Buying tyres from abroad

[Vracktal]

Okay, so I needed a new rear tyre for the KLE, so I decided to check ebay just to get an idea of prices, and found two. One is in the UK, the other is in Germany

Both are brand new
Both would arrive within a few days of each other if I ordered them today


The cheapest one in the UK is £78.00 + £6.95 P&P Total £84.95
The cheapest one in Germany is £67.85 + £5.58 P&P Total £73.43


Why the fack is it cheaper to import a tyre all the way from germany than to buy one here? There's no import tax within the EU so as far as I can tell it's a genuine win.
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[henry hoover]

For the sake of a tenner I would be inclined to just buy the uk one.
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[-Matt-]

[Vracktal]

It's not that I mind paying the extra tenner, I'm probably going to buy thr tyre from a shop as opposed to ebay altogether, I'm just confused as to *why* it's cheaper?

I mean, logically surely it should be cheaper to ship something from Dartford to Guildford than from Germany to Guildford??

And more to the point, why does an identical product cost £10 more across the board here compared to Germany?
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[-Matt-]

Is the seller perhaps german based with UK distribution centres or something

Maybe larger european company so cheaper costs or something

I've actually got all my tyres to date online, always found it to be cheaper, although if you're getting someone to fit them maybe they'll throw in fitting and make it cheaper overall i guess

[Pigeon]

I bought my tyres from Germany for the same reason. The tyres were made in Brazil (I think) but where 25% cheaper from Germany than here.

moto-tyres.co.uk is the company, but their web address is actually:
https://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl

£33.40 for Metzeler ME22 which are typically circa £45 in the UK. Plus they did the correct size inner tubes also, which is why I ordered it all from them.

One reason, beyond rip-off Blighty, could be how stuff is shipped. I vaguely remember reading that a lot of imports get offloaded at Rotterdam initially and then shipped on. So you think it went Brazil-->England. But it didn't, it went to Rotterdam first.

[-Matt-]

Complex Made in brazil, shipped from germany, website in poland

But hey, if they work and are cheaper why not

[mudcow007]

[Rogerborg]

Think East Germany. I bought a tyre from the Bosch, it came tracked through every town on the way and arrived within 48 hours, no problems.

Rule Britannia, have a sausage and all that, but a free market driving down prices is the only real point of the United States of Europe, so I feel few qualms about it.
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[johnsmith222]

I get my tyres from oponeo which are polish. The tyres come rapidly from poland. Like within 2 days or something silly.

[Shinigami]

I got my city fly tyres from poland, arrived quick and no issues, was by far the cheapest source at the time

Pirelli MT60's
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