Mavic wont allow USA to post to UK?

[Claire Riley]

I've bought some Mavic womens clothing from the USA as I find it SO rediculously difficult to get it in the UK in XS. I bought some in March but have tried to buy some more to be told that Mavic have made an agreement with USA shops that they wont send mail order to the UK. They can send to every other country in the EU and many others beyond. Does anyone know if this is possible/legal/right?

I can't get a response from Mavic as to whether it is true or not. I've been offered other brands by the same company so its not that they don't want to ship to the UK. They've also asked for an address in another country and they will send it there. This seems rediculous. However, the Mavic kit is such good quality, cut etc It is one of the few brands which fits such a small person as myself and there is so little choice of such women's kit.

P.S. I have bought it in the UK too when I can find it but this is going on a real mission. (bought a Mavic jacket from Chain reaction only yesterday)

 

[Fiemme]

I've bought some Mavic womens clothing from the USA as I find it SO rediculously difficult to get it in the UK in XS. I bought some in March but have tried to buy some more to be told that Mavic have made an agreement with USA shops that they wont send mail order to the UK. They can send to every other country in the EU and many others beyond. Does anyone know if this is possible/legal/right?

I can't get a response from Mavic as to whether it is true or not. I've been offered other brands by the same company so its not that they don't want to ship to the UK. They've also asked for an address in another country and they will send it there. This seems rediculous. However, the Mavic kit is such good quality, cut etc It is one of the few brands which fits such a small person as myself and there is so little choice of such women's kit.

P.S. I have bought it in the UK too when I can find it but this is going on a real mission. (bought a Mavic jacket from Chain reaction only yesterday)

Same here in Australia. Can only purchase Mavic equipment in Australia. Must be some sought of contactual agreement with wholesaler/imorters worldwide. Down side in Australia is that the price is 50% more expensive than buying form the UK.

 

[Notso Swift]

Use a postal agent
THere are heaps but someone like myus.com works OK for AU

 

[Bustedknuckle]

I've bought some Mavic womens clothing from the USA as I find it SO rediculously difficult to get it in the UK in XS. I bought some in March but have tried to buy some more to be told that Mavic have made an agreement with USA shops that they wont send mail order to the UK. They can send to every other country in the EU and many others beyond. Does anyone know if this is possible/legal/right?

I can't get a response from Mavic as to whether it is true or not. I've been offered other brands by the same company so its not that they don't want to ship to the UK. They've also asked for an address in another country and they will send it there. This seems rediculous. However, the Mavic kit is such good quality, cut etc It is one of the few brands which fits such a small person as myself and there is so little choice of such women's kit.

P.S. I have bought it in the UK too when I can find it but this is going on a real mission. (bought a Mavic jacket from Chain reaction only yesterday)

Find a US mailorder place that sells mavic, order.

http://www.realcyclist.com

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mavic/clothing/?o=4

And they are in the UK.

 

[kiwirider]

I bought some in March but have tried to buy some more to be told that Mavic have made an agreement with USA shops that they wont send mail order to the UK. They can send to every other country in the EU and many others beyond. Does anyone know if this is possible/legal/right?

I think that it may be something that is imposed by/at the request of Mavic's agent in the UK - as if you look on a lot of the UK mail order websites, they will tell you that they can only supply any type of Mavic product to the UK ...

Like Fiemme says, it's a pain when your local prices are two or three times what they are online out of the UK - or in your case when you can't even find the products that you want ...

As for a way around this ... do you go across to the continent at all? If so, why not put in a decent sized order and get it sent to yourself as "Poste Restante" at a place that you want to visit. This is the number one way for backpackers to send stuff on to themselves that they want to hang on to, but that they don't need for a while. Effectively the postal system becomes like a mobile store house for you ...

All you do is address the parcel to yourself care of a post office where you want to pick it up. write "Poste Restante" (or the local language equivalent) under your name and it'll be delivered there and held for you for a few months (so you have some flexibility about actually picking it up). Take in some ID, pay a small fee (eg., La Poste in France charge 60euro-cents) and you're good to go! Needless to say, this would be a pain - or a fantastic excuse for lots of holidays - if you did it on a regular basis, but it'd work for a one off ...

 

[Claire Riley]

Missed the point?

Find a US mailorder place that sells mavic, order.

http://www.realcyclist.com

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mavic/clothing/?o=4

And they are in the UK.

Hi not sure if I've missed your point or you've missed mine.

I've found somewhere doing mailorder in the US which has the goods I want, but I can't order from them as Mavic wont let them send to the UK.

I've tried UK mail order and they don't have what I want in my size. Sorry but its not like I'm one to be beaten I've tried.....
Allterrain
amersports
B2B trade
Bicycling.com
Bike and run.co.uk
bikesomewhere.com
bikester.co.uk
capitolhillbikes.com
chainreactioncycles (bought jacket from them service excellent)
charlottebikes.net
cpcycles
cycle-clothing.org.uk
cyclesmith.net
cyclesurgery.com
cycleworks
cycleworldmiami.com
cyclingshortsmen.co.uk (they sell womens shorts)
evans
huchnroll
infinitecycles
jejames
Labicyclette
ladiesbikeshop.co.uk
leisurelakes
mosquitobikes
parkerinternational
pembrokeshirebikes
primera sports
realcyclist.com
ribblecycles
scotbycycles
sigmasport
slanecycles
snowboarding.com (sells cycling kit)
stonehengecycles
triuk
ukcyclestore
westbrookcycles
wheelbase
Wiggle, Obviously as usually have just about everyting you could ever want!

Anyone know anyone I've missed?

Unfortunately I'm not off on holiday till next year , just come back from cycling in Italy (I can highly recommend the cycling hotel, Hotel Belvedere esp cycling with ex pro Felice) so the myus.com or making a call to my friend in Canada may be the way to go.

Thanks for all your advice, glad I'm not the only one. It's not like price is no option, as we all like a bargin, but its even worse if shops just run out of/don't seem to stock your size. My local shop says they get a range of things in and often only get 1 in the smallest size. Somethimes this isn't even small enough for me. I grabbed a great goretex jacket before they'd even put it on the shelf, as I knew it would be snapped up.

Such a shame there isn't more really top quality women's kit out there, without being pink/having flowers on, which I have an aversion to. But then it's the same with womens specific bikes, so much less choice and try to buy a frame on its own, think again. Anyway, I digress.

Thanks to all.

 

[avanti]

Try ebay USA - someone might resell the women's clothing to you. Also LBSs sometimes sell under a surrogate to sell stock (surplus or otherwise).

 

[biker77]

You've missed all the big US mail order places. Try yahoo.com instead of .co.uk (apologies if you already did) and search for online bike shop. Paid search puts all the big ones near the top. Performance, Colorado, Excel, jenson,Nashbar, pricepoint are just a few that should show up.

 

[ultimobici]

Hi not sure if I've missed your point or you've missed mine.

I've found somewhere doing mailorder in the US which has the goods I want, but I can't order from them as Mavic wont let them send to the UK.

I've tried UK mail order and they don't have what I want in my size. Sorry but its not like I'm one to be beaten I've tried.....
Allterrain
amersports
B2B trade
Bicycling.com
Bike and run.co.uk
bikesomewhere.com
bikester.co.uk
capitolhillbikes.com
chainreactioncycles (bought jacket from them service excellent)
charlottebikes.net
cpcycles
cycle-clothing.org.uk
cyclesmith.net
cyclesurgery.com
cycleworks
cycleworldmiami.com
cyclingshortsmen.co.uk (they sell womens shorts)
evans
huchnroll
infinitecycles
jejames
Labicyclette
ladiesbikeshop.co.uk
leisurelakes
mosquitobikes
parkerinternational
pembrokeshirebikes
primera sports
realcyclist.com
ribblecycles
scotbycycles
sigmasport
slanecycles
snowboarding.com (sells cycling kit)
stonehengecycles
triuk
ukcyclestore
westbrookcycles
wheelbase
Wiggle, Obviously as usually have just about everyting you could ever want!

Anyone know anyone I've missed?

Unfortunately I'm not off on holiday till next year , just come back from cycling in Italy (I can highly recommend the cycling hotel, Hotel Belvedere esp cycling with ex pro Felice) so the myus.com or making a call to my friend in Canada may be the way to go.

Thanks for all your advice, glad I'm not the only one. It's not like price is no option, as we all like a bargin, but its even worse if shops just run out of/don't seem to stock your size. My local shop says they get a range of things in and often only get 1 in the smallest size. Somethimes this isn't even small enough for me. I grabbed a great goretex jacket before they'd even put it on the shelf, as I knew it would be snapped up.

Such a shame there isn't more really top quality women's kit out there, without being pink/having flowers on, which I have an aversion to. But then it's the same with womens specific bikes, so much less choice and try to buy a frame on its own, think again. Anyway, I digress.

Thanks to all.

What exactly are you looking for? Wiggle seem to have XS in more or less every womens' line.

 

[Claire Riley]

Warning about Viaddress

Hi just to warn you about using Viaddress.

I looked them up and they seemed OK so I bought two lots of goods and had them sent to Viadress then asked them to send them to me. Both packages were below the £131 limit, above which import duty is paid. I asked them to send them separately but they didn't, its cheaper postage to consolidate the packages into 1. They sent them as 2 packages via FedEx but as a multiple piece shipment. This is the same as one shipment but 2 packages. The bonus to them is that they only fill out one set of paperwork, they'd need to fill out 2 if sending as 2 shipments. And, it costs them less to send 2 packages. I got a quote from FedEx and they said for a non account holder they would have cost £62-63 each or £72 together. £50 cheaper to send them the way they did rather than as 2 shipments as I requested, AND PAID FOR!

Further to this, as they have shipped 2 packages as 1 the total cost of the goods is over £131. So not only have I paid over the odds for shipping, I now have to pay customs charges of almost £82.

Needless to say I will never be using them again and I warn anyone else against using them too. Before this came to light I tried to use their concierge service, where they buy goods on your behalf. Suspiciously, this is currently out of action due to an upgrade in their sevice.

 

[Claire Riley]

I was trying to get some 3/4 length tights, some of the roubaix ones and the normal ones. I've managed from the USA but see my warning against using Viaddress to get them. Its been an expensive lesson.

 

[Claire Riley]

You've missed all the big US mail order places. Try yahoo.com instead of .co.uk (apologies if you already did) and search for online bike shop. Paid search puts all the big ones near the top. Performance, Colorado, Excel, jenson,Nashbar, pricepoint are just a few that should show up.

Thanks thats great. I've got what I wanted but I will try them again in the future as I'd never heard of them but had a look and they have some good stuff.

 

[Claire Riley]

Got a reply from Mavic as to why they ahve this policy

Just out of interest I got a reply from Mavic UK as to why USA shops can't send to the UK.

Apparently its a service thing, to maintain good service to customers. Obvioulsy USA retailers don't give as good a service as UK retailers! I think not.

I asked why the USA can send to the rest of Europe and many other countries, maybe their level of service is substandard compared the the US? No reply.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Taxes and Such

You are never going to get a straight answer.

Mavic, like many global companies, divides their sales regions up and forbids each from selling into other sales regions for lots of different reasons. Most having to do with preserving retail prices and therefore peace between resellers.

You may have a secondary problem in that the supply of your particular item was never very big to start. Once the few they had made were sold into wholesale, that's the end of it until next season's model.

 

[dolophonic]

You can
pm me i am in the States and will forward your package.. just cover the post costs.. easy.