38. So. Basically. Import tax. I know that with EmpireBMX, if you buy from them from the UK they write "Low value gift" or summat on it so the customs people just pass it through, so if that happened a) how much d'you reckon you'd be saving? b) If they opened it, and charged full import tax how much would it be? and c) would it be worth getting? I'm not really interested 'cos I don't have the money, and just bought a lovely Eno, but I was just curious basically. Mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phatmike Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Hey all, Basically, when Sikamon was over today we were checking out prices for Chris King BMX hubs. He didn't believe me that they cost £425+, so I showed him. Searched on an American BMX site, and they were selling the Chris King front hub and the rear cassette hub as a pair for $445.99. This works out as £238.38. So. Basically. Import tax. I know that with EmpireBMX, if you buy from them from the UK they write "Low value gift" or summat on it so the customs people just pass it through, so if that happened a) how much d'you reckon you'd be saving? b) If they opened it, and charged full import tax how much would it be? and c) would it be worth getting? I'm not really interested 'cos I don't have the money, and just bought a lovely Eno, but I was just curious basically. Mark. ← Give me a shout on MSN mark, i'm pretty clued up towards import tax. :P P.s. Evading import tax and customs duty is highly illegal, and severely punishable. :S :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 It's probably still be cheaper, even with import tax. When I got my axle over from america, FedEX simply charged me VAT @ 17.5% + £4.50 "handling fee". That's on top of postage. So in theory, you should only pay 17.5% extra. Unfortunately, King USA marked my axle as being worth £85 instead of £25 (Which is how much I paid them), so I got charged three times as much VAT as I should have :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 That sucks Mr. Tomm. I was just checking how much it'd sorta be, really, seeing as you'd probably end up paying less than the £425 for the rear hub, effectively getting a free front one... Thanks for all the replies :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nb88 Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 So if someone over in america bought that and sent it down here, it'd be illegal without paying tax right..but what if the hubs had been 'used' or something...would they still add import tax? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Or they sent it to our good friend Mr. Granger and he sent it here as a 'Gift', thus negating the import tax... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly C Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 P.S. Evading import tax and customs duty is highly illegal, and severely punishable. ← What I dont get is how do they know the value of the items they open? How do you say decide to give some friend in england your built up and used for a day profile hub for thier birthday as you have just bought a king for your bike. Customs open it up, how do they know its not a gift and its not just a £30 hub? Also what would happen if you bought a lets say from my POV a factory sealed video game from the 1990's thats impossible to come by and in sealed condition is priceless. What happens if they just tear the seal off search it for some of cuba's finest and fine nothing and stick it back in and charge you some handling fee ontop of what they decide is import tax? Hmm.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 Customs open it up, how do they know its not a gift and its not just a £30 hub?← Because you write on the package how much it's worth. If you don't do that, then you're evading tax. That's illegal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PythonRider Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 Give me a shout on MSN mark, i'm pretty clued up towards import tax. :D P.s. Evading import tax and customs duty is highly illegal, and severely punishable. :S :P ← And mike is doin nothing illegal at all, or never has/never will :P Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 And mike is doin nothing illegal at all, or never has/never will :P ← He won't any more, I phoned HM Customs & Excise :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 He won't any more, I phoned HM Customs & Excise :P ← Who have pictures of all imported items held on record :P" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly C Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 Because you write on the package how much it's worth. If you don't do that, then you're evading tax. That's illegal. ← Maybe its only worth £30 to the person whos selling it because he has a stock bike and just wants a new £30 front hub instead :P" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
011001000110010101110010 Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 I was just over in New York, could have got it sent to me! :( Surley customs wont open everything? Just like at an airport when you say you have nothing to declare they dont bother checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 As we've been chatting to fatmike, My mate simon's thinking about getting an Echo Team for $999 and 2 white industries freewheels ($100 ish each) from webcyclery. We've been suggested that import tax and handeling fees etc etc will be £70 - £90 which still only makes the bike and freewheels £850 ish which is much cheaper than the £995 retail plus (2 * £82) in the uk! I'm not gonna get one of those White industries however B) And apparently you've got to include a recipt and if we get it from someone like Webcyclery (bastards in helping you 'evade' tax etc B)" ) then there's no chance of making the recipt any less :( Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 We've been suggested that import tax and handeling fees etc etc will be £70 - £90 ← Hmm, who suggested that? I should think tax would run to nearer £140, then plus your clearance and handling fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Bleech Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 I ordered some vees off webcyclery and didn't have to pay any import tax, that said they were a fraction of the price and size of a bike :( in a similar vein my mate ordered some dickies and a couple of tees off hottopic.com and had to pay import on them, but me, my gf and a couple of her friends ordered a bunch of stuff off it as well a bit later and didn't have to pay anything! I think its just luck of the draw really! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 Hmm, who suggested that? I should think tax would run to nearer £140, then plus your clearance and handling fees. ← Lol Well it was only a rough guess from Fatmike himeself. It'll be like $1200 which is about ermm £650 ish. And say it's £160 including Tax, handling fees, clearance, delivery etc, Thats *thinks* ermmm £810 and you've got a full echo mod and 2 white industries freewheels :( Worth £~1164 in the uk B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartridge Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 Ah I see... Mikes not the most informed I suppose, since Aspire Velo Tech mark stuff down as low value to evade tax. But yeah, still a good price. Gotta pay shipping on top of that too, dont forget. (and tax on the shipping) Warranty issues might be fun too :(" Just a friendly 'warning' (not really a warning, cant think of a better term!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hardman Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 With Aspire Mike sends an invoice and reciept via email, I print it off bingo he doest send one in the package. No reciept no proof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 With Aspire Mike sends an invoice and reciept via email, I print it off bingo he doest send one in the package. No reciept no proof. ← Doesn't there HAVE to be a recipt? Hm Ye well my mates gonna ask the guys are webcyclery about all the taxes and final charges or whatever B) Cheers tart :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 Whatever angle you look at it from, the end result is that we're all being screwed by the UK importers/dealers. The prices we pay should effectively be trade US prices plus VAT and then some profit. It seems that the way the UK guys do it is if something costs $500 it will cost us £500 which is pure bullsh!t IMO. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 The prices we pay should effectively be trade US prices plus VAT and then some profit. ← I totally agree, we get screwed. However, im not sure on US anti-dumping regulations/taxes... this may explain the difference in price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikamon Posted February 18, 2005 Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 i'm pretty sure its just companys being cocks, cos when i was looking at getting an ipod it was the time when they were like $400 and £400 but, i think what happened was apple was getting a lot of bad press and complaints so they eventually lowered UK prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted February 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2005 Whatever angle you look at it from, the end result is that we're all being screwed by the UK importers/dealers. The prices we pay should effectively be trade US prices plus VAT and then some profit. It seems that the way the UK guys do it is if something costs $500 it will cost us £500 which is pure bullsh!t IMO. Dave ← The thing is though is that most companies who are selling trials products have them made in the far East, so it's not like there's any special reason we should be following the American's lead anyway, is there? If the product is made there, then shipped in to a distro then to retaillers - so for Echo stuff for example, it's going to cost them differing amounts to send it to retaillers, which I guess gets tagged onto the price tag. Still, the fact that £ is worth almost $2, yet it costs the same amount in £'s and $'s sucks. At least we can live safe in the knowledge that should any Americans want to buy Curtis, Leeson or Pashley stuff they're gonna get raped price-wise. Not all that comforting though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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