Tackle from the States

Given the state of the dollar against the pound & the fact that tackle is cheaper over the pond anyway, has anyone any experience of buying gear from the States over the net?

Been buying gear from the US for many years now.Even if you get caught for import duty etc (this seems to depend on where you live!)it still works out cheaper.As well as the savings there is also a much better choice of some tackle.The real attraction is for lure anglers.Try looking at the sites of the large US mail order outfitters,here are some I have used over the years-
Bass Pro
Cabelas
Roly and Helens Muskie shop
Jackson Lures
Lunkers
Muskie Fever

There are also some great outlets for DIY materials for both rod building and lure making-
Mud Hole
Pacific Bay

Thanks Budgie, it was lure stuff I was looking at, especially lightish spinning reels.

Aren't shipping costs a problem? I seem to remember wanting to buy a rod at $85 and the shipping costs were $60. Kind of puts the nail in the coffin for me.

I had asked one of our business people to get hold of a rod for me as the shop was juts 10 miles down the road in California and bring it with him on a business trip. He forgot!

Nigel,

If you had thought of this about 6 months ago when I lived there I could have brought you back anything you needed

There is always the old trick of a posted package and on the customs declaration the wording goes something like:
"unsolicited family gift"
That one usually gets around the red tape and duties - or so I am told as I would never attempt to avoid paying every possible duty on imported goods.

I also have a bridge in NYC for sale if anyone is interested - going cheap

That would have been too much like commonsense Peter!

there was something on radio 4 (that i never listen to!) about it, apparently customs will hit you for import tax+vat if discovered and over ?18. they did however say that gifts are exempt, but only upto ?36....

but i've never been charged

there are some companies that now offer the choice of wrapping the parcel as a presant

To me lines are worth buying in the US.

Flourocarbon especially, it's dirt cheap by comparison to here. 250 yard spools for 8 USD thats about a Fiver, that FIVE TIMES CHEAPER than UK prices on average!!!!

I wring my hands when I see what they charge for this stuff in the UK. I've never yet had a satisfactory answer.

WHY WHY WHY????

Why Why Why. Because we live in RIP-OFF Britain. Thats why.

yeah? just ask the guy from sweden.... or ask most europeans what they pay for "english" tackle..

One reason - harking back to a previous comment I made recently - we British anglers don't spend anywhere near as much on our sport as our American cousins. (Especially the Rons of the UK )

Look at the big stores here. Are they big enough? Look at some of them in the USA You could get our stores into them 10 times over. The line counter in one US store in hicksvelle New Jersey was bigger than our local store.

Volume keeps prices low. I'm not defending UK companies because some are playing us for mugs, but quite a lot more are being straight as was proved the other night on the carp thread. US Tiger Nut boilies ?9.39 for 2 pounds, Dynamite (UK) Tiger Nut Boilies ?8.95 for 2.2 lbs and even cheaper for the bigger sizes.

I work for a company that imports microfiltration products from our manufacturing base in California.

The market for these products in Europe is only a fraction what it is in the USA. Yet I will give you an example.

A 100% Fluorocarbon 10 inch cartridge sells in the USA to an end user for USD 860.00.

The same cartridge in Europe sells for ?845.00.

And another case:

We import specialised activated carbon filter cartridges from a large company in CT USA. A 10 inch cartridge to an end user in the USA costs USD 15.65. The average price of the same cartridge in England is ?9.95. Where again in England the market is only a fraction of that in the USA.

And that's the truth.

Why such a big discrepency in Fluorocarbon lines????

Or other US sourced fishing tackle>

Come on why?

Has anyone found any european websites with tackle cheaper than the uk? I would have thought with all this eec loveydoveyness we could take advantage of some cheap kit from eastern european sources with less import problems. Hmmm maybe I will stick with cabelas.

Re postage/shipping i have read several times recently that Cabelas charges are high.Not brought "officially" (long story) from them for several years so wouldnt like to comment but remember one thing air mail costs substantially more than surface.I never found the charge high before and still dont with other firms that I presently deal with normally.Just look on their sites or order a catalouge.

Tom,I used to deal with a German firm called Balzar who were very good price wise.Cant remember wether they were just trade or dealt with the public as well.Good thing about them was the fact that they stocked a full range of European gear,erm a bit obvious that I supose! but what I meant was match,pleasure,carp gear as opposed to predator/lure gear.Next time I speak to Luke I will get an address if he still has it.

Dave,

You are quite correct, tackle prices in Scandinavia are really scandalous.

However, having been the part owner of a company that used to import and market tackle in this area I have to say that the import taxes, freight charges, MVA (vat) corporation tax, loan facility fees, et al, really do take up the vast majority of the difference between the wholesale and retail prices.

In the 5 years or so that I was associated with this (small) company we imported rods, reels, poles, tackle and groundbait from the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden and Holland.
In addition we imported maggot every two weeks during the season, which had its own particular problems with licenses necessary from 2 different government departments.

Prior to the EOS Agreement that gave Norway EU rights without actually being a member, the paperwork to import say a dozen poles from a Italian company was about 3 inches thick.
I would regularly spend anything upto 5 hours a week at the Customs and freight forward agents offices during the season.

Then you have to take into account storage facilities for tons and tons of ground bait, and secure facilities for everything else.

All in all I think we made less than 3% profit annually, although trade prices on my own purchases were the real incentive for all the work I put in over those years.

All in all though it was a very enjoyable past-time but I certainly would not have wanted to make my living from this type of work. And, believe me, unloading tons of groundbait is not an easy job especially when the driver is on an hourly rate.