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HobbyKing Marketing.


kevin b
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Having received the latest email from HobbyKing I was intrigued by what seems to be their latest marketing ploy.

They are (again) offering discounts on items which haven't yet arrived in the country, but apparently are on their way.

Very interesting. Particularly when you consider that after a short period (until stocks run down a bit) they then offer "clearance" discounts.

I get the impression that the new UK warehouse is probably not very big and has room outside for a shipping container. Possibly only employing a couple of people.

This opinion is based on the fact that very shortly after the first shipment the UK warehouse quickly ran out of stock.

I am not knocking them as they provide a service that helps preserve our hobby. Whether the far east production / pricing is ethical is another matter for debate, which I don't intend to go into.

I am amused by the strategy of asking for a 100% up front deposit. Not even UK builders get away with that one !

😁

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Well I fell for their ploy and backordered a Gloster Gladiator which arrived perhaps 10 days after promised and post-free at what I considered a reasonable price (£205 including a couple of suitable LiPos).  I'm pretty happy with it, though I've only managed 4 flights so far because it's winter -  2 visits/2 batteries.  I suppose I lost some interest on the money but very little.

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Ive said before and say again ... you cudnt pay me to order or buy from hobbyking I did it once before and never will again .. I much prefer to buy from better and more reputable outlets and pay that little extra for better quality models and accessories than buy hobbykings cheap poor quality rubbish

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Maybe they work like this.

 

A few months ago I bought a 3D Printer system from Elegoo to be fulfilled from their UK warehouse.

 

I had an issue with part of it and had to return it to them.  In separate emails they provided two different addresses in the Midlands.  Confused that they gave two addresses I checked on street view on Google maps.  Neither locations were branded as Elegoo, both companies had different but quite generic trading names.  When I Google I found they they were both general Logistics companies.  I suspect that Elegoo don't really have a UK warehouse they just contract it out to import businesses.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if HK do the same.

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3 hours ago, GaryWebb said:

Ive said before and say again ... you cudnt pay me to order or buy from hobbyking I did it once before and never will again .. I much prefer to buy from better and more reputable outlets and pay that little extra for better quality models and accessories than buy hobbykings cheap poor quality rubbish

 

... and yet so many people do and are highly satisfied with the motor, esc, LiPo, servo, wing bag or artf foamie they've bought.  My Gladiator, for instance, is well-designed (though there are some things I'd prefer to be different) and certainly flies really well.

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I have some HK LiPos that have performed far better, and lasted far longer than those bought for more money from "...better and more reputable outlets...". Maybe I've just been lucky. The expensive ones in question were incapable of flying my little Arrows Hawk, whereas the cheapy old HK ones let it zip around happily.

 

In my experience, HK stuff is as you'd expect - not highest quality but absolutely fit for purpose.

 

There are lots of horror stories about their customer service...... 🙂

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Agree with GG - I only retired next to the last of my blue Turnigy 3s1p 2200mah lipos last week, as one cell had finally given up the ghost. I think that they were one of the first thing I bought from Hobbyking, following the demise of Giantcod, so they are pretty old and must have had hundreds of cycles on them, always performing very well. I'd be more than happy to get further Turnigy packs from HK if they had the sizes that I needed at the moment, they are excellent value for money and last a long time - far better than some lipos I've had from so=called "reputable suppliers".

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41 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

I think the adage "you get what you pay for" is only partly true - in some areas, price seems totally unrelated to quality.....

Certainly not the case in my experience. Far and away the worst lipos I ever had were also the most expensive. Didn't even manage ten flights before falling over and £75 for a 3s1p 3300mah pack - Flightpower. Or as they were correctly referred to by a very good electric flyer when they went on close out sale HalfPower Flight Price.

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I have no idea as to the size of HK import warehouse, although I have seen the size of a few Toolstation outlets, they seem quite small. Yet the stock seems in general quite extensive.

 

IMO it does seem sensible not to stock some slow moving items, if that is what HK are doing. Especially when parcel post charges are small, from China (or elsewhere) and postal service is quite fast. For people like myself, where you live at the end of the road to nowhere, with few relevant shops, it works for me.

 

In the case of large or heavy type items, I imagine that determining demand is a must, as I guess these type of items will probably be part of a container shipment.

 

I have noticed that many non modelling items are now sipped from China, vat pre paid. I suspect that an SD card I have ordered is coming off-sure by such an arrangement.

 

Personally I have respect and a degree of admiration for businesses who adopt a business model that is appropriate to the circumstances. For once I even have respect to HMRC with their of sure VAT collection services.

 

The probable downside is that for some UK based wholesalers and retailers also need to be pretty fly. The successful ones will be. Everything changes with time. Apparently there is a novel which is based on a time where there were no shops as I understand them in pre Victorian times (in Knutsford), where most retailers were trades people, working from home, where customers were served in the front room, after the customer knocked on the front door to gain entry. With the coming of the railway, small shops, of the type of my youth morphed.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Erfolg said:

I have no idea as to the size of HK import warehouse, although I have seen the size of a few Toolstation outlets, they seem quite small. Yet the stock seems in general quite extensive.

 

IMO it does seem sensible not to stock some slow moving items, if that is what HK are doing. Especially when parcel post charges are small, from China (or elsewhere) and postal service is quite fast. For people like myself, where you live at the end of the road to nowhere, with few relevant shops, it works for me.

 

In the case of large or heavy type items, I imagine that determining demand is a must, as I guess these type of items will probably be part of a container shipment.

 

I have noticed that many non modelling items are now sipped from China, vat pre paid. I suspect that an SD card I have ordered is coming off-sure by such an arrangement.

 

Personally I have respect and a degree of admiration for businesses who adopt a business model that is appropriate to the circumstances. For once I even have respect to HMRC with their of sure VAT collection services.

 

The probable downside is that for some UK based wholesalers and retailers also need to be pretty fly. The successful ones will be. Everything changes with time. Apparently there is a novel which is based on a time where there were no shops as I understand them in pre Victorian times (in Knutsford), where most retailers were trades people, working from home, where customers were served in the front room, after the customer knocked on the front door to gain entry. With the coming of the railway, small shops, of the type of my youth morphed.

 

 

 

Despite having a shop, when it was closed people used to come to the backdoor (one oof the penalties of living on the premises).  When Scalectrix came out, people didn't realise how battery hungry the none-mains versions were, so back-door battery sales were often a feature on Christmas Day - you don't get that from HK 🙂

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9 hours ago, GaryWebb said:

Ive said before and say again ... you cudnt pay me to order or buy from hobbyking I did it once before and never will again .. I much prefer to buy from better and more reputable outlets and pay that little extra for better quality models and accessories than buy hobbykings cheap poor quality rubbish

 

7 hours ago, Nigel Heather said:

Maybe they work like this.

 

A few months ago I bought a 3D Printer system from Elegoo to be fulfilled from their UK warehouse.

 

I had an issue with part of it and had to return it to them.  In separate emails they provided two different addresses in the Midlands.  Confused that they gave two addresses I checked on street view on Google maps.  Neither locations were branded as Elegoo, both companies had different but quite generic trading names.  When I Google I found they they were both general Logistics companies.  I suspect that Elegoo don't really have a UK warehouse they just contract it out to import businesses.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if HK do the same.

It's known as drop shipping. Sellers sell direct from Asia, so save from not having to have EU or UK stocks. So supply time is a bit hit or miss. My personal view- I'll support Kings Lynn, Wheelspin, and Leeds Models and the like- next day delivery and I'm supporting a UK business.

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I totally sympathise with supporting the local economy and will do so every chance I can, but the trouble is that often (not always) all you are doing is buying off someone locally who is buying it in from China anyway, for all the good you are doing you might as well buy direct and send the local supplier a cheque for the differnce, yes you might well pay an additional "stocking fee" but the principal surely remains that the important thing is where it was made in the first place, or I am I going mad?

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6 hours ago, Philip Lewis 3 said:

I totally sympathise with supporting the local economy and will do so every chance I can, but the trouble is that often (not always) all you are doing is buying off someone locally who is buying it in from China anyway, for all the good you are doing you might as well buy direct and send the local supplier a cheque for the differnce, yes you might well pay an additional "stocking fee" but the principal surely remains that the important thing is where it was made in the first place, or I am I going mad?


As has been mentioned in previous posts, customer service.


I too only buy from UK manufacturers or retailers because in the rare event of something going wrong I stand a better chance of getting the problem resolved without hassle. For me it’s about piece of mind when ordering, I’m happy to pay extra for that.

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Each to their own......

 

Anything expensive, I buy from a UK shop for that peace of mind. If it's cheap, and I can wait, I'll buy from anywhere..... e.g. I bought 5 indoor props, delivered in a week, for less than the cost of 1 from the only UK supplier I could find with any in stock.

 

The last 2 new engines I bought, and all but 2 planes I have EVER bought came from UK model shops.

 

I just don't see the point in slagging off suppliers or shops.

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Flyboy, I am not bothered, I see no reason why I should be. If I buy from Amazon, the item is not always from their warehouse. An example is a SD card ordered last week, delivered from Dumferline (or that is their return address).

 

I have ordered items from a UK, at the time a well known retailer, one item was missing from the delivery. My communications with the retailer, did not result with a satisfactory result, that is the missing item, or the purchase price refunded. They still trade.

 

Another example is a Lipo ordered from Amazon, it was faulty, that was resolved within possibly a day, with a refund. The battery disposed of via the local refuse system.

 

I have many more positive purchases via UK retailers, from 4max, makeitbuildit, plus a few more UK retailers.

 

It does not seem to matter where the retailer is with respect to the service. If they are in China, the UK or else where, sometimes good, others leave a bit to be desired.

 

I for one have never had an issue with HK. You know if I had, I would probably just right it of, as the difference in bottom line cost is just to favourable to HK.

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1 hour ago, Flyboy3 said:

Wonder if HK has a Uk warehouse or even an European one ?  Cheers

Yes, HK has a UK Warehouse - opened a few months ago - discussed extensively on this forum. Not sure of the current status of the European warehouse, it was in Amsterdam, but there has been some talk that it may have relocated to Poland.

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On 14/12/2023 at 13:04, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

EU warehouse, 5 receivers, and 0 servos, no retracts,,,

 

No battery's thanks, all have been rubbish for over 10 years,,,

 

Screenshot 2023-12-14 at 14-05-59 Servos.png

As far I can tell there is very little stock of planes or anything else available in the EU or UK "warehouses". Hard to see how HK will succeed without goods to sell. Few people will want to pay in advance for goods that are not in stock.

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