Buying stuff from Hobby City in USA

[Farmer Giles]

Hi,

looking to get some more lipos for my T500 from Hobby City in the USA.

Has anyone had any 'issues' getting stuff from them?

How did you pay, credit/dedit card, Paypal, online, over the phone ... ??

Did they mark the package as a gift ? is it possible to get stung with import duty ?

How long did your stuff take to arrive ?



Just want to be confident that it'll be OK as I've never bought stuff from overseas before.

any experiences welcome

cheers

[SRH990]

A little bit puzzled here, if you mean the Hobby City which is now trading as Hobby King then they are based in Hong Kong, if so they have a box on checkout which asks what value you would like declared on the shipping box.

I paid via PayPal as I'm reluctant to give my credit card details when shopping internationally, PayPal has worked out fine.

They don't mark as a gift, even if they did being marked as a gift doesn't absolve you of import duty, it's based on the value of the goods whether a gift or not. Despite them marking the value down you could still get stuck for duty as Customs & Excise can base it on their estimated value of the goods, not necessarily what's been declared. I've had a few packages from Hobby King ranging from £100 to £200 and have never paid duty, even if duty was levied I'd still have a reasonable saving though.

If you pay for the EMS shipping it can arrive faster than an order from Blink (sorry!), usually 4-5 days, it's usual that goods ordered online on a Saturday or Sunday will arrive before the next weekend.

I did have a pack with a faulty cell that was a zero volts, Hobby King accepted there was a faulty and replaced the pack but it cost me £12 to send it back, just a fact of life when shipping from so far overseas.

Hobby King have a German branch opening soon so duty is no longer a problem although it will be interesting to see how prices compare with HK stock.

[Aidi]

Bought numerous times from Hong Kong and goods have always arrived quickly and never been charged any import tax.

Bought 3 time from USA and each time got stung for Customs even though the parcel was plainly wrapped and marked as gift....

[SRH990]

Bought numerous times from Hong Kong and goods have always arrived quickly and never been charged any import tax.

Bought 3 time from USA and each time got stung for Customs even though the parcel was plainly wrapped and marked as gift....

Pretty much my experiences, UK Customs are very hot on charging duty on imports from the US, much less so on goods from the far east.

[brin]

i've used them a few times and usualy stuff would arrive within the 7/10 and have never paid any duty.

[sacko]

I have used them a few times, delivery is usualy very good and havent been stung on Tax

[Farmer Giles]

I thought they were in the US.. and everything is priced in US Dollars

The name on the web site is Hobby King but the URL says Hobby City.

these jokers anyway.. HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store :

so all OK using Paypal then. Might give them a go then.

cheers

[themagician]

hobby city

Hi,
looking to get some more lipos for my T500 from Hobby City in the USA.

Has anyone had any 'issues' getting stuff from them?

How did you pay, credit/dedit card, Paypal, online, over the phone ... ??

Did they mark the package as a gift ? is it possible to get stung with import duty ?

How long did your stuff take to arrive ?



Just want to be confident that it'll be OK as I've never bought stuff from overseas before.

any experiences welcome

cheers

what ever happens you will prob get stung for taxes or vat.from america ,so i only buy from china or hong kong ,never paid any taxes yet in two years ,max delivery time i,ve had is 6 days!.i dont do america anymore.

[josh h]

ive also been looking at buying li-po's from them for my logo 500 so reading this saves me a tread clears a few questions up i wanted to find out

[SRH990]

I thought they were in the US.. and everything is priced in US Dollars

The name on the web site is Hobby King but the URL says Hobby City.

these jokers anyway.. HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store :

so all OK using Paypal then. Might give them a go then.

cheers

That's the ones, they price in US dollars because it the universal international currency and I'd guess a lot of trade is in the US as well but they are situated in Hong Kong.

They also have an outlet in the US and some items are marked as from the US depot, if there's a choice always choose Hong Kong.

[Farmer Giles]

That's the ones, they price in US dollars because it the universal international currency and I'd guess a lot of trade is in the US as well but they are situated in Hong Kong.

They also have an outlet in the US and some items are marked as from the US depot, if there's a choice always choose Hong Kong.

thanks for clearing that up.

HK it is

[Nipster]

HK give you the option as to what they declare the value of the goods at and their nature, Hobbyparts, Toy Parts, not sure about Gift etc etc
Keep in mind commercial consignments of £18 or less are not liable for customs duty and import vat.
And for a gift it's £36

Convert to dollars obviously.

Been caught out once, Vat was £3.34 and the annoying bit was the ParcelForce handling fee was £13.50.

Hope it helps

[debrooker]

so all OK using Paypal then. Might give them a go then.

used hobby king quite a bit. I've used Paypal and also paid via their card authorisation service, both fine and nothing to worry about.

[GravityKills]

if it's hobby king / hobbycity, let them have your email address once and they'll spam you until the end of time and laugh about you when you ask to unsubscribe.
I finally requested them to delete my account, and then the spam finally stopped.

[Nick B]

I never paid import duty first time and the PO held my parcel for 3 weeks,then sent me a letter saying i had to pay £13.58...The parcel then arrived at 7.30am the following morning

I used them again 2 weeks later,paid the import and the parcel arrived 5 days later.Even though i paid $60 for EMS and import i think £138 for 2x 5000mah 6s is a top deal!