Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: olly4950 on July 06, 2019, 08:02:55 pm
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Hi,Could someone tell me why I have had to pay £12.50 for a Speed controller from Hobbyking?This as never happened to me before.
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You have just been lucky then..
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If it came from the US if its over a certain amount ( I can't remember the exact amount :embarrassed: ) You have to pay the VAT when it arrives. Plus the handling charge which can really add up. Of course once we are out of the EU we will hopefully be able to import as much as we like from the US for free
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Of course once we are out of the EU we will hopefully be able to import as much as we like from the US for free
In your dreams!
Colin
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Yea I know Colin but there's no harm in dreaming once in a while {-)
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Except that Trump is a nightmare!
Colin
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It was from Hong kong,
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back in 2010 i had a hull sent over from canada all was good until i got a import /customs charge of £136 <:(
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Does it help to order from the UK Hobby King Warehouse?
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The UK warehouse prices include all duties and taxes in the listed price. The E.U. warehouse is also an inclusive price for delivery to countries in their customs union.
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I ordered recently from the Hong Knog warehouse and I paid no charges, in fact I have ordered many times from this warehouse without any custom charges.
Why now?
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£15 is the critical amount which includes carriage charges & anything else. Under it you are fine from Hong Kong but over £15 & it becomes a matter of chance.
Problem is thanks to Brexit £15 buys ever less.
At the moment stuff from the EU warehouse is unlimited because it is tax paid in the EU but after Brexit expect it to be £15.
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The combined forces of HMC&R, the UK Border Agency and the Post Office all collude together to squeeze as much out of us as they can in cases like this.
It's especially heinous on the part of the Post Office, who do absolutely NOTHING during the process except to charge their 'administration fee' for 'administration' which apparently consists of just charging the fee. >:-o >:-o
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Uk & Eu warehouse are ok DO NOT put anything in your basket from GLOBAL WAREHOUSE or you will pay extras
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Could be worse - I had holes drilled in a package which shattered some of the contents.
Also had a package containing a 60 year old book, imported from the US, opened, inspected, damaged and resealed
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The combined forces of HMC&R, the UK Border Agency and the Post Office all collude together to squeeze as much out of us as they can in cases like this.
It's especially heinous on the part of the Post Office, who do absolutely NOTHING during the process except to charge their 'administration fee' for 'administration' which apparently consists of just charging the fee. >:-o >:-o
Not quite true, Kit. There's nothing sly or deceitful about customs charges so to use the word 'collusion' is misleading. The £15 de-minimis limit is there to avoid the public purse incurring the cost of collecting trivial amounts of tax - it's a concession, so somewhere a line has to be drawn.
As regards the Post Office, they have to prepare and lodge a computerised Customs Entry, notify the importer that a charge is due, collect that charge and pass it on to HMRC. The Post Office is run along commercial lines - being a Ltd Company as opposed to a Government Department - and the admin charge they make is commercial restitution for the services they provide. No "real" shipping agent would touch such small consignments for such a small fee.
If you wish to avoid paying these charges then either ensure that you order more than £15-worth of goods or source them from a UK supplier. In the case of the latter you'll still be paying the import costs, of course, although they will be hidden within the price you pay.
HMRC's website says that it will reimburse the cost of repairing or replacing items damaged during the course of inspection unless they are prohibited imports or otherwise subject to seizure.
DaveM
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"HMRC's website says that it will reimburse the cost of repairing or replacing items damaged during the course of inspection unless they are prohibited imports or otherwise subject to seizure."
Smashed items - replaced - 8 months for new set to be manufactured and delivered - I had already waited 4 months
The book - took over 2 years to find a copy - still have not found a replacement 5 years later.
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Simply support your local supplier and lord knows there are plenty of supplier in the UK that you can get stuff from...then there will be NO MOANING or the customs charges.....A fool and his money is easily parted is the moral of this story...................If we ALL stopped buying off the Chinese bucket shops then the UK shops would survive.
As you well know I am involved and have been involved in the UK show scene for a number of years now and all I hear is moan moan moan about the lack of traders............ ever wonder WHY....yes a lot is to do with retirement BUT think about it.....Oh yes of course it is places like hobby king that are killing our shops but I ALWAYS have a laugh when I read threads like this one moaning about customs charges
Dave
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If you wish to avoid paying these charges then either ensure that you order more than £15-worth of goods or source them from a UK supplier.
I did, and as the manufacturer did not sell the plastic kit I wanted in the UK, I had to buy direct from Japan. The combined costs of importing from the various UK bodies involved were going to cost me over TWICE as much as the kit did in the first place, which was about £22.
I wrote to my MP and complained that I wasn't a one-man income generating machine for all of those bodies and a couple of weeks later it arrived at my door with only a minimum charge.
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I believe DaveM meant less than £15 which will avoid charges.
The stock in UK shops is very largely made in China and dearer because the shop has a margin and the import charges too
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I have recently ordered jet drives direct from the maker in Hong Kong
I am aware of border force charges and VAT but have factored that into the price which still compares to buying drives from Germany that do not look like Hamilton drives
I don’t see an issue with charges when you know what to expect
The £12.50 border force charge will apply wether you spend 15.01 or a few hundred so it’s better value on dearer items but you’ll have 20% VAT to add just like here
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The stock in UK shops is very largely made in China and dearer because the shop has a margin and the import charges too
Not everything is made in China though. I recently bought a particular brushless motor from Hobbyking UK warehouse as it didn't appear to be in stock anywhere else. It took a week to come though.
I have also placed orders recently with:
Component Shop
SLEC
SHG Model Supplies
Cornwall Model Boats
Howes Models
Leeds Model Shop
Protean Design
And had enjoyable (if expensive) visit to Squires in Bognor just buying some 'useful' bits and pieces
All the above have given top class service. Yes, UK suppliers need to make a margin on imports from China but in return you get peace of mind, no hassle, quick delivery and good aftersales service should you need it. To me that's worth paying a bit more.
Colin
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If I buy from HobbyKing I ensure I get the free delivery so I expect a week
I have only had one faulty item which was a Turnigy TX/RX and they sent me another free and then I found the original wasn’t faulty at all {-) which they didn’t want back when I thought it was
I have a large drawer full of component shop bought parts so don’t be thinking I only buy in one place
I spend a lot of money with uk shops all year round
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As you now know, what out on the Hobbyking show, quickly jumps away from UK only to HK if there is stock there.
Only order from UK or EU
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Hi,Could someone tell me why I have had to pay £12.50 for a Speed controller from Hobbyking?This as never happened to me before.
You must have bought from the Global warehouse and not UK or Europe. It is easy to do if you're not careful. All items bought outside of the EU are subject to 'import duty' if over a certain monetary value.
5 or 6 years ago, it was quite easy to avoid the duty but since overseas parcels have been centralised near Gatwick Airport, they have clamped down on this and not many get through that should pay duty but do not.
Matters are not helped by Royal Mail now paying the duty for you and making you pay an admin fee before you get your delivery
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I believe DaveM meant less than £15 which will avoid charges.
Yes. Thanks, Andy - sorry about that. And no - I wasn't trying to drum up business for my old Government Dept employer - perish the thought!
I do recall once ordering some Mabuchi motors from the US when we ran ACTion. They came in three identical boxes i.e. same number of motors, same packaging, same weight and same value. I can't remember the exact figures but we were charged the wrong rate of VAT on one box and the wrong duty on another, while the third one seemed to by-pass the whole system and arrived free of all import charges and about a week before the other two! I imagine that somewhere a frazzled employee of the US Postal Service is still trying to trace it.
I've also had parcels with a lot more than £15-worth of goods in them which sailed through the UK border checks with no charges, and conversely I've been slammed for the full Monty on something which was less than a tenner. In my experience it's not worth complaining about. Sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug......
DaveM