Hobbyking virgin ...

[ericrw]

When you order from UK depot the postal charges are displayed on the final order page. They are approx. £3.50 or 1st class delivery (default) of about £4 .50. If it was coming from the Global depot the postal charges would be much higher and that alone should be a clue as to where your purchase is coming from !!

[John Privett]

Stock in the UK warehouse will always have "(UK warehouse)" at the end of the product name. Similarly (EU Warehouse) is added to the name of items in the EU Warehouse. So if it doesn't say (UK/EU Warehouse) at the end of the name then it's coming from China!

Pros/Cons... International warehouse has cheaper prices and more items stocked. But delivery is slow, maybe only a week, more likely 2 or 3, but can be longer. And you are liable for Duty/VAT when your parcel arrives in the UK, though more often than not you won't be charged. UK Warehouse - less stock, prices a little higher, though shipping cheaper and much faster. EU Warehouse, similar to UK warehouse, though shipping is a little slower.

And just a reminder - don't bother clicking on the currency converter to show the price in £. In the past it has been woefully inaccurate, using an exchange rate that's only updated about twice a year. Though I have to confess, today's rate looks very close to reality. Maybe they've at long last started updating it more frequently? In any case, whatever they say the price is in £'s you get chaged in US$.

[Simon Chaddock]

John

I have never had a HK International Warehouse delivery in a week, more like 5 or 6, particularly for LiPos. As a result I only order from there if there is absolutely no alternative.

[Codename-John]

6 Days from dispatch is my record from Hong Kong, no lipo`s included though, it was some servoless retracts, servo`s etc. not choosing the very cheapest shipping option helps

[Erfolg]

I do think it needs restating, that if your purchase is less than £14 from a non EU source, no duty or Vat is due.

However cross this threshold and suddenly Vat is due, in some cases import duty is payable (although free trade agreements have reduced the range and countries where applicable), which now also includes the cost of postage as a part of the total cost and a handling charge.

In my case I mainly scratch build, on that basis small value purchases are pretty typical, certainly no ARTF kits (well not many). With this in mind the China depot becomes attractive as postage is $3 (2.99) or £1.80.

The down side is it takes on average 14 days from China for non Lipo items. However for Lipos at present, you can forget the 40 days, as my Greenacres ordered Lipo has still not arrived. The Pos Malaysia issue?

I did for a time use the Netherlands depot as the standard Netherlands to UK non tracking postal charges were $2.79 or £1.6. However attempts to use the Dutch postal charges recently have seen a considerable hike to the UK when attempted.

For me there is a problem using the UK depot, the obvious stock range and the high cost of postal charges by the UK PO. Often nearly as much as the items themselves. Remember, I do not purchase kits, where postal charges represent good value.

Edited By Erfolg on 17/07/2014 10:05:24

Edited By Erfolg on 17/07/2014 10:06:18

[Paul Marsh]

Looks like something's happening. Got a missed post form today, saying International and needs to be pickup from the Post office sorting depot. Will know on Sat how it's gone. Not too bad, 18 days, but if all ok, they still need their website sorting out before I will order any higher value stuff off them.

[Codename-John]

Their website is explicitly clear when you are ordering from anywhere other than the HK warehouse, its in the very title of the item you are viewing, if it does not state UK, EU or any other warehouse in the title it is coming from HK, it really is that simple

[Daithi O Buitigh]

Erfolg, the tax free limit is actually 15 quid on the contents, BUT if you go over that they promptly tax you on the shipping costs as well (then the RM or PF slaps a surcharge of £8 on top for their 'brokerage' fee).

The standard surcharge is bad enough, but if you ordered anything EMS it shoots up to £13.50

Edited By Daithi O Buitigh on 18/07/2014 03:18:57

[Erfolg]

Daithi

You are of course correct, the limit is £15.

I use £14, the reason being, Dollars has to be converted into £. As this varies, I allow a little head room. If purchasing small value items, you certainly do not want all the additions piled on top of your purchase price.

I see that the PO is being investigated in France for price fixing, with others (has to be others to fix prices). The trouble in the UK the PO is provided with privileges in exchange for the universal delivery service, this allows the high charges to made.

What is EMS?

[Daithi O Buitigh]

EMS - Express Mail Service (it's supposed to be delivered within 24 hours of clearance).

It's supposed to be faster but, apart from China Post, no EMS deliveries arrive any faster. In fact the one and only EMS I had managed to take 3 days after I paid the fee - I should have had it inside 24 hours of payment

[Paul Marsh]

Pickup up my HK bits today. Quite happy with this particular order, but the Molex lead is still the wrong type. How many type of molex leads are there??!!?

So the Hobbyking side of things is ok, but totally given up with getting this mini plane in the air, so going to sell it, as can't get the Spektrum AR6300 rx to work and the orange rx has only 4 channels - I need 5 and this molex lead would've sorted the ailerons out. Ho. hum.

If anyone's interested in a Hobbyking Micro Edge 540 UMX, just needs rx and/or molex Y lead.

Edited By Paul Marsh on 19/07/2014 15:13:59