slee off road and international postage

[callum]

thankfully its not a bumper i'm after, just a speedo correction gear for an 80 following a change of tyre size.

anyone had anything wee posted by them? as i understand from reading, they are a bit shit at posting internationally, but i presume something that would fit in a jiffy bag shouldn't be too taxing.

thanks

callum

 

[Paul]

I seem to remember its more of a tax issue than a shipping issue, didn't someone have a "registered address" thing on the go?

 

[Brett]

I've ordered from them before. Got everything ok but it's a bit of a rigmarole.

I can vaguely remember having to fill out a paper order form & faxing it. I don't think they like emails for some reason?

 

[callum]

thanks folks. was going to contact them on monday, but was just keen to see what other's experiences were like.

 

[warrenpfo]

I enquired about a rear bumper and was quoted $550AUD to air freight it to Heathrow which I thought was not too bad.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I enquired about a rear bumper and was quoted $550AUD to air freight it to Heathrow which I thought was not too bad.

Don't forget to add the customs clearing agent fee, import duty and VAT to that before they'll let you take it away

 

[warrenpfo]

Jon

Thats the reason i never went for it

 

[Ian Rubie]

Don't forget to add the customs clearing agent fee, import duty and VAT to that before they'll let you take it away

To add to what Jon has said, HMRC charge VAT on the item as well as the courier charge!

Ian

 

[callum]

well i finally got round to contacting slee about getting a speedo gear, so thought i'd post the response i received, for folk thinking of ordering from the UK.
I was trying to order one of these, a small gear, maybe weights 10g.

Parts - $39.00
Shipping - $17.00
International Card Surcharge is $3.00

TOTAL - $59

Please complete the attached documents and return by fax or email if you wish to proceed with the order.

Shipping will be with US Postal Service Priority mail, however for packages shipped with US Postal Service we do not accept liability for loss or damage.

We have had really bad luck trying to get claims resolved with the US Postal Service. In some cases we never received any compensation for lost packages. If you still choose to ship with US Postal Service, we will provide you with the date and time it was mailed and any tracking numbers we receive from the Post Office. However we cannot help with any tracking of packages sent via the Postal Service.

their order form requires sending a copy (both sides) of your credit card and drivers license and faxing it over.

I think i can conclude that slee are not really interested in international orders or just not familiar with paypal. I think i'll just put up with my speedo being a bit off for now.

 

[Gary Stockton]

Have a look at bundlebox.com which gives you a US postal address (mine is in Indiana ) and then do an IBAN pmt to Slee for delivery to your bundlebox address. Works well ...

Cheers

 

[Gav Peter]

Hey Callum, could you let me know if you do order one of these; I may be in the market for one as well...

Vice versa, if I go for it, I'll drop you a line.

Any one else fancy one???

 

[Rodger]

The 'registered address' thing is how I reduce my carriage costs from the States. I use Borderlinx. One-off registration fee of £5 and my address is in New York State. Doesn't stop import duties, vat, clearing fees etc but does reduce your carriage costs.

Quite a few American companies don't want to send stuff overseas - so as a result the carriage costs are excessive. I was quoted nearly $500 dollars carriage on £260 worth of kit by Cool Cruisers but I eventually did it for $23 Stateside carriage and £80 including all vat, import fees, carriage and clearance charges via Borderlinx. Big Difference!

Probably works for other countries as well, although I haven't asked - yet as Borderlinx is part of DHL.

Hope that helps

Regards,

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

You can correct yours electronicly Gav, only the early 80's had a cable driven speedo that needs a gear change.

 

[Gav Peter]

Cool - why didn't we do that last night???

What is involved in doing this then Jon?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

What is involved in doing this then Jon?

Buy (or photo copy someone else's ) September 2008 issue of Everyday Practical Electronics and build the electronic speedo corrector project There are commercial offerings but I think they're a bit expensive. Saying that $59 is not very much for a gear you should be able to fit and forget.

 

[Gav Peter]

Okay, this looks like a bit of fun - I have manged to download that magazine & reckon I'm going to have a punt at this, what with all the spare time I have...

The card is £6.43 plus P&P from the magazine's site; I'll call into Maplins on the way home to see what else is available there. Cool!!!

Hay Callum, what age is your truck? Will this work on yours??

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

They work well Gav, I have one on my truck and Toby bought the other one I made but I don't know if he ever got round to fitting it. I will already have most if not all of the parts except the PCB, I'll have a look in a bit.

 

[Gav Peter]

I vaguely remember building pcb's back in school daze & enjoying it - I have been having a practice recently on some wiring for my inverter installation so this will be a fun project!!! If you have some parts going spare, that would be great Jon. Their list is fairly comprehensive - are they all standard parts, even down to the chip(s)? I have no idea how much these things cost...

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

It's pretty easy to put together Gav with a little care. The diagrams and pictures in the magazine article mean you can for example see which way round the transistors need to go without needing to know any more about them. A fine tipped soldering iron will make life easier although it's not a densely packed board so not essential. The pic chips are bought blank and then you burn the program onto them with a programmer (I think somewhere sells pre-programmed chips ...). I've had a look in my bits box's and I'm almost out of 10k resistors and 2.5mm jumper headers but have everything else and I could program the chip for you I've no idea how much the bits are individually, I top them up in bulk when I run low otherwise it can get expensive buying small quantities from Maplin. Perhaps you should pm me about that as we're a bit OT now

 

[Gav Peter]

Willdo.

Here y'are Callum, you can have your thread back now dude... Thanks for the lend of it