Prices have gone crazy for bare hubs + shipping + VAT - anyone know a good source?

[jonathan75]

Hi all,

Had my fair share of orders over the years from the usual firms in HK & CN, just not seeing bargains these days, prices have gone crazy. The 'poverty entry point' of £65 all in for a random motor hub to spoke up onesself has disappeared. Have others found this too? Any tips for cheap sources?

Thanks, Jonathan

 

[AndyBike]

Not just hubs. Disc brake pads are now at a ridiculous price.
Needed a pair of Shimano Saint. Price - £25

TWENTY FIVE POUNDS !!

Now there is taking the wee and there is taking the wee. And Shimano are clearly doing it. Hope disc pads are made by the same company who make Trickstuff pads and cost £15.

 

[Plas man]

For prices try model railway locomotives

 

[Raboa]

Try Uber brake pads, might be cheaper for disk pads.

Shimano Disc Brake Pads

Our range of Uberbike replacement Shimano compatible disc brake pads is offered in 5 different compound types - Semi Metallic, Kevlar, Sintered, Race-Matrix, and E-Matrix to suit every riding style and bike type from commuters to Ebikes.

www.uberbikecomponents.com

They also do ebike specific models, I have never used this version.

E-Bike-Endurance Disc Brake Pads

Built upon the foundation of our highly acclaimed Race Matrix compound, the Uberbike E-Matrix compound takes endurance, power, and pad life to extraordinary levels with this E-bike Endurance specific compound.

www.uberbikecomponents.com

I use the standard version as I can't get Shimano made pads for my discontinued brake model

 

[harrys]

Q100H from topbikekit.com is $96, with $46 shipping via China Post, Probably a sales tax too, making it close to $150USD. Used to pay around $130 USD, so my increase in the States is typical. COntroller, rim, spokes gets me up to $300 USD. Right now, I can get the TSDZ2 for less than that,

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Any bargains on the aliexpress singles day offers? I've bought some stuff on there. Using as many vouchers as I can use and also going through a cashback site. Yes the VAT still grates a bit but overall some very good pricing.

 

[guerney]

Does anyone know what the deal is with AliExpress "Coins"? I've got about a tenner of coins accumulated - do I have to install and use the app to turn them into a £10 disount voucher, or will AliExpress only allow 1% or 2% discount anyway, on items featured on the AliExpress site when looking at the "My Coins" page? I hate installing apps, especially Chinese apps, which could contain even more spyware than usual.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

I assume they only allow you to use a few coins per order based on value as when I was playing about with an order before placing the order the bigger the order the more coins I could use and it didn't allow a lot to be used at one time. I placed one order and I got a discount from aliexpress overall like £4 off every £27 and then it used something like 20-30 coins to give me 30-50p off, then there was an aliexpress site voucher £5 off £28 or something and then a voucher for the seller itself. So I think I got a £10 off in total on maybe £40 of goods before the VAT was added. I also went through topcashback that has a £2 off discount today for orders over £5 and were giving 11% rewards at aliexpress. This is all from memory so the actual values will be a little bit different.

 

[guerney]

I assume they only allow you to use a few coins per order based on value as when I was playing about with an order before placing the order the bigger the order the more coins I could use and it didn't allow a lot to be used at one time. I placed one order and I got a discount from aliexpress overall like £4 off every £27 and then it used something like 20-30 coins to give me 30-50p off, then there was an aliexpress site voucher £5 off £28 or something and then a voucher for the seller itself. So I think I got a £10 off in total on maybe £40 of goods before the VAT was added. I also went through topcashback that has a £2 off discount today for orders over £5 and were giving 11% rewards at aliexpress. This is all from memory so the actual values will be a little bit different.

Do you usually order using the AliExpress app or the website? It'd make sense that they'd offer more discount for "Coins" via the app, for the increased mobile user data slurpage to HQ, for sale and other use.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

I do a bit of both so build up rewards, vouchers on the app but then do the final purchase on a computer so I can go through a cashback site like topcashback to try to maximise my discounts. So I played that game where you get points on the phone and I bought vouchers with them and the remains I bought a few coins with which I then used with the computer when I made the purchase.

 

[guerney]

I do a bit of both so build up rewards, vouchers on the app but then do the final purchase on a computer so I can go through a cashback site like topcashback to try to maximise my discounts. So I played that game where you get points on the phone and I bought vouchers with them and the remains I bought a few coins with which I then used with the computer when I made the purchase.

Bloody hell you sound like a AliExpress discount master. Thanks for the info!

 

[Raboa]

I have a friend who collects scrap metal on his ebike.
He set himself up as a PLC, his wage is £10 a year and anything else he pays himself as a dividend. You play less tax and NI contributions on the dividend.
If he wants to buy something he transfers money into the business to cover the purchase costs
All his bike purchases (tools, clothes, parts) go through as a work expense and are tax deductible.

 

[PC2017]

motor hub to spoke up onesself has disappeared

Bmsbattery - not sure on p&p - budget for VAT & RM surcharge if it happens its covered, if not you save a few quid. I got my MXUS front (kit in wheel- June) no VAT but I was maybe lucky, unless its covered at their end, there was a tax but it was vague, it could be a Xi Jinping tax or UK. They have some non-wheeled but I didn't check stock/prices. Best to play safe& use paypal as that would offer the best protection, whether a CC sec.75 would work standalone, some (not many) have had issues (not me) - As for increase in prices China lockdowns are still enforced if one person gets Covid I believe this could impact workers and there's good old fashion greed.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

I wonder how tax payment works from China to the UK? Surely they could still declare the value as lower than sold and just pay the lower amount of tax as when you pay its on aliexpress's own payment site unless credit card companies forward the details of the purchase to the exchequer. I wonder if the full tax payment is being made if not UK consumers are paying extra for goods than some other countries. Is this another half-baked solution by politicians who haven't thought through the process and are completely naïve when dealing with the Chinese. If nothing else there should be a declaration of price paid on the parcel and a free phone number to call if that charge is different to actually paid as personally I would like to think the exchequer is getting the full amount if I have paid it on purchase.

 

[guerney]

personally I would like to think the exchequer is getting the full amount if I have paid it on purchase.

I suspect I'm complicit in tax evasion when buying from most Chinese sellers - higher value items I've ordered directly or through ebay have been reposted to me from the UK or Germany, after arrival from China - they wouldn't be doing that, unless there was some tax reduction angle.

 

[soundwave]

never paid tax on anything from china and have not been reposted either and gets here in about 11 days tracking shows it does go through customs but never had to pay

 

[guerney]

I have a friend who collects scrap metal on his ebike.
He set himself up as a PLC, his wage is £10 a year and anything else he pays himself as a dividend. You play less tax and NI contributions on the dividend.
If he wants to buy something he transfers money into the business to cover the purchase costs
All his bike purchases (tools, clothes, parts) go through as a work expense and are tax deductible.

Sounds a green business. Running costs for an ebike are much lower than for a van of course, and I imagine he would't have to collect and sell much to make a profit. Does he make a decent living collecting scrap metal using a bike trailer? Is it time consuming, with a lot of cycling around searching for scrap? There's many a time I've seen large metal bits left out on the side of the road, while hauling home veg with my bike trailer, for those scrap guys who drive around periodically, sounding their little trumpets. However, many of the items looked too large for a bike trailer - does he go back with a van for larger loads? Must need a decent sized storage area.

 

[soundwave]

get a job on just eat they get paid salary and get given a ebike to use for free

 

[guerney]

get a job on just eat they get paid salary and get given a ebike to use for free

Might be a worthwhile sideline for someone - we need more recycling/re-ecycling. Like amazon, their delivery performance is probably monitored, resulting in pressure - slow delivery riders are likely the first to be fired in any downturn.

 

[soundwave]

£100 per day 100km so that's why they have 3kw hub motors and a endless supply of batts.

they must have a warehouse round here somewhere but i cant find it but id just crash trying to look at a sat nav