Hobbyking

[Old Geezer]

Has anyone else experienced an incompatibility between the Hobbyking UK website and their iPad?

I can get to the website, but as soon as I try to search for anything, anything at all, and all I get is that bloomin' rotating sunflower thing - wait as long as your patience will allow ( 5 min's plus is my best ) and that's it!!!

Looks like the nearest I'm going to get to Hobbyking is Rapid RC Models - very frustrating.

[Erfolg]

I think that CZmaz is illustrating that the search tool is pants.

IC engines are on the way out, yet an Ic order, is an IC order.

The HK web site is regressing, and could signal the end of the business if it is not sorted. After all the web site is their shop window. The real problem is that it has regressed now for a number of years.

The stock control is just one part of the problem.

Edited By Erfolg on 28/12/2019 22:37:04

[cymaz]

 

 

Amazon is is even worse. I would always gift a Rc plane to a 2 yr old

Edited By cymaz on 29/12/2019 04:44:34

[OzFlyer]

Perhaps a slight silver lining to all this is we may see a return of bricks and mortar hobby shops. I ran a hobby shop in Melbourne (Australia) for a few years, but had to close the doors as I just could not compete with Hobbyking. A kit on my shelf for $350 you could get at HK for $120. I was selling the FrSky Taranis when they were first released for $329, HK - $217. Two dollars less than the wholesale price to me from FrSky. But... they bought two thousand, I bought two. One of my suppliers, also a one man band who had been in the business for decades, told me once he had seen over 400 hobby shops close in Australia in the previous ten years, but very few new ones opening up (this was in 2016).

But, maybe HK's woes are the hobby shop business' gain. They still exist, hanging on by their fingernails. Hopefully they will start getting a few more customers through the door who are fed up with HK's website, fed up with out of stock items, fed up of waiting weeks for their purchases to arrive, fed up with ordering quick links and fuel tubing online, and are now willing to pay a bit extra for the privilege of getting the item now, not having to deal with customs and import duty, and experiencing genuine after sales service that actually works.

Am I dreaming? I hope not.

[Ron Gray]

@Cymaz - if you search for ‘glow engines’ you get over 200 items! I never use the left hand Categories when looking for things I either use the search function or the top menu bar tabs. But this does highlight that the site has poor functionality.

@OldG - I mostly use my iPad and don’t experience the same problems as you, maybe it’s your iPad?

I’m inclined to wait to see what changes they have planned for 2020 before joining in on the doom and gloom!

[cymaz]

Posted by Ron Gray on 29/12/2019 06:58:32:

@Cymaz - if you search for ‘glow engines’ you get over 200 items! I never use the left hand Categories when looking for things I either use the search function or the top menu bar tabs. But this does highlight that the site has poor functionality.

@OldG - I mostly use my iPad and don’t experience the same problems as you, maybe it’s your iPad?

I’m inclined to wait to see what changes they have planned for 2020 before joining in on the doom and gloom!

I will give that a go , thanks. I will continue to use uk shops with web sites

p.s. just put in “glow engines”. The search engine came up with everything from turbines to OO scale . 

Edited By cymaz on 29/12/2019 08:09:50

[Michael Barclay]

Face facts. The corner shop is a thing of the past. Large online retailers are here to stay. I for one wish Hobby King all the best in restructuring the business. I have had nothing but first class service from them with quality products at great prices, and I have no problem navigating the website.

Why drive to a model shop to find they have no stock of what you need but can order it for you and have it in a week to ten days at a large markup on Hobby King prices.No thanks.

My only issue with them is the delivery charges from the UK but I guess thats beyond Hobby Kings control. Not a big problem as I now order mostly from the EU warehouse.Have not had to wait longer than 5 days for delivery of anything.

[Cuban8]

OzFlyer makes some good points, but I fear that a resurgence of 'bricks and mortar' model shops much loved of our youth, will remain a nice thought but not a solid business proposition - with or without the likes of HK etc.What would a smallish shop be best to specialise in? or whether to specialise at all? Consider the huge amount of stock needed to be maintained to satisfy the walk-in customer who might be a heli, drone, model car, model aeroplane, plastic kit or boat enthusiast or scratch builder.

We've been here before....... even prior to the internet when I clearly recall many model shops that I used, diversifying into all sorts of non-modelling products to maintain cash flow. Depending on the current craze there were attempts at selling skate boards, bikes, air weapons, CB equipment and even one shop IIRC that split itself 50:50 modelling and baby clothes!

One particular shop in Loughton, Essex,near the main war memorial, was squeezed into a gap between two other shops, and was so tiny it wasn't much bigger than a few large cupboards and was chock full of trains, boats and 'planes that never seemed to change. The old chap running it (probably only in his 50s but seemed ancient to my young eyes at the time) always had a tweed sports type jacket, collar and tie and smart trousers! No capacity to alter much and only had room for a couple of customers at a time - elbow to elbow! It had been around for many years but closed during the early 90's if I remember correctly. I guess he just ran it for something to do. Anyone else recall it?

And naturally, we have a change in the modern customer profile that wouldn't really find much pleasure in simply wandering around a trad shop for the sake of it as was once the case and then leaving empty handed or maybe buying a few clevises 'for stock'. Can you honestly see teenagers or twenty somethings (the future of our hobby) bothering with all that? There is room for the high street model shop, but only as a facade for a vibrant internet mail order business and we should support these enterprises as much as possible, although increasing regulation and a possible marginalising of our hobby to a point well below a level  where it can sustain itself meaningfully,  might do for them anyway. See what's happening in the 'states at this time.  I hope not and many dismiss the worries as rants or scare mongering and even whinging, lets hope they're right.

Like Michael, I don't find HK's service too bad at all - far from perfect it's true, but the only place I get my Lipos from these days, most other stuff coming from larger web based model shops, Ebay suppliers and Balsa Cabin who are within reasonable diving distance for me for my wood and materials.

 

 

Edited By Cuban8 on 29/12/2019 11:00:19

[Erfolg]

The observation of Cymaz potentially indicates why HK are having problems.

If the search engine cannot reliably put together the products that are being sought by the punter a number of issues follow. The first is that many potential sales do not take place. The second is that the data that the site is generating are probably not useful to HK. The lack of useful data could well lead to less than optimal products being stocked and bought in. Also a less than intuitive site, discourages return customers and bad press such as we are now generating.

I tells me that before HK do anything the web site needs sorting, to run on all "operating Systems". Perhaps most, Microsoft, Android, perhaps Apple, the rest are probably to esoteric.

Then they can start to reliably worry about stock and its product range.

Edited By Erfolg on 29/12/2019 11:18:09

[Andy Stephenson]

I have just just surfed all the iron-on covering materials on HK, all but a few of the least attractive colours are in stock. The website is not the quickest but I am not experiencing the slow speeds some are complaining about. I use a Firefox on a desktop PC.

I have had an "alert me" request on some colours of film hanging around for months and still nothing yet. HK could at least stock a few of the staple modelling products then they could generate some turnover. I would buy for stock like most who build models not available in ARTF form.

I used to use Profilm but the price is now astronomic, other available films are inferior and what looks like the HK films on AliExpress etc are only available in limited colours.

If this goes on for much longer I will be exploring alternative perhaps even traditional finishing techniques.

A.

[Andy Hat]

Andy - try www.rapidrcmodels.com for the Hobbyking covering (which is excellent covering).

If a Hobbyking alert triggers, you'll need to react to it fast. Rapid RC and a few Ebay sellers buy stuff up very quickly.

 

Edited By Andy Hat on 29/12/2019 12:41:21

[Andy Hat]

What I can't fathom is why some Hobbyking products are so short lived. e.g. some of the foamies like the Durafly Junior) which looked like my Junior 60 here). They seem to produce them for a only a short time, then discontinue them.

With the high initial costs of designing/producing molds etc. Surely this can't be very economic?

[cymaz]

Might be that it’s stock from another retailer they’ve purchased in bulk.

Trago Mills used to do that...it was always a surprise to see what they had in the shop. If it was useful it was snapped up pretty quick as you knew it might not be available again

[OzFlyer]

@Michael_Barclay I hope you are wrong but I fear you are right. But the fact that HK finds itself in the position of having to execute a major restructure of their business must send a negative message to its millions of customers.

But of course the hobby business is not the only one hurting, all small retailers are feeling the pain. I know clothing and shoe shops are. I was talking to a friend a while back about buying shoes online. I couldn't understand how anybody could buy shoes online, it made no sense to me. He said what people do is go into their local shoe shop, find something they like, try them on to get the right size, then go home and order them online. The shoe shop was basically a free storefront and fitting service for the online retailer. He told me he'd heard of a couple of shoe shops that now charge $10 to try on shoes. You get it back if you buy something, but otherwise, no. Good idea I thought, and fair enough. I don't think that ever happened to me, but it might have. I carried a good range of product, usually around forty grand's worth, so its entirely possible.

I think there is still room in the business for the local hobby shop though. @Cuban8 asks what the specialy area should be, if any. May I suggest it should be what my erstwhile predecessor used to call "shit and glitter". Basically anything costing less than about $10. Is it worth buying it online to save a couple of dollars? For me, no. For big ticket items, yes. It's very hard to say no to saving a hundred dollars buying it online.

My local hobby shop (in a small country town in Northern New South Wales) carries a good range of S&G, but also a lot of car stuff which apparently sells well, though much of it falls into the S&G category. Multirotors are big. They have a few lipos, electric motors, (no IC), two radios and maybe six kits (RTF that is). No helis, no boats, some plastic kits which apparently sell quite well too. The shop seems to be doing okay.

DIversifying is useful too. There used to be a hobby shop here that was part of a toy shop. Closed down now though, but the owner told me the only part of the business making a (thin) profit was the modelling section. Toys were a disaster. My local shop shares space with an electronics hobby shop (Jaycar, very useful) and a car parts (Autobarn) shop, which also has some interesting stuff in it. Spray paint, adhesives, all sorts of stuff. Those symbioses seem to work well. 3D printing may be another possible area to get into. So I think there are strategies for the survival of hobby shops, and imho that is a *good thing*.

[Erfolg]

IMO Micheal is absolutely on the money.

I only now go to the retail centre that is massive with lots of interesting aspects, such as Manchester, thousands of shops, both mainstream and a mingling of specialty outlets and a massive variety of eating venues. The German, dutch Christmas market gets me there, although not this year. For me this is a +60 mile journey each way. It needs to be really special

I do not shop locally other than our groceries. The local town (now a faux City) does not get any of my business as they do not want it. I am charged for parking, parking is difficult and to top it of, not that many shops, what there is has a limited range. There is an aspect that is ironic, it is about 15 miles away and takes longer to get there than Manchester, in part due to the anti car road system.

Now ask me am i gong to travel +80 miles to a model shop with a limited range and not competitive prices with the Internet.

IMO the principal issue with HK is the web site. Stock levels I can live with, if they can get what i want to me in up to 60 days if out of stock. The reality is that most stuff arrives in days if in the UK, a week if coming from Holland (Netherlands) and a month when from Hong Kong. Yet the HK web site does my head in, to the extent I have recently used 4max. I tend to plan my purchases to reflect the situation.

My Grandchildren buy what they want on line as the norm, it is here to stay, unless governments find a way of imposing charges to preferentially favour a less efficient retail market. Which would be to societies disadvantage.

Edited By Erfolg on 29/12/2019 17:12:39

Edited By Erfolg on 29/12/2019 17:14:36

[Don Fry]

Actually, HK need a tree and branch menu system. Plain simple, vanilla flavour. If you are clever, an item is listed in 2 areas if it has two functions. With available/not on the front page. I don't need a drone going round square circles to tell me I'm wasting time. I especially don't need to find Lipo batteries are only available from Hong Kong, when I asked to use another warehouse, and they won't deliver from Hong Kong. Plain stupid.

and that is the worry, why was this thought to be acceptable, when the website has gone through a series of changes, plain stupid has crept in, and stayed in.

Senior management too distracted back then, and now can't afford to sort it out? Another explanation would be welcome.

[Nigel R]

Yes they do Don, the current setup is awful, and worse yet, Hobbyking's own search engine is an utter disaster. How that ever got signed off I do not know.

Using google with "site:hobbyking.com" in front of your desired thing, works about 100x better.

As for their stock levels, occasionally I have found ordering the same product from banggood.com has worked (I'm thinking particularly of covering film and outrunners here, approx same price as HK- usually - comes via the slow boat)

if they could sort the search engine and time for product lines to come back into stock, I suspect they'd clear a fair bit more business, but its their call.

Asfor the other small shops, they can do ok, I think, providing they are happy to embrace mail order and provide something the mass box shifter (for us, that's HK) does not, this is nothing more than the quality or quantity argument, HK go for quantity, the small guys have to go for quality in some way. We all know a few of the usual suspects in the UK model scene that seem to deliver time and time again - SLEC, MSL, SMC, etc. It can be done but they have to operate mainly as mail order and the active physical storefront (or not) is a bonus.

[OzFlyer]

All fair points @Erfolg. My local hobby shop is a 7 minute drive from my house, most of it on a highway, and has an undercover parking area that is never more than half full and is free. Needless to say there are no road tolls or anything, not even any traffic lights. Getting to the shop is very easy for me, so I can go there, get what I want and go home. I could probably complete the whole expedition in under half an hour if I didn't stop to browse. I generally don't go to any other shops or need to use the trip to do other things as well to make it worth while. Lucky me, I guess. Having said that, my next closest hobby shop is a two hour drive away, and in a capital city. I've done the trip once (to attend a seminar, not to visit the hobby shop) and yes, it was a nightmare. Also cost me a tank of petrol, about $70, and parking ($20). $90 all up or nearly 50 quid. So no, I won't be patronising that hobby shop.

@Nigel_R agree with your view. For me though the main differentiator is service level. No waiting to get the part (if it's in stock) and functional return policy would be the main ones for me. Quality of items is also a factor, as retailers will soon abandon items that keep getting returned or complained about, so only the good stuff gets reordered.

[SIMON CRAGG]

During 2019, most of my purchases have gone from HK to Motion RC EU. IMHO they have have the best customer services I have ever experienced. They will price match the lowest price you can find, its post free, and gets here in three days. If there is anything wrong / damaged, they will replace it without question. I hope they can maintain this standard as it is outstanding.

[Old Geezer]

Ron - you're right, snuck onto Mrs OG's iPad Mini while she was out with her horses. Lo and Behold - there was Hobbyking UK. The site isn't as user friendly as it once was, but at least I can search it now when SWMBO's off the premises - choice presently has to be between a couple of el cheapo foam board jobbies or a RadJet for near enough the same money ( had both before - both are huge fun for not much money ).

[Brian Hammond]

I get really annoyed when HK send an email to say they have a certain item (order now)and when you click on it ,out of stock appears,I shudder to think how much business they are losing by pi,,,,, people off!

[conrad taggart]

Some interesting comments here - re loose management style and down sizing at least in relation to the UK

**LINK**

[Richard Acland]

discovered "RC life" which has good bargains 10 meters of covering film for under £20. Looks the same as hobbyking film. I think this is a re incarnation of Giant Cod which always offered good service, and it is UK based.

[Erfolg]

I am rather pleased that RCLife has been made known to me. Not only does the site do what the HK site should do, it has a useful range of product on offer.

Cor, it reminds me of Giant Cod, before it was sold on, then messed up by Giant Shark, only to disappear.

There are a few minor challengers to HK, RCLife is another. HK needs to get its finger out before it is to late. Remember we do not all want foam or other types of ARTF models.

[Don Fry]

Had a look a RC Life today. Lording it on the front of site, we do MonoCote. Search, no item found. What's the drawer to this site. Dross website, slightly polished. There's an old proverb about a product not polishable.

And in defence of HobbyKing I still like their stuff. I would challenge an accusation of cheap. I thought their stuff is fit for purpose, and a problem did get sorted, if you jumped through their hoops. I've had far more problems with some well respected British sites.