Help with importing a bike

[Brettowski]

43 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

Azub?

 

yes, ti fly x

[Bl4d3]

23 minutes ago, MORNE said:

For the sake of clarity to whomever is reading…Duties and VAT+ admin fees are 2 seperate things though. Yes for the most part you can assume anything unassembled/bicycle part related draws no duties from that side. Theres that whole 1000 page doc you have there for reference. You WILL still pay 15% Vat + a clearance fee (10% ish) if you use a clearsnce agent or the courier does it for you. You could go stand in line at OR thambo yourself though. I always just work on thumbsuck ~ 25% on top of whatever you paid and thats usually what it is landed (excl shipping)

Correct to an extent.

Fully assembled bikes out of the EU carry no duty if you supply the previously mentioned documentation. That tariff heading I showed there is for complete bikes

Out of Asia, they do not, as Asia fall under "General".

Bike parts on the other hand carry no duties, which is why most brands that come from the far east ship their bikes as parts.

Fees are FOB times exchange rate at time of arrival in SA + 15% VAT + what ever clearance fee that has been quoted / negotiated with your courier / forwarder.

[Frosty]

5 hours ago, Bl4d3 said:

Contrary to popular belief, there is in fact NO DUTY out of the EU, IF..... the supplier notes their EUR1 details on the invoice and supplies a copy of the EUR1 certificate. This is just to certify that the bike is made / assembled in the EU.

Assembled doesn’t qualify, only manufactured in the EU. The EUR1 is a certificate of origin, so if anything is not “made in the EU”, chances are the supplier won’t issue a EUR1.

[Frosty]

4 hours ago, Bl4d3 said:

Fees are FOB times exchange rate at time of arrival in SA

Fees are calculated on the date of shipment, not when it arrives in SA. Air freight is quicker than sea freight, so it may look like its arrival date. The SAD500 document will show the rate and date, which the general public doesn’t see.

[Bl4d3]

2 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Assembled doesn’t qualify, only manufactured in the EU. The EUR1 is a certificate of origin, so if anything is not “made in the EU”, chances are the supplier won’t issue a EUR1.

However, EU regulation changed some years ago to allow product that is mostly assembled in the EU to be noted as "Made" in EU, this has then allowed manufacturers to issue EUR1 certificates.
What most EU brands do, especially on higher end product, is import parts and assemble in Europe. These are then considered as "Made in EU" to which they are eligible to issue the certificate.

[Frosty]

9 minutes ago, Bl4d3 said:

However, EU regulation changed some years ago to allow product that is mostly assembled in the EU to be noted as "Made" in EU, this has then allowed manufacturers to issue EUR1 certificates.
What most EU brands do, especially on higher end product, is import parts and assemble in Europe. These are then considered as "Made in EU" to which they are eligible to issue the certificate.

Maybe that’s why bikes are so expensive. The partial qualification threshold is 70% of the ex-works price. So if components, that are made by a business that operates in a beneficiary state, and where the head office is in the EU, and is less than 70%, they can qualify to issue a EUR1 certificate.

Quite complicated considering the number of components made in Asia. An EU-manufactured frame might qualify, if they consider the EXW price relative to the component costs.

[Bl4d3]

14 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Maybe that’s why bikes are so expensive. The partial qualification threshold is 70% of the ex-works price. So if components, that are made by a business that operates in a beneficiary state, and where the head office is in the EU, and is less than 70%, they can qualify to issue a EUR1 certificate.

Quite complicated considering the number of components made in Asia. An EU-manufactured frame might qualify, if they consider the EXW price relative to the component costs.

So a way around it that most EU assemblers follow is to have the frames painted in the EU. This finishing of the frame acts as a loop hole which allows them to consider the frame as made in EU. They are however limited on the amount of alloy frames they can import into the EU due to antidumping policies.

I know several brands who do this, having also worked for one of them.

Bikes are expensive because many just pay the 15% duty to avoid the **** show that recently happened with SARS against several brands/distributors with the millions of Rands in fines dished out, I've seen and read several of these orders. Ridiculous shipping prices, Transnet delays, a weak Rand, and increasing shipping prices to the EU from Asia have pushed prices up horribly.

I'm sure all bike shops will agree that the margins are insanely low, even for the big players, as everyone has been trying to absorb these increasing prices and minimise impact on the customer, hence why there are bikeshops closing weekly, it's just not profitable / worthwhile.

[FirstV8]

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[cvdup]

Speak slowly so I can understand please.

 

If I fly to the UK, buy a bike and bring it back with me - will I still have to pay the taxes and duties?

[Bub Marley]

10 hours ago, cvdup said:

Speak slowly so I can understand please.

 

If I fly to the UK, buy a bike and bring it back with me - will I still have to pay the taxes and duties?

If customs stops you and opens your box and they see it’s a new bike then yes. But you can get lucky as well. They normally just pick randomly so it’s luck of the draw.

[Baracuda]

I flown too and from Europe with a bike a few times and have not been stopped.

Perhaps take an old bike bag across with you, throw a bit of mud on the bike, throw in your cycling shoes and helmet, so it all look like you have been on a trip.

[ChrisF]

Question ....

 

Flying with a BIKE often raises the question of package SIZE and WEIGHT.

 

What is the packed size and weight of a recumbent ?  HOW would this impact flight costs ?

[Zebra]

9 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Question ....

 

Flying with a BIKE often raises the question of package SIZE and WEIGHT.

 

What is the packed size and weight of a recumbent ?  HOW would this impact flight costs ?

Cannot answer your question, since i dont recall flying with either of mine, but the SWB would have been way easier than the LWB, SWB with a wheel off, and the ‘boom’ retracted for travel, is much less unwieldily than a LWB.

Keen to hear if you OWN one, and what it is?
(I had a LWB LINEAR alu recumbent, u/s steering, and a SWB HP Velotechnic Street Machine, and would be easier to fly with USS/SWB bike.

Both are still here, somewhere in SA; i think i regret selling them!

[ChrisF]

31 minutes ago, Zebra said:

Cannot answer your question, since i dont recall flying with either of mine, but the SWB would have been way easier than the LWB, SWB with a wheel off, and the ‘boom’ retracted for travel, is much less unwieldily than a LWB.

Keen to hear if you OWN one, and what it is?
(I had a LWB LINEAR alu recumbent, u/s steering, and a SWB HP Velotechnic Street Machine, and would be easier to fly with USS/SWB bike.

Both are still here, somewhere in SA; i think i regret selling them!

 

I have cycled with gents on recumbents.  Couple of them around Durbanville.  Dont own one myself.

 

Just seemed a more 3D frame layout than a normal bike, thus wondering about packing and transporting it.

[Zebra]

and then, this morning, in my ONE DRIVE pics delivered to me 'on this day is history' is THIS pic, taken 16/05/2008, of my LWB Linear; although I PREFERRED SWB, this thing was a LIMO on 'rails-to-trails', both here and in the 'States

[jonros]

I have imported 2 bikes over the last few years, one from the UK, one from Australia. I got VAT back on both, although (from 2023) the UK no longer refunds VAT. In both cases I paid nothing to import them as I had used both of them in the country of purchase. I saved about 15-20% on both