Hobby King Exchange Rates

[Tony Smith 7]

Hi,

 

Would I be right in thinking that Hobby King's exchange rates are effectively fiction (if not deliberately misleading).

 

For example an item that's listed as $8.95 shows as £4.80 if I select GBP as the currency.   That would be $1.865 to the £.   This morning the FT rate is $1.59.

 

If I actually went ahead, would I be paying the price given (£4.80) ?

 

Or would I be charged in US $ and end up paying at the real exchange rate ?  If that's the case then all their prices are actually around 20% higher than they claim.

[Stephen Grigg]

Hi Tony I used to deal in Irish Punts to buy stock and found by buying byTT at busines rates it was a lot cheaper.Amate and myself bought the same item once he paid cash on the spot,I paid by the method above,he paid £300 more,because they charged him tourist conversion!!

[Robin Coombs]

You would be charged in USD and the rate ruling at the time of the bank exchange would be effective. This usually changes daily.

Don't forget there are 2 rates. One for buying USD and one for selling USD.

You would be buying so that is the higher rate.

Hope this doesnt put you off too much.

Cheers

Robin

[Tony Smith 7]

Posted by Robin Coombs on 13/10/2010 09:27:05:

You would be charged in USD and the rate ruling at the time of the bank exchange would be effective.

 Cheers.   So the Hobby King prices in £ are basically nonsense.

[Tim Mackey]

I never even bother to select any other currency at time of order.

It will be what it will be IYSWIM.

As I only ever use Paypal, when I click on final confirmations etc, paypay tells me the amount in GBP that will be transferred from my UK bank to cover the bill, so I then know the exact amount involved.

[John Privett]

We discussed this towards the end of this thread about a month ago.  Back then the exchange rate used to give £ figures was $1.86.  We concluded then that the rate was nonsense.  It looks like they never/rarely update the exchange rate.

[Tony Smith 7]

Thanks.  I've only used Paypal occasionally for non-sterling deals so can't remember exactly what happens when.   Does that confirmation in £ come up before you've committed to the purchase, or is it only after you've committed the order on Hobby King but not yet on Paypal?    

 

I must say I had assumed that Paypal would process it in $ but then my credit card would translate to £, but looking back at a Euro transaction I can see you're quite correct.  The exchange rate used by Paypal at that time was not a million miles off the real one.

[Tony Smith 7]

How does PayPal calculate currency conversion/exchange rate?

Question :

Answer :

PayPal receives a quoted wholesale rate twice a day. We then add a 2.5% spread above this rate to determine the retail foreign exchange rate that is applied to transactions involving a currency conversion

[Hamish]

I have been a bit suspect at the totals but tended to proceed.  Looked at one of my last purchases and comparing the displayed cost with what I was actually charged came to about 17% more.  Some of the products are very cheap and cannot be beaten by UK suppliers but having now compared with GC I will double check before purchasing from HK

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Agree with Timbo here....it is what it is & we can't change or influence it!!!!

[Tony Smith 7]

I think the motto is to deal in $ as Tim suggested.  

 

I must say I have very mixed feelings about them.  The GBP pricing is just straight sharp practice, and clearly there's something similar with shipping - listing shipping price from Germany even when the items in the cart have to come from Hong Kong.

 

I hear that their warranty service is pretty useless.

 

I guess they're fine if you order a lot of stuff, so the occasional screw up is worthwhile compared to the overall saving on the orders that go well.   Certainly it looks like I could save a pile on some stuff that I need - but if its DOA then that'll be money down the drain.

[Tony Smith 7]

Posted by Hamish McNab on 13/10/2010 16:35:40:
I have been a bit suspect at the totals but tended to proceed.  Looked at one of my last purchases and comparing the displayed cost with what I was actually charged came to about 17% more.  Some of the products are very cheap and cannot be beaten by UK suppliers but having now compared with GC I will double check before purchasing from HK

 

When you say you saw a 17% discrepancy, was that using GDP on Hobby King?

I've just placed my first ever order and it seemed just about right.  $50.12 on Hobby King was turned into £32.42 by Paypal, and of course the same on my credit card.  If I take the FT exchange rate at that time of $1.60 and add Paypal's 2.5% then I make that £32.11 or so.   Of course any exchange irregularity would be a Paypal or credit card issue, since Hobby King took the money in Dollars.

 

Next thing ... when will the stuff arrive?  Will I end up paying duty?  And will it work?

 

If it all goes well I save £15 over UK prices, but to be honest I really did this order for the hell of it to see how it goes.    I can't see me regularly using them instead of Giant Cod or BRC unless I started to spend a lot more than I do at the moment.

[John Privett]

Tony, it might be interesting to go back to the Hobby King site and select the £ option and see what the total quoted for the items you ordered adds up to. 

 

My bet is that they're still using the $1.86 exchange rate and it will come to about £26.95.

[BB]

I just saved myself £30-00p buying props from HK.  Ordered Monday 4th arrived Saturday 9th.

 

As per Timbo's comment.  Use Paypal.

 

BB

[Erfolg]

The savings are very real with HK.

 

At the moment, GC seem to have very low stocks on many lines. Recently I have bought a few things from HK as a practical consequence.

 

I have done the conversion in the past and the conversion came out very close to posted exchange rates. When challenged I found i did not achieve the same conversion rate but the 1.86 quoted.

 

I have noticed that HK absorb the Paypal commission themselves on my last order.

 

On my next order I will undertake a comparison order in £ and $, really out of curiosity. As Timbo has pointed out, the rate is not the issue, it is what you pay, is it good value.

 

I still operate the £18 rule, on small orders, or rather low weight, the postage I think is $3. Far less than petrol to a good well stocked LMS, which is a minimum of £5, without car running cost..

 

 

[Tony Smith 7]

Posted by John Privett on 14/10/2010 17:20:16:

 

Tony, it might be interesting to go back to the Hobby King site and select the £ option and see what the total quoted for the items you ordered adds up to. 

 

My bet is that they're still using the $1.86 exchange rate and it will come to about £26.95.

 

Just tried and it came out at £26.90 - exactly as you thought.

 

Posted by Erfolg on 14/10/2010 17:59:56:

 

I have noticed that HK absorb the Paypal commission themselves on my last order.

 So they say, but have you ever dealt with anyone who didn't absorb the Paypal fees?   I never have, if I've bought something for say £20 and selected Paypal then £20 is what comes out of my credit card. 

 

I certainly don't dispute the value.  I'll be interested to see how long it takes to arrive, slow delivery is something that hacks me off with overseas orders.  For example I got my motor and ESC next day from BRC, but there were no connectors included.   I stupidly decided to get a pack of 10 pairs off Ebay, which meant I was stuck waiting for nearly two weeks before I could assemble things.

 

 

[Tim Mackey]

Delivery has varied from 2 days from ordering - ( yes really !)   to 2 weeks or so.

Apart of course, from when I ordered things which I knew were on back-order.

[Tony Smith 7]

Fingers crossed.  I have time off next week and it would be brilliant to get this thing finally flying properly again.

[Hamish]

When I am comparing the HK £ prices I add about 20% to compare with GC, or other UK supplier.  Some items are very cheap compared with UK supplier on a like for like basis if you have the patience to wait what normally takes about 8 days to arrive.

[Erfolg]

Tony

 

There are extra Paypal charges apparently on Chinese orders when using PP, it is this extra PP bolt on which they are absorbing (at least in $ transactions).

 

I accept that mail order takes longer than going that day to the LMS. For me getting to the LMS can often take days, just down to other commitments and the distance involved. On that basis, UK mail order ifs often quicker. In the case of overseas purchase, I now take the view, just as when I worked in industry, purchases and deliveries are of necessity  pre-planned, I now do the same with my model build. My next model, has a motor and servos on order now, ready for the build part of the programme.

 

I plan on 2-3 week delivery from HK, a little longer than Timbo. I have never been disappointed, often pleasantly surprised.

 

My purchasing strategy is at the other end of the spectrum to Timbo. I buy little and often, keeping generally to less (fractionally) than 100g and $40, so postage is limited to $3 (£1.80). This is both generally cheaper than UK mail order ( a lot less than petrol cost to a model shop) and I also stay within the £18 limit (that another contributor linked to the appropriate HMG site).

 

I have come to see this process as the future for UK based modelling, as most of us, have no well stocked model shop within say  a 10 mile radius or the time to get there.

Edited By Erfolg on 15/10/2010 11:30:20

[Tony Smith 7]

I'm the same, no worthwhile local model shop and UK mail order is faster than waiting till I can get to a decent one.   Shame because model shops used to be good for non-modelling practical stuff as well.

 

My problem at the moment is that I'm so unfamiliar with the technology and terminology that I can't really expect to get all that I need in one order.  That makes the delay ordering from overseas worse.  

[Erfolg]

In some respects HK are better for low value orders, in that the P&P can be low, less than £2. In the past both GC and Robotbirds, had low rates for small items, I am not sure at all if that is the same today.

 

The issue with HK, is that if you are waiting for an item, 2 weeks seems a long time.

[Tony Smith 7]

Well I'm sure I'm going to find out.  I've just ordered a "Fun Cub" which will be my first dedicated powered plane (rather than electric glider).  I can see at least two or three orders being needed before I have all the necessary bits.  

[ericrw]

I've just found a site that seems to be better than HK, in respect of prices.  The site is www.throttlestore.com.    For instance a Giant Cessna model on theHK site, comes out as a total cost of  303$ (£192.78) but the Throttle store is selling at 169.00€ (£148.70) and no postage charges.   But I'm not sure wehther I would have to pay VAT or not.  Has anyone had any dealings with this Norwegian Store ??  Eric.

[Erfolg]

Eric

 

Anything that seems to good to be true, fills me with fear.

 

I would not have used HK, if I had not read that many USA modellers, purchased from them.

 

I used a site called "Tendarni", who were a little better for price than HK, I no longer can find them. I had a few items not turn up. I wrote of the items, putting it down to experience. Later I received a E-mail from them after some time, saying the postal address seemed wrong. I explained that a number of other purchases had not arrived, they immediately sent me replacements. By then I had moved on to GC and HK.