Why would they transfer price via Italy where VAT / taxes are higher than France / Germany?

Italy is the home of the group?

Can’t help but feel sorry for all the poor sods over here and in the EU that are being paid/pressured by their companies to sort this mess out for their respective companies.

A Gordian knot buried within a 50 sided Rubik’s cube.

My understanding is that Brooks’ distribution centre is in Italy because they are now owned by Selle Italia.

Well it looks like bike-discount.de are now accepting UK orders again (if only they had what I needed in stock). For the last couple of weeks it wasn’t possible to put the UK in a a destination address, but it works again this morning.

Yep, just ordered a (very reasonably priced Dirtlej Pro) but had to bump order up to £172 for them to ship, and shipping is £13!

“Well it looks like bike-discount.de are now accepting UK orders again ”

They have but minimum order of £160 and £13 shipping.

Just tried to order the bike I want form Bike Discount and it still says they are unable to ship to a UK address. Good to hear that some people are getting orders in so hopefully it’ll just take time for them to work through it all.

EU firms refuse UK deliveries over Brexit tax changes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55530721

+1 just ordered some brakes from Bike-Discount, but it was £190ish

Being a UK vat-reg business I could always order vat free from BD. Interestingly this option seems to still be available.

From the BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55530721

Ok, it looks like ALL BD orders are being sent tax free. So you will likely get stung for VAT on entry (+ handling fee). And likely long delays! Or you might get away with it. Who knows!

The brooks story is only half true, it relates to their website orders, you can still order from a UK stockist and get what you want, UK distribution to shops is unaffected.

Had an update from Bike Discount. They can’t ship ‘bulky items’ (in my case Wheels) as their two carriers DPD/DHL are still not delivering to UK due to COVID-19. Anything that Deutsche Post can send is still fine.

They hope to have ‘a resolution later this month’.

“Ok, it looks like ALL BD orders are being sent tax free”

Looks like that. They have a pair of Lyriks I quite fancied, £499, changed currency to Euros and 537, changed destination country to Germany and now 639 euros so the UK price is without VAT so probably get stung later plus more on top for handling fee etc…?

Well you have to pay the VAT somewhere. Previously it was all dealt with for you and you likely paid it in the retailers country. It really won’t be much different as VAT is very similar in all EU countries (although I think there are some german covid-19 stimulus packages to reduce their rate on some goods). The kicker is going to be the handling charges for the courier collection the VAT and passing that on to HMRC.

Had an update from Bike Discount. They can’t ship ‘bulky items’ (in my case Wheels) as their two carriers DPD/DHL are still not delivering to UK due to COVID-19. Anything that Deutsche Post can send is still fine.

They hope to have ‘a resolution later this month’.

Have been told the same by them, small items are fine now but the bike I want is still a No. Just going to have to wait a bit and decide whether I want to run the risk of the courier company stinging me for a hefty charge for the VAT paperwork. If it’s too much of a risk Canyon are guaranteeing that the price you pay them includes the VAT that they sort out their end so will go with them instead, the bike isn’t as good but would rather know what I’m agreeing to pay than be landed with a hefty extra bill.

It’s small items… but only if the order is over the threshold that mandates VAT collection at source. A sensible way to get (some) orders flowing. VAT, tariffs and handling charge all at the buyer’s risk. A good week one response… Bike Discount are on the ball.

The minimum order value is 188.45 €

Well… a few snags…

The minimum order value is 188.45 £

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/info/information-for-our-uk-customers-327

Canyon are guaranteeing that the price you pay them includes the VAT that they sort out their end so will go with them instead

Not just the VAT…

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/customer-service/UK-buying-information.html

My bikeinn and Skatepro deliveries turned up yesterday. Not bad considering I ordered on the 29th.

https://www.bikebiz.com/extra-uk-distribution-of-brooks-saddles-unaffected-by-brexit/

@kelvin – that’s what I meant to say, the price I pay them is the only price I pay. Still hopeful that bike-discount find a way through all of this soon.

Yeah, Canyon have taken a smart approach. Pushed the price up for UK customers, and hidden all the (variable and as yet not fully known) new costs to us in the bike prices.

It’s much harder for a shop like Bike Discount… much wider range of orders and goods types… easier to ship what you can without working it all out at source, and leave customers to face a surprise on delivery as regards costs (for now).

Canyon have new priorities

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/12/15/adidas-largest-shareholder-groupe-bruxelles-lambert-takes-majority-stake-in-canyon-bicycles/?sh=77e2b449354a

And now no direct sales from Campagnolo

Get use to it!!

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2kpsitx]136062217_3947830888609287_2270981058149673655_n[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Tracking shows that parcel was despatched last year so bought and vat will have already been paid somewhere in the EU but didn’t arrive in UK until Jan 2nd. Worrying on many levels.

When this has happened to me before the handling charges were what stung. Something like £10 of duty and £25 of handling on a fairly low cost item.

I ordered £41 of picture frames from a .co.uk website on the 28 December. I got an email from DHL yesterday saying I needed to pay £19 import/VAT fees before they will deliver the parcel. Turns out they were actually coming from Sweden! They can go back to the sender!!

I placed an order yesterday from R2 and it seems to be progressing well (currently at the DHL parcel export centre in Germany). Not sure what the import implications will be but:

1) They had better availability than any UK site (and in some cases better than the UK distributor).

2) Even with charges (if I attract any) it will still be cheaper than buying in the UK. The XO1 cassette was almost £100 less than the cheapest price in the UK, the tyres were almost half the price, as were the disc rotors. So a saving of almost £200 on a £400 order. VAT and charges won’t be that much.

The shipping cost has gone up considerably (from £7 to £20), but if it arrives relatively quickly, I will continue to use the German sites.

My R2 order was delivered this morning customs cleared with nothing more to pay. Still quicker and cheaper than ordering from the UK. Maybe I got lucky……

I deal with the German consumer goods market in another category not related to bikes. Somehow they maintain the highest standard of living with the lowest consumer goods price index of any country in Europe. Can’t help thinking we have got it so wrong.

Other way round for me, ordered some bits from start fitness yesterday to be delivered to France. It now says that prices are exclusive of vat. They add charges so not sure if I will have to pay something when it arrives.
Still their Scott products are so much cheaper.

Ordered some rims from light bicycle back in Oct2020, hoping that they would get here in Dec. Paid for the fastest shipping with taxes pre paid.
They were manufactured in Nov. And tracking lable created. But the shipper didn’t pick them up . Lots of emails back and forth to LB, and eventually (this week), had an email saying cancelled the shipping and going with EMS…..

EMS takes around 4/5 weeks normally, so we’ll see how long they take. However I’m slightly more concerned I’ll get hit with additional Brexit taxes now….

@monkeyboyjc – your rims are coming direct from China (not aware they have an EU distribution centre now?) so Brexit will have no bearing on the tax and import duties you will have to pay.

Further complications and potential price rises for what we might previously have considered were UK landed goods.

Well my motorcycle jacket ordered on 1st Jan sans vat turned up from Germany via UPS today, but for the vat payable they want either cash or cheque on the doorstep, with no prior warning of the amount 😂

Anyone ordered anything within the last week or so(?) – so in a position to give an update on costs/charges? I’m itching to order some forks from bike discount but don’t want to get stung for any additional costs above the vat!!

I ordered a refurb kickr core on the 4th Jan, didn’t realise it was coming from Netherlands – shipped Tuesday, was due Thursday, arrived Monday. Nothing to pay. Friday the delivery status was changed to ‘under recovery’ which worried me, but all was fine in the end.

Did you pay Europe vat or nothing?

Had a couple of things arrive from outside the EU today- China and Japan- that definitely should have been taxed but weren’t. That’s always a bit random but it did make me wonder if with all the changes, the established systems might be stressed a bit too.