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Rear Window Louvers ( not side windows ) interest?


JZA70

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I've been in touch with Zakustech in the US and they will be getting in their next batch in 6-8 weeks. Question is they can ship to the UK but the more they ship together the cheaper it is.

Could anybody else who might be interested please let me know so I can get a price. Shipping cost is the killer for just 1 or 2.

There will be duty and VAT on top.

I.ve trying my contacts in ASIA but know one does them. Seems to be a US thing.

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I love the look of these, but 375 quid for a piece of perforated sheet metal is pretty fking outrageous, roll on the day the Chinese copy these, and no I'm not at all ashamed of that statement. One thing to copy someone's shock design that has years of R&D in it, another to make a similar piece of perforated metal for a vanity piece that requires almost zero R&D and tooling cost.

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Get what you pay for tho. (I have Taiwan carbon bits on my other cars, and am happy with them)

 

I've seen a "replica" which was made in this country, the angle of the louvres looks like a dinosaurs back and because no r&d was put into it the lower louvres curve because they've all been done the same length

 

So personally I'm happy to pay 500 quid (which I consider reasonable money) for something awesome rather than 200 quid for something average. I think I read zakustech is based out of his garage and he makes them himself hence the 8-10 week wait. But I could be wrong.

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I'd also rather pay 500 quid for something awesome, than 200 quid for something average, but that doesn't mean I think it's WORTH 500 quid. The adage that you get what you pay for isn't really valid now for many years, there are loads of cheap products which are great and loads of really expensive products which are crap.

 

Not unreasonable to imagine he can churn out one of these every working day as an average. There are 22 working days in the month. The cost of materials is not more than 75 quid, in fact, I suspect it's significantly less, so let's say 300 quid profit per piece. 22x300 is 6600 quid a month profit, especially as he's a sole trader, nobody else to pay, no rent, no bills, no corporation tax. That's 80 grand a year (100 grand in dollars) and only assuming one produced per working day. There's a word for that: Greed. The problem is the amount of people willing to stick their hands in their pockets with no consideration of whether or not the price is reasonable, partly because it's actually fashionable to pay more these days.

 

Ah, gotta love capitalism. I don't blame you mate, I just wanted to rant cos I cant' afford it right now. lol

Edited by Aashenfox
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And what about the painting? And the purchase price of the kit needed to fab these up? And the time spent designing them in the first place? And the risk of losing all the cash if nobody wanted them? And the training and knowledge required to even get started...

 

Good luck to the guy. If he can turn a profit making these, then he deserves everything he gets.

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And what about the painting? And the purchase price of the kit needed to fab these up? And the time spent designing them in the first place? And the risk of losing all the cash if nobody wanted them? And the training and knowledge required to even get started...

 

Good luck to the guy. If he can turn a profit making these, then he deserves everything he gets.

 

and the welding gas and rods/wire all the shipping materials

 

its far from £75 dollars metal

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Because I ship with a logistics company.

 

I self declare what the goods are (gift,purchase, etc)

 

And I also self declare the value of the items.

 

I have a property maintenance company, and occasionally we internationally ship landlords belongings etc...

 

So I will be sending myself a gift from america in February 😂

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Because I ship with a logistics company.

 

I self declare what the goods are (gift,purchase, etc)

 

And I also self declare the value of the items.

 

I have a property maintenance company, and occasionally we internationally ship landlords belongings etc...

 

So I will be sending myself a gift from america in February 😂

 

If the value of the gift is greater than £34 you need to pay import tax. Those are significantly more expensive than £34.

 

A formal customs declaration is required if the entire consignment is worth more than £750. If you bring in two at the same time you'll need to do that.

 

Customs duty is due if the value of the parcel is over £135. Those are worth more than £135.

 

If you're going to commit tax fraud, I probably wouldn't boast about it on a public forum...

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And what about the painting? And the purchase price of the kit needed to fab these up? And the time spent designing them in the first place? And the risk of losing all the cash if nobody wanted them? And the training and knowledge required to even get started...

 

Good luck to the guy. If he can turn a profit making these, then he deserves everything he gets.

 

I say the same thing, I just see it differently...

 

Painting, done in batches no doubt with generic black, cost per unit, almost nothing.

Kit to fab them up? A jig, made once and used forever, hardly a big cost

Time designing them is one thing I'll give them, but again, hardly rocket science.

He doesn't make them if nobody wants them, he builds when he has orders.

Knowledge required to get started...ok, fair enough, but if you're into fabrication, you're into fabrication. It doesn't cost me much to learn a new application based on the same technology as ones I currently administer. I would make louvres if I was into fabrication as I see easy money if people are willing to pay so much for them. But I'm a computer guy, not a fabricator.

 

I've had this debate many times relating to many products, some do involve genuine blood sweat and tears to produce and are worth every penny. Many don't. If only I knew how many he produces on average a month, I'd be able to determine if the price was fair or not.

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Haha basically I wanted a set of wheels for my merc, I found them in the states for £1000 but shipping was ridiculous

 

So I opened an account as I have a vat registered company

 

Now theoretically.... if you gift the payment thru paypal you haven't purchased anything, you have gifted someone some money and for them to then have a present collected from their premises and brought to you is also just a kind gesture 😂

 

Yes I'm bending the rules slightly

 

The wheels I did have to pay a charge on because they were clearly brand new and boxed etc but I valued them at 500 quid and my shipping charge was 300 quid so I got a full set of 20*11's/20*9's to my door 400 quid

 

Where as I see this louvre probably coming wrapped in random cardboard and bubble wrap 😂

 

But as I have technically not purchased anything I don't technically owe tax on it, but it's all at my own risk due to I'm just gifting a random person money

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And what about the painting? And the purchase price of the kit needed to fab these up? And the time spent designing them in the first place? And the risk of losing all the cash if nobody wanted them? And the training and knowledge required to even get started...

 

Good luck to the guy. If he can turn a profit making these, then he deserves everything he gets.

 

and the welding gas and rods/wire all the shipping materials

 

its far from £75 dollars metal

 

Once again, it entirely depends how many he's making. Anyway, in order not to drag this out, I reckon they can be done cheaper and still be profitable. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle as usual.

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Haha basically I wanted a set of wheels for my merc, I found them in the states for £1000 but shipping was ridiculous

 

So I opened an account as I have a vat registered company

 

Now theoretically.... if you gift the payment thru paypal you haven't purchased anything, you have gifted someone some money and for them to then have a present collected from their premises and brought to you is also just a kind gesture 😂

 

Yes I'm bending the rules slightly

No, you're breaking the law. You can send the money as a gift, you can call it Fred, you can fly it by carrier pigeon: You're still paying money for an item created by a business. That's called a purchase.

 

I don't care if you do or if you don't, but don't kid yourself that a judge would be all like, "Oh, a PayPal gift you say? You silly HMRC, of course that's ok!" :lol: How do you think drug dealers clean their money? By laundering, just like your idea... ;)

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If the value of the gift is greater than £34 you need to pay import tax.

 

Value

Value

Value

Value

Value

It doesn't matter if it's a gift from the lord God your saviour himself. If it's worth more than £34 you're liable to import tax. If you're going to mark it down, that's up to you, but don't pretend you're perfectly 100% in the clear. Just because you gave the money to your mate Joseph who sent it by bottle in the ocean to Jeremiah who rolled it down the hill to the seller doesn't change the value of the item.

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