Buying wheels from German eBay

[pupsi]

Has anyone on the forum done it?
Seen the wheels i want and now nothing else will do!
Unfortunately, they are rare and expensive here in the UK but in Germany they seem to pop up quite often.
Only problem ive seen so far is that hardly anyone accepts paypal so itll have to be a bank transfer and also they have good feedback so is there anything to worry about?

 

[Rob77]

Well, an ebay purchase always comes with some element of "worry". In what sense would you be worried though? If you're happy with a price and can stand the delivery charge and the hassle of a bank transfer, why not?

Same as any ebay buy really. If the seller has good feedback and you've asked all the right questions then go for it ...


Edit: I haven't actually bought wheels from Germany but I've bought computer parts from there and I've bought headphones from Chatanooga and things from Japan and on and on ...

 

[BonzoDog]

I bought some for my old Saab. It's no different from buying from ebay anywhere else. Shipping could cost a penny or two though.

 

[television]

Shipping can be expensive if you do not have a contract with a carrier. mytyres.co only have an office here in the UK, and all of the tyres come from Germany

 

[bolide]

Unlike many UK sellers, all the German eBay sellers I have dealt with have been uniformly excellent - good communication, honest & straightforward. The carrier they all seem to use is efficient as well

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[neilrr]

Unlike many UK sellers, all the German eBay sellers I have dealt with have been uniformly excellent - good communication, honest & straightforward. The carrier they all seem to use is efficient as well

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

I agree. I've bought things costing several hundred pounds & all the sellers have been perfect: "uniformly excellent - good communication, honest & straightforward" is my experience as well.

 

[Dieselman]

I agree with bolide and neilrr. I've purchased parts from ebay.de sellers and they are a lot mor honest than UK sellers and the carriage is cheaper than UK carriage.

German sellers virtually never take PP, it's always bank transfer but the system works well.

 

[TonyVianoAmbiente]

I agree with bolide and neilrr. I've purchased parts from ebay.de sellers and they are a lot mor honest than UK sellers and the carriage is cheaper than UK carriage.

German sellers virtually never take PP, it's always bank transfer but the system works well.

Here's another satisfied customer of German eBay sellers. With one exception, I have found them excellent and very trustworthy. Whereas I have been ripped off quite a few times by British sellers.

Ask your bank how much a transfer costs. You will need to give your bank two strings of letters and numbers called the IBAN and BIC which define the bank and the customer's account. They are the equivalent of the sort code and account number but are much longer, with letters too. It is important to get these precisely right.

HSBC charges me £21 for a transfer. Other banks tend to be cheaper. Nationwide B.S. charges £12.

On the question of carriage, it generally costs about half to send something from Germany to the UK compared with UK to Germany. All the carriers I have used performed very well.

 

[BTB 500]

Yup I bought my AMG rear box on eBay Germany, no problems.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Yup I bought my AMG rear box on eBay Germany, no problems.

Me too, my AMG exhaust system & bodykit were all sourced from German ebay too

 

[pupsi]

cheers for the confidence fellas, have now enquired on a few sets, will just have to wait and see!

 

[bolide]

There's an easy system of sending money to Germany. Bizarre as it may seem, you put cash in an envelope and post it. There's a specific Royal Mail scheme to insure it in transit and for small transactions it's about £4 to post about 60 Euros

I normally send the nearest amount in notes over the final bid. On a few occasions I've received a couple of Euro coins change taped to a piece of card. I do wish UK eBayers were as honest!

A few more German eBayers are starting to take PayPal now. A couple of years ago none of them did

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[BonzoDog]

A few more German eBayers are starting to take PayPal now. A couple of years ago none of them did

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

That's true and it is a lot easier with PayPal.
Most of them though ask for Uberweissung which is payment intoo their account. This is the standard way in Germany as cheques hardly exist and credit cards are still not that popular. Payment is extremely quick using IBAN's to pay by Uberweisssung.
Excuse me if I explain something that may be as obvious as bread and butter. But IBAN is the extened account code, used across Europe that uniquely identifies country, bank and specific account. Using this, payment is quick and usually the most acceptable form for German sellers.

 

[BTB 500]

IBAN is the extened account code, used across Europe that uniquely identifies country, bank and specific account.

You need to give both BIC and IBAN to make a transfer though.

 

[BonzoDog]

You need to give both BIC and IBAN to make a transfer though.

Yes, thanks.

 

[smartbrabus]

Bought a set of Brabus wheels from a german Ebay seller - saved a lot of money and was a smooth transaction. I'd definitely recommend it.

 

[Dee-124CAB]

Might seem like a really nieve & silly question, but is any VAT payable due to bringing goods into the UK?

....I ask as i was sent a VAT bill by DHL once when shipping a few odds & sods over from Asia via them.

Value of goods did not exceed a couple of hundred pounds, but the bill came a good few weeks after goods had arrived.

 

[pupsi]

nope, as its in Europe!

 

[smillion]

I might be wrong, but I thought that if you were buying new wheels from a trader in Germany they would have to charge you German VAT unless you have your own GB VAT number, with which you can quote and which they are obliged to record on the invoice? Might be worth double checking (unless of course you are able to give them your VAT number)

 

[Mudster]

Smillion is correct, source country VAT will be applied unless you can provide a valid EU vat number. You'll not get any nasty import duty or vat bills for anything bought in an EU country and shipped to another EU country.