Shopping at MountainBlack.com and my naivety
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| rantlo21. 01. 2012 07:32:36 |
In the hope of perhaps making a somewhat cheaper purchase of crampons, ice axe, trekking poles, I made a purchase in the mentioned store. The transfer had to be made abroad via bank, which I did already on 4.1.2012. A few days ago I was surprised by a message from Pošta Slovenije that I need to send the invoice to the customs post office so that customs clearance can be done. That's how I found out that the initially favorable purchase will turn into an expensive one  . And also, the invoice had the store's address in the UK, so I naively expected no customs duty. Of course the package came from the USA and is currently at customs.
I was very naive in the purchase, with this post I want to warn someone else so they don't get burned like I did. I haven't received the package at home yet, but I'll write how it is when I get it.
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| Nanook21. 01. 2012 09:09:05 |
One really needs to be careful with online purchases. This store states that they ship outside the EU (sender is outside EU) and that the buyer may have to pay customs duty and/or VAT. CLICK
It's worth reading this too CLICK.
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| GregorC21. 01. 2012 09:32:54 |
You need to check from which country the store ships. There are not a few cases where the store is in the EU, but ships directly from a warehouse, usually somewhere in Asia or USA. It also depends on the size and value of the package.
Roughly like this for orders from outside EU:
For the package you will pay VAT 20% (from the value of the package and postage), if the value exceeds 22€. If the value is over 150€, you also pay Customs duty, depending on the tariff class into which the package contents fall (usually 4.5%). In addition to the mentioned duties, customs always charges their own costs (customs clearance and their postage). That amounts to about 6€. When the package arrives in SLO, the customs post takes it and sends you a letter that you must forward them the link to the product in the online store where you bought it. Based on that they then clear customs. That's the theory.
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| Flora121. 01. 2012 11:37:45 |
Hi. We who are into cycling have experience with this and it's really necessary to read all the fine print and terms. Forum on bicikel.com.
For Europe though I have good experiences for mountaineering with bergfuchs.at and globetrotter.de. I've ordered from there and delivery is fast and of course no customs. But the prices on your website are great, that's true, and the offer is super too.
How much snow fell yesterday?
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| kop3221. 01. 2012 18:03:09 |
Is ski touring possible somewhere?
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| lynx21. 01. 2012 21:38:54 |
at quite a few places, but conditions are poor. But this is all off-topic.
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| Lisica22. 01. 2012 08:16:07 |
If I'm not mistaken, they first charge you our 20% VAT and then customs duty (for some products there is none). They calculate VAT also on postage, that's why I always order only from EU stores -mostly English ones and amazon.co.uk or amazon.de.
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| Nanook22. 01. 2012 08:52:55 |
On amazon.co.uk you also pay VAT, but no customs duty.
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| rantlo22. 01. 2012 09:24:34 |
According to my quick calculation, the Grivel G12 crampons will cost me about 111.31 EUR, carbon ice axe Air tech Carbon Grivel ice axes (66 cm) 166.99 EUR, Himalaya poles Grivel trekking poles 117.50 EUR.
These prices include customs and duties.
Profit will be minimal (if I get in the package what I ordered), otherwise I'd rather buy things in SLO stores.
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| rjudnic22. 01. 2012 15:11:47 |
on amazon.de you don't pay either tax or customs. I bought a package of WMF products (cookware+utensils) for 600€ and didn't pay anything extra. I also got spare parts for the bike and a bike computer and there was nothing extra to pay.
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| Nanook22. 01. 2012 15:16:04 |
That's because amazon already charges you for it.
CLICK and "In accordance with the laws governing members of the European Union, Amazon.de is obliged to charge VAT (Umsatzsteuer) on all orders delivered to destinations in member countries of the EU."CLICK.
We also never paid extra VAT on orders from co.uk, because amazon always charges it upfront depending on where it ships.
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| bostjanp22. 01. 2012 19:15:00 |
In online shops in England you have to be very careful where they ship from. Often it's Thailand and then they fleece you at our customs post for import duties. On amazon you pay the tax anyway, as Nanook says. I've already been burned twice like that and paid customs postage, since then I always check where they ship from. You have to be careful, even if the prices are very tempting.
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| Žiga2222. 01. 2012 20:33:38 |
When shopping online it's good to watch out for a few things:
1.) Never, ever buy or pay by direct transfer to some account. The safest and most secure is payment via PayPal service (in case the seller rips you off you get the full purchase price refunded e.g.) or via credit cards.
2.) When ordering from USA expect the price listed on the website to double (because they already have some export duties, plus customs, postage, etc.).
3.) Read about the return policy for purchased goods.
4.) Buy from verified online retailers (like Amazon).
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| Zebdi22. 01. 2012 20:37:40 |
You can also get some useful stuff on ebay.de quite often. Watch the seller's rating and the option to pay with paypal. So far no problems, and the goods arrived in a few days.
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| tomiš22. 01. 2012 21:33:04 |
Rantlo, with crampons you'll save 4 euros, I got them here for 115 euros... 
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| rantlo24. 01. 2012 17:46:20 |
Reporting on my naivety. I paid duties and customs. When I opened the package, I found semi-automatic crampons instead of automatic, too short poles that are one grade cheaper than the ones I paid for, and a worse ice axe than the one I paid for. I contacted the European consumer center and filed a complaint. So dear consumers, stay away from such a shop that doesn't even reply to my emails, better buy in SLO.
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| Flora124. 01. 2012 18:33:22 |
Oh, rantlo, I sympathize with you . Did you try calling them up there?
In SLO sometimes there's not the biggest selection.
These haven't ripped me off yet:
globetrotter.de
bergfuchs.at
or else I go to Klagenfurt to Gigasport, also fine. Tell me how it turned out.
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| rantlo24. 01. 2012 19:44:20 |
Thanks Flora1, I contacted epc, also sent a follow-up email to the shop with photos clearly showing it's products I didn't order.
In the shop's terms it says this:
http://www.mountainblack.com/epages/253003.sf/en_IE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/253003/Categories/CustomerInformation
I don't know English well, but I know I have the right to return the package if I'm not satisfied with it. I'll risk it and do that too. And I was so looking forward to the gear and the mountains. I'll wait a bit till February, hope for some sale and buy the ice axe and crampons there. On Monday I'm going to mountaineering school for training and later practical exercises.
Thanks again Flora1 .
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| rantlo24. 01. 2012 19:48:34 |
Regarding duties, one more thing. Customs is 2.70 %, on the mentioned amount VAT of 20 % is also calculated. If the base price is 375.18 EUR, customs is 10.13 EUR. So we get to 385.31 EUR + 20 % VAT, which totals 462.37 EUR.
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