Ali express

[Basil]

The prices on this web site seem very attractive. Do the prices include duty or is that the catch. I cant seem to find references to duty and delivery.

Bas

[Philip Lewis 3]

Ali Express is a great site, I use them more than e bay for stuff you just can't get here. As they sell all around the world and different tax rates apply to diffierent countries you will only get charged the correct amount of VAT when you put the item into your basket, prices shown are therefore before VAT until you buy, look out for items with a five day guaranteed delivery which will get here very quickly indeed.

[leccyflyer]

If using AliExpress, as Philip says, the appropriate VAT is calculated when you put the item in your basket for check-out, together with any shipping charges and that is the price you will pay. I've never bought anything from there of high enough value to attract any duty, so cannot comment on that.

 

One thing I will say though is you need to be ultra careful and precise about what you are actually ordering. Many order pages come with multiple options for the same item - such as different number of batteries, different spare parts for a model, different colours, Check, double check and triple check that you are ordering what you want to get and also check multiple vendors. Ali Express is a sort of agent, acting as an online shop front for hundreds of vendors and you can easily pay three, four or five times more for the exact same item from different sellers. Prices are very fluid and change minute by minute. so needs a bit of work to get the best deal.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

I get a few bits from them, you have to watch out when looking, you will get a price like I did lest week for a tap and die for 10€ post free, log in, and it went up to 16€,

Chinese delivery for an injector tester was the same getting it from China as Germany, except 6€ more from Germany, look carefully for 'Bargains',  20€ + 3€ post and the same elsewhere 3€ post 20€ !, customs are paid by the supplier.

[Cuban8]

2 hours ago, Basil said:

The prices on this web site seem very attractive. Do the prices include duty or is that the catch. I cant seem to find references to duty and delivery.

Bas

Took delivery of an FMS Futura EDF last week from Aliexpress. £90-£100 cheaper than UK prices so well worth the 28 day shipping time. No duty as below threshold, VAT paid at checkout. Tracked every step of the way and delivered without damage.

Above the threshold of £135 attracts import duty but trying to make sense of what you pay from info on the Government website I couldn't fathom its so complex depending on the nature of the product - anyone know for sure regarding models etc?

[John Lee]

I'm pretty sure that the Duty rate is 0% on the products we use. As you say there are numerous categories but 9503 seems to cover it.

 

https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/9503003910

 

I've certainly never been charged it on any mail order goods. When I declared some full-size & model aircraft related items that I brought back from the USA some time back at Manchester Airport customs it took the official the mearest glance to advise 'No duty just the VAT' & he accepted my (entirely accurate) statement of value without any quibble.

 

As others have stated AliExpress works well & the price is all inclusive at checkout. Payments generally go through AliPay (UK) Ltd whose accounts at Companies House show a £300million+ turnover & UK tax being paid.

[Frank Day]

Aliexpress, for most parts, spare airframes etc etc. Would like to buy locally but its the same stuff so the savings make a little wait worthwhile. If its a project just plan ahead.

 

Never had a poor item, lost damaged or  surprise postage ransom or tax bill.

 

[Futura57]

31 minutes ago, Frank Day said:

Aliexpress, for most parts, spare airframes etc etc. Would like to buy locally but its the same stuff so the savings make a little wait worthwhile. If its a project just plan ahead.

 

Never had a poor item, lost damaged or  surprise postage ransom or tax bill.

 

I concur.

 

I use AliExpress quite a bit for non urgent needs. I have done for several years now. I even got a cheap GPS tracker for my cat and use my own SIM card to save on the monthly subscriptions you have to pay on UK offerings.

 

I've ordered a stream of around 20 low cost items in the last month. Retract units, wheels, decals, connectors, vectored thrust units, servos and many items for my next build project ahead of the Christmas and new year period. All purchased through PayPal with no issues. They have been arriving in recent days following numerous email updates on their progress from order to shipment to customs to local delivery.

 

I only had one bad item, last year, a cheap knockoff copy of a circa £50 propeller balancer. For around a tenner I took a punt, but it didn't work out. Not worth sending it back, so I just wrote a bad review. The most I've spent on one item is a 120A ESC at around £40.

 

As has been mentioned, just make sure you select the correct option when you order items with multiple choices e.g.

 size, colour,  wattage, etc. I frequently consider the same item from multiple suppliers then select the best overall price including postage. 

 

I still use HobbyKing and Banggood, but less so these days. Expensive stuff I tend to use a UK model shop.

[Frank Day]

8 hours ago, Futura57 said:

I concur.

 

I use AliExpress quite a bit for non urgent needs. I have done for several years now. I even got a cheap GPS tracker for my cat and use my own SIM card to save on the monthly subscriptions you have to pay on UK offerings.

 

I've ordered a stream of around 20 low cost items in the last month. Retract units, wheels, decals, connectors, vectored thrust units, servos and many items for my next build project ahead of the Christmas and new year period. All purchased through PayPal with no issues. They have been arriving in recent days following numerous email updates on their progress from order to shipment to customs to local delivery.

 

I only had one bad item, last year, a cheap knockoff copy of a circa £50 propeller balancer. For around a tenner I took a punt, but it didn't work out. Not worth sending it back, so I just wrote a bad review. The most I've spent on one item is a 120A ESC at around £40.

 

As has been mentioned, just make sure you select the correct option when you order items with multiple choices e.g.

 size, colour,  wattage, etc. I frequently consider the same item from multiple suppliers then select the best overall price including postage. 

 

I still use HobbyKing and Banggood, but less so these days. Expensive stuff I tend to use a UK model shop.

I have a selection of the pet trackers in my basket. Our site is surrounded by trees and the "Devils work"  70+ year old bramble forests. There is a fair collection of lost planes in there, just last week whilst a member was recovering their baby a long lost T33 was found that the owner thought was a fly-away. Some trackers are claiming 100m range so going to test drive a few in the open.

[leccyflyer]

I generally get my wee fella Volantex 400mm warbirds from Ali Express, with the benefit that you don't need to buy the whole package, you can just buy the aeroplane itself at about half the cost in the UK High street. The real savings come with their excellent 1s 400mah and 200mah cells. These typically sell for £8-12 each here, but on Ali Express I can get five batteries for less than a tenner, including a five way charger. They are fantastic wee batteries, giving at least a 10 minute flight with the wee warbirds -our record flight is 26 minutes on a calm day.

[Cuban8]

Interesting info on the issue of over £135 duty. 0% would be great but even a few percentage points wouldn't be a deal breaker. I rather fancy one of the larger foamy warbirds which would be above £135 in total (getting lazy in my old age and am finding the attraction of a ready to go model that fits in the Mondeo without all the faff very attractive, especially during the less pleasant winter months) - shipping charges seem to have gone up within the last couple of weeks, some almost half the value of the product itself hence  not such an overall bargain at the moment - maybe the effect of Christmas.

Always the risk of a problem so the price needs to reflect that in order to take the chance.

[Learner]

6 hours ago, leccyflyer said:

I generally get my wee fella Volantex 400mm warbirds from Ali Express, with the benefit that you don't need to buy the whole package, you can just buy the aeroplane itself at about half the cost in the UK High street. The real savings come with their excellent 1s 400mah and 200mah cells. These typically sell for £8-12 each here, but on Ali Express I can get five batteries for less than a tenner, including a five way charger. They are fantastic wee batteries, giving at least a 10 minute flight with the wee warbirds -our record flight is 26 minutes on a calm day.

  A bit off topic but Just bought a volantex p51, and you've just answered a question I was going to ask about flight times.

The other question I have is, I thought you had to use the transmitter supplied however it says dsm on the box, can I use my Spektrum transmitter , maybe with a sat receiver?

Edited November 9 by Learner

[Kim Taylor]

Don't know what the DSM refers to, but I've got mine bound to my Radiomaster TX16S Mk11 4 in 1 module using the V761 protocol (iirc).

Works fine. 

Kim 

[leccyflyer]

Learner - are you talking about the 400mm P-51 or the new 500mm version?

 

You definitely cannot use the 400mm warbirds with Spektrum - as Kim said they are V761 protocol, so you can use a 4-in-1 module, such as a Radiomaster TX16, to fly them.

[Learner]

23 minutes ago, leccyflyer said:

Learner - are you talking about the 400mm P-51 or the new 500mm version?

 

You definitely cannot use the 400mm warbirds with Spektrum - as Kim said they are V761 protocol, so you can use a 4-in-1 module, such as a Radiomaster TX16, to fly them.

400mm, says dsm on box. Only got it yesterday so researching.

Skynetic apparently there's a port for sat and I didnt know if volantex was the same. Not had chance to look yet, so thought I'd  ask.

 

Edited November 9 by Learner

[leccyflyer]

Ah, the Skynetic don't look to be the same as the Volantex models, so I can't say whether those are Spktrum compatible. The Volantex, Sonik RC and Eachine models are identical, apart from the boxes and their transmitters are identical V761 protocol units, though with some improvements and extra features with the newer models -such as the model finder facility. The Top RC models are different and their transmitters are not compatible with Volantex.

[Rich Griff]

The mark 2's toprc spit, 109 and Mustang  have rx's with dcm and s bus sockets and can use multi firmware sub protocol toprc 2 spit, p51 and 109 protocol 761.

 

The Rx had four white sockets to make it easier to identify, 2 at the battery leads end and two at the other end 

 

Toprc 450 wingspan range.

 

Dont know about the 400 wingspan range, not flown one of those as I don't have one of those, but probably similar Rx would make sense ?

 

Busy weekend....don't forget Monday 11 am.

Edited November 10 by Rich Griff

[EarlyBird]

20 minutes ago, Rich Griff said:

Don't forget Monday 11 am.

?

[Paul Marsh]

Obviously since losing the local model shop, now all there is Timu and Ali express , which I've started to use more.

[Frank Day]

On 09/11/2024 at 12:46, Cuban8 said:

Interesting info on the issue of over £135 duty. 0% would be great but even a few percentage points wouldn't be a deal breaker. I rather fancy one of the larger foamy warbirds which would be above £135 in total (getting lazy in my old age and am finding the attraction of a ready to go model that fits in the Mondeo without all the faff very attractive, especially during the less pleasant winter months) - shipping charges seem to have gone up within the last couple of weeks, some almost half the value of the product itself hence  not such an overall bargain at the moment - maybe the effect of Christmas.

Always the risk of a problem so the price needs to reflect that in order to take the chance.

They will often ask you what percentage of the real price you want shown on the customs documents ranging 0 - 100%. My last purchase was under £135 but they still asked. I said 0% just to see, they messaged me to say UK customs wouldnt believe it. Not sure why!