# any thoughts on the Italian Ebay Colnagos



## kellyjk (May 25, 2006)

Anyone have any experience bidding on all the nos Colnagos out of Italy.


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## dnalsaam (Dec 6, 2004)

I have bought many bikes off of ebay in Italy and never had a bad experience. Do count on expensive shipping ($300) and the need to pay about 5-10% duty, upon arrival in the US. If the seller is a retailer, you might be able to get the VAT tax refunded on the bike. The VAT is 20%, so after costs, you can sometimes get 15% off.


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## Squeegy200 (Dec 1, 2005)

*I bought one*

I only have one bike frame experience. I bought a steel Colnago frameset from Ital_techno, an eBay seller. It was New Old Stock sitting on a shelf, factory wrapped, having never been built. 

I've heard mixed results shipping from italy and/or England for Colnagos. Some get charged for import tax/duties while others don't. Luck of the draw.

Mine was considered old and someone in customs classified it as a "used" bike part. So I never had any import tariffs or taxes levied on the item. 

I've bought several other components from him since with no issues. 

Quite a few people buy Colnagos from England. The results are mixed. I assume import experiences would parallel those of Italy.


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## boneman (Nov 26, 2001)

*Despite the name*

Ital_techno is not in Italy but Canada.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

Yep, Ital_techno is located in Canada. I've bought a bunch of Cinelli Ram stuff from them. Great people to deal with, but the frames aren't coming from Italy. However, they do carry a lot of Italian stuff, hence the name.

I bought a set of rims and a stem off a guy from Italy, and the stem came just fine. Haven't seen the rims yet and that has been almost a month ago. I almost bid on a C50 he was selling and now he has a 1985ish steel Colnago up for bid that looks NOS. While I like the frame, I'm not going to bid on it. This guy's communication about the rims has also been pretty horrible, not to mention the fact that he agreed to combine shipping on both items and then didn't do so.

With ebay, it can be hit or miss.


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## Squeegy200 (Dec 1, 2005)

Geez

I've bought so many items from him and never paid attention to its origination. Except for the import customs docs that accompany the items. 

:idea:


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

I believe that this is their non-ebay site. According to their site, they are located in Niagra, New York. Look under the contact section of the website. Close to Canada, but not quite Canada. I was mistaken. Then again, I never had to deal with customs when they shipped me stuff.

http://www.ital-tecno.com/index.html


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## brewster (Jun 15, 2004)

About the 5-10% duty tax.....how do they charge you? Do they stand there at your door and refuse to hand over the box until you cough it up? How do they even know what's in the box? Does the seller have to disclose the item and declare some value?

I've bought little vintage parts from England and even China and never dealt with any of this customs stuff. It just showed up with a overseas address on it. That was it.

brewster


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

The seller has to declare what is in the package and what it is worth for customs reasons and insurance reasons. Duty is then imposed by the customs agency where the package is going to end up. For instance, I ordered something from Italy and US Customs put a duty on it of close to $300. UPS, as my customs agent, had to pay the $300 and they weren't willing to hand over the package to me until I gave the driver a check for the amount of the customs duty. That is essentially how it works.

In the end, I appealed the duty charges and won, and didn't have to pay a single thing, but it was a headache even though I was right. The headache was worth the $300 though.


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## dnalsaam (Dec 6, 2004)

Ital-techno are based inside Canada and are Canadian. They do however keep a representative office in NY state to facilitate shipping to American addressees. Virtually all of their products are gray imports and I know of a few lawsuits that they have had to deal with regarding the gray nature of their supply. You can get some great deals off of them as they play the currency game and search out people clearing out their warehouses.

For duty, you can generally expect that if the item is arriving through the USPS, you will be spared the payment of duty. If you send with UPS or Fedex or similar, you are more likely to be dinged for the cost, especially if the box is large or if the declared value of the contents is high.


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## DirtyDigglers (Oct 31, 2007)

Ital -Tecno. I had a few transactions with them. The first went well and i was happy. However, my last two transactions were disastrous. I was sent two defective Cinelli stems and was never issued a refund. Lastly, i received a Selle Italia saddle that had the stitching way off. I suspect that they deal in grey market goods. Needless to say i will not be using them for anything else. Especially something as serious as a high end frame set. It truly is better to get them from an authorized dealer in case something should go wrong.


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