Some of you who have tried to place orders from outside of the European Union might notice there’s something of a slight problem when it comes to shipping. You can’t.
Believe us when we say we’re every bit as frustrated as you are; after all, while our home and base is in Malta these days, we’ve never forgotten the fact our roots came from the United Kingdom and we understand many of you there can’t wait to get your hands on our wheels. We also promise that before long, you’ll be able to.
The issue isn’t so much getting the wheels on the planes, trains, or lorries to take them out of Europe and across the world. The issue is the myriad of tax quandaries and complications caused by Brexit, no less.
The first thing to note is this isn’t a party political broadcast. We have no opinions on Brexit, indeed we suspect our team probably has different views just like you do too. We say suspect because we’ve never really talked about it. The problem is to get wheels into countries outside the EU from inside it, there’s about as much paperwork and box-ticking that’s enough to chop down half an Amazonian rainforest. If we’re being honest, it’s probably not the case that Brexit on its own is the cause but rather an entire tax system that favours those with armies of pen clickers and tax calculation officers, neither of which we have in a small business.
So, while the bad news is we can’t currently ship outside of the EU, the good news is we soon will.
The issue
The issue lies with the taxes and import duties levied before anything can get over the border into a country. It isn’t just as simple as sending it in a box on its merry way. Different countries have different tax rates and so far as VAT is concerned, it’s easier to ship caviar and champagne as it is fresh wheels for a car. At the moment that’s what we’re trying to negotiate as well as making sure that the cost of shipping isn’t unrealistic for you, our customer. The bigger the consignment, the harder it is – or so it seems.
What we wouldn’t want to do is overcharge or undercharge you when we sell you our wheels and that’s why for the moment, we’ve held off on launching deliveries outside of the EU – as Malta is part of the EU, selling to other parts of it is relatively straightforward. The last thing you or us need is a myriad of forms or charges if one end gets it wrong.
What we’re doing about it
What we want you to know is we’re working on it. We know how much you want our wheels and we want nothing more than to sell them to you. While the current situation is an absolute pain in the arse, it isn’t impossible and we’re working on getting it all sorted.
So, if you’re waiting to buy our wheels, we promise you won’t be waiting forever. There will be a time before long when all comes good. It’ll be a myriad for us to work through, no doubt, but all you need to know is Speedshop Malta will be coming to you as quickly as we can – certainly, before there’s ever a simplification of ridiculous tax rules.
One other thing
Are you as excited as us for the red hot racing season that’s coming – hopefully, free of the coronavirus disruption of the last couple of years? There are some exciting things in the pipeline – watch this space!
As always, any questions feel free to get hold of Simon and our Speedshop Malta team.