Overseas online shops-comparison.

[stackie]

So... I needed to get some replacement bits after a crash. Amazing differences in service.

TotalCycling: Buy Deda Deep bars ( kind of hard to find these days) and SLR saddle in white. Add on a pair of campy skewers also since they have a nice price. Email back no saddle in stock. Entire order holds or ship without and saddle sends later with another shipping fee. Grrr. Skip the saddle. Get order. Shallow bars. Grrr. Customer service says to send back economically with tracking. I go to post office. $54 to send tracked. $22 untracked. For $62 handlebars. I do the right thing and go home. Email them. They say to send untracked then. I ask them to ship new handlebars now and wait for return. They say will not ship replacements until they receive incorrect pair. But I can order and pay shipping again. Seriously? I ask them if they really mean this. They repent and say they will refund shipping on new bars. I start to order and now realize I can now get the bars at better price from Wiggle with free shipping. Done. Tell total cycling to forget it.

Pushy's: Order Sidi shoes. Don’t show. Get request for feedback from Pushys. I track package and it’s stuck in LA. I email them. They apologize profusely and institute query with Australia and US post office. I get note that they are stuck in customs. OK. Cool. You guys do the legwork, treat me with respect. I’ll wait a bit. I’m happy with them.

ProBikeKitUSA: order SLR saddle in white with free shipping. I get daily emails from them telling me they are working on it until it ships three days later. You guys are doing well.

The kicker of it al? I finally get an email from TotalCycling saying they’ve received bars and will process refund. Ten minutes later I get automated email from Wiggle saying they are processing my refund. What? I guess TotalCycling and Wiggle are related somehow. TotalCycling must be for people who are dumb enough to pay shipping so they figure are also dumb enough to be treated like dirt.

Jon

[sales guy]

A ton of online shops post things from the standard catalogs and place orders as needed. Merlin and Chain Reaction are two exceptions.

If you ever need anything, let me know.

[AngryScientist]

never even heard of pushy's. i will have to peruse...

[stackie]

Pushys is Australian. Found them on eBay. Good feedback so I went for it. I always pay with credit card and I’ve never had an issue getting credit card company involved if needed. I’ll follow up when I actually get the shoes.

Jon

[rousseau]

Isn't Ribble the gold standard for British online retailers when it comes to price and selection? My orders from Wiggle, Probikekit and Chain Reaction have gone fine, no complaints, but Ribble always seems to have the best prices, so I mainly go with them.

I should do a shout out for Prendas Ciclismo, too. They've got a groovy clothing selection.

https://www.prendas.co.uk/

[seanile]

A ton of online shops post things from the standard catalogs and place orders as needed. Merlin and Chain Reaction are two exceptions.

If you ever need anything, let me know.

Chain Reaction is also owned by Wiggle

[fignon's barber]

Isn't Ribble the gold standard for British online retailers when it comes to price and selection? My orders from Wiggle, Probikekit and Chain Reaction have gone fine, no complaints, but Ribble always seems to have the best prices, so I mainly go with them.

I should do a shout out for Prendas Ciclismo, too. They've got a groovy clothing selection.

https://www.prendas.co.uk/




Prendas rules. A small operation that has fairly priced stuff and great service.
I've had good results with those other UK retailers as well, but lately Wiggle and Ribble have begun to engage in price fixing with some of their suppliers. Sidi, for example,won't ship to US anymore. I guess Sidi thinks it's OK for US cyclists to pay $500 for their shoes while Europeans pay $300, as long as Sidi makes their buck.

[sales guy]

Chain Reaction is also owned by Wiggle

Yep. And they are buying bike24 also.

[Kirk007]

Starbike, Bike-Discount DE, Ciclicorsa


I always double check the UK dealers against at least Starbike. Good service, price etc.

[PaMtbRider]

Ribble is still good but not the gold standard anymore as far as pricing. I’ve had better pricing and good customer service from Merlin Cycles lately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[StephenCL]

Ribble has gone way down market...stopped carrying high end campagnolo, stopped offering a large selection of saddles, stems and bars, and the prices are up about 20% over the last 18 months, or since the redesign of their website.

They used to be the go to, but I don't use them much anymore.

Stephen

[rousseau]

Ribble is still good but not the gold standard anymore as far as pricing. I’ve had better pricing and good customer service from Merlin Cycles lately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Seems hit and miss. I just had a quick look and found prices like these (CA$):

Time Xpresso 10 Carbon pedals
Ribble: $134.51
Merlin: $115.66

3T Arx II Team stem
Ribble: $78.07
Merlin: $98.32

Campagnolo Veloce 10 speed cassette 12-25
Ribble: $42.53
Merlin: $57.83

But I just noticed that Ribble has totally gutted its Campagnolo offerings, while Merlin seems to have a full range. Merlin also has a better selection of saddles than Ribble. Hmm...

[BdaGhisallo]

Starbike.com

[fogrider]

Jensonusa.com has pretty good pricing and fast shipping. also biketiresdirect.com is not bad.

[shovelhd]

I believe that the days of the UK shops dumping product to the USA are coming to an end. Sure, there are some good deals to be had, but they're not like a year or two ago. No more free shipping. Prices are up, x% off coupons are rare. Black Friday was a non-event. Some manufacturers are blocking out USA shipment of their products. Time will tell.

[oldpotatoe]

I believe that the days of the UK shops dumping product to the USA are coming to an end. Sure, there are some good deals to be had, but they're not like a year or two ago. No more free shipping. Prices are up, x% off coupons are rare. Black Friday was a non-event. Some manufacturers are blocking out USA shipment of their products. Time will tell.

'MO' 'landscape' is becoming more 'regional'...ordering from the UK? Deal with UK outfit, in the US? US outfit...is the way distribution is headed, or at least the way some manufacturers want it to head.

[shovelhd]

'MO' 'landscape' is becoming more 'regional'...ordering from the UK? Deal with UK outfit, in the US? US outfit...is the way distribution is headed, or at least the way some manufacturers want it to head.

I thought that was the way it was supposed to be. I can't stand MAP pricing, and I'm all for an open world market, but dumping is dumping.

[AngryScientist]

ribble has become practically irrelevant in the market now. their inventory is crap, compared to what it used to be.

[fignon's barber]

I can't stand MAP pricing, and I'm all for an open world market, but dumping is dumping.


That's not dumping. Dumping is when you sell at a lower price in the foreign market (compared to your local market price). The UK pricing would actually be fair market price.

[shovelhd]

That's not dumping. Dumping is when you sell at a lower price in the foreign market (compared to your local market price). The UK pricing would actually be fair market price.

Call it what you will. When a retailer sells a retail product in a foreign market below the wholesale cost in that same market, to me that's dumping. The local retailer can't compete.

[Davist]

That's not dumping. Dumping is when you sell at a lower price in the foreign market (compared to your local market price). The UK pricing would actually be fair market price.

exactly, this isn't dumping. In the mean time I've had the best luck lately with Chain Reaction, didn't know they were bought. Do agree the glory days of this may be over, I've bought more through Competitive Cyclist lately (again, glory days are over since back country buy out, we need a blogger!)

[fignon's barber]

Actually, if you are going to go mail order, I like Competitive Cyclist. They assign an account rep specifically to you. When I need something (other than campag), I just call the rep and say, "look, let's talk about this price...". Usually, we can come to a fair price.

[fignon's barber]

[QUOTE=Davist;2274370.... I've bought more through Competitive Cyclist lately (again, glory days are over since back country buy out, we need a blogger!)[/QUOTE]


Funny, we must have both been typing this at the same time!

[DRZRM]

This! Exceptional deals still pop up on Europe sites, but the CC rep is very easy to work with. They have started charging tax to my state, but he takes that into consideration when putting together a price package. The days of crazy UK pricing seem to be coming to an end (though Merlin still has some amazing deals) but I have to say, Competitive Cyclist is doing a good job actually improving customer service while the rest of the market seems to be going in the opposite direction.

Actually, if you are going to go mail order, I like Competitive Cyclist. They assign an account rep specifically to you. When I need something (other than campag), I just call the rep and say, "look, let's talk about this price...". Usually, we can come to a fair price.

[R3awak3n]

anyone ever order from Bikeinn?

They had by far the best price for etap when I was shopping around. Decided to buy from a forum member instead because did not want to deal with customs and a site I never ordered from.


I have bought from ribble, merlin and PBK. They all have been fine. PBK took the longest to get here. Ribble was the fastest. They sent me the wrong thing and were very helpful in making it right. Merlin was great, stuff got here, best price for that item but been seeing they have the best price on a lot of things.

It all comes to the, do you want warranty or not. Its a pain if anything happens to your $1000 groupset. It really is hard though. I bought these shifters for $120 on merlin, people were paying for used ones on ebay $160.

[oldpotatoe]

That's not dumping. Dumping is when you sell at a lower price in the foreign market (compared to your local market price). The UK pricing would actually be fair market price.

Isn’t ‘dumping’ selling at below manufacturers cost? Selling a widget for $10 when it costs $15? Rear der in UK LBS more than same item from UK MO...not dumping, as I understand ‘dumping’ but no expert.

[FlashUNC]

Just a shameless plug for a forum sponsor, BikeTiresDirect has been fantastic on what bits I've ordered from them, from a pretty killer deal they had on Corsa Graphenes to my Feedback Ominium trainer.

Seems like a good bunch running that place.

[Llewellyn]

Like many things the best days for ordering from the UK mail order places seem to be behind us. I'm glad I stocked up a few years ago on enough parts to last for the rest of my cycling days.

And another plug for Prendas - great guys to deal with and they have different stuff.

[fignon's barber]

Isn’t ‘dumping’ selling at below manufacturers cost? Selling a widget for $10 when it costs $15? Rear der in UK LBS more than same item from UK MO...not dumping, as I understand ‘dumping’ but no expert.

No, the term "dumping" refers to an illegal tactic to soften a market thru lower pricing than you sell for in your own backyard. It protects against a foreign, say steel company, coming into the US and dropping the price to put all the US companies out of business. Then, once the domestic sources are gone, jacking the price up and taking over the market.
Since the UK guys just offer their UK price, it is not dumping.

[henrypretz]

Jensonusa.com has pretty good pricing and fast shipping. also biketiresdirect.com is not bad.

Agree with this on both counts.
As a strictly anecdotal point, Jenson has the Shimano A600 pedals @$58 right now, $66 on Wiggle, Chain Reaction.
Bike Tires Direct's daily and weekly deals are very good, and their customer service has been excellent for me.

[jwess1234]

Anecdote and warning on Chain Reaction Cycles.

Paid more for tracked expedited 2-4 business day shipping.

Dispatched on Nov 30 so should have been delivered yesterday.

Multiple random, I've never heard of them "shipping logistics," e.g., wnDirect and "Newgistics" a company who's automated message calling themselves a premier company is laughable (I reached one person after calling 5 different lines to only then get forced to leave a voicemail).

Now it looks like the package is being handed off to the US Postal Service (not what I paid for), and there is a rough estimate of arrival on December 11th.

Chat on Chain Reaction Cycles not helpful. Didn't respond to the online form message. Just reached out a third time via email, and will see what happens.

There are better options out there...

[Bostic]

ribble has become practically irrelevant in the market now. their inventory is crap, compared to what it used to be.

Ok so it isn't just me. I would often use their site when doing my imaginary super builds to see just how much I would need to set aside in the emergency gear fund for a new build. I guess it was good while it lasted.

[SoCalSteve]

A ton of online shops post things from the standard catalogs and place orders as needed. Merlin and Chain Reaction are two exceptions.

If you ever need anything, let me know.

Can you and /or will you be competitive on pricing in comparison with UK online shops?

Thanks!