Shimano has denied seeking to prevent UK consumers from buying its products cheaply from European retailers after a Spanish website indicated that it was unable to ship components to this country, leading to internet speculation that this represents the shape of things to come for UK consumers looking to buy cycling products from Europe.
The Spanish website bikeinn is currently displaying this message next to Shimano products if you have shipping set for the UK: “Due to the Shimano new regulations relating to distribution, we are not allowed to ship some products of this brand to United Kingdom.”
Do a search of the site for available Shimano bike products and you’ll see no results with shipping set for the UK. Switch to shipping to France and you’ll get hundreds.
Competition law allows EU consumers to access goods and services from anywhere else in the union without regulatory obstacles. The UK has now left the EU, of course, but all of these rules still apply during the transition period which continues until the end of the year, so UK consumers should be able to buy Shimano products from bikeinn without any difficulty.
It’s apparently not a question of Shimano jumping the gun, though, just a simple coding error.
“We understand that this was due to a technical mis-coding on behalf of retailer and they are looking into a solution,” says Shimano. “For clarity, all Shimano retailers in the EU are able to sell to UK customers and any deviation to this is a decision of the individual retailer.”
Your complete guide to Shimano road bike groupsets
Could this be the shape of things to come, though? The UK is withdrawing from the single market and the terms of the future relationship are still being negotiated. In theory, your ability to buy from EU retailers could be restricted from the start of 2021, although the government says that the majority of goods imported into the UK would not be subject to additional tariffs.
The prices of Shimano components have increased hugely in the UK over recent months (we’re talking about prices you can expect to pay aretailers as opposed to RRPs). For example, Shimano 105 pedals (which have a retail price of £114.99) have increased from £69.49 to £89.99 on Chain Reaction Cycles. However, it’s a similar story elsewhere in Europe.
A medium cage 105 rear derailleur is currently £39 on CRC and €43.49 (£38.99) on bikeinn, for example, while an Ultegra R8000 11-speed cassette is £64.99 from CRC and a little cheaper at €64.99 (£58.27) from bikeinn.
61 thoughts on “Shimano says it isn’t stopping European retailer selling to UK customers”
“….leading to internet
“….leading to internet speculation that this represents the shape of things to come for UK consumers looking to buy cycling products from Europe.”
“For example, Shimano 105 pedals (which have a retail price of £114.99) have increased from £69.49 to £89.99 on Chain Reaction Cycles.”
Just two of the never ending stream of benefits from leaving the EU, like; blue passports and bent bananas and, um, um, um. Help me out here guys, what else?
Especially when you consider
Especially when you consider that the whole bent bananas thing was a complete lie made up by – er, wait a minute! – by our current Prime Minister.
brooksby wrote:
I am sure Boris has committed various crimes and misdemeanours but steady on there Brooksby, that banana story was doing the rounds in the late 70s, when he was but a callow youth and we were the newest member of the Common Market.
It was the banning of prawn
It was the banning of prawn cocktail crisps that Johnson made up for his column, then admitted was fake and then repeated as true during the referendum.
We won’t have to take orders
We won’t have to take orders from Brussels. WE’RE TAKING BACK CONTROL.
Mathemagician wrote:
We?
and giving that control to
and giving that control to unelected DumbDom… Rule Brittannia
Mathemagician wrote:
It’s so good that someone else gets that we won’t be ruled by those unelected bureaucrats any more. We’re so lucky we live under the benign rule of that enlightened alien despot; Dominic Cummings. You know, the one we voted for.
Is this satire? Surely u can
Is this satire? Surely u can’t be serious.
What do you mean by that? Can you give examples?
If this is a serious comment,
If this is a serious comment, then please go and paste it back on The Daily Mail!
eburtthebike wrote:
Here’s the bit you missed, it’s directly after your quote.
“However, it’s a similar story elsewhere in Europe”
Sure it wasn’t intentional, it’s not like you routinely try and mislead people…
FWIW tariffs on bike components manufactured outside the EU will actually be lowered after we leave the EU.
Rich_cb wrote:
Thanks, I’ll be quoting that.
eburtthebike wrote:
FTFY.
Funny how much indignation you express when you’re accused of dishonesty yet you just can’t stop yourself.
Pathological
Rich_cb wrote:
— Rich_cb FTFY. Funny how much indignation you express when you’re accused of dishonesty yet you just can’t stop yourself. Pathological— eburtthebikeDear oh dear oh dear; is that the best you can manage?
As Oscar Wilde said “I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.”
eburtthebike wrote:
It’s not really a battle of wits Burt.
It’s just me pointing out your repeated dishonesty.
You lie/misquote/mislead. I point it out.
Rinse and repeat.
Rich_cb wrote:
— Rich_cb Here’s the bit you missed, it’s directly after your quote. “However, it’s a similar story elsewhere in Europe” Sure it wasn’t intentional, it’s not like you routinely try and mislead people… FWIW tariffs on bike components manufactured outside the EU will actually be lowered after we leave the EU.— eburtthebike
Seeing as you seem to be part of the trade negotion team, can you give us a few more insights on the tarrifs we can look forward to? Have these other countries all signed up yet, after all it is ‘the easiest deal ever’ according to Gove et al.
You don’t seem to understand
You don’t seem to understand how tariffs work.
The government have published the tariffs that they will be applying.
Google it.
Can’t seem to find any info.
Can’t seem to find any info. Could you post a link? (I can find lots of stuff about the Japan – EU Free Trade Agreement)
Lukas wrote:
this is all I could find – assuming it covers components as well as bicycles – but like most things brexit it’s awfully intricate and complicated, won’t necessarily mean good news for many, and will cause an imbalance probably leading to prices rising tomorow despite bombastic headlines today
https://m.pinkbike.com/news/britain-to-remove-tariffs-on-non-eu-bicycles-following-no-deal-brexit.html
That article’s referring to
That article’s referring to the temporary tariff schedule that was proposed if we’d left without a deal (and therefore without a transition period), which would have (temporarily) removed tariffs on most goods coming in to the UK. Now that we’re in the transition period it no longer applies.
Thanks – it wasn’t a very
Thanks – it wasn’t a very encouraging endorsement of Brexit (what is?) Lots of words like ‘temporary’, ‘if’, ‘should’. Also tariffs into the EU will cause a lot of ‘pain’ for UK manufactures and service industries.
Here you go:
Here you go:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-tariffs-from-1-january-2021
And here’s a lookup tool:
https://www.check-future-uk-trade-tariffs.service.gov.uk/tariff?q=Bicycle&n=25&p=1
For bike parts it mainly seems to be moving from 4.7% to 4.0%, although 2% tariffs on inner tubes will be removed entirely.
Quite a few have ‘autonomous suspensions’ noted, though, and I can’t quite get to grips with what that means – whether there are currently no tariffs, or there will be temporarily no tariffs from next year.
Unless there’s a deal, tariffs would also apply to parts coming from the EU, which would currently be tariff-free.
mdavidford wrote:
Those “Autonomous Suspensions” are current exemptions from tariffs for goods that the EU is basically short of (in the simplest terms). It’s reviewed regularly and although it used to include things such as bicycle handlebars, it appears it no longer does.
fukawitribe wrote:
Those “Autonomous Suspensions” are current exemptions from tariffs for goods that the EU is basically short of (in the simplest terms). It’s reviewed regularly and although it used to include things such as bicycle handlebars, it appears it no longer does.— mdavidford
That’s what I figured, but confusingly they’ve put the comments regarding them into the ‘after’ column. So I’m not entirely clear whether it will go from no tariff (under the suspension) to tariffs at whatever UK rate has been set, or will continue to be suspended for the time being even once the change happens.
Thanks for the links.
Thanks for the links.
Although whether the actual shelf price reduces is another matter.
Well, yes – considering we’re
Well, yes – considering we’re mostly talking about something like 67p on the cost of a £100 part, it seems unlikely to really make a difference in most cases. And if we start applying tarrifs where they were previously suspended that would suggest that prices on those would be more likely to go up. Plus if there’s no deal with the EU and therefore tarrifs on anything coming from there, that would be an overall upwards pressure on prices.
Here you go.
Here you go.
https://www.check-future-uk-trade-tariffs.service.gov.uk/tariff?q=Bicycle&n=25&p=1
Thanks. (Wasn’t brexthick
Thanks. (Wasn’t brexthick supposed to reduce bureaucracy, paperwork, complications? That was an awful lot of info to absorb, understand and react upon. When previously it wasn’t required)
It was previously required
It was previously required for anything not manufactured in the EU.
Most bike components are not manufactured in the EU.
Most of the trade deals that
Most of the trade deals that the UK has so far agreed with non EU countries for post Brexit trading are a simply carry over of the existing tariffs we got as part of the EU.
Rich_cb wrote:
In general, I find that highly unlikely.
They’ve been published.
They’ve been published.
Look them up.
Rich_cb wrote:
Cheers, missed that. Will be interesting to see if we’re allowed to apply them immediately.
As soon as the transition
As soon as the transition period ends we can apply our own tariff rates.
I expect they’ll be lowered even further once/if an EU trade deal is done.
Yes, we can in theory,
Yes, we can in theory, although there is always the possibility of appeal where rates are suspected of being counter to WTO rules – highly unlikely in this case and those disputes inevitably drag on and/or are ignored. Having spent a few years at the coal face of import/export the thing i’m really feeling sorry about for those still in the trade is the increase in declarations and processing, and with nowhere near enough infrastructure to handle it efficiently for continental trade. It was such a relief as we slowly got rid of so much of that – right pain in the ass it’s coming back.
AFAIK the WHO don’t intervene
AFAIK the WHO don’t intervene if you set tariffs at a lower rate than their maximum.
I don’t think the WHO are
I don’t think the WHO are likely to intervene at all. They’ve rather got their hands full with Covid-19 and Trump planning to pull their funding at the moment.
Good point!
Good point!
Maybe they’ll pass it along to the WTO instead…
No, generally the WTO doesn’t
No, generally the WTO doesn’t intervene directly at all by itself, but countries can appeal to the WTO for things like anti-competitive import restrictions/rates, state aid and so on. The two rate related things that immediately come to mind are large rate increases and zero-/trivially-rated imports – the latter can be important whether or not the trade is just strictly two-way and is rightly not always seen as benign.
I wouldn’t bet on that.
I wouldn’t bet on that.
Lowering tariffs on imports of bike parts may not be the top priority for a government that insists on taking the UK out of the world’s largest tariff-free zone.
If you follow the rest of the
If you follow the rest of the comments you’ll see that the government is lowering tariffs on bike components.
Unlikely. Initially, we are
Unlikely. Initially, we are likely to WTO rules tariffs, which are higher. After that, it will be whatever terms we negotiate with Japan. However, these are likely to be less favourable term than the EU could obtain as we are offering a smaller market to sell to. It’s the same reason Sainsbury’s pay less for eggs than your local corner shop…
Still, it’ll be worth paying the extra if we can put our passports in a different coloured cover…
It’s incredible how many
It’s incredible how many people don’t have a clue how tariffs actually work.
We can set tariffs as low as we want.
The only catch is that we have to set the same tariff for every country which we don’t have a trade deal with.
The idea that WTO tariffs are automatically higher is nonsense.
The government have published what the tariffs will actually be.
They will be lower than they currently are.
The tariffs will be applied to the country of manufacture, so more likely to be Taiwan/China for most bike parts rather than Japan.
Rich_ch wrote:
They may be lower, and for goods under suspension they will, presumably, be higher unless we zero rate them.
As for setting whatever rate we want, of course we can – but that can have consequences for onward trade.
The ones that have been
The ones that have been published are either lower or the same.
That covers a huge amount of cycling paraphernalia.
We’ll have to wait and see on the suspended ones.
As things stand tariffs will be lower.
Rich_cb wrote:
Indeed that does look how things stand, although obviously it’s not that simple in the real world (especially for those liberated zero rate items) when the whole round-robin of traders start looking at it. We may indeed be living in interesting times….
I look forward to seeing the implementation in practice.
Not knowing about tariffs
Not knowing about tariffs myself, can you explain why we would enter into a trade agreement with another country and then impose higher tariffs than our WTO tariff? If the other country would face higher tariffs, then why would they want a trade agreement with us? (I’m assuming that there are other priorites than tariffs for entering into a trade agreement, but don’t know what they may be).
AFAIK you can’t impose higher
AFAIK you can’t impose higher tariffs than those permitted by the WTO unless there are exceptional circumstances.
I’m not aware of any trade deals that have higher tariffs than the basic WTO tariffs maximum.
While negotiating trade agreements it’s not a good idea to lower your WTO tariffs too far as this reduces the incentive for a country to strike a deal.
If, for example, the UK zero rated its tariffs on Oranges this would reduce prices for UK consumers but would remove an incentive for the EU to strike a deal.
So, at present, the UK government may not want to cut WTO tariffs too far for anything produced in the EU as this removes an incentive for the EU to strike a deal.
If an EU deal is struck then we may see more aggressive tariff cutting, the tariff schedule originally proposed was far more aggressive than the most recently published version.
So, if I’m understanding you
So, if I’m understanding you correctly, that means that WTO tariffs are the effective maximum tariffs per product (as reducing them too low removes the incentives to strike deals) though we can unilaterally put them as high or as low as we want.
We can’t put them any higher
We can’t put them any higher than the WTO maximum.
If, for example, WTO tariffs on Oranges are 10% we can set Tariffs at any point between 0% and 10% entirely at our own discretion.
The catch is that they have to be exactly the same for all countries that we do not have a trade deal with.
So if we left the EU without a deal we would have to apply exactly the same tariff rate to EU imports as we did to those from China.
Most countries strive for 0% tariffs on their exports so if we decided to unilaterally set all our tariffs to 0% there would be little incentive for many countries to strike trade deals as they wouldn’t have a huge amount more to gain.
It’s a bit of a balancing act but by being outside the EU we can focus our tariffs far more. This will mean lower prices for UK consumers on a wide range of goods.
Okay, so what did you mean by
Okay, so what did you mean by “The idea that WTO tariffs are automatically higher is nonsense” when it appears that WTO tariffs are higher?
Because they’re not
Because they’re not automatically higher.
A WTO tariff could be set at 0% by the UK while the EU’s Common External Tariff may be 20%.
Just because we’re trading on WTO terms it doesn’t automatically mean that tariffs will be higher than they currently are. Bicycle components being a good example.
This was a common piece of misinformation that was repeated in the pro-remain press. As this comments section shows it gained a lot of traction and people assumed that everything would be much more expensive on WTO terms.
So you meant that WTO tariffs
So you meant that WTO tariffs aren’t automatically higher than the EU’s tariffs, whereas WTO tariffs will be higher than the UK’s potential deal tariffs?
‘WTO tariffs’ isn’t really a
‘WTO tariffs’ isn’t really a thing. There are no universal tariff rates or maximums. Each country, when it joins the WTO, commits individually to a schedule of ceiling rates for different types of goods. It can’t then charge more than those rates without renegotiating its membership. It can charge less than those rates, provided that it charges the same lower rate for everybody. It can also then charge less than its general rate for countries it has a free trade agreement with.
As I understand it, the UK has committed to the same ceiling rates as the EU (presumably this makes independent accession easier). However, the actual rates it chooses to apply could be lower or higher* than the current actual EU rates. From a brief poke around it looks like they’re generally either the same or slightly lower, but that’s based on a fairly limited sample of goods categories.
[* Provided the EU isn’t already charging at the ceiling rate.]
The WTO tariffs won’t
The WTO tariffs won’t automatically be higher than the existing EU tariffs.
Given that the EU is quite protectionist the tariffs that we choose to set are quite likely to be lower than those that the EU chooses to set.
Trade deals are usually lower than WTO tariffs so any deal with the EU (or anyone else) should result in lower tariffs than those we choose to set for our WTO tariffs.
Rich_cb wrote:
No there actually won’t be noticable differences, since the tariff is on the wholesale price, not the retail price, so it’s a small percentage of a percentage of the total cost.
The Brexit debate has been led by a focus on tariffs, which are very low pretty much across the board these days, rather than a focus on non-tariff barriers, which remain a big problem.
IMO the big impacts will come from the loss of access to exports of services, which are a big slab of our economy, and a British success story.
When we voted to leave the £
When we voted to leave the £/Euro was about 1.40 after that it’s been down in the 1.20 and currently even worse than that. So depending on when you look anything from Europe would have been aprox. 15-20 more expensive if I’ve got my rather rubbish maths correct.
Wiggle/CRC are upping prices
Wiggle/CRC are upping prices to closer to RRP. Its them taking advantage of strong demand for bike parts during COVID I suspect, rather than European rules or anything like that. People go to them because they have been historically cheap so they don’t look around and end up paying more than they could.
Another reason to avoid Wiggle/CRC if you can really.
Just checking…
Just checking…
I am on Road.cc and not The Guardian website?
Nothing wrong with robust
Nothing wrong with robust debate, even if it’s only related to day-to-day cycling in a fairly tangential manner.
here we are in 2023 and I can
here we are in 2023 and I can’t buy shimano parts from Europe – German website BIKE24 everything shimano not available. I smell a rat.