[Closed] Buying a frame from the US, help and potential pitfalls please.

Duty + tax about 22%

myUS.com

thanks, that's still an over £250 saving.

Any ways to try and avoid tax?

their is a mate of mine who is american - he lives in sheffield also. Maybe you could talk with him?

Major pitfull is when customs decide to chop it up to make sure it isnt full of drugs.
Pair of alfa romeo fancy cam shafts cut up because they were convinced they were hollow.
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bonesetter, so do you not pay any tax using them?

Rob, thanks if i decide to go further it i'll drop you a line

parkesie, that's a worry, esp as there's plenty of hollow tubes in a frame to stuff crack into, what alfa where they intended for?

For a 155 luckily not mine. 😆

Be aware that US Santa Cruz dealers are not meant to sell outside of the US. Santa Cruz are quite strict on this.
Warranty, who you going cry to when Santa Cruz UK won't help you out should you need it?

Take the price, add the postage, at duty at 4.7% for parts or 14% for full bikes then add VAT at 20% to the total. It's not really worth buying the full bike due to the difference in duty.

Also, be careful about how you pay. Typically credit card companies and banks charge up to about 2.75% and some use their own exchange rate and not the Visa or Mastercard rates (eg Tesco) that can result in not far off 5% charges. I have used an FX dealer for larger purchases.

Feel free to email me if you want more details on this.

warranty is the issue !
Price - some things can be had cheaper i.e just got some 2011 Fox F29 100mm 15QR forks, total price inc all taxes, delivery etc £520.Available here for around £600 - £700
But.......as others mention, you take the chance with the warranty.

Bought a new Kona Unit frame in 2010, total cost was around £200 delivered, nothing specical but not available here as frame only.

Bargains to be had in my experience (imported around 8 items over the years), helps if you have a friend in the US who can take delivery, mark up as a 'gift' and send on over the water 🙄

PS, if you have it sent as a gift from the US to the UK, if you insure it for its true value, UKBA will charge you VAT on the insured value. Caught out once, had the item marked as a personal gift but it was insured and I got VAT applied off the back of that insurance.

Click on 'jenson USA' and shop shop shop ha ha ha 😆

last time I ordered from the US the insurance value was stated on the customs tag, so you couldn't get away with that trick.

oh and I got a sh SC in the US and brought it back. I had to get spares from SC US as Jungle would not help.

Persuade the missus she wants a holiday, take a junk bike in a bike bag and bring back a filthy but brand new Santa Cruz with you.

get a quote to ship first - it could wipe out that saving easily. I had quote of anywhere for $250 to $600 for a carbon frame. Its the size that kills it, not the weight. I got round it by having my buddy remove the rear triangle to get the size down....

On a big purchase would it worth having it delivered to a hotel in Jersey from a UK dealer and a holiday to collect?
VAT on a £5k bike is roughly a grand and I'm sure you can get to Jersey and back for less than that. Ride it while there and you are bring a used item back to blighty.
Am I missing smething or is this viable?

for £1k Id go and pick it up from the US - flights can be had dirt cheap and you can get some riding done whilst out there....

bought 3 frames from u.s. online dealers in the past. always paid all the relevant taxes (rough estimate 20%) and all worked out considerably cheaper than if i'd bought in the u.k.
one of them cracked and ninerbikes warrantied it no problem.

If you buy in the US, sales tax will apply which is typically up to about 10% depending on the state. If you then have to pay tax and duty when it's sent on or you bring it back it will work out more than if you'd imported it directly.