Importing a Santa Cruz

[mickeytg]

Living in Victoria there only seems to be two shops that sell Santa Cruz bikes based on what I can find. Across the country there are a few others but the pricing is ridiculous compared to buying a new one if you lived in the US or UK. Has anyone experienced importing a full bike and how did you go? Obviously adding the duty/gst is an added cost then shipping but it still seems cheaper than getting a local to help. A Santa Cruz stockist in Melbourne quoted me just over 5k for an R build alloy. They are around $3500 in the US.......thoughts?

 

[Ivan]

Shipping and GST is going to pump up that USA price a fair bit. That's assuming you've already accounted for the exchange rate.

 

[HimynameisMike]

also to consider in the price - would your warranty still be valid? I have no idea as I've never bought a bike from overseas. Obviously with a lot of new bikes part of the appeal is that you get a warranty with the purchase. Would the US/UK sellers be able to provide you with warranty support once you receive the bike or would you be on your own?

 

[mickeytg]

Shipping and GST is going to pump up that USA price a fair bit. That's assuming you've already accounted for the exchange rate.

It still seems to be about a $1000 cheaper that what I've been offered at this stage.

 

[blacksp20]

It still seems to be about a $1000 cheaper that what I've been offered at this stage.

Really?!? US$3500 = A$4118 at today's exchange rate. You still have to add shipping onto that price and then 10% GST onto the total price of the bike including the shipping.

I really think the $200-$500 saving would be more than outweighed by a local warranty if the frame ever had any issues.

 

[stoo]

A Santa Cruz stockist in Melbourne quoted me just over 5k for an R build alloy. They are around $3500 in the US.......thoughts?

Which bike are we talking about?
I bought two SC frames from the US, one taken back on a plane for $0.00 and the other posted ( with inverted swingarm ) for $75, easy.
Have you considered buying a frame only since the rest of the build is cheap and easy to sort here?
I bought my latest SC Heckler locally, the local shop and distributor were good to deal with and I have a 5Y warranty.

 

[Wellsey]

Do you actually have a fully inclusive quote from a dealer over there? Or are you just doing your own sums at the moment?

 

[eastie]

It's not just sc, look at buying an ibis, rocky mountain, .... in the states compared to here. Import yourself = export yourself if you need warranty support. Having had the discussion previously with the importer, SC set the pricing, it might suck being more expensive but it covers them on packing and transporting frames + stuff like the inevitable cost shipping warranty jobs. That's how industry works, not just SC. From my perspective I've bought local, purchased OS when OS and also purchased online and imported a frame. For the later use DHL to minimize the risk of additional $'s. On any carbon high end sc frame I would buy local every time as the liftetime frame replacement without the hassle of os shipping is worth it to me. Whether it's worth it in your position is up to you.
One final note - I don't think the SC packages are that great value compared to a frame option over here.

 

[mickeytg]

Do you actually have a fully inclusive quote from a dealer over there? Or are you just doing your own sums at the moment?

I know a guy in San Fran who I have been in contact with who can help me out. All comments here have been great for my knowledge so appreciate it.

 

[mickeytg]

It's not just sc, look at buying an ibis, rocky mountain, .... in the states compared to here. Import yourself = export yourself if you need warranty support. Having had the discussion previously with the importer, SC set the pricing, it might suck being more expensive but it covers them on packing and transporting frames + stuff like the inevitable cost shipping warranty jobs. That's how industry works, not just SC. From my perspective I've bought local, purchased OS when OS and also purchased online and imported a frame. For the later use DHL to minimize the risk of additional $'s. On any carbon high end sc frame I would buy local every time as the liftetime frame replacement without the hassle of os shipping is worth it to me. Whether it's worth it in your position is up to you.
One final note - I don't think the SC packages are that great value compared to a frame option over here.

Good call!

 

[mickeytg]

Which bike are we talking about?
I bought two SC frames from the US, one taken back on a plane for $0.00 and the other posted ( with inverted swingarm ) for $75, easy.
Have you considered buying a frame only since the rest of the build is cheap and easy to sort here?
I bought my latest SC Heckler locally, the local shop and distributor were good to deal with and I have a 5Y warranty.

I'm looking at the Bronson. Should have picked the bastard up when I was over there recently......I'm an idiot.

 

[eastie]

Generally dealers wont generally post os on them, I have a mate with a bike shop in butt fuck nowheresville Nevada and I wouldn't put the risk on him to ship direct to me - they have too much at risk so factor in shipito or similar forwarding. Bought a bronson off him when I was there a couple of months ago, complete build was not a lot different to a frame only here.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

Looked at doing this a while back for a new Nomad, this was pretty much my conclusion.

US price 3k
Au price 4.1k

Currency exchange add 15% based off current rates = +450
Add GST = +300
Add 5% tax import fee = +150
Freight forwarding service = +200

Cost to import frame ending up being 4.1, that when I decided to buy local.

Your circumstances and sums may be different, but it certainly wasn't going to work out in my favour at the time.

A mate got a SCB warranty done a few months ago, he bought from the US, they replaced frame, he paided for shipping, they were quite good to deal with and had no issues with international warranty as he could show his US receipt.

 

[eastie]

they must've eased up on it - good to know. I have a frame in for replacement at the moment. Anyone know what beer he likes? I think i owe him a slab.

 

[Gripo]

Try a dealer in another state....ie. ForTheRiders in Brisbane, Oz's biggest SC dealer....

Tim or Liam are the guys to talk to....

Would do the US import deal...only if you were going there on hols and bring one bsck.

 

[slippy]

I don't think the SC packages are that great value compared to a frame option over here.

Or frame and fork if you need it. Get your bike shop to communicate with Neezy (the distributor) and come up with an individual parts package. It may not work out that expensive, especially if you're happy to keep your options open a bit.

 

[pharmaboy]

Yes, done it. Works and is worthwhile when you get a closeout deal in the US. Not so much on std pricing for current model.

You can circumnavigate GST and duty with a little skill. SC bikes are difficult to take apart, I made this mistake. You need them to be taken apart by a shop before it been sent to a freight forwarder.

You still have warranty, but it will cost you a bit. Just made a warranty claim on another bike, and it's costing me circa $500 - I can live with that, I could have made it cheaper if I tried harder, but I just stumped up and paid freight on a massive frame box to be shipped

Ps - this applies to frame only - whole bikes aren't worth it - you can buy all the parts very competitively

 

[Beej1]

I did the sums several years ago now when the Aussie dollar was up close to parity. Still went with local for a few reasons ... mainly since it was frame only (I'm not into buying whole bikes) therrefore cheaper therefore closer in price to US, and TBSM had a sale on all stock. Went to a few local shops who all tried getting a better deal, but none could match TBSM at the time.

As it turns out I haven't had any warranty issues other than developing a tniy bit of play in one end of the main pivot link, and TBSM honoured the lifetime bearing warranty no probs.

Good luck with what you end up deciding mickeytg.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

[mickeytg]

Thanks for all the comments. Gives me some options to think about.

 

[JTmofo]

Summit Cycles in Sydney has nearly all SC frames in all sizes in stock. New shop hoping to break into the sydney mtb market so they're eager to please.

They also sell Yeti, Niner, Gtand DeVinci.....