Warning: Buying Motorcycle Gear from Europe Can Now Give You a Nasty Shock!

After nearly 4 years of wrangling, (regardless of whether you were in overall favour or not), didn’t you just sigh with relief when a Brexit deal was finally done in time for the year-end deadline?

As a small business we certainly did - after an already challenging year, it at least promised some clarity and supposedly avoided those threatened tariffs. But few if any of us realised its full consequences…….

Remember the way it was: The sport of chasing the best price for your motorcycle gear?

For many people chasing the best price was more than a basic need, it was a competitive sport. Finding a jacket from an online supplier in Italy or Germany for £30 less was like scoring a goal! However, once the initial buzz was over, many of those buyers experienced issues with returns or warranties, with the suppliers being unresponsive to e-mails and phone calls, let alone a cost of sometimes £50 for sending the goods back for repair. We know this from experience, with people calling us every week for help with a warranty issue for a jacket, helmet or boots bought from abroad. Unfortunately, buyers only have recourse with the original retailer, so more often than not we were unable to help.

But that was before Brexit, and while many people were happy to take the risk in the interests of saving money, it is now becoming clear that buying motorcycle gear from online European retailers, whether it’s a new helmet, jacket, trousers, suit, boots or gloves is now even more difficult that it was before – and there are some very nasty hidden shocks that few had anticipated.

The way it is now (part 1): Hidden additional costs.

I am sure many of you will have seen all the recent headlines of customers being landed with unexpected tax, courier, and miscellaneous admin costs?

Let us examine the new situation step by step:

Tariffs (an additional: 2%-12%)

The new EU Trade Deal was meant to be tariff-free. Well, it is for goods manufactured wholly in the EU. However, despite most of the major motorcycle brands being based in the EU, a considerable number of motorcycle jackets, suits, helmets, boots, gloves etc are either wholly, or substantially manufactured outside the EU (e.g., China).  These now attract tariffs of between 2% for helmets to up to 12% for clothing.

VAT (an additional: 20%)

The way VAT is collected for EU purchases has changed. European retailers are now obliged to register and pay for UK VAT with our own HMRC. But most operate from European websites and only account for VAT for customers within the EU, leaving any buyer outside to pay their own VAT. This means that VAT will now be collected at point of delivery by the courier – i.e. your doorstep. Even if you are out and the courier just leaves the parcel on your doorstep, an invoice often follows in the post!

There is a threshold for this (which will be 150 Euros (£135) in 6 months’ time) but currently its just 22 Euros (£19), so you can only escape the VAT on perhaps a spare visor or laces, not the helmet or boots you really want!

Another nasty shock about the VAT, is that it is calculated on the total cost of the goods plus the duty (or tariff).  So let’s look at an example - what happens when you buy a £900 Dainese motorcycle jacket from FC Moto?:

That means that you end up paying an extra £309.60 more than you thought or an extra 34%!!  And that’s not all…….

Courier Administration charges (an additional: £15-£20?)

Couriers are already levying an additional charge for their extra administration – to compensate them for the work they have in customs checks and collecting the extra payments from you, accounting for it and remitting it to the UK HMRC. Our experience of these charges so far is of the order of £15-£20.

That is the financial side of the story and the shock of significant additional costs. But there are also significant additional risks you need to be aware of:

The way it is now (part 2): Hidden additional risks.

We have already mentioned the existing issues with returns and warranties with EU sellers, but its could now get considerably worse.

No longer any consumer rights for manufacturer’s warranty

When we were in the EU and you bought goods from another EU supplier, you were protected by the manufacturer’s warranty – this was EU law. Now we are out of the EU, when you buy from an EU supplier you are now effectively ‘grey importing’ those goods into a non-EU market (the UK) and no longer have any of those previous consumer rights. The manufacturer does not have any obligation to honour their warranty as the retailer will have sold you those goods outside of their agreed territory. You are entirely reliant on the seller’s goodwill, and they are already known for being unresponsive with high return shipping rates etc, and you have no additional recourse to the manufacturer.

And if that was not enough there is another new risk.

Loss of money on returns.

Buying anything online whether in the UK or from abroad has always a bit more ‘hit-or-miss’ when it comes to getting exactly what you expected. Take fit, comfort, or size, for example. Many people come into our shop for advice, try on several different jackets, helmets or boots etc, to determine what works for them. Then, on the excuse of ‘having to think about it’ / ‘check with the wife’, rush home to order those same goods from an online EU retailer.

But sizes can vary even within the same item, let alone across brands and when the item finally arrives, maybe the comfort, fit or size is not exactly how you remember it. So now you need to return your goods to your retailer in, say, Germany. You might even be lucky enough to have chosen one that honours free returns.

BUT, what you won’t be able to claim back is the additional Duty, VAT, and Courier charges you incurred in the original purchase as these have nothing to do with the original retailer.

So those are the additional risks you take.

Conclusions:

For many years large European online retailers have been able to under-cut UK retailers on price – due to their different distributor network and charging system. We have met that competition head-on through hard work on our customer service, advice, free-delivery, no-quibble 365day returns and price-match promise.

But the market has now changed considerably, and by more than any of us had really anticipated.

• Online EU purchases will incur considerable additional costs (Duty, VAT and Courier admin), which are not apparent when you place the order. You might end up paying more than 34% more than you think!
• You will no longer have the legal protections you used to have regarding the manufacturer’s warranty, leaving you entirely at the mercy of your online retailer’s goodwill.
• Not only might you have a more difficult and frustrating job chasing returns or warranty claims with your EU retailer, but it will cost you considerably more to return those goods – not just in courier charges (which they might offer to pay) but loss of those additional duty, VAT and courier admin costs you paid after you purchased the item.

I’m sure some of you will say that you have not had to face some of these charges – that your courier left your goods on your doorstep and you’ve heard nothing more from them. Maybe the couriers are so busy at the moment (e.g. with the Covid crisis) they don’t have time to process all the additional paperwork and invoices. All we know from our own experience is that the majority of orders we have placed have eventually received follow-up invoices, and that as things settle down any loopholes will inevitably be closed up.

Bike Stop is renowned for its customer service, expert advice, large range of top brands and extensive stock that you can try on to make sure you get the right comfort, fit and size. We continue to do our utmost to support you with any issues with your gear post purchase, chasing distributors and manufacturers on your behalf with regard to warranty repairs, replacements etc. But we're sure you'll understand that we just can't do this for products that haven't been bought from us.

The vast majority of our customers do reward us for this service by buying from us. We hope you will continue to do so now and in the future, as we need your support more than ever at the moment.

We hope you found this rather startling guide useful, please do visit our website, or hopefully even our shop and café when conditions permit – we miss you and would love to see you again soon.

Bike Stop