Buying gear in US

I was in Colorado Springs & Denver in Novemember and picked up a load
of gear from these two retailers . These two massive stores can be found
on most Shopping Mall Parks out west

http://www.gartsports.com
http://www.galyans.com/

They had shed loads of gear on sale & from my experience on previous
visits you can allways ask the manager for a deal . Anyway on the
clothing front the quality & value of gear in the US is far superior to
whats available in Europe. Strange really because it all made in the
same fareast sweatshops .

Nigel





Plake wrote:
I'm going to Utah for 2wks in March and want to take advantage of the
USD/GBP exchange rate by buying new ski & board gear:

Rossignol B2/Fritschi Diamir £519 at Snow+Rock, £397 at rei.com
K2 Recon/Salomon SP3/Salomon Dialogue £664 at Snow+Rock, £355 at
rei.com!

So I have a couple of questions:

1) I suspect the US stores are pressurised by the European
manufacturers not to sell gear to Europeans. Is this true, and will
paying cash at the store help?

2) If I declare the stuff at customs when I bring it back to the UK,
what will the import duty cost?

3) If I don't declare it, what are the chances of being caught? And
what happens if you are?

Al

John Red-Horse wrote:


No and no. In fact, I would suggest that you avoid paying cash just
because, in my experience with travels overseas, the credit card companies
tend not to charge large exhange fees and premium exchange rates.
What? Credit card companies give appaling exchange rates. Granted there
is not up front fee or fixed charges for purchases overseas, but the
rates are a rip off (at least for Visa and MC, not sure about Amex).
It's tollerable for small purchases and might be cheaper than exchanging
cash for small amounts, but for a large purchases you are much better
off getting cash (or better still traveller's cheques) from a bank or
the post office before you travel. Also, if you change now you know the
rate you're getting, the dollar may recover in the next few weeks... or
then again it could tumble further...

1) I suspect the US stores are pressurised by the European
manufacturers not to sell gear to Europeans. Is this true, and will
paying cash at the store help?

Not at all. The store makes the same amount of money no matter who
they sell it to. One thing though, some of the European brands may not
be available is the US. For example you won't find Voelkl or F2 boards
in American stores. (But you'll find plenty of Voelkl skis!) Maybe a
handful of shops carry Nidecker. But Rossi and Salomon are all over the
place! (Waitaminute - did Adidas buy Salomon outright - if so I guess
they are American now).

Mike T wrote:

1) I suspect the US stores are pressurised by the European
manufacturers not to sell gear to Europeans. Is this true, and will
paying cash at the store help?


Not at all. The store makes the same amount of money no matter who
they sell it to. One thing though, some of the European brands may not
be available is the US. For example you won't find Voelkl or F2 boards
in American stores. (But you'll find plenty of Voelkl skis!) Maybe a
handful of shops carry Nidecker. But Rossi and Salomon are all over the
place! (Waitaminute - did Adidas buy Salomon outright - if so I guess
they are American now).

How does that work? Adidas (or adidas-Salomon AG as it is now) are German.

"Steve Haigh" wrote in message
...

How does that work? Adidas (or adidas-Salomon AG as it is now) are German.

adidas-Salomon AG, headquartered in Germany, is the second-largest company
in the sporting goods industry in terms of worldwide sales. It is a global
corporation, with products present in all major international markets.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

Simon Brown wrote:

"Steve Haigh" wrote in message
...


How does that work? Adidas (or adidas-Salomon AG as it is now) are German.


adidas-Salomon AG, headquartered in Germany, is the second-largest company
in the sporting goods industry in terms of worldwide sales. It is a global
corporation, with products present in all major international markets.
Yes, so how does that make Salomon an American company, as the previous
post suggested?

Yes, so how does that make Salomon an American company, as the
previous
post suggested?

My mistake - For some reason I thought Adidas was HQ'd in America... my
apologies!

"Steve Haigh" wrote in message
...
Simon Brown wrote:

"Steve Haigh" wrote in message
...


How does that work? Adidas (or adidas-Salomon AG as it is now) are
German.


adidas-Salomon AG, headquartered in Germany, is the second-largest
company
in the sporting goods industry in terms of worldwide sales. It is a
global
corporation, with products present in all major international markets.
Yes, so how does that make Salomon an American company, as the previous
post suggested?

It doesn't as far as I can see. I was really just confirming your statement
with a quote from some research material I found. Although headquartered in
Germany it could be US-owned but I couldn't be bothered to dig up this info.
--
Simon Brown
www.hb9drv.ch

"Mike T" wrote in message
news
1) I suspect the US stores are pressurised by the European
manufacturers not to sell gear to Europeans. Is this true, and will
paying cash at the store help?

Not at all. The store makes the same amount of money no matter who
they sell it to. One thing though, some of the European brands may not
be available is the US. For example you won't find Voelkl or F2 boards
in American stores. (But you'll find plenty of Voelkl skis!) Maybe a
handful of shops carry Nidecker. But Rossi and Salomon are all over the
place! (Waitaminute - did Adidas buy Salomon outright - if so I guess
they are American now).

Adidas is an American company? I thought they were German.

(Waitaminute - did Adidas buy Salomon outright - if so I guess
they are American now).

Apparently I was mistaken about Adidas's location,,, my apologies!