As regards PBK & shipping. I ordered 6 tires in December, didn't receive them until February 3rd. I DID contact them mid January, anf they indicate they allow 30 business days from the shipping date before rebating your charge and claiming a loss to Royal Mail. The shipment missed the mark by two das, but they were prepared to return my funds on Febraury 1st. They also mentioned that U.S. Customs had been slower to clear parcels at year end. may be a result of recent package bombs shipped from various overseas locations. Just an FWIW...

Hate to say it but US customs are looking at all Parcels coming in from the UK and other parts of Europe.

So buying from abroad and be prepared for a shipping delay that is not always the suppliers or UK carriers fault.

Thanks for the info regarding US Customs. I didn't think about US Customs because my suit from Hong Kong cleared US Customs without delay.

Stap found that he ended up buying more than he first intended- the primary goal of retailing, regardless of channel or product/service - and he ended up happy and willing to do so again - the secondary goal!!

Bike related - I needed new tandem wheels, found a new handmade set of hand built on ebay, turns out they were carefully build by a specialist LBS in Denver who use ebay as another sales channel, bought 'em, arrived safe and quick, as part of the transaction we talked road bikes, the proprietor stocks RockyMountain, so a second order went in for a steel/carbon, Ultegra, Ksyrium Elite equipped source of joy.

I am a happy fan of online shopping (but I buy air tickets from a person, not a site, and I'd advise all to do the same)

do you have a link to this retailer's ebay page?

stores.ebay.com/Rocky-Mountain-Cyclery

cool, thanks!