Lutalo Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Hey guys, my son will be leaving the USA's Capitol City and going to live in France's Capitol City for 6 months to attend the Paris School of Business very soon; January. I am thinking that I want to ship to him the 18L so that he will have non-public transportation and a cool way to take-in the entire city. It seemed like a good idea at first, but I have some reservations. I have heard from reliable sources that French customs is strict on some items; mainly new electronics coming into the country. I have heard some horror stories about them detaining electronics at customs that then disappear off the map. It has been suggested to me that the trick is to ship it as a used personal item - which it is. Has anyone on the forum done this? Does anyone have any suggestions about how I might get the 18L to my son in France without issue? Is it better to rent an EUC in Paris, or will that be too expensive? Are EUC rentals even available in Paris? I am exploring options, but he is leaving DC in a months time so I sort of need to establish a real plan rather quickly. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, recommendations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hansolo Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 For a particular it is complicated and very expensive to send an item containing batteries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lutalo Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 5 hours ago, Hansolo said: For a particular it is complicated and very expensive to send an item containing batteries That is also what I have heard. I have checked the shipping rates. The "expense" part doesn't concern me quite as much as the "complicated" part. If I could get around that then I am likely to go forward with shipping it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Considering the large number of riders in Paris, I wonder if there might be a good second hand EUC to be had from someone upgrading to the KS18XL? There must be a French Craigslist or something like that I take it? He could sell it later on when he moves back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lutalo Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 12 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said: Considering the large number of riders in Paris, I wonder if there might be a good second hand EUC to be had from someone upgrading to the KS18XL? There must be a French Craigslist or something like that I take it? He could sell it later on when he moves back. That's a good option as well that I was also considering. Although, I was slightly concerned about being able to offload it quickly enough it when he returned stateside. It might be easier to ship a wheel from France to the US should he decide to keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lutalo Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 I learned that a personal item owned for at least 6 months can be shipped without paying the 20% VAT. If I ship it as a personal item, include the purchase receipt, declare it early through Fedex. I purchased the 18L in Late June, or early July. Since my son leaves mid-January, the wheel meets the six month rule as a personal item; barely though. Receipts, serial numbers, declaration docs all seem relatively painless if I ship through Fedex. I will do more research and update. Even if I end up having to pay the 20% VAT I can come out pretty good because France considers depreciation in the calculation of VAT on a personal item. So, using the straight depreciation formula: total cost/useful product life I get a pretty good rate. I got a 1st batch 18L for the intro price of about $1,500. If I set the useful life at 5 years then I can knock off $300 per year using straight depreciation. That means that at 6 months old the wheel's depreciation is 1500 - 150 = 1350. That means French VAT would be $270 plus shipping cost. I got a quote from FedEx last week for $235 and a transit time of about ten days. Assuming that quote stands and I have to pay VAT I am looking at about $505 US dollars. I am not sure, but I think that they take the exchange rate into account. If that the case, I come out even better because right now the Euro to dollar rate is .88 to 1 USD. That means that $270 USD represents an actual VAT cost to me of approximately $238. Thus, worst case scenario (in terms of shipping cost) is $473 to ship the 18L to my son in France. Best case scenario is about $460 round trip for shipping minus VAT obligation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magyar Bullbyzar Prod Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 You can't get with you in plane electric system that contains battery with lithium-ion. This liquid is also contain in some small electronic products like smartphone, but about wheels, battery are too large and no company will accept that type of product. Here is an french article about that : https://gyropodus.fr/lithium-avion-reglementation/ Notice that you can get out the battery and your son will only have to buy a new battery in France, not the entire wheel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lutalo Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 5 hours ago, Magyar Bullbyzar Prod said: You can't get with you in plane electric system that contains battery with lithium-ion. This liquid is also contain in some small electronic products like smartphone, but about wheels, battery are too large and no company will accept that type of product. Here is an french article about that : https://gyropodus.fr/lithium-avion-reglementation/ Notice that you can get out the battery and your son will only have to buy a new battery in France, not the entire wheel... Thanks for the article. It is True. He can't carry the wheel into the plane, but we can ship it as freight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mono Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 On 12/10/2018 at 10:17 PM, Lutalo said: The "expense" part doesn't concern me quite as much as the "complicated" part. Why bother shipping then? There are several shops in Paris you can walk in and buy (pretty much) any wheel as you desire right on the spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.