Hobby king delivery charges

[Geoff Parkes]

Not certain if its common knowlege but H.K.have doubled their min. charge for free delivery, I tried to order goods to the value of £92.54 this morning all from the U.K depot, on going to the delivery page they wanted to add an additional £19.72 for delivery. On going on to their live chat site assuming this was a mistake , i was informed that the min. value of the order for free delivery is now $100 dollars and if the order includes lipo batteries if they are over 60 watt/hours they will incure an additional charge, if you have to add 20% on the the price of items to cover delivery I dont think I will be ordering anything from them in the near future.

[John Lee]

I've found the Euro warehouse much cheaper/free postage for my last 2 Lipo orders. And just as quick - 2/3 days delivery arriving by Parcelforce

Edited By John Lee on 13/11/2019 11:23:13

[Cuban8]

As always, a value judgement by the individual as to what one is prepared to pay. I don't worry too much about delivery charges these days, I shop around of course as one or two on-line shops are a bit on the heavy side compared to some. Depending on what it is in terms of size and weight, £20 for delivery would bit much say for a servo but for a large box, maybe a kit, then the bother and expense of a lengthy drive and one's time does come into play if you don't have a model shop nearby (as most of us don't these days).

I ordered a gyro from Banggood yesterday, first time I've used them - postage was a couple of quid, tracked and insured 5-10 day delivery which I thought was pretty reasonable coming from the other side of the planet. Dispatched this morning according to their email.

[KiwiKid]

Things at HK are a bit fluid at the moment with some rather far ranging changes afoot, probably involving divesting some of their non core activities and concentrating on what has been successful for them - aircraft lines (with parts) and, to a lesser extent, quads and copters. Here's a fb comment from the horses mouth which gives an indication of some of the issues they are facing

[Dove from above]

Posted by Cuban8 on 13/11/2019 12:34:45:

As always, a value judgement by the individual as to what one is prepared to pay. I don't worry too much about delivery charges these days, I shop around of course as one or two on-line shops are a bit on the heavy side compared to some. Depending on what it is in terms of size and weight, £20 for delivery would bit much say for a servo but for a large box, maybe a kit, then the bother and expense of a lengthy drive and one's time does come into play if you don't have a model shop nearby (as most of us don't these days).

I ordered a gyro from Banggood yesterday, first time I've used them - postage was a couple of quid, tracked and insured 5-10 day delivery which I thought was pretty reasonable coming from the other side of the planet. Dispatched this morning according to their email.

If like my first and last Banggood purchase, I got hit with tax and the £12 handling fee. The Item was a RF module and £12 ,thought that was below the tax threshold? to much hassle to question. Wont order from asia again.

[Mike T]

Your order was well below the tax (about £18) and excise (about £135) thresholds. If I were you I'd be making a fuss...

Nice to see a bit of candour from HK's main man - not least singling out the UK warehouse for praise. I'm convinced part of their trading problems are due to their disastrous IT 'upgrade' a few years back - the effects can still (irritatingly) be seen today...

As I recall, ALL orders were postage extra 'back in the day' They introduced post-free for $50+ a few years back, then a month or so ago it went up to $80, now $100. Most UK based businesses only do post-free for £100+, so HK are still pretty competitive. On typical HK orders, postage from the UK and Euro warehouses is still only about a fiver.

Customer service was always poor, but has improved recently. Last month I had to reject a fairly expensive charger which was defective out of the box. I expected to have to return it, but they just approved a replacement immediately, no quibble. (I repaired the defective item...)

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Michael Barclay]

The last two small orders i made from Hobby King were quoted as £5.00 from UK and £1.80 from EU. No brainer. Ordered from EU.

[tigerman]

I paid £18 delivery charges for some Lipo and never did receive them .Will not touch Hobby King with a barge poll

[brokenenglish]

I've had perfect service from the HK European warehouse for the last 7 years, and I shall continue using them.
If they have what I need, I buy from them.

[John Lee]

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 14/11/2019 03:15:31:

No complaints about Hobby King from me. Just pointing out another factor not mentioned here, Dollar conversion.

Rather than use the default PayPal option if you use a credit card which gives the inter bank exchange rate, such as Halifax Clarity or Revolut, you can save about 5% on the conversion.

[Geoff S]

When reading the news about constant protest marches in Hong Kong over the past few weeks I'm not surprised that any business operating from there is having problems operating efficiently. In fact I'm surprised Hobby King aren't having more supply difficulties than they are.

I have no idea why Tigerman is having such a poor service from HK. All I know is that I've been using them on and off for several years with no problems with either supply, product quality or price. Where once there were several local model shops I used regularly now there are none and I have to buy everything mail order (ie on-line) or at shows. HK is just one of my sources and I'll contine to use them.

It seem customs and excise are getting a bit more pro-active (or perhaps reactive) and charging for Asian personal imports. I've also used Banggood, where most of the items are sent from China, and never been charged. In fact the only time I have been subject to customs/VAT charges was when I bought from Tower Hobbies in the USA some years ago. Although slightly more recently I bought a new cowl and other fibreglass parts to repair my Hangar 9 P47 from the USA and they came through without any problems and they were well above the threshold. I think it's just luck if you get charged or not ... or perhaps where you live?

Geoff

[Michael Barclay]

No hobby shops near me so I use Hobby King for most of my purchases. Only ever had a problem with one servo and it was replaced quickly with no quibles. I also like the reviews on all products which I find most helpfull in deciding between different brands etc. Keep it up Hobby King but watch delivery prices from UK.

[Bob Cotsford]

Don't forget import duties are calculated on the cost of the item AND postage, then once you have accrued HMRC charges you can add in another £8-£12 for the carrier's charge for collecting the tax due. Many far east suppliers put low values on the custom declarations even without your asking them to. US suppliers are more likely to declare the true value.

[Geoff Parkes]

Latest update on the H.K. postage charges from yesterday, today i removed the lipo. from the order (5 amp, 6s ) and the postage charge came down to 5.20 thats on an order of some £40 pounds odd. So the delivery on the lipo. would be approx. £12 pounds odd. Looks like just putting warning stickers on the box advising not to forward the parcel if the box is damaged is not good enough.

[Cuban8]

Posted by Cuban8 on 13/11/2019 12:34:45:

As always, a value judgement by the individual as to what one is prepared to pay. I don't worry too much about delivery charges these days, I shop around of course as one or two on-line shops are a bit on the heavy side compared to some. Depending on what it is in terms of size and weight, £20 for delivery would bit much say for a servo but for a large box, maybe a kit, then the bother and expense of a lengthy drive and one's time does come into play if you don't have a model shop nearby (as most of us don't these days).

I ordered a gyro from Banggood yesterday, first time I've used them - postage was a couple of quid, tracked and insured 5-10 day delivery which I thought was pretty reasonable coming from the other side of the planet. Dispatched this morning according to their email.

According to tracking, my parcel arrived at Heathrow yesterday! So far, so good, for a couple of quids worth of postage. Lets see what our people can do with it

[FlyinFlynn]

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 14/11/2019 12:14:59:

Don't forget import duties are calculated on the cost of the item AND postage, then once you have accrued HMRC charges you can add in another £8-£12 for the carrier's charge for collecting the tax due. Many far east suppliers put low values on the custom declarations even without your asking them to. US suppliers are more likely to declare the true value.

The importer is responsible for the value declared on the imported goods. That is you if you ordered the item from China, you are the importer. It is an offence to make an improper declaration. Hobbyking used to have a box on their order page where you could stipulate the value to be declared but I believe that has gone now. The guys working at HM Customs are not stupid, overworked maybe...but not stupid...they have a pretty good idea of the value of items and usually make a fair assessment if they open the package. I have never heard of any individual being prosecuted for making a false declaration, possibly because an individual may be able to show extenuating circumstances ie. there being no way to find out what value is going to be entered on the import label.

If you want the best chance of your parcel slipping through the net use the bog standard postal service...a courier is much more likely to cop the duties. Professional import/exporters ship high cost items via courier, not the post and they are all set up to issue the correct paperwork.

[Nigel R]

Just a note on that "60 watt/hours" thing.

The FAA have set 100WH as limit for passengers to carry a single lipo. This covers something like a laptop.

Airline approval is needed for larger batteries; e.g. laptop 'power bank' type capacity extenders. Airlines can grant two additional batteries at their discretion.

Couriers are quite likely to follow suit with a capacity limit on a package. ParcelForce (which I believe was HK's courier of choice) for instance are flat out refusing lithium batteries (if not inside a device) within the UK.

Hence why large battery orders are very likely to get more expensive as time goes by.

Small batteries might still be cheap and cheerful for some time.

OTOH, I find 4 gallons of glow fuel quite reasonable value for money

[John Lee]

Posted by Nigel R on 18/11/2019 11:10:33:

ParcelForce (which I believe was HK's courier of choice) for instance are flat out refusing lithium batteries (if not inside a device) within the UK.

Not in my experience. I had three 6S batteries ordered from HobbyKing EU warehouse delivered to me via ParceForce a couple of weeks ago. The 'Lithium Battery' warning was prominent on the parcel.

[Nigel R]

Yes, but, no, but, for clarity:

For UK located senders, and UK destinations, ParcelForce say no, not happening.

For internationally located senders, ParcelForce will just move it on.

One rule for us... and another more beneficial rule to aid foreign nations commercial development.

[Don Fry]

Not quite so Nigel, ParcelForce are just being jobsworth on internal UK packages. When they get involved with international carriers, and in this case mostly Holland for HobbyKing, they fall in line to common practice.

Or not get involved with international trade. Hence they shift it.

[Cuban8]

Posted by Cuban8 on 18/11/2019 09:30:19:

Posted by Cuban8 on 13/11/2019 12:34:45:

As always, a value judgement by the individual as to what one is prepared to pay. I don't worry too much about delivery charges these days, I shop around of course as one or two on-line shops are a bit on the heavy side compared to some. Depending on what it is in terms of size and weight, £20 for delivery would bit much say for a servo but for a large box, maybe a kit, then the bother and expense of a lengthy drive and one's time does come into play if you don't have a model shop nearby (as most of us don't these days).

I ordered a gyro from Banggood yesterday, first time I've used them - postage was a couple of quid, tracked and insured 5-10 day delivery which I thought was pretty reasonable coming from the other side of the planet. Dispatched this morning according to their email.

According to tracking, my parcel arrived at Heathrow yesterday! So far, so good, for a couple of quids worth of postage. Lets see what our people can do with it

Arrived this morning delivered by our postie. Only £14 and a small package, but still very good value for a couple of quid tracked postage.

[Gary Manuel]

I ordered Six 6s 5000mAh LiPo's last Thursday (I was offered 20% discount and couldn't resist using it). Got the following apology from HK on Monday. It looks like postage of large LiPo's is genuinely becoming an issue - note the reference to the word "dangerous":

***************************************

Dear Gary Manuel,

Our sincere apologies for the delay with your order xxxxxxxxxx. We have made a follow up regarding this and was told by the warehouse that we are experiencing delays in shipment of orders that has dangerous item on it.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and delay. We are implementing measures to ensure that this does not happen again.

Your order will be picked up by GC distribution by Tuesday 19th November, 2019. and will be available for delivery within 3-5 days. Thank you for your understanding. Please also review your valid number given in this order as the Courier will contact you 1 hour before delivery. Failing to do so and not being able to sign for the parcel will result in re-delivery charges. If you intend to have your neighbor sign for your parcel, please also advise us so we may relay this information to our courier.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Regards,

HobbyKing Support Team

**********************************************

[Erfolg]

From my experiences HK delivery charges are pretty much the same as their competitors.

It does seem however that because HK use the PO, the charges in the UK are higher for small items than Amazon, who now seem more often than not use their own couriers. It seems that with small items that the PO charging regime, increases significantly once you move away from the letter. I just hope that UK carriers are not ham strung by restrictions to compete post election.

More often than not if the choice is the UK or the Netherlands, the Netherlands will be cheaper.

The postal service from Hong Kong now seems to be set to encourage European warehouses. Although for small items it has to be Hong Kong, even with a £14 limit, you can still obtain very good value, if the UK, MS is the baseline.

I have been caught once for exceeding the personal import limit by 50p (my mistake), although the PO charge was not a deal breaker. I have also had one of those stickers about EU, something or other, although it was an order for about £4, as I needed some "C" clips,HK seeming to be the only practical source for me. As a back order it came through on a priority post route. Could that have raised suspicions of a higher value?

[Erfolg]

Last night I was thinking, contemplating recent events, as I drifted into sleep.

This week I have made a number of purchases from Amazon, what has struck me that all the purchases that come direct from Amazon, pop through my letter box, just after I have clicked confirmed order. I know, an exaggeration, yet that is almost how it seems. Both the ordering process is ultra slick, delivery is very similar.

I find the PO still, very much as in its Nationalised, public ownership days. Some parcels are delivered quickly, some seem to go via the panama canal, around both capes and then returning via the Suez canal. Yet my switch from Leeds came early the next morning, having ordered it the previous afternoon, although it possibly did not come via the standard postie. Just a few moths back I received a unable to deliver card, yet I heard the letter box, I was sitting by the PC, adjacent to a window that looks at the front door. By the time I got to the door, read the card, opened the door, looked down the road, there was no sign of the delivery van. Other times the service has been OK, our postie himself appears to be OK, although no sign, as an organisation in wanting to be "Wold Class", as I was told as a company we were expected to be.

HK need to find a better delivery service provider.