North American Thorn Owners - Duties

[Bacchus]

Hello,

I want to get a Nomad MK2, and my wife wants a Ripio frame, and I am wondering if anyone here might have experience with receiving a Thorn through the mail. Specifically, I want to know about custom duties, and how much they ended up paying. I could have my bikes sent to either the US or Canada. I don't want to get dinged with exorbitant rates, though. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Rob

[vik]

Hello,

I want to get a Nomad MK2, and my wife wants a Ripio frame, and I am wondering if anyone here might have experience with receiving a Thorn through the mail. Specifically, I want to know about custom duties, and how much they ended up paying. I could have my bikes sent to either the US or Canada. I don't want to get dinged with exorbitant rates, though. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Rob

Rob,

I've imported three Thorn frames to Canada.  I was not charged any duties just GST as Alberta has no PST.  So I paid 5% on the declared value.

[vik]

Hello,

I want to get a Nomad MK2, and my wife wants a Ripio frame, and I am wondering if anyone here might have experience with receiving a Thorn through the mail. Specifically, I want to know about custom duties, and how much they ended up paying. I could have my bikes sent to either the US or Canada. I don't want to get dinged with exorbitant rates, though. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Rob

BTW - given the costs of international shipping you may well find it cheaper to buy just a frame and order the components from a LBS. Most LBS will give you a nice deal if you order a complete bike build from them.

[honoh]

Hi all,

I am looking at getting a pair of Thorn bikes for me and my wife and I am wondering what duties/taxes I might expect to pay when I have them shipped to me in the U.S.

Do the bikes get delivered to my door? Or, do I have to pay fees first before I can get them?

Thanks in advance,
honoh

[Tito]

Hi,
I ordered a complete RST and paid a bit less than 10% in custom duties. The final price with shipment equalled more or less that listed on the website (cost of shipment is similar to the savings on VAT). The custom duties bill only arrived several months later. By the way, I live in NYC.
T.

[jtremor]

Seems duties guide here

http://www.usitc.gov/publications/docs/tata/hts/bychapter/1000c87.pdf

predicts worse case of 11% [8712.00.15] , but this depends on how it's described. As declared value is probably (?) noted as over US$2000, I guess it is screened closely? Difference of wheel size (26 or 700c) can add some $150!

How are these described in the customs documents?

Other experiences in shipments to the US?

[JimK]

My bike arrived here in the USA a month ago, and the bill for the duty came a couple days ago. I got charged 11%.

[John Nettles]

My bike arrived here in the USA a month ago, and the bill for the duty came a couple days ago. I got charged 11%.

Was this a complete bike or just the frame?  Thanks!

[JimK]

Was this a complete bike or just the frame? 

It was a complete Nomad MkII, with fenders, headlight, luggage racks...  quite the deluxe item! I even got pedals but then decided to stick with my old Time A.T.A.C. pedals.

First call I got after Bridgwater emailed me that the bike had shipped... about 6 days later, some guy wants to know my social security number!!! Next day, though, my bike showed up at my front door.

An on-going adventure!

Jim

[jtremor]

Dear Jim, care to shipping costs?

[JimK]

shipping costs?

Looks like 360 GBP, if I am reading right.

Another gotcha to be aware of. I had been watching the USD/GBP exchange rates on yahoo finance. I paid using Bank of America wire transfer. The rate was considerable worse, like 1.68 USD per GBP instead of 1.60. I didn't shop around to see what payment methods would work best.

Ach, and the exchange rate has come down a fair chunk since I paid a month or two ago!

Hey, it's a nice bike, all the same!

Jim

[travelling]

I wonder would it be cheaper to find a mate  who is visiting the States or returning from Britian to bring it through as luggage? Last time I took a bike across to the u.s. it cost me £15 at check in

[Bearbait]

Flying from canada to paris, bike cost nothing.  Even better, they had a 75 pound limit meaning I could put all kinds of stuff in my bike bag to keep suitcase load down.  Admittedly, this was 3 years ago.  I think they have tightened up a bit.

[benspinks]

I just finalized my Nomad order and paid my deposit yesterday! Now I just have to wait... : )

I am planning on having to pay 11% as the worst case scenario... ouch!

Off topic - one other thing worth considering (assuming you are paying with a credit/debit card and not a wire), is making a point to use a card that does not charge a foreign transaction fee (typically an additional 1-3%). The two cards that I am familiar with that don't ding you with this are CapitalOne and the Checking/Debit Visa offered by Charles Schwab.

I ended up using my Charles Schwab Debit Visa and the conversion rate they used was dead on with the rate listed at xe.com (1.543). Because the charge was coming through from the UK, the first two times they tried to run the cards it was declined. I got a "fraud alert" from the issuer within minutes. After 5-10 minutes on the phone with issuer's reps in Denver everything way put in order and the charge went through.

[JimK]

I just finalized my Nomad order

Congratulations! Do post photos when it arrives!

Do you live in the mountains or the plains, the country or the city? How do you plan to use your bike?

My number one criterion was just grocery shopping! But it's about 15 miles each way and I live in the mountains - so I need something sturdy! I took a short cut the other day down a rocky path with panniers full of fruit etc. Great to know I have the proper tool for the job!

Jim