Ordering from light bicycle – any tips?

Got an invoice from them. Just wondering if anyone has any tips on minimising PayPal costs and such like?

I assume customs is pot luck and parcel-farce will have their slice no matter what.

They might downgrade the value of items so you pay less import tax & VAT and yes PF will take their cut!

Don’t get involved in customs fraud, it is a crime.

Ordering was easy – LB are very responsive on email.

But now my rims are saying they’re held by chinese customs (on the EMS tracking site)… LB say that’s normal and it will update once they land… but I’m worried. Did anyone else get this?

They normally mark them down. I got hit very lightly on mine.

I’m not asking to do anything untoward. I know that I’m better off paying in dollars on my credit card rather than letting PayPal do the exchange, just wondered if there were other payment methods that worked out better.

I assume they’re marking the value as what it costs them rather than what they charge (rightly or wrongly, I’m certainly not making any requests of them on that score).

Worth asking if they accept SEPA payments from the likes of Transferwise

Just pay paypal. It hardly seems worth the hassle for a few £££ you may save. At least then you have paypal’s protection.
I never asked light bicycle to mark the price down for customs but they put a value of $150 I think. I didn’t pay much to parcel force, around £20 if I remember correctly.
The only negative could be the time it took for delivery. They got delivered to Coventry quite quickly but sat there for a few weeks. I was waiting for a frame at the same time so it didn’t really matter but I can imagine it would annoy some.
Great rims by the way just don’t expect them to be the miracle wonder product some claim them to be.

The “issue” with LB is how the costs add up and you need to do your sums first. Shipping, Paypal fees (on headline cost of wheels and on cost of shipping). VAT + import tax, and the customs handling fee from the UK shipper on top of that.

They reduced the quoted cost of the wheels on my invoice without me asking to reduce the tax hit, and they even blank out their logos on their branded boxes, I guess to discourage customs doing some googling?

My wheels took months to be built, they’re not proactive with communication but did respond to questions (I’d ordered a pair of their 1200grm full road wheel builds) – 1 of my rims had failed QC so they had to make a new rim in order to build the wheel, and the actual shipping itself was quite rapid and they weren’t held for long in the UK.

Very happy with them, but when I decided to treat myself to some aero carbon wheels to compliment my lightweight climbing wheels ( 😳 or 8) depending on your outlook) I ended up going for USE 4.5s cheap from Rutland; similar overall cost, received within a couple of days, and UK supplier if any issues.

Bought direct, paid by BACS, wheels arrived in ten days, swerved Her Maj but RM sliced me.

Ive had 2 sets of AM 27.5″, one set of AM 26″, a couple of extra rims, a set for a mate and i’m just waiting for some cx tubs, the only problem i ever have is with Parcel Farce in this country. Ive just recently read that you can tick a box on paypal that means paypal pal in the currency where you are buying from and the conversion is done by your bank or credit card which can make it cheaper.

Mine were pretty quick.. 6 weeks to two months of if I recall.. Pretty much what they told me it would be.

Frustrating when it inevitably gets stuck in Coventry for about a week. I got about £50 in customs and handling charges..

I paid via PayPal for simplicity and protection.

Communication by email was great. Much better than a lot of companies I’ve dealt with. They told be 2 weeks to build (full Wheel set) but I guess a lot depends on how many orders they have at the time.. Just ask them via email.

Ive just recently read that you can tick a box on paypal that means paypal pal in the currency where you are buying from and the conversion is done by your bank or credit card which can make it cheaper.

Mike, can you enlighten a bit more please ta?

Onzadog, I think I saw that you where contemplating alu rims, Easton’s maybe? What made you go carbon as I’m trying to make the same decision?

I’ll be putting the Easton arc 30 on the wife’s bike. I did a big chunk of overtime last month so thought I’d give them a whirl. I can then try both back to back. So, curiosity as much as anything else. Feedback on here seems really good though. I run original flow rims and they’re still in good condition after a good few years so I reckon carbon could work for my riding.