Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Gotta love the system!

So i knew buying bits for the bike was gonna be expensive, but you gotta love the system.

Spent a fair bit of cash at Brents, about $650 (£325ish)on top of that was the postage, $80 to the UK.

so far, so good. I've bought the stuff and paid for the shipping, excellent! sit back and wait for it to arrive.

I'd been warned i might get stung for import duty by Nick (Smokin) but didnt really give it another thought; big mistake. $160 to get it from customs (40miles away) to my house

I think the bike will be waiting a bit longer for new shiny bits in the future.

I got the clutch finisher kit from Brent and managed to get it without paying extra duty, Although I am in N Ireland.
Might be best to order items in smaller quantities rather than a big order

Agreed. I've learnt my lesson from this.

I know the feeling - and I haven't placed a big order overseas...
I bought a jacket from newenough and a couple of other bits and pieces. no more than $70 in total. Cost me £20 to get them.
I've talked to my housemate yesterday, I'm looking at getting some shocks from Eddy, and was wondering if he could get them delvered to him at his hotel in NY.....he works for an airline at the mo... saves on postage and customs!!! Can't get him to bring too much - he's still subject to weight restrictions and by the time I can afford them (and Eddy has them) he'll be in his final month bfore he starts medical school..... s won't care if he annoys the airline!

Im not sure if this would work, but it might be worth a try.

Next time you buy some bits from Brent. Have him deliver them to one of us over here. Then that person can ship them to you, as private mail. Label it as 'used parts as a gift".

Might be able to get around some taxes that way.

You're lucky nobody in the customs office has a Triumph or they would have been declared contraband and "destroyed".

It's a bugger the customs/import duty/handling fee etc, thats why we cannot order as much stuff as we would like from the US.

having the vendor put "return" or "returned item "on the shipped item label may help with dodging customs charges, downside some vendors may not do that for you.

or..


Whe are you next coming back here Gord.....???

I heard a story last weekend in NW Washington along the lines about some guy who bought a mess of parts, paid mostly cash & charged the balance. When he crossed back into British Columbia, a sharp eyed BC customs officer raised he!! with him after seeing the receipt. Called the dealer and raised he!! with him also. Tax scawflaws

jh

I recently received some stock mufflers from Dale Avon in Canada, the were sued but only had like 700miles on them. They were logged as a gift, BUT he put $400 value on them, just in case they got lost, cos that's probably how much they are to replace. I had to pay £67 in excise/import/VAT for them. But with an email to customs from Dale, stating that they were only worth app' 70-$100 they are going to re-evaluate the VAT.

It goes like this:

Anything purchased over £18 is subject to duty.

Any GIFT worth over £36 is subject to duty.

Tip: Tick the gift box, but make the value negligible.

I am never purchasing from US vendors due to them not marking as gifts... come on, ya'll could say we are friends on here eh? And keep the transaction private :P

The trouble with expecting US vendors to mark packages as gifts is, if they're caught they're in big trouble. Why should we expect them to take a chance just to help us Brits out?
I'm contemplating getting some Saddlemen bags and easy brackets from fast eddy, bit short of dosh at the mo, and I can't find a dealer in the UK that does Saddlemen stuff. I've worked out the difference in buying equivalent bags (willie&max braided slants) and easy brackets in the UK and allowing for 4% customs and 17.5% VAT on everything including shipping have come up with these figures:-
UK price inc shipping £308-- $612
US price inc everything £261--$519
I've allowed $100 for shipping from the US which should cover it. Still looks like a decent saving to me.