lo, thanks everyone, i ve got a vague idea now, thanks. something like the possiblity of no charges is 80%. so i jus hope im in luck.

thanks

When I got into racing I bought my first new kit from the USA. I paid all duty and VAT and still saved about £50. At the time I thought that was great.However, as time goes on and I need spares, tires etc I support the shops that in turn support the clubs where I race. I think it's only fair to do so. It's true that UK dealers cant offer the low prices we are offered from the US but, for example, the shop at York always give a discount to members and these deductions add up over the season. Also, if you shop around there are still good deals to be had. I got my radio gear from an online store linked from this site at considerably cheaper than elsewhere. The point I'm making is loyalty can be beneficial to everyone concerned, whilst time spent looking for equipment around the UK brings its rewards and forces prices down.That's business!

After my experiences with customs, being stung twice from america for £17.50 and around £38. Im alot more cautious on what I buy. HK and Japan usually get through without any trouble even when they are marked correctly, but American products seem to be alot more susceptable.
However, pricing up a few things I need for my B4, it would cost around £25 from the USA with shipping and around £60 over here without, its madness.

How about this for a horror story.

A chap on one of the car forums I go on recently bought some new cams for less than 40% of the UK cost.

UK customs cut them in half to see if they had drugs in them!:o

When he tried to claim they offered him the $25 it said on the parcel.
He is about £250 out of pocket, all to avoid import duty and VAT.

It's not the bloody shops, I can assure you of that!:(

:D:D:D:D:D

Thats why, you always tell the truth

true Dom,
if you try to rip em of in the end u get your arse bit lol, but do it legally and still save enough money to make it worth it,
i know its not the shops, but we all know were the real profit is and until they get there arse kicked nothing will happen apart from us customers being take to the cleaners,and you genuine shop owns earning a crust, not a living just a crust, it is a shame but a fact of life,

club members get a 10% discount if they use 1 of our LHS in Teesside :)

This is all nice, but we have no local shop, at the moment, that offers a discount let alone support the local clubs, mores the shame, I wish there was.

Haha. We've just had a set of cams sent over from the states. They landed yesterday.

A fantastic charge from customs for 260 quid(ish) though. :(

Although, even with $200 shipping on these items, to buy just the alloy heads in this country would have cost more than the heads, cam and nitrous kit shipped from the USA. So it's not just R/C where it's expensive.

Importing is favourable at the moment due to the strength of the pound, you can't moan at $2 to the £1 which is why a lot of things appear cheap other than just rc stuff.

The trouble is the benefits of the current exchange rate are not passed onto the customer through the local shops. Whether it's because of the shops margins or the distributors costs the customer never sees the advantage.

yeh i dont get it. its like $8 for some wheels yet the shops charge £8 which i think is apaulling, if they imported enough they would still get profit from selling them at £4.32.

But most things like this are made in the USA, which is why they are so cheap. Try buying a Schumacher kit from the USA, or from Japan, I would guess that it's more expensive.

When it gets to the UK you have to factor in shipping,and then the bit that the distributor takes, THEN try and make a profit.

Don't forget the VAT, and costs/overheads of running a shop, income tax, nat insurance, cost of living. It all adds up.

Nearly everything is made in China anyway :D

Liam, just checked on the new Mi3 $399 shipping $30 all told £215ish bargain when you consider that to get it over here its well over £270.

that's the bit that sucks. made in the UK, shipped to america, sold for a profit by the shop in america, shipped back to UK AND still cheaper than getting it here!! :mad:

i could write an exceptionally long post reference the differences between the american market and the uk one, however if you believe you are being ripped off by the uk madel market your not going to believe it, as for the mi3 if you are going to quote prices at least get your facts correct, any american advertised price does not include sales tax, all uk prices do (vat at 17.5%), so before making a comparison take away 17.5% from the uk price, then at least your on a level playing field, the exchange rate is high at the moment what was it when cml/helger etc paid for the container?

I never understood it in the USA, when you go and buy anything you have to pay tax on top of it! :o What's that all about? I've been to the USA many times and worked there, but still don't understand why my bag of crisps goes up in price at the checkout.

us sales tax only applies if you buy it in that state, not if you ship it to another state or country. plus most on-line stores the price you see is the price you pay no added sale's tax!
$ has been around 1.9 for a long time up higher at the moment but even at 1.9 still make's it cheaper than buying a uk product in the uk!

rearrange the following shot theory hell too!;)

i am not argueing that the mi3 would be cheaper or that there is nothing wrong with the current imbalance between the uk and us price.
lets take the quoted figures $399.99, on todays exchange rate it comes out at £199 however most people would order using a credit card and you will not get that rate from your credit card company, if you use $1.9 then the price would be £210 add $30 shipping it brings the price to £225. now take the quoted uk price of £270 remove the vat at 17.5% and it would make the price £222, if you got the best exchang rate you will stay between £216-£225. now this is a special case as we are talking about a british product in the us whereas most of the argument is about US products in the uk market a classic example would be the XX4 the losipartshouse price is $284 or £142 (using $2-£1) my shop price is £249.99 so order from them and save £107 you will of course have to pay for shipping which will eat into your saving, lets use the $30 quoted now your saving is £92 still substantial, lets assume your honest and don,t take liberties with the customs and excise. you will pay 17.5% on the total value inc shipping (£157+ 17.5%) =£185' parcel force charges will be £8-£13 so you would be looking at around £200 still a decent saving of around £50, all this assumes an exchange rate of 2 to 1 which you may or may not get.
the difference in price between the two markets is 20% ish so who gets the 20% because that is where the accusation of rip off occurs, is it 20% cheaper to run a distribution business in america are wages 20% higher in this country. all these questions i dont know the answer to, it may well be that there isn't a difference in which case your being robbed or that there is a difference and your not. unless you are an expert in the british and US business economies i doubt a definitive answer will be available.