Mini Spares Experience?

[stan360]

Oh I just called DHL since I was a little grumpy that I won't be getting car parts for Thanksgiving but they said the strike has been resolved this evening and things should start moving

[MiniDave]

Thanks for the update on DHL.....

BTW, do you have heat in your shop so you can work this winter?

[94touring]

Lol oh yeah fyi pilots have been striking.

[stan360]

I have a small forced air propane heater for the garage and it works pretty good. The older I get, the less I can tolerate the cold.

[94touring]

How many btus? 

[stan360]

Its a small Mr. Heater that has 2 settings  30,000 or 60,000 BTU's

[94touring]

My 60k forced air heater will easily warm my shop.  This year I'm putting in an electric heater but will still use the propane one if I need to bring temps up quick or heat the paint booth.

[stan360]

Yeah, the propane heater warms things up fast..  I leave the garage door cracked so I don't get sleepy or die.   51.gif

My CO detector disapeared ?!?  So I need to replace it before I get to running the heater again

[MiniDave]

Don't those also increase the humidity in the room?

[stan360]

Dave, they do....  Last winter I ran it a bit.  Not enough to really notice much , although I never had condensation issues in my small garage.  No moisture issues from it.   

I usually ran it about 10 or 15 minutes out of an hour and it did well on the coldest January days taking the car apart.   It is something I should watch for this winter, as I think I will be out in the garage a lot more trying to put all this back in order.

[94touring]

I never had moisture issues with mine either.  I only have to run it 10-15 minutes per hour though.

[jeff10049]

Yes Dave they do and the moisture can be a problem if you have heavy iron in your shop/garage like me. A milling machine and a Lathe the last thing you want is moisture forming on the machine ways and rusting.
I really like those heaters for a quick warm up though and if like Dan you only need to run a few minutes at a time I bet the moisture wouldn't really be an issue for most.
The other big downside I noticed is with any of the non-vented models was if I sprayed any brake clean or something they burn the fumes and it really stinks.
I finally put in a hanging unit heater I got from craigslist for 100 it's a 80,000 btu propane unit works great heats it up in no time.
I think it's oversized but for my use thats great I like to go out after work for a few and I can get it warm quick I don't heat all the time so its perfect and doesn't cause the condensation on my machines.

Someday I want a all the time heated shop with floor heat I really wish I had spent the little bit of extra money to put down the foam board and piping under my slab when I had the chance. 50.gif

I have also considered a wood stove for weekends or days that I will be out there for longer periods.

[MiniDave]

My buddy had a double barrel wood stove in his 30 X 50 shop and it kept it toasty on the coldest days we get - which is well below zero!

But you have to cut the wood, haul it in, clean the ashes out and so on....if I could afford a shop it would definitely have the heated floor setup - that has to be heaven! That's the worst part of working in my shop in the winter, my feet get cold.

[94touring]

Black friday sale at spares right now.  Ended up buying a few things  77.gif

[John Gervais]

I've already asked Simon about this and am just waiting for his reply, but I wonder if y'all check your receipts.  Normally I check that everything ordered is in the box, and try not to look at the money.  I just noticed that I'm paying 25% VAT since June 2016 at MSC, where my 'other' UK suppliers (Vehicle Wiring Products, Demon Tweeks, Namrick etc...) are still only charging 20%.  The UK hasn't left the EU yet, so I wonder why there are differences?

I can't help but wonder how Brexit negotiations and eventual execution will affect the cost of bits from the UK.  As I type, I've the necessary bits to fix the pesky timing seal oil leak sitting in the 'saved shopping cart' and as long as the engine is out, might as well pop a cross-pin diff in there...

Assuming of course that I can find somebody who's got space enough that I can remove the engine.


Sooo, what VAT rate are you subject to?

[BruceK]

In the US, we pay zero on the stuff bought from the UK.  There is no VAT on export orders outside the EU, so when you look at the two prices shown for all MiniSpares items, we pay just the ex-VAT amount.    Shipping can be expensive, though...

Oh, and sometimes we have to pay US customs duty on the items, but not often.  (DHL comes back to us a couple of weeks or so after the order had been received if duty is due, and we pay them).  I haven't looked into it, but I think duty is only triggered if the order is over a certain value, perhaps $500 or so? 

[John Gervais]

That's right, I'd forgotten that British VAT isn't applicable outside the EU - you're very lucky. 

Denmark rarely misses a package from outside the EU, so we pay dearly for non-EU goods, as even shipping charges are subject to the Danish version of VAT - 'Skat'.  Just today in fact - I received a shirt from Cabelas - bought it on sale for $23.99, paid $20.- shipping, so $44.- in all.   There was a letter in my mailbox yesterday instructing me to pay the import tax and associated administration fee I could receive the shirt.  Tax and admin fees totaled $29.-. 

So, a good bargain gets expensive, fast.  Nice shirt though...

I Googled UK VAT and it shows as 20%, which is better than our local 25%, but I wonder why MSC is at 25% - is it just me and a glitch in my account? 

Surely there are other international RMF members lurking about who could chime in  -

[BruceK]

$29 in tax and fees for merchandise worth $24?  Wow. 

I paid $16 duty on a MS order of over $500.  (again, I haven't researched how this is charged, but 4 times out of 5 I haven't paid any duty).

[MiniDave]

When I bought the parts for Buzz from MiniSport I got hit with customs duty on every shipment, usually a couple weeks after I received the parts.

Since I've been buying from MiniSpares I have not gotten one bill from customs....and some of the orders have been way north of $500!

Hope I haven't just jinxed myself!  ;D

Overall my experiences buying from MiniSpares have been top drawer. The last order I did they said it would arrive the next Monday, showed up the previous Thursday instead! Gotta love under-promising and over-delivering!

[MiniDave]

Well, I'm frustrated with MiniSpares again......

I ordered the tool to install the clips on rear wheel cylinders and they sent me what I think is actually the specialized driver to remove the roll pin from rod change shift linkage. This is what I should have gotten....the bag has the right part number on it but clearly the wrong part.



So I sent Simon an email on Thursday and haven't heard a peep, even allowing for the weekend and so on seems I should have at least gotten an email saying they were looking into it. So Ima give him a couple more days and then I'll go back on TMF, as he seems to monitor that forum and respond to it.

Don't know why they can't at least email me and let me know they're doing something.......

[gr8kornholio]

That's is a little bad on response time.  I asked a technical question through their site late on Saturday and first thing this morning I had a response. 

[MiniDave]

Overall my experiences with MiniSpares have been top drawer, but it seems when it comes to warranty stuff.....not so much.

The last time they had in fact already sent me the replacement part, but no one told me they did, so I figured I was being ignored....till I went on TMF, at which point Simon got involved and I got some answers.

[John Gervais]

I've got one of those, both actually.  It's been so long since I've replaced a brake cylinder that I can't remember how to use the circlip tool. 

I remember that it worked well.

[MiniDave]

I have a trick to install them without the tool, but I'd like to have the right one.....

[94touring]

I didn't even know there was a tool for those.