[ray.vermette]

eBay has been good for me. All the items I bought recently were either below $20 and not subject to taxes, duty, or brokerage fees, or went through eBay's global shipping program with taxes, etc, calculated and paid up front, and package tracking included. Costs were reasonable and no unpleasant surprises.

Some sellers will accept an offer below the posted MSRP price. Sometimes you need to hunt through the search results or try different search terms to find the best deals.

 

[smashysmashy]

I just snagged an xt 8100 group on merlin. Free ship (comes canada post usually). I expect tax (HST), as it's a $490 item.

(slx 7100 group minus brakes is $330 btw, $550 with dual piston brakes)

 

[hmto]

I just snagged an xt 8100 group on merlin. Free ship (comes canada post usually). I expect duties, as it's a $490 item.

(slx 7100 group minus brakes is $330 btw, $550 with dual piston brakes)

why would you pay duty? Did CBSA change bicycle parts to duty applicable? Complete bike yes but parts are not subject to duty regardless of cost

 

[smashysmashy]

Sorry, worded wrong. I meant tax. HST. There are never duties on bike stuff, except some complete bike, and some wheel sets from china.

 

[Trinimon]

Damn CRC. I ordered some hubs and other parts from them last week and did the upfront duty 'cause it was pretty close to what I would pay for taxes and only $10CDN or so more over CanadaPost. My order is sitting at CBSA waiting for "Consignee to pay charges" since Monday. I reached out to CRC and they said they contacted Skynet. Now it's a waiting game for Skynet to get around to my order. I should have just paid the damn CanadaPost and deal with the taxes on my own. It would have been here in 5 business days.

My previous order of two rims came all scuffed up 'cause someone who packed them just put them together in a box (no individual bag or padded sleeve like my previous rims) but stuffed those bubble pillows as protection. Fortunately it's just cosmetic but damn new rims. ARGHHH.

They are slowly moving over to my "Only in case of emergency" online order store.

why would you pay duty? Did CBSA change bicycle parts to duty applicable? Complete bike yes but parts are not subject to duty regardless of cost

Good to know. Still get dinged taxes over $100CDN but welcome to Canada.

 

[smashysmashy]

GRRRRRR
ordered 2 wheels sets, one from crc, one from bike24 (also crc owned).
ones from crc arrived via skynet, safe and sound in a proper bike wheel box.
form bike24 they showed up badly packed, one wheel with no plastic or bubble wrap. the rear wheel axle is bent and mangled in an extreme way - so extreme i dont think it was done in shipping, it must have been like that before it went into the box. they also didnt put both sets of valves or disc adapters in the box - that or they fell out.

Normally, i'd expect them to rectify this easily enough, with a discount then ship me out either a new wheel or repair parts, but NOW, because the borders are being locked down, I dont know whats going to happen.

Blah.

I guess the moral here, is, dont order anything right now and expect to be using it in the next month

 

[smashysmashy]

oh, i should add, the fulcrum boost wheels atc crc for $124 with coupon are really nice. its a shame they are boost only, cause i have no frames to fit them.

 

[smashysmashy]

Well, bike24 is sending another wheel... we'll see how long it takes to get here. will be an interesting test of how the "non essential" world operates in a pandemic lockdown.

Ive had 6 or 7 various shipments the last 2 weeks. most of them have just arrived as normal. Couple were a little late, but not by much.

 

[Trinimon]

Glad they sorted that out. I've been skeptical of ordering from Bike24 'cause of all the horror stories on Google review. I didn't know they were now run by CRC. Might be a game changer.

I bought two rims from CRC, the idiots just packed the two bare rims in a box with no padding between them other than that pillow type padding. The rims were rattling against each other all through shipping. Thankfully only cosmetic scuffs. They compensated me $25. which was almost the cost of one of the rims (Easton ARC27) which I could live with.

Yeah, with all the lockdowns going on, I'm glad I managed to get all my parts for my build but the shitty thing is that my frameset is still on backorder until April. ARGH!! I'm sure production lines were affected and so would delivery. I'd be lucky if I get it by summer.

But there are other more important things to worry about, all things considered.

 

[smashysmashy]

In this case, I think they by mistake gave me a returned damaged wheel. One was "new" still in its sealed plastic. The other was loose, no accessories, nothing. Probably was meant for rma but got stuffed back into stock by mistake - to look at the wheel, it doesn't seem damaged. When you look at the axle caps closes (and the fact it doesn't spin) then you see that its been abused somehow. when you see the actual axle, you know it was not shipping damage. They did (more than) right to fix it, its just the timing that sucks cause of this virus.

I've ordered rims from them and another dt wheelset and they came fine - the dt wheelset had a scratch from being in the box next to something else, but it was just cosmetic and they refunded me a little.

 

[smashysmashy]

So, I think I see whats going on with chian reactions prepaid fees.

When I add various things to my cart - brake adaptors, valves, seat collars at the moment, the "fee" is only about $10 more than Canada post.

When I add in shoes, poof. the fee goes way up, even if the value of shoes vs seat collars is the same.

So, there is either a duty on shoes, or they are charging a fee for the size or extra package... a check of the Canada customs site and sure enough, there's a 20% DUTY on shoes, and in this case, it more or less accounts for the extra charge.

My basket is $165.44
$21.51 is HST

$119.49 was shoes, so add $23.90 in duty.

They are charging $49.99 in fees... so, this is basically exactly right. duties, tax, and a small brokerage fee of less than $5.

Basically, they are going by the book, where I think in the past with dhl it was "chuck it through and hope customs misses it" with crc likely absorbing whatever didn't get through free.

So, if the fee seems high, you likely have something in there with a duty - wheels, whole bikes, and shoes have duties for sure.


Now, lets see if I get this by Friday like "normal"....

 

[Swerny]

Shoes and clothing are not duty free.

Bike parts are duty free

I had this issue over the years ordering from Bike Nashbar in the USA.

 

[smashysmashy]

Wheels are not duty free. Whole bikes are not duty free. I know that for sure. I do think all other parts are duty free.

 

[Trinimon]

Are frames duty free?

 

[smashysmashy]

i *think* so.
when you order frames from china, they come duty free. the wheels don't.
that may only apply to china, though i think almost every wheel set is made in china anyway, even if they come from a store in England.

 

[Trinimon]

Turns out, frames have a 5% duty on them. Ahh well.

 

[smashysmashy]

So, bike24 stopped shipping to Canada altogether this week. Booo. Stupid virus.

Anyone in Toronto want a set of 29" non boost DT E1900 wheels? Haha.
This was the replacement set for the damaged ones.

(i actually just need the same or similar wheels again, but for 27.5 on a different bike)

 

[kwarwick]

Not sure how well Standard Postal shipping from CRC is working during this pandemic. I have two small packages that were shipped by untracked Royal Mail bound for Toronto on March 16th... no sign of them so far.

 

[Trinimon]

You're in the same boat as me Kwarwick. Order was placed on March 11 and shipped out on March 13th. No sign of 'em yet. They were having problems with the prepaid duty option and Skynet. Took 3.5wks to clear up only because I got pissed off at them and said I either want a full refund or I pay for the duty and they refund it back to me.

Damn covid19....

 

[smashysmashy]

I did duty paid Skynet on the 22nd and it got here the 27th. so that was "normal".

The bike24 wheels got here on Monday this week - also the normal amount of time from bike24 via DHL/Canada post express.

I think Canada post and royal mail "snail mail" services are going to be very spotty.

I still have one handlebar from china (with tracking) lost somewhere in Canada posts system. I'm hoping it randomly turns up next month when the lock downs ease.

I need to still order some smaller things from crc and merlin. I'm debating if its worth doing it now, or just waiting a month. none of this stuff it important, but its keeping me entertained