Anyone ordered anything from the US Timbuk2 website?

Hey, just ordered myself a nice new back which the currency converter said would cost £92 inc shipping which is costly but I can just about do it.

One of these. My back can't deal with a courier bag anymore.
http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/products/backpacks/hemlock-backpack#product=4-104629

The thing is at the bottom of the email confirmation it says

***International Express price does not include Duty, Customs Adjustment or VAT.
Up to $75 additional charges in VAT and duties may apply upon delivery of the product. *

FUCK! So another £45 ish for VAT etc. Anyone got anything from these guys and did these charges actually get put on? Bit annoying that they don't say anything when you order.

Sorry to say this,but your forum name is Lucky.I too have been stung on some items i got from America.Duties etc have nearly cost the same as the products i purchased!.

Oh shit. :-(

Yeah it does, it says "* Does not include shipping or taxes." as soon as you add something to your cart.

You've never ordered anything internationally? Sometimes you get lucky and they don't sting you, other times you will get burned. You might get to learn the hard way.

Didn't see it on the order form or probably thought that was just for US. Only ever ordered the odd small value item from eBay so not really encountered this before.

Did some online calc says around £15-20 + VAT. Fingers crossed.

How does it work? A form get sent to you? Someone calls you up and asks for a credit card?

The courier company will hold the item and leave you a note saying "we've paid your fees and charged you some extra for the privilege of you having to come into our nearest depot to pick your item up. If you no pay you no get. We are ParcelFarce."

Oh joy!

Tell me about it..

The courier company will hold the item and leave you a note saying "we've paid your fees and charged you some extra for the privilege of you having to come into our nearest depot to pick your item up. If you no pay you no get. We are ParcelFarce."

That sucks, theyd better not do the same with my bike :/

I refer you to this post..
http://www.londonfgss.com/post338595-116.html

In fact, read the whole thread, it's great. Some cunt from parcel farce even got involved. Old School forum lovin'..
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread11718.html

Thanks Hippy. Just called up UPS and paid £27.50 VAT and import duty.

All good. Will post a mini review of the bag once it arrives tomorrow.

Secret is get your bag sent to a mate who lives in the US. Get them to fill it with twinkies and then they send it as a gift. yum yum.

£27 I can live with. But yeah, had thought of sending to a mate in the US.

You still pay import duty on gifts, and VAT on the gift & the import duty (which is like someone spitting on you, after they have kicked you, when you're down).

yeah but you get the twinkies. winner.

So I can post my bag to my friend to fill with twinkies repair* and he can sent it back to me with no issues?

So if I was to post my sister in New York a box of shit bike parts that I've accumulated over the years and she was to send me back a box of brand new bike parts bought from various shops in USA, but pretend that the new parts were the old parts I sent her originally then I would be exempt from any sort of tax and import duty? Not that I would suggest doing such a thing, nor can I think of anything I actually want right now. It's just good info to have for the future.

:d

So if I was to post my sister in New York a box of shit bike parts that I've accumulated over the years and she was to send me back a box of brand new bike parts bought from various shops in USA, but pretend that the new parts were the old parts I sent her originally then I would be exempt from any sort of tax and import duty? Not that I would suggest doing such a thing, nor can I think of anything I actually want right now. It's just good info to have for the future.

Be careful out there. Heed Uncle Lou:

Yes have ordered form the US site. My first standard courier. I wanted the custom colours and could not find what I wanted.
The Guys are right you will get a hefty customs bill. There will be Tax on the purchase price plus a UK postal service handling fee, which varies somewhat.
Timbuk2 bags come in a loverly big colourful box shouting I'm a new bag. The best idea is to negotiate someone in the US to recieve it and repack it shipping as a low value item rolled up. May still be stopped anyway.

If possible, ask the company sending the item to mark the cost of postage on the box too. I got some stuff sent from America and was informed that I had to pay VAT on the postage cost, and as there was no sign of that cost, they estimated it at £38 (actually £7).
One company in America that I have ordered from was wise to this and marked all contents as second hand gifts (not cycling gear, guitar stuff). I guess they are only risking the loss of profit if the item goes missing, they can only claim for the loss of the second hand gift as apposed to the posh stuff that was actually sent.

I've just got a new Timbuk2 D-Lux - VAT/Customs cost was £24 on top of the $120 Bag...Not too bad, but a bit of a surprise from UPS...

I'm going to be selling it actually, decided against it - feel free to get in touch

I'll be putting a thread in the classifieds too.

Medium size Timbuk2 D-Lux - In Black, Grey and Yellow

I've just got a new Timbuk2 D-Lux - VAT/Customs cost was £24 on top of the $120 Bag...Not too bad, but a bit of a surprise from UPS...

I'm going to be selling it actually, decided against it - feel free to get in touch

I'll be putting a thread in the classifieds too.

Medium size Timbuk2 D-Lux - In Black, Grey and Yellow

Please have a look at this:

Nursery for New Members

So you've just joined and you're wondering what the hell this nursery thing is all about and why this site has it when few to no other sites you've visited have such a thing.

Please read all of this post!

We had a few problems in the past with things like:

• **Spammers **signing up and posting adverts

• What makes a spammer a spammer when there's a classifieds section? The difference is whether those posting items for sale take part in the wider community... if they are doing that and the majority of their posts are not spam, then they're not a spammer... if all they do is sell stuff and have no interest in the community, then they're a spammer.

• **Spammers **signing up and **sending PMs **to 60 or so people

• Invasions from other forums, so basically mass trolling

• Individual trolls

• New people asking **questions that have been asked and answered **what feels like a hundred times already

• New people starting little flame wars against themselves by asking such **stupid questions **that a quick search would've saved them embarrassment and spared their reputation
  Those are a wide and varied set of problems, and we worked out that nearly all of them could be stemmed by just putting up an artificial obstacle for those joining the forums.

Effectively there is a cooling-off period in which new members should get acclimatised to the forum and get to see how it works, and the forum should get a moment to become familiar with the new person. We are basically forcing you to ease yourself in gently... but honestly, doing so is better for you, this place can be harsh so just go with it.

The name for this artificial period is "the nursery". Until you learn to walk here, you can't run.

And what does being in the nursery actually amount to?

Well members in the nursery can:

• Search the forums
  
• Reply to existing threads
  
• Upload a profile picture (non-animated)
  

• Join an existing social group
  What nursery members can't do is:

• Start new threads

• Use Private Messaging

• Have a custom avatar

• Upload a animated profile picture

• Edit their posts (they can't undo what they say)

• Rate threads

• Give reputation

• Post on polls

• Leave messages on profile pages

• Anything else not explicitly granted to them above
  What defines a "nursery member"?

It's pretty simple, you are no longer in the nursery when you have both:

• Posted 3 times
  
• Been on the site for 24 hours
  And this is an automatic thing, as soon as that threshold is passed the system will promote you to full membership within an hour or two.
  
  

Now, a lot of people don't like the nursery. And that's very understandable, but let me just underline some qualities of this site that don't really exist elsewhere.

First up, moderators... we have none... not one, none. Other sites pride themselves on having 20 or 30 moderators, we just don't bother. We have an administrator, that's me VelocityBoy... but really I do the technical stuff like run the software and server and ensure that the place functions well and doesn't get blacklisted. What I don't do is to subjectively police the place. Point is, if we have no moderators we really do need a system that from the outset reduces the kind of work that leads to the creation of moderators... basically to reduce spam and trolling from the instant that a new member signs up.

Next up, jostling. Every forum has it's fair share of new members being initiated by the old timers by some friendly ribbing. But sometimes this can go too far, especially if (without searching first) you ask an oft-repeated, tired, or dumb question in your first post. It's not pleasant to watch new members get ripped to shreds, and really I'm doing you the biggest favour by forcing you to search first and look around before you ask... the guys here can be merciless towards the new, so say hello first and search thoroughly before you ask stuff. The result, yeah there's still some jostling, but not much, and the place is a hell of a lot friendlier for it and that is priceless.

Can you evade the nursery period?

Don't try. Really. It's a public forum which means everyone can see you do it, and if you post 5 meaningless posts in an attempt to sidestep the nursery chances are that someone will report you... when that happens, I will ban that account permanently. You're free to register again, but then you start the nursery again too. So don't try, we're not that dumb and as this is our one piece of moderation it's purposefully harsh, really, don't try.

But what if you're not a spammer, not a troll, not a internet and cycling newbie, you aren't going to ask a dumb question, and you have experience of other fixed gear forums. Well, why didn't you say? If all of this is true, then you can contact me (the administrator) using the Contact Us form at the bottom of the page and outline why you need to be out of the nursery. If you can persuade me with a paragraph that you need to start a new thread, or send a PM, or something... then I will get you out of the nursery as soon as I can (i.e. when I've checked my email and seen your message). I do this a lot, it's cool. So do just ask, I'm not that scary really.

I think that covers all of the basics about the nursery... key thing, just say hi, chat to us... the nursery period will fly by before you know it. It's the best way, and it's the one that works best for everyone.