HobbyKing, Duty Tax and Parcelforce...

[Mark_T]

It gets tedious reading these kind of threads on almost every forum in the land.

... and there you have the answer, stop reading them if you find them tedious.

People can choose to buy Chinese products someone else has imported or they can decide to import them directly, not buying Chinese products at all would be close to impossible in this hobby I think.

Personally I don't find the ParcelForce/RM handling charges to be unreasonable, £8 for a standard package and £13.50 for express is not excessive, but then again I wouldn't order small low cost items this way so as a proportion of a typical order they remain small.

If you are ordering items with a real value below £40 then yes, the £8 charge is going to be more that the VAT that is due, so think about that before you order.

[dani_r]

... and there you have the answer, stop reading them if you find them tedious.

People can choose to buy Chinese products someone else has imported or they can decide to import them directly, not buying Chinese products at all would be close to impossible in this hobby I think.

Personally I don't find the ParcelForce/RM handling charges to be unreasonable, £8 for a standard package and £13.50 for express is not excessive, but then again I wouldn't order small low cost items this way so as a proportion of a typical order they remain small.

If you are ordering items with a real value below £40 then yes, the £8 charge is going to be more that the VAT that is due, so think about that before you order.

Great points here. Just about sums it up really.

[RcRotaryMadness]

Nice to see this thread didn't turn in to an argueme....oh.

lol


So anyway, In summary,

It seems it is possible to pay the tax's in advance and avoid the couriers charges, however it requires the co-operation of the seller/sender, but when the sender is just a massive box pusher, based in china, the likleyhood/difficulty of doing this isn't worth it, and its easier to just pay the fees (however scandalous they are).

I do think given how the world is more connected than ever and buying stuff from around the world is becoming easier and a lot more common with private individuals - the government or whoever should introduce some sort of system where you can just pay the duty (or whatever tax) in an easier way and so parcels can move more smoothly without extra charges ontop...

choosing to buy from china is of course a persons own choice, expense & risk - however this area always tends to boil over into debates over Tax, VAT, Government, Laws and other countries... which we all know is a debate that could last forever - so its best left with the politicans, however passionate you feel about it.

[RcRotaryMadness]

Quick Update:

So using the online tracking, it said my parcel was being held from the 25th August, but I had not had any letters from anyone saying come and collect it and pay up etc..

So using a random website it confirmed the parcel was at Parcelforce Stoke, So I went down there and they said they have sent 2 letters out but I hadn't recieved any so don't know whats happend there but the guy went off to find the parcel...

Came back with a box that looked like it had been run over by a truck and said "thats £41 please"

Whoopdedoo... £41 for the pleasure, thanks.

Only £13 of it was parcelforce charges so not as bad as expected, I had allowed £30 charge in my purchasing decision so it was still more than I had expected.

However, it is still cheaper than buying here in the UK so not bothered.

I thought Hobby Kings packaging was very poor however, If i was sending an item around the world I'd of used a little more bubble wrap and a stronger box!