General: LONG RANT Burlen Ltd Service

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by adarvasi

Burdekin, I am not over reacting at one issue, I am suggesting that if can be sent in THREE days at a lower cost instead of who knows how many weeks, will provide better customer service. Perhaps if you were at the waiting/receiving end you may see my point. I rest my case

I think we all get your point but also that it's not always as easy as that.

Your percieved value for money getting the jumper sent for $35 from Ireland in 3 days is probably much higher than the $31 ish for the catalogues and small parts from BFS that seems to be taking an eternity - there i whole-heartedly agree and fairly sure others will too. :thumbs-up:

However there seems to be a minimum cost for which nobody except the couriers are responsible to transport things round the globe and as such, smaller things seem disproportionately expensive/poor value for money on shipping in comparison.

Would that be a fair assessment?

[adarvasi]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I think we all get your point but also that it's not always as easy as that.

Your percieved value for money getting the jumper sent for $35 from Ireland in 3 days is probably much higher than the $31 ish for the catalogues and small parts from BFS that seems to be taking an eternity - there i whole-heartedly agree and fairly sure others will too. :thumbs-up:

However there seems to be a minimum cost for which nobody except the couriers are responsible to transport things round the globe and as such, smaller things seem disproportionately expensive/poor value for money on shipping in comparison.

Would that be a fair assessment?

Absolutely, thank you

[PVPVPV]

I have had two Brexit related transactions. The first involved buying a timing gear from a private French seller for 15 Euros. The total cost with postage was £25 so Ebay collected £5 VAT, i assume they passed it on to HMRC. In this case the Ebay obsession with including carriage as part of the cost was possibly responsible for applying VAT in the first place and charging it on both goods and carriage. The second involved selling a camera to someone in Spain the camera was 17 Euros and carriage £10. The receiver did not have to pay VAT because the value of the goods was below 22 Euros.
I have been "whining" on about this for the last 4 years as a likely consequence of a "no tariff" deal. Perhaps it will get sorted eventually. It would be really interesting to hear what kind of deal less belligerent states like Norway and Switzerland have struck with the EU.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by PVPVPV

I have had two Brexit related transactions. The first involved buying a timing gear from a private French seller for 15 Euros. The total cost with postage was £25 so Ebay collected £5 VAT, i assume they passed it on to HMRC. In this case the Ebay obsession with including carriage as part of the cost was possibly responsible for applying VAT in the first place and charging it on both goods and carriage. The second involved selling a camera to someone in Spain the camera was 17 Euros and carriage £10. The receiver did not have to pay VAT because the value of the goods was below 22 Euros.
I have been "whining" on about this for the last 4 years as a likely consequence of a "no tariff" deal. Perhaps it will get sorted eventually. It would be really interesting to hear what kind of deal less belligerent states like Norway and Switzerland have struck with the EU.

Was the timing gear new or used? If it was used, as far as i'm aware they are not subject to VAT/Import Duty but it's a bit of a grey area.

When i've bought new parts from the USA, it's based on invoice value, below £15 for the parts on the day they check, no VAT/Import Duty is payable. Over £15 (after exchange rate conversion on the day) and it is - annoyingly i bought something that worked out to £14.80 ish on the day, the exchange rate altered and made it £15,23 or something silly on the day they checked so i had to pay something like £3.03 VAT plus another £8 for the Royal Mail to deliver a card and collect the payment!

[Bashy]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

However there seems to be a minimum cost for which nobody except the couriers are responsible to transport things round the globe and as such, smaller things seem disproportionately expensive/poor value for money on shipping in comparison.

Would that be a fair assessment?

This is true for many, a good example is DJI, they use DHL or DHD one of those, anyway, buying a battery for my drone is about £14 shipping (its actually free as its over £150), Net Weight: 468g, if i was to buy the pack of 2 props at £10 Weight of 11.7g, shipping is still the same cost, ive argued this many times with them, its a pure rip off, i think the courier has ive them a set fee across the board, i bet its far less than the £14 too knowing DJI

[Army]

In recent years shipping has always been a large "hidden" part of car restoration. I too do have a grumble about it once in a while...

...however if you compare the cost of having to buy local or in many cases even being able to find stuff locally I think we're probably spending less over all. [Disclaimer - there's always someone who lives next door to one of the numerous suppliers - but most of us don't!]

I agree with the comment made above that second hand stuff more often than not should not have VAT applied - however - things get a bit complicated when a seller is viewed as a company. Companies selling second hand stuff (in most European countries) do have to get involved with VAT.

#####

About three years ago Padocks a large Land Rover spare parts box shifter were offering postage from the UK to the EU for ten quid a box. I took advantage of that deal. Those days, however, are now long gone for spare parts...

...still there are deals out there to be had. Although not car parts I've just ordered stuff from the UK to be sent here to me in Holland where they even say the price that I've paid "at the internet check out" includes import duties and Dutch VAT / BTW. I'll be interested to see how the customs officials on either side of the water behave. There's gonna be one hell of a whinge if I get billed for BTW now!

[jgcoutts]

My issue is not so much with Burlen as it is with suppliers in general who service the retail market yet use Corporate Express Shipping as their only option, I'd gladly pay less even if it arrived here via the Panama Canal. Nevertheless Burlen takes the cake in the shipping costs competition.

Missing an ID tag for one of my two SUs, I thought it would be nice after polishing them up to make the one feel whole again and at 2.83GBP each I'll get a shiny new one for the other carb then comes...Select shipping, only one choice, 21.00GBP for two tiny bits of aluminium that weigh about the same as a postage stamp and envelope?

Sorry SUs some other day.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by jgcoutts

My issue is not so much with Burlen as it is with suppliers in general who service the retail market yet use Corporate Express Shipping as their only option, I'd gladly pay less even if it arrived here via the Panama Canal. Nevertheless Burlen takes the cake in the shipping costs competition.

Missing an ID tag for one of my two SUs, I thought it would be nice after polishing them up to make the one feel whole again and at 2.83GBP each I'll get a shiny new one for the other carb then comes...Select shipping, only one choice, 21.00GBP for two tiny bits of aluminium that weigh about the same as a postage stamp and envelope?

Sorry SUs some other day.

You're going to hate me for this but i'm certain on twin-carb installations only one of them (usually the front) carried the ID tag. The idea was because they were always sold and fitted as a matched pair, only one ID tag was needed.

I agree it's a ridiculous amount of money for a couple of pieces of engraved aluminium to travel the world and would have been tempted to recreate a tag myself or just leave it off completely.

[Derek UK]

2 tabs, one has an F front and the other R rear. Having the float chambers on opposite sides means they are two different carbs.
Maybe AUD94F/AUD94R for late Amazon and same period P1800.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

2 tabs, one has an F front and the other R rear. Having the float chambers on opposite sides means they are two different carbs.
Maybe AUD94F/AUD94R for late Amazon and same period P1800.

The ones i'm more familiar with (mainly on Rovers) only had the one tab, it's highly possible older cars such as the Amazon did indeed have two tabs.