Blockley trouble

[Oldav8tor]

No good deed goes unpunished...... I recently helped a friend order a set of four Blockley Clinchers and four tubes. To keep the order under $800 US I intentionally waited a couple of days after I received notice the tires had shipped to order the tubes. Somehow the orders got combined and I just received notice that they are being held in Louisville, KY because I didn't provide a HS-7 Form (Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle equipment Subject to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety, Bumper and Theft Prevention Standards). I don't have some of the info they ask for and none of the selections you can check seem to fit. I called UPS and an international broker is supposed to call me tomorrow but I don't have high hopes.

Has anyone run into this and if so, can you give me any advice? I'll need tires myself in another year but I don't want to go thru this again if it can be avoided.

I forgot to add, after two days they'll start charging $25/day for storage..... sheeez

[Kevin Pharis]

Check out this discussion…

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21319&p=167254&hili ... ey#p167254

[Steve Jelf]

I plan to order front and rear tyres a month apart
1 so they won't all be on the same credit card bill, and
2 so each order will be way under the import tax threshold.
We'll see how that works out.

[DHort]

I wonder if it is easier to order them through Canada and pick them up there? Anyone try that yet?

[Oldav8tor]

Update: When I replied to the email from UPS about the tires and tubes being held because of a missing HS-7 form I had a bunch of questions. I emailed UPS back last night and early this morning got a helpful reply from a nice woman named Christina. She showed me what I needed to fill out (the form could be completed online) which I did and digitally signed. A little over an hour later I got another email that the tires had cleared customs and should be delivered tomorrow, Friday February 24th. No mention of any fees. I'll let you know if that's how it works out.

I've attached a picture of the part of the form I filled out - she completed the rest of the top as I had no way of knowing that info. I also completed and digitally signed the section for Importer and Declarant on the bottom of the form.

In my panic the night before I also emailed Blockley. They responded:

"Every shipment we send to the US requires this... "Please find a copy of the filled out HS7 form attached. I have filled in the required amount, so please ignore the empty boxes."

He didn't come out and say they forgot to send it with the tires but I would suggest anytime you order from overseas you should ask if they've included a HS-7 form. I have a copy of one that can be filled in online if anyone wants it.
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UPDATE!!!! Just got word from UPS that fees in the amount of $13.50 per tire are due. More than half of that is a brokerage fee, the rest a customs fee. If I later order Blockley tires, I will wait until the first order arrives before ordering the second, keeping each well below $800. Maybe then I can avoid the extra expense and hassle. When I ordered tubes awhile back they just arrived like any other package.

[Scott_Conger]

Great follow-up, Tim, and glad that helpful folks got you pointed in the right direction.

I think this information will be useful for folks in the future

[Steve Jelf]

That confirms my plan of ordering in stages. I'll wait until the first order arrives before I place the second one.

[mbowen]

That confirms my plan of ordering in stages. I'll wait until the first order arrives before I place the second one.

Same here. My order of two tires and two tubes were on my front porch quicker than many domestic orders, and no customs hassles whatsoever.

[mike catlin]

Tim I thank you for your time and trouble.

[Don ellis]

It cost me 75$ to get five tires and tubes through customs

[TRDxB2]

It may not make a difference but it would appear that the Declaration was filled out in error or to confuse.
I'd suggest binging this up with Blockley - clearly "the equipment item" was not manufactured on 07/10/1923. If this gets challenged by customs, who's going to pay the fine?

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For the tires (tubes have another code) I believe this is the proper HTS code, but I would really like to see the bill that lays out the duty and import fees

[Oldav8tor]

Frank,
That was my take but the specialist sent me an email indicating to fill the form out that way. Shortly after I sent the HS-7 I filled out to UPS I received one from Blockley in response to my email request. I sent Blockley's form on to UPS and I think they may have used it. I've attached a copy of what Blockley sent.

Summary
•I ordered four 30 x 3.5 inch tires on Feb 10, waited until I received notice they had shipped and then ordered four tubes on Feb 14. You request a quote using Blockley's website then place your order using paypal if the quote is satisfactory. I tried to order the tires and tubes separately, days apart, to avoid exceeding a single day order of $800....didn't work. Next time I'll wait until the first order is in my garage before ordering the second.
•I received notice from UPS on Feb 22 that the tires AND tubes were being held at customs due to a missing HS-7 Form. UPS helped me complete the form and Blockley also sent one after I emailed them. I don't know how the orders ended up combined.... I was trying to keep each order below $800.
•UPS quickly got the tires and tubes cleared and I received notice they were back on the way on Feb 23.
•Later in the day on Feb 23 I received notice that additional brokerage and customs fees were due, to the tune of $13.50 per item. I paid them by credit card.
•Tires and tubes arrived without any additional drama in the late afternoon of Feb 24. 14 days from order to delivery, even with the hassle.

HS7 Form.pdf

(993.38 KiB) Downloaded 52 times

[DHort]

Tim

Do you mind if we ask you the complete itemized price? Thank you.

[TRDxB2]

This is what I'm looking for so we can understand how the import fees are being calculated.

In my case these documents were improperly filled out and I paid more than I should have.
I ordered the seats from a company in the UK thinking that's where they were made, only to find out they were made in China because it was printed aid that on the shipping box. Wonder if they used a different box if it would have been overlooked.
Anyway - I ordered these seats for their extra thigh support for a speedster
The Commercial Invoice stated a non existent currency code UKL instead of USD. Then FedEx assumed it was GBP when filling out the Import Declaration it took me a full year for FedEx to understand their error and refund me the difference. I was told that the $800 de minimis threshold didn't apply because the Country of Origin was China. Not sure if that was true but the person who finally got me my refund seemed to know what was correct. Doesn't matter and no further discussion need on it. Just need to understand Blockley Imports

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Seats slide forward & back & tilt forward to access stuff behind the seat

s-l225.jpg (11.02 KiB) Viewed 3275 times

[mike catlin]

Tires and tubes were shipped to my door for around 1,340 includes all shipping and import fees

[Kevin Pharis]

I was right around $1400 for 4 30x3-1/2” tires and tubes bout 2 years ago. The GBP has fallen a bit since then but the shipping has doubled to bring our price right back to the same point. I have been watching the numbers lately as I intend to order a set of 21’s for the speedster next…

[TRDxB2]

I am looking for an itemized list of charges not just a Total, that appears on the Customs' Entry Summary (or similar).
The Duty fee would be based on the the currency noted on that document. So when you buy it from Blockley you use US funds which get converted to to pay the GBP price as expected (here our credit card company may charge you a fee). But what the question is what currency is being shown as the purchase price on the Customs Document and is another conversion done at that time (using the current day conversion rate) . All this would explain some differences in what it will cost. Tires and tubes have different duty fees if they are used (when the 800 USD limit is exceeded)

[Oldav8tor]

This is what I received from Blockley (Pounds converted to USD):

Tubes $41.81 x 4 = $167.24 Shipping = $ 35.84 Total $203.08

Tires $178 x 4 = $712 Shipping = $293.88 Total $ 1005.88

After the shipment arrived in the US we had to pay $13.49 for each tire and $13.50 for the tubes as brokerage / customs fees. We might have avoided this if the shipments hadn't been combined.

If you're trying to keep the order below the $800 threshold, the shipping costs are not included in determining the total. You should also know that the exchange between dollars and pounds changes daily. PayPal automatically calculates the exchange and charges your account in USD. I believe the documents submitted with the shipments were in pounds.

Note: If you do the math, a Blockley tire with shipping is approx. $252. I see in the catalog that a Universal T driver before shipping is $225. In the end, not much difference.

[Steve Jelf]

While the exchange rate fluctuates daily, it's usually a small change. The last time I looked, the rate was $1.21 = £1. At that rate a £149 tyre was $180.29 USD, a few dollars less than Wards Riversides.

[OilyBill]

This was a VERY informative and interesting discussion! Thanks to TIM, and everyone who contributed information on ordering tires from Blockley!