Campy groupset purchase: UK vs US retailer

[mistermo]

..

[mistermo]

I recently called Velomine. Their prices were cheaper than UK and they're in Illinois. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!! Glory Cycles was pretty close to the same and their customer service is better.

Originally Posted by vincenz

I’ve made many dozens of big orders from the UK online bike retailers over the last decade and was never once hit with duties. Just my data points.

And yes, count me among those who have been hit with import duties.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by mistermo

I recently called Velomine. Their prices were cheaper than UK and they're in Illinois. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!! Glory Cycles was pretty close to the same and their customer service is better.

Velomine is a perfect example of what to watch out for. Look at their 12 speed Chorus Groupset. It's missing the BB and cassette you get from others. Once you add on those missing items it's $1140 with the shipping compared to $882 from Merlin with free shipping.

Not to slam Velomine because I do buy from them a good bit and Ben is a great guy. But they just can't match the U.K. vendors.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by mistermo

I recently called Velomine. Their prices were cheaper than UK and they're in Illinois. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!! Glory Cycles was pretty close to the same and their customer service is better.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner indeed — Velomine is the US seller I’m considering

Edit: I had thought that the group was complete but given the comment above from jamesdak I clearly need to double check. Thanks

[jamesdak]

Honestly I don't mean to rain on Velomine's parade. I've gotten some cheap, great handbuilt wheels from them, other hard to find parts, and Ben has been great about finding stuff and even working on the prices sometimes. Nothing but respect for them as a business. I think it's just tariffs or whatever that keep the U.S. companies from being able to compete in the parts world. It's a shame.

[mistermo]

In my case, I was looking for Super Record 12s fr/rr derailleur. They were cheaper than anything I found in UK. Glory was about $5 more, and roughly equivalent. Really, for what I was looking for, it would've been foolish to mess with UK, unless there's a source I wasn't aware of.

Merlin is $363 (pic attached) and Velomine was $305 vs these:

[cgolvin]

Really appreciate you (@jamesdak) pointing out what I had obviously missed -- the prose says "you will need to pick your cassette and bottom bracket configuration" and I interpreted that to mean "pick among the options". It was only after your comment that I examined the picture to see what "8 items" were actually included.

Merlin gets my business, fingers crossed on duty and delivery as promised.

Thanks all, Paceline FTW as usual.

[skiezo]

From what I see the 8 pcs. group is $925. That includes the cass. and BB.
I would go with VM for the small price difference.



Add to Cart
Model: Chorus 12 Mechanical 8 Piece
Shipping Weight: 7.0lbs
1 Units in Stock
https://www.velomine.com/index.php?m...8c454u87qdh5t4

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

I am about to buy a Campy Chorus 12 groupset. I have two possible sources:

UK (Merlin): $882, no tax, free shipping, duty?
US: $925, no tax, $25 shipping

I'd rather give my business to the smaller US shop, plus from what I've heard I think I'm on better ground should there be warranty issues. OTOH, $68 ain't nothing. So I have two questions:

1. Will I have to pay duty? (The US Customs site seems to indicate no for <$1k, but isn't crystal clear)
2. Are there indeed warranty issues with buying Campy from an overseas retailer?

thanks

1. Not sure
2. yes, with some retailers..Caveat emptor..I'd go with the US reseller

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Lanternrouge

Campy North American doesn't really deal with consumers on warranty issues, so it's likely any warranty issues that arise will have to be addressed with the shop in the UK.

Ahh, they sure do, all the time. They are the main warranty center in the US. Even with UK MO and other MO places..

[colker]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

1. Not sure
2. yes, with some retailers..Caveat emptor..I'd go with the US reseller

If i were in the US i would buy from a US shop. Going out of my way to save $65? If i want Campy i want to empower their reps close to where i am because i reap benefits from their success.

[peanutgallery]

Do they want to deal with consumers or shops

Thinking most LBS would just shrug when presented a warranty item

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Ahh, they sure do, all the time. They are the main warranty center in the US. Even with UK MO and other MO places..

[peanutgallery]

There you go, thank you

Originally Posted by colker

If i were in the US i would buy from a US shop. Going out of my way to save $65? If i want Campy i want to empower their reps close to where i am because i reap benefits from their success.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

Do they want to deal with consumers or shops

Thinking most LBS would just shrug when presented a warranty item

Campag NA 'talk' to consumers all the time but yes, a 'shop' gets the RA number and such. I can only speak to mine, my shop..If a guy brought in a Campag something(or shimano or even sram), even if he didn't buy it at my shop, yes, I would deal with it..called 'customer service'..Yes, he may not have been a customer of mine, but pretty sure he would be one in the future if you take care of them. PARTICULARLY when they may have bought that 'thing' from another local shop and they DO 'shrug'...Did a LOT of early gen sram lever warranties when the shop where he bought the bike said they had to send the whole bike back for warranty..I just sent the lever in..

BUT, I dealt with a lot of people who bought say, a set of Campag wheels from 'UK MO place', have a problem(broken spokes??)..and I facilitate the RA, call, shipping(their $), etc...

[soulspinner]

Originally Posted by tuscanyswe

for that little difference i would order "locally"

+1