UK sellers and customs/tariffs

[vqdriver]

i've bought a few things over the years from ribble, chainreaction, pbk, etc.... most of the time, they show up just like they would from a US seller, in their retail boxes and such. but recently i bough a crankset from the UK and it showed up repackaged in a plain brown box. new with the all the plastic and paperwork and everything. but not in a shimano box. weird. is this something they do to get around customs? if so, is there a threshold value where they have to do this?

[bigbill]

i've bought a few things over the years from ribble, chainreaction, pbk, etc.... most of the time, they show up just like they would from a US seller, in their retail boxes and such. but recently i bough a crankset from the UK and it showed up repackaged in a plain brown box. new with the all the plastic and paperwork and everything. but not in a shimano box. weird. is this something they do to get around customs? if so, is there a threshold value where they have to do this?

All the parts such as cassettes and chains I bought from Ribble and PBK arrived in bags. I don't know if it has to do with postal, they mailed via UK postal and then arrived via USPS.

[buldogge]

OE Build kits, broken down for individual sale. Ribble is a "manufacturer", with it's line of bikes, and has access to their "excess" OE build parts…basically.

-Mark in St. Louis

[kramnnim]

Just got two boxes of stuff from PBK...4 cassettes and 3 chains, all in retail packaging. Surprising.

[vqdriver]

OE Build kits, broken down for individual sale. Ribble is a "manufacturer", with it's line of bikes, and has access to their "excess" OE build parts…basically.

-Mark in St. Louis

That makes sense

[oldpotatoe]

All the parts such as cassettes and chains I bought from Ribble and PBK arrived in bags. I don't know if it has to do with postal, they mailed via UK postal and then arrived via USPS.

OEM(Original Equipment from the Manufacturer) resale. They source a few frames, become a frame 'builder/reseller. Can get better pricing from manufacturer..buy 1000 groups, resell 750, type thing..make more $.

[OtayBW]

i've bought a few things over the years from ribble, chainreaction, pbk, etc.... most of the time, they show up just like they would from a US seller, in their retail boxes and such. but recently i bough a crankset from the UK and it showed up repackaged in a plain brown box. new with the all the plastic and paperwork and everything. but not in a shimano box. weird. is this something they do to get around customs? if so, is there a threshold value where they have to do this?I just got a crankset in from Wiggle a couple of months ago and got dinged (by DHL) to the tune of US$78 for tariffs. And they got it wrong in that the tariff for cottered cranks is $78, whereas the tariff for cotterless cranks (e.g., campy) is Zero...nada. I ignored it and then weeks later when DHL called me, I explained the situation and told them I wished to contest the classification. They told me they would e-mail me with the paperwork to appeal, and I am still waiting (weeks now...) to hear from them.

Screwy.

[Neil]

Conversely in the UK the carrier won't deliver the item until you pay the customs charge - whatever it is.

[buldogge]

That's because these "customs charges" levied by carriers like UPS, FedEx and DHL are bogus...the use their own in-house, sub-corporation brokerage houses and levy estimated custom charges.

USPS (U.S. Postal Service) would collect customs due before package delivery, if customs were indeed due/had been levied by U.S. Customs.

I try to avoid purchases from UK/Europe where the local postal service is not used.

-Mark

Conversely in the UK the carrier won't deliver the item until you pay the customs charge - whatever it is.

[Neil]

Hard to know, when sending from the UK, which courier firm will use USPS as the local delivery agent.

[UKBROOKLYN]

I have bought tons of stuff from the UK no problem. There is no import duty on bike parts. any thing the shipper charges is bogus house feed

[shovelhd]

There is absolutely duty on bike parts. Whether you are charged it or not depends on what parts they are and how the vendor declares it.

[buldogge]

Royal Mail/Parcelforce...No UPS...No FedEX...No DHL.

-Mark

Hard to know, when sending from the UK, which courier firm will use USPS as the local delivery agent.

[tigoat]

I buy some stuff from Europe, especially from UK and Germany. I am still baffled by how US import duty work, as I get taxed only one out of several purchases on average. The US custom told me that anything over $200 will have to be taxed. However, I have bought some parts over this limit and were not taxed. I think it will depend how the vendor declare the package. Nonetheless, most of my large item deliveries from Europe have been through DHL.

[Neil]

I generally (actually, always) use Royal Mail/Parcel Force, simply as they have a high-street presence and are therefore convenient.

However- they are, by some margin, the most expensive way of sending things, so I am not surprised that the majority of sellers don't use them.

[OtayBW]

There is absolutely duty on bike parts. Whether you are charged it or not depends on what parts they are and how the vendor declares it.Absolutely. See section 8712.xx.xx in http://hts.usitc.gov/hts_search.asp?search_txt=bicycle for a bewildering array of willy-nilly criteria. I also spent a ~half-hour one time with a Customs agent at JFK airport while I brought a BMC frameset into the country from Switzerland. This guy was bewildered about what 'correct' duty to cite. We actually had a pretty friendly conversation about all this and in the end, he just said "how's $25 bucks sound to you?" Cool. Done and done....

[Stephen2014]

Pitney Bowes always opens my packages but the post office never does. Then they charge a fee for being middlemen when I didn't want them to be!
The customs may not bother sorting out an import fee if there are about a zillion packages coming through that week?