Adventure Bike Rider

Hi everyone,

So I'm keen to get some panniers and I'd love a Touratech set, but like many people I got quite severe sticker-shock when I compared the UK price to the German price:

UK:
Zega Pro 38ltr x2: £1,446.02 (= €1830) - includes VAT at 20%

DE:
Zega Pro 38ltr x2: €1,269.00 (= £1,002) - includes sales tax at 19%

While this isn't surprising (things on our island always run a price premium) Touratech state on their website that even if you place an order through the German store at German prices, your order will be fulfilled by the UK store at UK prices (including the almost £500 mark-up).

I was sure that there were EU trading laws that state citizens are free to order from wherever they want in the EU, is it legal that they're forcing us to order through the UK distributor?

I've done some reading but EU law handbooks are complex and I thought there might be someone with a little more knowledge of this?

PS. before you mention it, I know there are other pannier options out there.

Apologies - mods would you mind moving this to the appropriate forum - I'm still getting my head around posting and didn't realise this was going to the First post forum!

Thank you

yes tt take the piss,i posted some time ago the price of their enduro suit £1900. buy direct from the manufacture and save over £600.cheers al

Thanks Al, so you're saying you ordered through the German TT store and they delivered it at that price, rather than at the UK price?

For £500 difference I might as well ride over to Germany and pick them up, it's not that far!

A bit of googling brought me to the European Consumer Centre www.ukecc.net/ who I've also asked this question to, I'll update the thread when I hear back from them.

Cheers

Do you know anyone in Germany? If not I'm sure there would be someone on the site willing to forward them on. TT Germany won't sell to the uk and it ain't gonna change no matter what you say to them. There have been loads of threads about this before, over various forums .

Ps, Iv got the zega panniers and I can honestly say they are not worth a tenth of the asking price.

no, stadlier manufacture the suits for tt,you can buy direct from them & safe ££££££s. its the same deal with their tank bags & there roll bags you can buy direct from the manufactures and save $$$$$$$$,& euros .cheers al

I know it's a long shot, but I thought if we could show that they were breaking EU law then they might change their ways, it'd certainly make for a good magazine article.

Al - I've had a search for stadlier but not found anything particular - do you still have a link?

Cheers

fortun3 wrote:
www.stadler-bekleidung.de . kahedo are the company for tank bags & they also make seats for tt.re panniers try darr. de cheers al

Al made a typo Fortun

Stadler website

Paul

I've done it a few times for Scandinavian forum members, your welcome to use my address, just bear in mind it will be two postage rates (1 to me and one to forward) but I'll hunt for the cheapest insured rate that needs a sig on delivery.

Failing that you can always collect, a bit shorter and you wont be tempted by all the bling in the showroom.
most of the stuff I could fit while you wait (as long as I'm home )

pics of the 2 suits 1tt 1 stadler. no wonder herbert black,s smilling with making mark up,s like that.

Haha wow that's pretty funny!

Snaphappy thanks for the offer, that's kind. I think postage to Germany is free so it'd just be posting it here, I might just take you up on that in a few months!

Still interested in the legal side of things, they shouldn't be able to force people to pay more than we have to - eu free trade agreements and all that.

I'm going on me jollies next week and am driving through Germany in me camper van, so I've pre-ordered my kit with TT Germany and collecting on the way home. In doing so I'm saving £115!

Just be aware that there are a couple of guys who use the ABR forum who work for TT-UK, plus TT pay ABR for advertising, so tread carefully or this thread will get deleted and you'll be banned and sent to the gulag!

Nicely done Harty.

The thought had crossed my mind, it's the reason you don't see local papers tearing into local councils, because the council will be paying a massive amount of their advertising bill.

I've got nothing against the UK distributors - most people will want more hands on sales and service and they are the people who are in the right place to provide it.

My point is that I'm not sure it's legal to FORCE you to use the local provider when you can also order online from Germany and pay for extra shipping to get it to the UK. Free market economy is a big part of the EU and they're all about lowering trade barriers, hence my surprise that we're not given the choice.

There was a recent ruling about football rights where a UK landlord was using a Greek decoder, Sky was trying to sue her to force her to pay the thousands of pounds they wanted for each season. European Court of Justice ruled in her favour. Not really related but you see the direction their thought process is going in.

If the UK distributor feels like replying, maybe they can help clarify?

I know I'm new here so banning me would be an easy option, I'm not trying to cause trouble, I'm genuinely asking if my point is valid.

fortun3 wrote:


We don't ban people for asking a reasonable question of an Advertiser.
I'm sure many would like your point clarified.

And welcome to ABR.