Hi am looking at spending a small fortune on bike from the states ,is there anyway round the import tax/duty or do you just have to see if your lucky and dont get checked, or does everyone get checked , any help on this matter ..

you could risk it but I hear Customs are really hot on packages with the address written in CAPITAL LETTERS….

I think pretty much everything gets checked, you can try and reduce the impact by getting the shop to declare a lower value on the invoice, but then you rtun the risk that if it gets damaged or lost in transit you’ll only be insured for the declared value. You’ll typically pay VAT, import duty which I think is around 8%, and a clearance charge or handling fee of about a tenner.
With the current crap exchange rate, I would think it’s only worth doing if it’s kit you can’t get here.
Don’t forget warranty might be an issue too.

dont! it’ll cost you upto 22.5% more! i’ve been stung before….

“is there anyway round the import tax/duty”

you could try smuggling it through in a body cavity…

other than that – pay taxes like the rest of us – our banks need all the dosh the government can give them.

It’s the VAT which ultimately is the killer. There’s the handling fee (Parclefarce is the worst) plus the duty (make sure you don’t have the complete bike, it’s less on parts), then the VAT goes on top of all that.

You can ask your seller to mark the value low. This will only get you paying less duty and only a little less VAT.

Or, you can get your seller to mark its value $0.99. That way it will come through with no charges at all. Of course there is risk in this, different couriers more or less. USPS probably the most, FedEx the least.

Otherthing make sure your seller knows what he’s doing. I had some idiot send two Niner frames without custom lables on! You can guess what a balls up that turned out to be.

Oh, MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL. Pay by credit card, and that way youre totally safe if it doesn’t turn up.

Would it make any diffrence if it was second hand or used do you think or is it done on its value, this may stop me getting the bike (frame and forks and wheel) thanks for advice

less VAT on a used bike. If it’s used, you might be able to get the yanks to say it’s a gift, no tax then.

Makes no difference at all. Even posting your own property from the states involves 22.5% vat and handling charges.
I used to buy a lot of archery equipmant from the states, it was rare you were charged anything. These days NOTHING gets past them

s/h or used makes no difference. Tax and Duty is applied to value regardless of “price” or whether it’s shop bought etc.

Nick, that’s not correct, its the same VAT. I even got charged 22.5% on a GIFT last time. I suppose they based this on the liklihood of anyone actually getting a $500 gift and they even charged the postage an additional 22.5%
total price including Vat & customs charges lifted a $500 bow to $700

Less VAT on bike parts.

Why not ask them to strip it down and send it over in 2 boxes a week apart?

I had a $1600 brand new warranty replacement frame come through without charge. I kept the FedEx waybill and am looking at it now. It describes a bicycle frame with a value for customs of $1.00

Though if it was a warranty replacement, arguably its customs value was actually $0 – that sounds totally legit, unlike what others are proposing.

Ratfighter – you were charged correctly, as you pay full taxes on a gift once it is more than £36. The only difference is that with a non-gift you start paying taxes at £18 value.

JohnC – the VAT (15%) is the same on just about everything, it’s the duty rate that changes. Parts are 4%, no idea what built bikes are Im afraid…

It didn’t mention warranty replacement on it. I’m not being argumentative, but the only info on it was what I said. Bicycle frame $1.00

Bicycle frame $1.00

well that’s wot its worth innit

know a guy paid more than it costs for a car for a new bike – that’s one without a motor – guess wot! no f’ing pedals!

used to do warranty stuff / technical investigations sometimes customs got interested most of the time accepted it

think if you screw around with the value it still helps to get the shipping invoice to be correctly coded – there are things called commodity codes or try google TARIC database – these should be quoted on the invoice or whoever does the customs clearance will guess it – so on parts you might get coded as a full bike and pay more or it might just get a random guess

Sorry for duff post.

If you’re buying the frame and fork from who I think you are you’ll end up paying the tax on it.

I went down this route and he won’t put lower values or anything like that on the import document.

Just bite the bullet and pay the tax.

Gte the seller to mark the item as a warranty replacement and it should come through with zero customs charges

Also VAT is less now so it’s only 15% + 4-5% handling.

If you’re buying a frame and fork from who Stu thinks you are, I’d fly out and collect it.

£300 airfair is better than £750-£1000 tax.

That’s assuming you’re happy to smuggle it back in, and don’t get caught.

I’ve done loads of this in the past and import duty on parts is 4.8% and 15% on complete bikes. Don’t know why the substantial difference it’s just one of those things. Oh and don’t use the US Postal Service, ever!

I had a friend who flew to America with a bike bag without a bike in it, just all his hoiliday gear. Bought a bike, done some biking out there and brought it back with no prob. If your going for a holiday in the states its a good idea. Granted you will pay more for the bike bag when flying but it will save you money on tax and import duty in the long run.

Keep in mind you pay duty/vat on the full value including the shipping cost like this:

total cost * 1+duty * 1+VAT

So you pay VAT on the duty (so 6% duty plus 15% VAT isn’t 21% it’s 22%). Doesn’t look quite as bad as it did with VAT at 17.5%…

Duty is lower on parts, yes.

But as has been suggested above, the bulk of your extra charge will be VAT anyway.

I imported a fork when exchange rate was good and the benefit was marginal after charges, certainly wouldn’t do it again now.

Would you really want to risk sending $2000 worth of kit halfway around the world and declaring it’s only worth a couple of quid on the form. If it goes missing/broken then you’ve lost an awful lot of money – the bike firm ain’t gonna stump up and send you a new frame, they’re just gonna claim compensation off the courier. And why should they risk getting caught and fined just so you can get stuff cheaper – I can see why they’d not want to mark it’s value down for you.

Stuff I’ve imported has been cheaper but nothing like a ‘bargain’. And if it goes bang then potentially it’s not warrantied over here, you might have to send it back to the states.

HI seems ive either got to go out there and bring it back in bike bag or pay duty on it , or wait for a second hand frame and hope its not in the states, thanks for all the fead back have some thinking to do, and some maths