buying abroad pro`s and cons

[Ross Northcott]

Hi
Iam thinking of purchasing a t-rex 700le from Flying-Hobby.com
and was wondering what are the pro`s and cons, are they a different spec from buying in uk?
Would you reccomend this company (anyone bought from them in the past) or even buying abroad? (china, usa, japan etc
I understand if items are missing from the box it can be a nightmare to contact them but for the price i could just order the parts from uk dealer and still be quids in, but my biggest concern is the spec differing from uk model.
Thx in advance.
Ross

[JeromeF]

That is a good price.

I've used Flying-Hobby before, although a few years ago now, but I did buy bits every other week from them. Never had any problems with the company, shipping etc. I had a few orders that were £200+ and didn't get hit by customs.

I'm not too sure on the customs issue with ordering from FH, perhaps someone can add in?

Spec wise I don't think anything will be different to a UK kit, they all come from the same place...

[Gate88]

With helis and parts they are the same product. Transmitters are a different spec to the European versions.

The main difference is that although the prices look cheap you may well get clobbered for import taxes and vat on whatever you buy. If you dont then youre quids in but if you do then you'll not have saved much on UK dealer prices.

I've never brought expensive items from the Far East, mostly I've brought lipo's & spares etc, and luckily I've never had to pay anything over the original costs. The main drawback is the delivery time. UK dealers are 2 or 3 days all of my stuff from abroad has never arrived in under 2 weeks. Also if you do have any lost or damaged items I should imagine it's a bit harder to get a replacement than from a UK based company.

[PsiLo]

That's a good price. The specs will be the same whether bought in UK or abroad. The things you need to be aware of are warranty (what happens if your motor or electrics are faulty) and the biggest concern when buying a kit of this size from abroad is the tax you will pay for importing it! You will almost certainly get charged VAT and Import duties which could amount to another few hundred pounds on top.

I have bought from flying hobby and had great service, but always with smaller items that get through customs with no charge.

[Smoothound]

With helis and parts they are the same product. Transmitters are a different spec to the European versions.

The main difference is that although the prices look cheap you may well get clobbered for import taxes and vat on whatever you buy. If you dont then youre quids in but if you do then you'll not have saved much on UK dealer prices.

I've never brought expensive items from the Far East, mostly I've brought lipo's & spares etc, and luckily I've never had to pay anything over the original costs. The main drawback is the delivery time. UK dealers are 2 or 3 days all of my stuff from abroad has never arrived in under 2 weeks. Also if you do have any lost or damaged items I should imagine it's a bit harder to get a replacement than from a UK based company.

Although I agree with most of the above most times I've ordered from Hong Kong I've got my stuff in 5 days or less The USA now there is another kettle of fish

[Steve]

From my experiences:

Hong Kong = very unlikely to be taxed.
USA = very likely to be taxed.

[PsiLo]

I agree with above, however the 2 times I have ordered large/heavy items from HK I have also been taxed My parts orders from HobbyCity etc almost always get through without tax.

[jamesb72]

IMHO Flying hobby have such high turnover, they are shipping the latest version of any kit.
UK dealers are selling kits which can be very old stock - whether its the retailer or the distributor I can't say.
I have first hand experience of this, me and a friend bought 250 super combos on the same day, me from FH, him from UK shop. Mine turned up with all latest upgrades (hubbed main gear, SP motor, 205d carbon blades, new tail, metal tail pulleys) - his was one of the very early 250 kits with none of this - the upgrade parts would cost him about £75 just to match my 'cheaper' kit - he was gutted - we still laugh about it now ;-)

If you do order from FH, pay extra for express delivery, which takes 3-5 days and allegedly improves the chances of getting through without duty.

Also, price it up including the duty and recognise you are taking a gamble on duty, so if price with duty is MORE than UK price then you can decide what to do.

When I've looked the HK price is much cheaper, so even if you got caught for duty you'd pay less than UK price - and if you don't get caught you pay a lot less.

Obviously warranty/returns are a hassle, you could probably post stuff back to FH if it was DOA, but otherwise your on your own - which may not be much different to a UK shop.

[antsis]

Hong Kong = very unlikely to be taxed.
USA = very likely to be taxed.

Also found this. Parts for one of my engines and my new scale head came from the US and both were taxed. I used to use Neogl in HK and not had any problems. However, the last time I dealt with them, there was a massive c**kup with my order (OS91 SZH) and it took a couple of months to get here.

Since the pound's weakened, I noticed I did not seem to be making that much of a saving any more. Of course the other question is the warranty issue and depending on what you are buying may make it not worth the risk.

[J-S-Q]

I bought a 700LE from Flying Hobby and I got done for import tax but it was only something like 30 quid from memory -still saved a lot over the UK price. Generally stuff that I have bought from the Far East using EMS shipping has taken roughly 3 days to arrive (apart from the 700LE that was held up in customs so ended up being more like two weeks).

With flying hobby, make sure you check they actually do have your items in stock because I originally tried to buy a combo deal like the one you've linked to and it turned out they didn't have the engine even though it showed as being in stock.

I've also bought from this eBay seller who can do very good deals on most Align stuff (even cheaper if you buy direct from him instead of on eBay). It even arrived beautifully gift wrapped like a birthday present. lol
eBay Seller: puma19850612: Toys Games items on eBay.co.uk

You will be taking a risk buying from HK because if anything is faulty then sorting it under warranty will be next to impossible but my attitude is that most likely you'll have saved enough to cover yourself anyway.

[sacko]

That combo deal has been on backorder for weeks.

[Ross Northcott]

Not a problem at the moment, weather is s@*t so got a few months spare to wait, plus iam happy flying the 500 esp and 600 le at present.
thx ross

That combo deal has been on backorder for weeks.

[J-S-Q]

Worth asking that eBay seller I linked to, even if he doesn't have the items listed. I got fed up with waiting for Flying Hobby to get engines back in stock (after a month!) and that guy managed to get me one in a couple of days.

[Ross Northcott]

I just emailed him thx alot, will let you know the outcome .

Worth asking that eBay seller I linked to, even if he doesn't have the items listed. I got fed up with waiting for Flying Hobby to get engines back in stock (after a month!) and that guy managed to get me one in a couple of days.