just a word of warning here. I just got a new power2max delivered to the UK and was hit with an additional £95 tax for a £383 product. Maybe I should have expected this but was certainly an unwelcome surprise.
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It’s definitively made harder by some websites not clearly spelling it out.
Looks about correct though unfortunately - if you buy something from Europe and its over £135, the selling shop will not charge you their VAT, but the UK will add our VAT and charge you when its in customs.
On top of that, you might have to pay customs charges, if the goods have not been made in Europe.
And then there might be admin charges too.
The strange thing is that buying from the US or China is now actually easier than buying from the EU, because all of those sellers are set up for all the crazy rules already.
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Where did you buy it from?
In my experience (shopping around for a new groupset), about half of the usual suspects are now just not shipping to the UK. Most of those that are do state on their website whether or not the price includes VAT, but it pays (literally) to check.
I am quite seriously thinking of combining a weekend away in Europe with collecting a new groupset, as soon as CV19 restrictions permit travel from the UK.
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It used to be booze cruises, 2021 is the year of bike gear cruises. I’m hopefully heading out to France in the summer🤞and seriously thinking about taking a empty car but coming back with it full of cycling kit.
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I love this idea. And if I take the other half away for the weekend, I reckon I could get a Record gruppo or some Boras past the finance committee 
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HMRC have also introduced a VAT prepayment scheme for importers but they have to pay around £1000 to partake. This isn’t just for EU businesses but all non-UK businesses.
Looks like we are back to the booze cruises heading over to Calais. Unfortunately for those of us in the north of England it would probably cost as much to get down to Dover as we’d save on the components 
Reminds me of a trip we made to Canada - we bought ice climbing equipment cheaper at retail than my wife, who was working in a climbing shop at the time, could get it wholesale, pre-VAT, in the UK!
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Just combine it with a trip to the Alps, Ventoux, Dolomites, etc 
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Remember, you’ll be passing through UK border control and would need to declare that you’re importing stuff and pay appropriate duties, else be “smuggling” and subject to penalties when gripped.
Welcome to the past.
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Most likely you will get your Boras if the finance committee will get a different kind of Boras (the ones from sponsors of Bora-Hansgrohe).
Sadly this is what I’ve had to do for now with my ecom shop. I don’t see a way to limit UK sales with a minimum order value, and I don’t have time to be setting up another tax remittance every quarter just for one country, so I’ve stopped shipping there altogether. I hope to figure out a solution soon but for now the admin burden is higher than the profits seem worth for UK.
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My strong advice would be to make sure the components are built onto a bike when it comes back into the country…
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Head over with bike with old/cheap parts, buy new parts, fix to bike, go for a ride, return home.
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I’m just going to hide it under the copious amount of wine I’ll be buying 
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Exactly
Direct from power2max
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They should have offered you the tax free price when you bought it. So the overall cost is not a lot different.
Apparently, exporting bike riders is just as difficult as importing bike parts lol
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A very major logistics/administrative burden awaits UK-based outfits - whether cycling, motorsport, horseracing, whatever - moving people and kit (animals!) into and out of Europe (EU).
Back to the days of completing carnets detailing all the equipment they’re taking in, to ensure that on their return they bring every item back out again; and paying a 40% Indemnity Bond which they forfeit if they don’t bring out what they took in. If anything breaks and requires disposal in the EU, they need a permit for each item, costing time and money. Also, they cannot import food, nor consumables (think lubricants, and presumably stuff like tyres, etc), under the carnet system, so all these items have to be sourced locally within the EU. Complexity, time and money. And there are time restrictions on how long items can remain in the EU on a carnet, meaning complexity, time and money.
In the short-term, teams with deep pockets will swallow the hassle and cost of all this, and make it work. Smaller outfits may be unable to. In the longer term, these restrictive barriers which cost complexity/time/money means a strong impetus is there for any teams using a UK base to operate in Europe to shift their operations over the Channel into the EU. The same applies to motorsport, eg. F1. Lots of negatives will flow from this for all those working at the leading edge in these industries; obviouly riders, but also coaches, engineering, support staff etc.
Welcome to the past!
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Damn. You didn’t see that printed on a bus.
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