Why buy from a HK seller ?

[Percymon]

Perhaps i got something wrong but this afternoon i started looking around stellamodels, rcmart etc for a Lunchbox for my son (he wants to do HIS first RC build), and something for myself so i thought a Wild Willy 2 would be a good partner !

So RCMart had availability of both ..

$106 for the VLB

$126 for the WW2

$232 total

then shipping..$81 (7-30 day service)

credit card fees $12 etc etc

which came out to a total of $341.35

Now I make that roughly £220, before any potential UK import duties and handling fees.

Using Fusion Hobbies purely as my first port of call..

£99 for the VLB

£149 for the WW2

Total £248

minus 10% TC subscriber discount

Grand total £224

So why risk import duties, handling fees ,a long delivery wait, a potential damaged item that could be a nightmare to return when all i'd potentially save on a £200 expenditure was £4, and if i got charged import duties i'd actually be worse off ???

So is it the choice of models ?, or the high shipping because of 2 kits rather than one ? ..

so i looked at the XR311 re-release..

RCMart $196 + $56 shipping + $12 etc etc >> total $276 or roughly £180

Fusion £212 - 10% >> £191 (£11 saving assuming no import duties)

So on the basis of higher cost models and single kit shipping seemed favourable I priced up a Avante Black Special

RCMart again - $450 + $60 shipping + credit card fees etc etc >> $524 equivalent to £345

Fusion Hobbies £496 (pre-order pricing) - 10% discount >> £447

Voila ! - at last a clear saving by buying from HK assuming no duties are applied, but if you do get caught then 20% vat alone would add £70 to the cost, and with handlign fees again gets close to Fusion pricing.

I appreciate the more you spend the more chance you have of seeing a discernable difference (and there will be good and bad examples as prices/discounts fluctuate )- what i struggle to get my head around is why, other than for £300+ kits, and earlier release dates, would you bother ? Despite this, the postman thread seems to have a smattering of UK recipients of lower value kits.

[TWINSET]

Yup, now the US $ is so strong against the £, there's no a lot of (risk-free) point in buying from overseas.

Before the financial apocalypse we were getting $2 to the £, now it's around $1.50 I think

Try splitting the two kits to see if shipping's lower - the only risk then though, is 2 x Parcel Force clearing fees

[sosidge]

Depends on the item.

There are deals around for certain kits from UK stock that make it pointless to order from abroad.

But try and find certain spares and most hop-ups from officially-imported UK stock... impossible. The Hobby Company are not interested in anything beyond the minimum commitment to Tamiya RC, anything that they don't expect to shift in big numbers gets given a nonsensical price and minimal availability.

[Wandy]

For the cheaper stuff which costs around £100 in the UK then certainly there is no point in buying from Hong Kong. After that though it's nearly always worth the risk. If you are wanting an Avante then it's a no brainer to go to Stella. You know with 100% confidence that the kit will be immaculate and will arrive within a week, and sometimes within a few days. The quickest I ever got something from them was on a Monday morning after ordering it late on the Thursday night before.

[lawdog]

This is what I do here in the States. Certain kits, maybe from HK vs stateside, but parts, etc., absolutely.

Depends on the item.

There are deals around for certain kits from UK stock that make it pointless to order from abroad.

But try and find certain spares and most hop-ups from officially-imported UK stock... impossible. The Hobby Company are not interested in anything beyond the minimum commitment to Tamiya RC, anything that they don't expect to shift in big numbers gets given a nonsensical price and minimal availability.

[gt6++]

I also noticed the same when shopping for kits.

Sometimes you come out paying the same (or more) when you add the shipping costs.

Even on a high ticket item.

If I were to buy a black avante from a well know german site I would end up paying only 10euros more than if I had bought it from HK.

Shipping aside, I think a large part is that our wallets are suffering from a very strong Yen.

[speedy_w_beans]

I live in the USA and have compared RCMart and Stellamodels against Tower Hobbies, and it's been less expensive for me to buy kits from Tower, especially with their Super Saver membership discounts and free shipping (orders above $150). If it ships from their Illinois center, I usually get it in three days. If it comes from their Nevada center, then it's about a week via California. For parts I'll start with Tower for the same discounts and shipping reasons, then look to Tamiya USA next, and finally e-Bay for the difficult items.

When I traveled to Singapore last year for business I was able to get a great deal on a TRF201 chassis kit from Stargek for about $200 after exchange rates applied, then carry it back into the USA duty-free. I don't know if it was a special deal they had going, but I knew I couldn't touch that price even with Tower discounts.

If I ever make it back to Hong Kong I'd probably bring a bigger suitcase and go RC shopping for 2 or 3 kits, then bring them home duty-free. Otherwise I don't have a reason to order from Asian distributors at this time.

-Paul

[tamiya monkey]

I buy from stellamodels and rcmart quite alot and never been hit by customs.

[EddScott]

I buy from stellamodels and rcmart quite alot and never been hit by customs.

Is that whole cars? I get clobbered every time. Work address and home address.

I would consider the black special as an import but i think the landed costs will be higher than above. I think at most you save about 50 pounds on one car. Maybe over 3 cars it would start workiing out.

There is a good import calculator online. Oddly RC cars get 5% duty yet model railway items are 0%

[Champ85]

I live in the USA and have compared RCMart and Stellamodels against Tower Hobbies, and it's been less expensive for me to buy kits from Tower, especially with their Super Saver membership discounts and free shipping (orders above $150). If it ships from their Illinois center, I usually get it in three days. If it comes from their Nevada center, then it's about a week via California. For parts I'll start with Tower for the same discounts and shipping reasons, then look to Tamiya USA next, and finally e-Bay for the difficult items.

[snip]

-Paul

I agree, Paul. It is pretty much the same for me, except TamiyaUSA is usually the last place I'll look because most everything is MSRP in order to not compete with hobby shops (include online ones like Tower). For me, eBay is almost always cheaper for parts, unless it is a discontinued item that happens to still be in stock or on a special sale at TamiyaUSA. For example, one time I was restoring a Stadium Blitzer I got off eBay (this was before the re-release) and bought a brand new manual, screw bags, tool bag and some other stuff (like a giant 2ft x 4ft banner) for very cheap at TamiyaUSA, much cheaper than on eBay.

Another example is the Avante Black Special. $440 at Stella + $56 shipping (if memory serves) = $496. RCmart = $450 + $54 shipping = $504. Tower = $480 - $75 (Gold Preferred special coupon) + free shipping = $505.

The problem with Tower is they do not stock many hop-ups for Tamiya vehicles. Popular ones, sure, but take a look at DB01 hop ups. Practically nothing. Maybe that is a bad example since the DB01 is getting discontinued or the hop-ups are discontinued. But TamiyaUSA has all of the hop-ups still, but very expensive. So I got everything from eBay because nobody in the USA sells DB01 hop-ups for a good price, if it can be found at all.

[speedy_w_beans]

Very good point, Champ85.

Probably the best deals for me include the "R" and "PRO" level kits purchased through Tower. The key hop ups are already included, Tower's price is already discounted, and then the Super Saver discounts kick in, making it far more economical to go down this path instead of adding hop ups after the fact. So then it boils down to repair parts, and eBay or Tower are good first options. I do like poking around Tamiya USA's site for their sale items and scratch/dent -- when I spotted a set of four TGM-02 threaded aluminum dampers for $25, I couldn't resist buying and stashing for a future project...

-Paul

[Zac_F83]

I live in the USA and have compared RCMart and Stellamodels against Tower Hobbies, and it's been less expensive for me to buy kits from Tower, especially with their Super Saver membership discounts and free shipping (orders above $150). If it ships from their Illinois center, I usually get it in three days. If it comes from their Nevada center, then it's about a week via California. For parts I'll start with Tower for the same discounts and shipping reasons, then look to Tamiya USA next, and finally e-Bay for the difficult items.

When I traveled to Singapore last year for business I was able to get a great deal on a TRF201 chassis kit from Stargek for about $200 after exchange rates applied, then carry it back into the USA duty-free. I don't know if it was a special deal they had going, but I knew I couldn't touch that price even with Tower discounts.

If I ever make it back to Hong Kong I'd probably bring a bigger suitcase and go RC shopping for 2 or 3 kits, then bring them home duty-free. Otherwise I don't have a reason to order from Asian distributors at this time.

-Paul

I just went through this buying my TT01D Supra kit- except on Omnimodels.com and Ebay with a HK seller

it's the cheapest Supra kit on Ebay $148.xx US + $42 shipping with best offer I sent an offer of $108 + $42 shipping- he then counter offered $146 + $42 shipping

I went on omnimodels.com (they have a Ebay user also but you get better deals from the actual site)

$152.99 with free shipping PLUS they have monthly/bimonthly Ecoupins that if you spend over $200 you get free continental US shipping AND $20 off the bill (they also have standard free shipping on any order over $100) Plus they only list the Supra on their site not on Ebay

I have had issues with their site in the past (loading errors) and since my order on the actual site didn't go through they honored the Ecoupin through Ebay and refunded me $10

I ordered the Supra kit, Tamiya aluminum center shaft, HPI wheels and tires- $204.xx - $20 = $194.xx basically paid $5 for $25 worth of wheels

If you guys need another source for R/C parts try Omnimodels either on Ebay or their site.. they're awesome guys to deal with!

[davepettigrew]

agreed omni is the best bought there alot over the years