All,

Looking to buy a couple of Boardman bikes from Wiggle. I understand I will pay 8% VAT plus a customs fee on the weight and admin fee of up to 50CHFs depending on the courier.

However they say they ship bikes in 2 boxes, will this be a fee for each box, plus if i get pedals and few other bits it could be 5-6 boxes, does this change the cost?

Anyone had any experience of buying a bike through Wiggle in Switzerland?

Cheers

You only pay the 8% + some extra small fee and nothing more, but I've heard from people who has received a big bill too.

Reason:

The courier in Switzerland wants you to pay an extra FEE that you didn't signed (or the company who sent the ware). I've heard that you can ignore it. They try to get this illegal FEE but don't do anything if you don't pay it, because it's not legal and they would lose in the courts. With the swiss post you won't have this problems.

Do you take great pleasure in repeating negative comments that you've "heard". This sounds like so much BS to me. In fact, I've "heard" that you don't need to pay any tax at all - it's certainly happened to a friend of a friend of a friend, so shall I repeat it here as fact?

Where to buy motherboards for laptops?

I have previoulsy had goods arrive to my door, and not been asked to pay any extra courier fee. I have also gone out to one courier depot to pick up a parcel - again, no fee.

Today I picked up a new inported kayak ( yipppeeee!) from the post office and paid a bit under 10% of the cost of the kayak for customs duty, plus a fee of 45.35 for "services/Dienstiesturgen."

Well it is certainly true that if a courier sends you a bill after having delivered the item to you and without having informed you beforehand about their customs handling fees and without you agreeing to those fees then those admin charges are null and void as there never was a contractual agreement between you and the courier.
I have refused to pay the courier admin charges on this basis more than once and the couriers have always accepted this because they know they have no legal basis for their demands (I only refunded them the MWst).

Also couriers often send MWst bills when no MWst is due, for example I twice ordered supplements from Germany for about 120 CHF and each time the courier sent me after the delivery a bill with a demand of 8% MWst plus their usual illegal fees. Again this bill was totally unwarranted as supplements only attract 2.5% MWst hence for shipments below 200 CHF no MWst is due (I wonder how many people would have paid that bill without questioning it and I guess couriers count on this and send these bogus bills to increase their profits).

That's what I meant. Thanks for clarifying.

Ok thanks all. Do these courier fees change depending on weight or cost or number of boxes?

Thanks

[QUOTE=magnum_pi;1638427 I guess couriers count on this and send these bogus bills to increase their profits).[/QUOTE]

No, if they have issued a VAT invoice they must pass on the tax collected to the government, VAT is not a profit centre.

I suspect the item did not ship with correct export documentation & the correct tax code.

Their potential profit is the rather large admin fee of course not the VAT itself!
The shipping documents were correct, in fact when I called them they admitted their 'mistake' almost straight away and said I can tear up the bill.

The administrative charge is not 'profit' they have overheads......
Mistakes happen, they admitted it whats the big deal?

I've had several colleagues that have ordered bikes through Wiggle. The wheels are in a different box. They always come through Swiss post. There is a trick... Since there are two boxes, they typically include the original invoice on each box. So, Swiss post stupidly doubles the charges. To get it back, one must send a letter, and they will refund it. Be sure when you order to tick the box to not include the invoice on the package, and you will avoid this problem.

They will simply charge you the 8% plus admin fee. If the pedals are ordered separately, you will incur another admin fee as they will certainly be above the limit. Better to order them with the bike.

It may be worthwhile for you to get an address in Weil am Rhein through this link if you are worried about extra charges appearing.

http://www.las-burg.de/hauptstrasse/

You get charged per package, and the charge depends on the size of the delivery. You only get charged when using the service, there are no sign up or monthly fees. If you put down the German shipping address and the Swiss billing address, there should be no VAT added to the invoice, then you can stop at the border yourself and pay the 8% import fee.

I buy quite a bit of bike parts over chainreaction. Each time I get slapped with the tax and some fixed admin fees. makes me want to go big since the admin fee is rather high anyway. if i remember correctly it was almost 40CHF. so worth to buy more?

have not bought a bike over though.

Thanks all

I have a postbox on Weil am Rhine already. But didn't know you can avoid uk tax if posting to Germany but invoicing in Switzerland?

Will those post boxes receive big bike boxes?

Cheers

Ok so if I post to Germany then I pay Vat on wiggle and then pay swiss taxi the boarder on top.

So therefore if I make one massive order of 2 bikes an pedals, mudguards lights etc. when it arrives in switzerland I will pay swisspost 8% vat and an admin fee of around 40chfs regardless of number of boxes and weight.

Cheers

I've placed orders with a few different companies in the UK and when the billing address is in Switzerland, they have not charged me the VAT. My orders were small, so I didn't need to pay the 8% to import to Switzerland. You could (should) either email them or call them to see if they will do the same thing for you, or if they have a way for you to get the VAT back if it is charged. If they do charge VAT, I believe you should still be able to get the invoice stamped at the border and mail it back to get the tax back.

Ok thanks. Will call wiggle and see although they say on website that it's postage to outside eu that counts.

Although I am OK with 40chf per order but per box less so.

Cheers

No, it is not an admin fee for each box. It is combined as one delivery and charged as so. Did the very same with Wiggle for one Boardman bike last Autumn and the costs I incurred here in Switzerland were similar to the amount of UK vat which was deducted from the order. I think I ended up paying 160CHFs or thereabouts. It was a worthwhile deal for sure.

Cheers mate, is that 160CHFs including the 8% VAT or the admin fees alone.

I am about to pull the trigger on a 3K chuff order to send to Switzerland. I hope I don't get stung when it arrives!