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Ribble waives Brexit tariff for some EU customers after would-be buyer warns of "surprises" at checkout

The retailer admits information "could have been clearer", and has offered to refund the 14% post-Brexit tariff for EU customers who ordered between 1st-17th January...

Ribble Cycles has sought to clarify the new Brexit rules for its EU customers, offering to refund the 14% post-Brexit tariff applied to bikes that fall outside the ‘sale of origin’ rule for those who ordered between 1st-17th January. 

> Brexit and the bike industry

It comes after a would-be Ribble customer based in Germany got in touch with road.cc to warn of "surprises" at the checkout for EU residents ordering from the UK, when he discovered that a bike he ordered would be subject to the new 14% additional tariff following a conversation with the German Customs Service. The new rules state that bikes can only move between the UK and EU tariff-free if they are at least 55% made and produced inside the UK and EU. As Ribble's bikes fall outside that category, its customers on the continent will need to pay the new tariff, plus local tax. 

While this particular would-be customer cancelled his order and bought a bike in Germany instead, Ribble has now created a Brexit FAQs page, and says customers are made aware of the changes at various stages of the order process. 

David Stacey, Ribble's Commercial Director, said: "We’ve removed all UK VAT from the pricing that any European customer will see, so they aren’t paying for that twice. The customer also gets a pop-up message when they’re in our Bike Builder, which is the process every customer has to go through to buy a bike from us.

"That pops up to tell the customer that because of Brexit and the changes, they will be liable for local taxes and they will need to work that out with their local customs office when they receive the bike.

"Once they do that and complete the transaction we send them a confirmation e-mail straight away. That confirmation email also reiterates that point to the customer again, even if they missed it through that journey somehow or they forgot about it, and they get another email which confirms that fact to them as well.

"In that regard the customer is exempt from paying anything they don’t have to pay, and then when they do, they do become liable for their local charges and they will have to deal with that through their customs office. We would accept the criticism that that could be clearer, and there are a number of things we’re doing to build on that messaging."

Ribble's CEO Andy Smallwood added: "Because we do accept that it has taken a bit of time to really get under the skin of what the legislation is, and we are obviously very respectful of our customers, for those who’ve ordered between 1st January and [17th January], we will be going back to those customers who have placed orders between those dates. We will be refunding them the 14% import duty that they will be liable for upon importation of the bike into Germany, or any other territory In the EU. 

"The messaging was already live on the website, but we’ve made it more prominent and added a couple more locations where the messaging is as well."

> Planet X customers on the continent being asked to pay UK VAT amount as well as EU VAT

The additional 14% tariff works both ways, and as we reported yesterday it means that Canyon has upped its prices to swallow some of the cost, but stuck with its ‘all in’ model of including all VAT and charges in the price at checkout. Other EU brands whose bikes will fall outside of the ‘rule of origin’, such as Rose Bikes, has decided to stop shipping to the UK entirely.

"Crippled" by port delays

For UK customers, Ribble also gave an update on the continuing issues brought about by a huge shipping container shortage in Asia, which has raised shipping prices, led to huge delays at ports and for Ribble specifically, meant that some of its customers have experienced lengthy lead times after purchasing via Ribble's website. 

Stacey said: "These factors are definitely not new, and since about October time we’ve been experiencing major delays at ports.

"Not all of that is to do with Brexit, it’s to do with several other factors, mostly COVID and the furloughing of people at ports, and this has created a massive knock-on effect of container shortages and shipping delays, and therefore supply and demand dictates the price rise [of containers].

"So yes absolutely, that’s been something we’ve been battling for months now, and it’s really difficult as a UK manufacturer, because we’re totally reliant on constituent parts arriving with us.

"We basically build to order, none of our bikes sit on a shelf in a box. Every single customer who orders a bike from us has it hand-assembled from its constituent parts, and we’re just being crippled by these delays. It’s been very, very difficult.

"We’re expecting that to continue through the early period of Brexit, because why wouldn’t it? It’s another factor that impacts the speed at which freight can move through the port. We are actually seeing some green shoots at the moment, so it does feel as though in the first few weeks of 2021 things may be getting better. But they’re very small shoots in comparison to the issues we’ve been facing."

We'll have more on Brexit-related issues, shipping shipping delays and container conundrums in a follow-up article on the state of Britain's bike industry soon. 

Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story). 

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7 comments

Avatar
Legin | 3 years ago
2 likes

The Sunlit Uplands of Brexit - World Beating Trade Deal - World Beatingly bad that is!

Avatar
Jenova20 replied to Legin | 3 years ago
1 like

Legin wrote:

The Sunlit Uplands of Brexit - World Beating Trade Deal - World Beatingly bad that is!

The article is correct that the container shortage is unrelated to Brexit. The shortage is due to the European economies locking down during Covid. We contiued importing, but didn't export. This left a lot of shipping containers at European and UK ports, and there's now a shortage in Asia, which is delaying all deliveries. The US didn't shut down and hasn't been affected. We as a car parts importer and distributor have gone from paying $2000 a container last January to $12,000 now, because of the backlog, and reduced staff at ports due to Covid is meaning the backlog has taken 3 months so far to clear.

Avatar
GMBasix replied to Jenova20 | 3 years ago
2 likes

Jenova20]</p>

<p>[quote=Legin wrote:

The US didn't shut down and hasn't been affected.

Apart from over 413,000 deaths and nearly 25m cases.  Apart from that, it hasn't been affected.

The UK was slow to lockdown, has a pretty porous lockdown at that, and is now world-beating in Covid death rates. #flyingtheflag

Avatar
Jenova20 replied to GMBasix | 3 years ago
0 likes

GMBasix]</p>

<p>[quote=Jenova20 wrote:

Legin wrote:

The US didn't shut down and hasn't been affected.

Apart from over 413,000 deaths and nearly 25m cases.  Apart from that, it hasn't been affected.

The UK was slow to lockdown, has a pretty porous lockdown at that, and is now world-beating in Covid death rates. #flyingtheflag

That's irrelevent to the point i made about shipping. The US economy didn't shut down like that in Europe, nor for as long.

Covid death rates are pointless to compare since every country has a different way of counting them. Count excess yearly deaths and Italy has far more than double what they report as Covid. If you get a positive covid test and get hit by a car in 28 days then you're counted as a Covid death in the UK.

Avatar
Sriracha | 3 years ago
3 likes

Useful article. It seems that many European (geographic) bike brands are little more than a slick web frontend that allow you brand and customise the build of far eastern generic product and some brand name componentry.

I know they use weasel terms like "engineered in [insert local country]", but it seems like the same universal supply chain out of the far east, configured, assembled and branded to suit local markets.

Avatar
TotalLoss replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
2 likes

Sriracha wrote:

It seems that many European (geographic) bike brands are little more than a slick web frontend that allow you brand and customise the build of far eastern generic product and some brand name componentry. .

I think that pretty much sums up most of mainland Europe and the UK's bike "industry". Aside from higher end boutique brands and smaller artisanal makers that ship sailed long ago. Even these makers will carry a large proportion of parts made outside of the EU. I say that as someone who built their own bike from scratch.

Avatar
Sriracha replied to TotalLoss | 3 years ago
1 like

So it can't take much to have the parts go direct with assembly carried out locally. Just reconnect the dots in a different configuration, maybe need to register a local company to produce the customer invoice.

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