J V R Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Looking at the Hobbyking site today I noticed that you have 3 options to order from, UK, Europe or Global warehouse. What is the difference between them, if I were to order from the Europe or the Global warehouse would I have to pay import duties ?? jvr........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomtom39 Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 No duties on orders from Hobbyking UK or Europe , however you could end up paying duties and a handling charge for orders from the Global warehouse. Make sure you check postage options before proceeding with accepting your transaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-YRUS Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Stating the obvious perhaps. Delivery time is extended from global warehouse and delivery charges can be high'ish if you want a large item fast. From my experience small light items get through customs ok from the global warehouse but large items (such as a model) wont. But check the cost with postage and duty and you can still save money on the right item. But it is a hassle if anything goes missing. I have had items from all three and if all goes well its great not so brilliant if its lost or delayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilson H Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Had a few items from Hobbyking try to stick to UK when stock available as always get stuck with extra cost even though not excessive. Would agree not brilliant if parts go missing the procedure makes you wish you had gone elsewhere. But this isn't a frequent occuracne have found uk side very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willyuk Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Uk store seems fine, very quick delivery and they let you know the order status all the way through. Also postage charges are reasonable. Trouble is they have small stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David... Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 It's basically a gamble. Out of the 32 orders I've made from Hobbyking (not UK or Europe) only one has been charged import duty (3%) and VAT (20%) plus a post office fee of £8 so about 3% get charged! I think that's good odds. My friends and I have determined it most likely the direct channel shipping option as the duty paid HMRC sticker indicates they checked and charged a single shipment and mine/ours were e.g. 12 of 1, 22 of 1, where seems to denote one container and I think this is what HK do, that is group together orders into one big consignment, so don't use the direct channel option! Oh yes and the charging threshold is about £15 Edited By David... on 06/09/2014 00:09:22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Bran Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Posted by David... on 06/09/2014 00:07:42: It's basically a gamble. Out of the 32 orders I've made from Hobbyking (not UK or Europe) only one has been charged import duty (3%) and VAT (20%) plus a post office fee of £8 so about 3% get charged! I think that's good odds. My friends and I have determined it most likely the direct channel shipping option as the duty paid HMRC sticker indicates they checked and charged a single shipment and mine/ours were e.g. 12 of 1, 22 of 1, where seems to denote one container and I think this is what HK do, that is group together orders into one big consignment, so don't use the direct channel option! Dear Sir, Thank you for your information, we'll be round to investigate and collect any due fees on the other 31 orders. We'll need that list of your mates, too. Hope you didn't choose a false declaration value when ordering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David... Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Well HK set the customs declaration value, in fact they no longer offer a field to set it and it's now the full order value because I think they were told too, before I think they quoted its true value before profit and I gave HMRC the opportunity to charge me duty with each of my consignments but they chose not to do so. The postage office charge is to collect taxes for the HMRC and transfer the duty to them, I would have liked a receipt from HMRC to say I paid the duty, but I know I won't get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 I mainly use the UK warehouse, pricing works out the same when taking postage into account and it comes much quicker. Note that the UK warehouse is basically a freight forwarding operation not a full retail operation, so you are still placing your order with Hong Kong, it's just been pre-shipped to the UK warehouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David... Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Yes that's the best way to order from them, slowly the UK Warehouse choice is growing in range as they gain more popularity, but for now I find it limiting for the stuff I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Burrows Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Don't order on a Friday midday from the UK warehouse with 24 express and expect a delivery on sat morning .that was the mistake I made with my first order from HK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete taylor Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Posted by David Burrows on 07/09/2014 19:27:28: Don't order on a Friday midday from the UK warehouse with 24 express and expect a delivery on sat morning .that was the mistake I made with my first order from HK Order using 24 hr delivery from almost anywhere on a Friday and you'll be lucky if the courier considers Saturday to count! Been there - done that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J V R Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 I needed a 0.15 engine for a small plane that's been sitting on the bench for ages so I ordered one of their AP hornet 0.15 engines, next day it was fitted & run in about 26 hours after the order was placed, and best of all total cost was £26 with postage ect ect........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Engine Doctor Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Be careful when ordering .Hobby king UK are fine provided they have the item in stock and dont pass it over to the global warehouse ;similarly the Euro warehouse. I recently ordered some bits from HK Europe. The order went through and when , after a couple of weeks I checked the tracking it appeared to be coming from the global warehouse ? It finally arrived with Customs stamp and charge on it . Annoying but still considerably cheaper than buying at home . This also happened to a friend but luckily he didn't get caught by customs . So if its over £15 in value you will have to pay VAT and then the royal mail will add a handling charge of £8 . This could make your Hobby king bargain an expensive buy . I'm not sure at what price import charges ,apart from VAT come into play but be aware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuban8 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 The last two orders from the global warehouse have given me the option of delivery by Hong Kong Post rather than the dreaded Malaysia Post. Items via Hong Kong post now back to about a 12 to 15 day delivery (only 8 days for my last order!) so much better than 6 weeks with Malaysia Post. I've only ever been hit with charges from Global twice in 60 orders and in both cases they were fairly large items that were handled by Parcel Farce rather than Royal Mail. My Royal Mail postie delivers the small boxes of goodies with all the other regular mail at no extra cost. The value of the item doesn't appear significant in my experience, but rather its physical size (hence Parcel Farce getting hold of it and adding their "handling charge".......VAT fair enough). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Blake 1 Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Nearly everything I'm intereested in on Hobbyking's site is usually marked up as BACKORDER. Does anyone know how long these to materialise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countryboy Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Posted by Malcolm Blake 1 on 22/09/2014 13:08:44: Nearly everything I'm intereested in on Hobbyking's site is usually marked up as BACKORDER. Does anyone know how long these to materialise. Silly question but have you tried asking HobbyKIng? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wilson Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Posted by J V R on 04/09/2014 18:38:40: ......., if I were to order from the Europe or the Global warehouse would I have to pay import duties ?? jvr........... What is often misunderstood by many is that whichever HK warehouse you are looking at, ALL HK orders are placed with the chinese company, transacted in a foreign country, paid for in US Dollars and ARE LIABLE TO DUTY. Each of the warehouses around the world (US, UK, EU) are transhipment points. There is no duty paid by HK whichever warehouse you order from. This is clearly stated (hidden) in the small print when you place an order. Having stated that; In my experience HMRC do not check internal mail and I have never had Duty or VAT charged on any order from the UK warehouse. Even sizeable parcells such as rolls of covering and ARTF planes. My one order from the EU warehouse similarly passed through the postal system unnoticed. Although that was a small jiffy bag so is hardly representative. Of the orders placed on the Global warehouse only one of about a dozen orders was picked up by HMRC. I was happy to pay the duty and VAT, although not so happy about handing £8 to the postal service for me to collect my parcel. For the record this was a 8"x 8"x 4" box containing 6x 5g servos, 2x 5g motors and 2x 6A ESC, which could easily have gone in a jiffy bag (although that is just sour grapes from me). What you feel about the Customs/Duty situation I shall leave between you and you conscience. However the argument boils down to the likelyhood of getting charged the duty, NOT whether it is due: Because it clearly is. Regards, Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.