Ordering Direct from Lee Valley

[PitBull]

Greetings,

I'm thinking about buying the LV Scraper Plane, Low Angle Jack Plane and Medium Shoulder Plane.

BriMarc currently don't have the LA Jack, and don't know when they'll get any more.

Has anybody ever ordered directly from LV website in Canada ? if so - any problems either with delivery or customs/taxes etc ?

They are quoting me US$574 for the goodies (there's some extra blades in there as well !) and either US$45 for surface mail (8-10 weeks - no bleedin' way) or US$103-104 for either Xpress Post or UPS Express which are 5-10 and 5-6 business days respectively. Any recommendations on the latter two ???

 

[Adam]

I've ordered a couple of times - superb service - better than any supplier in the UK, do a search here for Lee valley - and read through theirs lots of threads saying how good they are.

When getting delivery - I went for surface mail - qouted as 4 weeks I think, it was here in about 4-5 days, and both times made it through customs without a charge. Ended up making quite a saving.

Rob Lee (managing director?) frequencts this forum regularly - (it's a plane afficianardos thing - him and ALF talk sole flatness and stuff offline I think......)

Adam

With the surface mail - I reckon it's easier to sneak in without paying import duty - 'cos theres noone to collect - with UPS you are certain to get charged. On a different non-LV order, when the delivery guy arrived - he just swiped my card to take the customs-tax - it worked really smoothly.

A

 

[Noel]

Pitbull,

I can almost guarantee that you'll get stung for tax if you use X-press or UPS. And also you'll pay for the privilege of paying tax with a fee for arranging to collect the tax in the first place.
My recent orders have not been on the scale you propose (not cost, but size and weight of the package) and I've always used surface post. Granted, it takes so long, usually 4 or 5 weeks or so, but no vat or EU tax, luckily.
As Adam mentioned, Rob Lee is a member here and he runs Lee Valley and I can guarantee (my 2nd in this post...) that customer service is the best you'll encounter this side of Mars, so to speak.

Rgds

Noel

 

[Shady]

Best bet is to find a friend in the continental US/Canada: have it sent to them, repackage as a 'present' in non-commercial wrapping, and sent to you.... :wink:

 

[Noel]

Don't buy personally or don't get a friend to buy personally in Canada as you'll be charged sales tax / vat which I think is about 18%. When I mentioned this the nice LV people said "No problem, you can get a form at the airport and claim it back when you get home." Of course the only way to get it back is to declare it to UK C & E.........
Of course no problem in the US if you get it in a sales tax free state.

Rgds

Noel

 

[Rob Lee]

Hi all -

It's true that delivery by surface post isn't always as bad as we quote - but it certainly can be. It probably helps that we share the same monarch (or at least, that you share her with us!!).

In the very near future, Brimarc will have a large stock of all planes, and at prices not far off prices here (about 10-15%) - they have worked closely with us to ensure that the UK market price is competitive with North American pricing - but with local stock, and much better domestic delivery.


Cheers -

Rob Lee

 

[Martin Brown]

Our stock is due in 10 days and the pricing will be on our website on Oct 1st. I suggest you take a peek then decide. Our delivery times are currently 48hrs on stock items.
Martin

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Rob and Martin

In the very near future, Brimarc will have a large stock of all planes, and at prices not far off prices here (about 10-15%) - they have worked closely with us to ensure that the UK market price is competitive with North American pricing - but with local stock, and much better domestic delivery.

I'm sure that everyone will welcome this move wholeheartedly.

Does this just apply to planes?

Cheers
Neil

 

[Anonymous]

Pitbull

Ordered a shoulder plane from them and received it in less than 2 weeks surface mail

Don't think I got stung for tax on this one but definitely did on LNswhich brings them close to UK prices

 

[devonwoody]

I took in a parcel the other day for a neighbour (spares parts for his motoor cycle from the usa) The post office charged £13 to collect £18 customs duty.
Not very nice.

 

[Alf]

<Runs over to BriMarc site>No joy. Too early, obviously.

If it helps get an idea for excise charges etc, the parcel of low angle jack and bullnose was stung for a tad over £60. (For the record,I didn't have to pay it though, L-V did )

Rob Lee (managing director?) frequents this forum regularly - (it's a plane afficianardos thing - him and ALF talk sole flatness and stuff offline I think......)

President, old boy. North American remember? :wink: The temptation to address emails to him as "Mr President" has, so far, been resisted (and they said I had no will power). Hmm, maybe "El Presidente" as an alternative. I don't think we've done sole flatness... No, I tell a lie. It cropped up vis-a-vis the shoulder plane. Inevitable I suppose. :roll:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Adam]

President, old boy. North American remember?

Sorry, forgot Everybody down to the bus driver is a senior executive vice president of driving staff*

We actually make up job titles here when the 'murricans visit as ours don't sound worthy enough. Only need to drop in a few of the following, and voila - we have a title worthy for our visitors...

Executive
Manager
Senior
Vice President
Consultant


*or similar

 

[Rob Lee]

Hi Rob and Martin

I'm sure that everyone will welcome this move wholeheartedly.

Does this just apply to planes?

Cheers
Neil

Hi Neil -

I can't speak directly to how UK pricing works, as I don't have a tremendous insight into many of the costs of your markets - but I can tell you that Brimarc operates very fairly with the pricing we give them. One of the difficulties with much of our product range is that, as a retailer and manufacturer, we have a broad range of product that has been priced without adequate room for distribution in other markets.

Until the world "shrunk" (over the past 2-3 years...) seperability of markets (can I say that?) wasn't an issue. We're re-working much of our distribution policy to ensure competitiveness on a global scale. Keep in mind too, that Lee Valley sets prices once per year - and last year the USD dropped by more than 20% (and it's been another 5% so far this year) - our pricing to export markets was left at the "high water" mark...


Cheers -

Rob Lee

 

[Adam]

Keep in mind too, that Lee Valley sets prices once per year - and last year the USD dropped by more than 20% (and it's been another 5% so far this year) - our pricing to export markets was left at the "high water" mark...
Cheers - Rob Lee

Perhaps a policy of reviewing it, if USD moved by more than 10% would solve such a situation?

Adam

 

[Rob Lee]

Keep in mind too, that Lee Valley sets prices once per year - and last year the USD dropped by more than 20% (and it's been another 5% so far this year) - our pricing to export markets was left at the "high water" mark...
Cheers - Rob Lee

Perhaps a policy of reviewing it, if USD moved by more than 10% would solve such a situation?

Adam

Hi Adam -

Yes, we do that as well - but the Candian dollar is still more closely coupled the the US dollar than the Euro or GBP - and it is our primary export market to boot...we have to be careful what we do where, and when...


Cheers -

Rob

 

[dedee]

but the Candian dollar is still more closely coupled the the US dollar than the Euro or GBP - and it is our primary export market to boot...we have to be careful what we do where, and when...

Then perhaps you could open up a manufacturing plant in Europe, please?

Andy

 

[PitBull]

Greetings,

As Adam suggested, I went with the surface mail option - not in a massive hurry as after this weekend I'm back in Switzerland for the next 4 weeks and won't be shipping the workshop over to Switzerland until a few weeks after then :-( Means it'll be getting very cold outside just as I start to setup the new workshop, but since it's a large cellar under the house, this won't be a problem

BTW I was aware that Rob Lee is a fairly regular poster here - I've been quite impressed with his posting in general, his objective (as much as possible !) responses to Alf's plane testing, and of course I was nudged in the direction of LV primarily by Alf's reviews (BTW - superb job there Alf - you really could do a full or part time job for a WWing mag job if you wanted to).

This is basically my last round of WW tool buying before I'm permanently in the land of toberlones and mountains, and I'm slowly spending a recent modest inheritance on quality tools (mostly handtools)

 

[Alf]

BTW I was aware that Rob Lee is a fairly regular poster here - I've been quite impressed with his posting in general, his objective (as much as possible !) responses to Alf's plane testing

Not as impressed as me. :shock: If roles were reversed I'd like to think I'd have been as forebearing, but alas... :roll:

and of course I was nudged in the direction of LV primarily by Alf's reviews (BTW - superb job there Alf - you really could do a full or part time job for a WWing mag job if you wanted to).

Aww shucks. It's nice to know I don't ramble in vain. I have a feeling the mags like to use people who actually make things though.

I'm slowly spending a recent modest inheritance on quality tools (mostly handtools)

A woodworker of discernment.

Cheers, Alf

Hand me the tin of grease; so many Slopes, so little time!

 

[Martin Brown]

We have now updated our website and it has the new plane pricing. They are 10% down on prices previously quoted. The replacement parts are slightly up. All existing orders we have will be amended.

We are expecting stock around the 15th October. If you order before 14th October we will charge no carriage if you mention ukworkshop. This will save up to £5.50.

Please note that the Spokeshaves have increased in price due to an error on our part. Apologies.

Martin

 

[gidon]

Hi Martin

Nice to see prices down! A rare event in the woodworking world. And your website has come on leaps on bounds ...

Are you likely to have decent stock at the Axminster show (on the Thursday morning at least) ? I would really like to have a feel before buying - specifically the large shoulder plane and the LA jack plane.

It's an impressive range you stock - but what retailers (ideally online retailers ) actually stock even 50% of that range? Is this going to change do you think?

Cheers

Gidon