Rip off britain?

Can't tell you the answer Darren but I definitley agree with you, I'm only after an entry level bike and I've heard people talk about Trek 1000 at around $520 that's a bargain.

Does anyone know anything about importing your own bike from abroad (outside UK in this case) and what taxes are etc.🙂

pjones said:

Can't tell you the answer Darren but I definitley agree with you, I'm only after an entry level bike and I've heard people talk about Trek 1000 at around $520 that's a bargain.

Does anyone know anything about importing your own bike from abroad (outside UK in this case) and what taxes are etc.🙂

I am afraid Trek has a delearship agreement with shops, so that they can't sell any bikes outside a certain mileage.

If you go look at US website as well, they have stopped selling Treks online and are aksing customers to go to the shop.

It's an absolute rip-off......

I have been looking at the top end treks, and you can pay up to half price what you pay in the UK!

I was thinking of buying cheap tickets to the US, take my bike with me, dump it there and take it back. That way, I have proof for customs it is in fact my bike, and I can also buy tax free!! Bargain!!

ItalianStallion said:

I am afraid Trek has a delearship agreement with shops, so that they can't sell any bikes outside a certain mileage.

If you go look at US website as well, they have stopped selling Treks online and are aksing customers to go to the shop.

It's an absolute rip-off......

I have been looking at the top end treks, and you can pay up to half price what you pay in the UK!

I was thinking of buying cheap tickets to the US, take my bike with me, dump it there and take it back. That way, I have proof for customs it is in fact my bike, and I can also buy tax free!! Bargain!!

Well i never new that, that's outrageous,😠 how can they get away with that ( or more to the point why do we put up with ).

I was thinking the same as you, combine a holiday with bike shopping. Unfortunately I dont' have an existing trek to dump over there. Suppose I could get an old one off ebay.

Do you know what the import taxes are if I just bought one and brought it back? I have a budget of around £700 and that could get me a decent bike over there.

Does that work for Europe too?
Anyone bought a bike from the continent and got a good saving?I bought a heart rate monitor from a Dutch shop and saved a fair bit on it a few years ago.

pjones said:

Well i never new that, that's outrageous,😠 how can they get away with that ( or more to the point why do we put up with ).

I was thinking the same as you, combine a holiday with bike shopping. Unfortunately I dont' have an existing trek to dump over there. Suppose I could get an old one off ebay.

Do you know what the import taxes are if I just bought one and brought it back? I have a budget of around £700 and that could get me a decent bike over there.

Doesn't need to be an old trek...... any bike would do!! I just thought that if you have proof of bringing a bike bag on the flight to the US, then there's no problem with custom, you can say it always was the same bike!!

Customs usually make you pay VAT. In the US, you can pay tax free. Now, I think VAT in the US is around 7-8% (correct me if I'm wrong, I seem to remember something like this) and here is 17.5%. You do the maths.......

Can I say though, for £700, it's not really worth it too much. Considering the hassle, plane tickets, etc, I'd say you should aim to spend at least £1200. Then you get a real bargain. You can buy a Trek 5200 for that price!!

fearby said:

Does that work for Europe too?
Anyone bought a bike from the continent and got a good saving?I bought a heart rate monitor from a Dutch shop and saved a fair bit on it a few years ago.

Not sure about that, I think the European dealers have different agreement. I can tell though, that Treks are not any cheaper on the continent than they are in the UK.

Bits and pieces, though, yes. I have a friend who bought a saddle in France for half the price it is in the UK.

The problem is shipping for bikes.... It might end up costing a lot!! But if you're there anyway......

ItalianStallion said:

Customs usually make you pay VAT. In the US, you can pay tax free. Now, I think VAT in the US is around 7-8% (correct me if I'm wrong, I seem to remember something like this) and here is 17.5%. You do the maths.......

Can I say though, for £700, it's not really worth it too much. Considering the hassle, plane tickets, etc, I'd say you should aim to spend at least £1200. Then you get a real bargain. You can buy a Trek 5200 for that price!!

Just Checked the customs website and answered my own question, there is a standard duty rate of 15% and you do have to pay VAT at 17.5% aswell.

Take your point about the £700 pound limit not being worth it. I was just thinking if I was on holiday anyway but with that duty + VATetc it soon becomes just as expensive. The same costs apply if you buy over the internet without bringing it back yourself.

Mmmmm.

As I suspected. It is another case of rip off britain!

No wonder so many of you guys in the US are riding round on top end treks and cannondales. They cost about half as much as they do here in the UK!😠

Quoted post said:

I am afraid Trek has a delearship agreement with shops, so that they can't sell any bikes outside a certain mileage.

I wonder who benefits from the additional profits. Trek or the UK dealers?
I suspect they are probably in on it together and keep a cut each, all by way of squeezing extra ££ out of our UK pockets!

Not really blaming trek particularly as loads of manufacturers are at it in the UK. This is just another example.😠

darrenf said:

I wonder who benefits from the additional profits. Trek or the UK dealers?
I suspect they are probably in on it together and keep a cut each, all by way of squeezing extra ££ out of our UK pockets!

Not really blaming trek particularly as loads of manufacturers are at it in the UK. This is just another example.😠

Read above a few posts. NO additional profits. Duty and Value added taxes. Not price gouging.

Velo Serg said:

Read above a few posts. NO additional profits. Duty and Value added taxes. Not price gouging.

But 15% duty and 17.5% do not add up to the approx double price in the UK compared to US

In Australia:

New Trek 1500s sell for about $1970 US ($2700 AUS)

2003 1500 sell for about $1690 US ($2400 AUS)

Kinda weird that they'd be a bit less down here, considering how bloody far away we are.

nutbag said:

In Australia:

New Trek 1500s sell for about $1970 US ($2700 AUS)

2003 1500 sell for about $1690 US ($2400 AUS)

Kinda weird that they'd be a bit less down here, considering how bloody far away we are.

It just goes back to the title of this thread "Rip off Britain"

pjones said:

It just goes back to the title of this thread "Rip off Britain"

I have it on good authority that mark up on saddles by importer/distributor is 100% minus the vat. Depens on the saddle/importer but that's a good starting figure.

e.g.

trade price ex VAT to shop is £35.00
.
Shop price to punter incl VAT is £70.00

Clothing margins are more. Not sure about complete bikes but I believe them to be similar or slightly less than the example for saddles.

Part of the problem in this country is the huge cost of retail premises. Few shops own the building and landlords screw the LBS into the ground. Local Council Business Rates payable are also extotionate, nothing less than a local tax, benefits few. Secondly our very high labour cost mean that what appear to be huge margins don't necessarily yield high profits. Until the web based economy decimates the High Street (which it will, bringing lots of other problem along with it) just grin and bear it.

nutbag said:

In Australia:

New Trek 1500s sell for about $1970 US ($2700 AUS)

2003 1500 sell for about $1690 US ($2400 AUS)

Kinda weird that they'd be a bit less down here, considering how bloody far away we are.

In Brazil, there is only one price for all bike shops that deal with Trek. That´s because there only one person who deals with Trek.

Just for comparison a new 1500 costs US$ 1663 + 7% of extra taxes included since this May. But it is the international version, like in Australia.

Well remember you are payin those Taxes and Dues on the Value of the item not what it cost you

and if an item is shiped to the UK then the shiping is added to the Value

you buy it here may cost you 800, but may have a value to Customs of 1600

and like most Gov Departments it dont do any good to tell them they are worng

it's the EU thats doin this to UK
not the US

Eventually retailers might wake up to the internet. In Australia,
things from the US can cost three times as much (I'm
not necessarily talking bike stuff here) once you've
accounted for the importing and the middleman's mark up.
What annoyed me is that when the Aussie dollar went up, these
middlemen were not reducing their prices...they have for the
most part lost my business as I now shop over the internet and pay
half the price.
The Ebay economy is a good alternative; BUT for the fact,
especially with bikes, most US sellers won't send outside the US.
WHY? What is so hard about putting a foreign address
on a package?? This is particularly frustrating at the moment
while I wait for a Trek Y1 that "ships worldwide".
Case in point: I needed two year old Acera shifter; local bike shops
were a waste of time of course as anything not current they don't
want to know about, so found what I wanted on Ebay...the seller
would't sell to overseas. I thought it was funny when no one else
bid and he had to readvertise! Could have had a sale there if he wasn't
so xenophobic.

You guys in the UK are lucky. I live in Ireland and I buy most of my bike stuff online from the UK. Even with the crappy exchange rate and the shipping charges it works out far cheaper than buying in a shop in Ireland.
I recently picked up a full Mirage grouppo online from a shop in Southampton for 280 euro, including shipping. The best price I could find in Dublin was 350 euro. Similar price difference for a Mavic wheelset I got from some crowd in Yorkshire.
I think there's just not enough competition over here.

I've also been in Belgium a few times this year and visited a few bike shops. Prices were marginally better than Ireland's.