Hi, I just bought a 2008 Turner 5-Spot complete bike for approx £1250 from the States. Can anyone advise of how much i will be charged by customs if i am not ‘economical with the truth’ re contents?
Also, any experience of the best carrier and approx delivery times?
Any info greatly appreciated 🙂

You’ll be charged anywhere between too much and are you taking the p1ss.

Then they’ll also add a handling charge just to boil your p1ss a bit more.

Or you might catch them on a bad day when it’ll be worserer….

I bought a cove frame from the states. it cost me 11% import duty on the total (including courier costs), then 17.5% VAT on top of that, then £19.99 handling fee from Parcel Force. Have a look on customs and excise web site because import duties are different depending on what the item is.

Marking items as gifts no longer works either.

The shop sorted out delivery which was about $49.

Having said that, I tried buying a new peak for my full face Azonic helmet and they tried charging me $85 for something that weighs nowt and cost $5. It pays to get a few quotes.

So, all in (and assuming 15% VAT) you’ll get it for just under £1700 if the above is correct. Still less than I paid for my DW 5 Spot earlier this year….

Is it a brand new bike? If it’s not then you can get away with claiming it as personal effects and they won’t charge you VAT or import duty.

mildred.

You should have only paid 4% on a frame.
+ the VAT and handling. Oh and the charge you just for the hell of it charge of course.

Hmm, IWH – do you know this for sure? Would you have to state ‘personal effects’ on the box? I get alot of non – bike stuff from the states ( clothing etc of a high value) but because they are generally small packages i can mark down the value without raising eyebrows. I know i will get charged something but not sure how much to push my luck re declared value. Thanks for the replies 🙂

i dont know the law but is there a way of having stuff ‘shipped’ over like if you were moving back here or….

do you know anyone over there?

get it shipped to them and have them send it to you claiming in the documents that they had been borrowing it off you….

might not work though, stupid idea actually if i think about it.

in fact i will shut up and east an easter egg instead.

i was really pissed at being charged 15% + vat for a second hand bike from the us ,i argued the toss but had to pay up.

If you are going to mark down the value to avoid “overpaying”, and the package goes missing, it may only be covered for the value that you declared.

clump – yes that is true 🙁 Iirc, i got a frame about 5 years ago from the us and it cost me approx £90 to get it from royal mail(inc customs charges) but not sure about this one. Anyway, i will let you guys know the outcome 🙂

If it’s a complete bike, isn’t it best to send the frame and components seperately to take advantage of the different VAT rates or somesuch (I heard this somewhere when i was looking at importing an Ibis last year… could be bollox 🙂 )

Foxylaydee – it’s worked for me plenty of times in the past couple of years 🙂

I’m flying out on Tuesday, send me a mail (in profile) and we’ll figure out if there’s anything I can do to help?

Mark it up as “warranty replacement”

Ive had hundreds of packages marked like this – some worth $1000 and they have come through without charges.

foxylaydee – Member

clump – yes that is true [:-(] Iirc, i got a frame about 5 years ago from the us and it cost me approx £90 to get it from royal mail(inc customs charges) but not sure about this one. Anyway, i will let you guys know the outcome [:-)]

I bought a new Foes Predator hardtail frame last summer from Canada – £350 from an ebay shop . . . plus £100 shipping and £120 VAT, customs charges and Parcelforce handling fees!! Still waay cheaper than the £850 rrp over here and I promptly sold it two weeks later for peanuts 😐 You live and learn, eh?

Still, I shall watch this thread with interest . . . there are some good offers appearing from time to time on Intense Slopestyle frames despite the weak £/$