Orders From Overseas

[Slimboyfat]

has anyone ordered anything from abroad before and imported it here?

have heard that it can take a while as its got to go through customs etc, i.e - a kit.

just wondered how long it takes and what goes on etc.

any help appreciated.

[craigosh]

It's varied for me, got a few used cars from abroad with out any probs and they all arrived in the time they should have (about 2 weeks)...

Only problem i've had was with some shocks i got that took a while and i had to pay duty... that was from the states, but something else came from the same guys last week in very little time..

Also come camera stuff took ages from germany!!!

It's all luck. Apparently there is a code which you can ask to be put on kits, which makes them duty free!!!

[telboy]

I'm now going to offend all shop owners here in the uk......

I order virtually everything for my racing from overseas, mainly because I race Tamiya stuff and its a pain in the arse to get what you want over here .

mainly japan, as its cheaper to order it from there and have it shipped over!

you can get stuff from japan/hong kong in 3 days depending on where you get it from.

stuff from the U.S. sometimes takes around a week or so. but if you know what you want and when you want it for then you can order with plenty of time for it to get here.

whenevr they ship anything across they always mark the parcel up with 'toy parts' whether its kits or parts. It's less likely to get stopped through customs.....apparently.

You watch now, my next parcel will be stung for imoprt duty!! lol
but now that I'm going buggy racing I may order from over here more as the likes of associated and losi stuff etc. is more easily available.

[_JP_]

best way is to get someone to bring it back for you!

My B4 and XXX4 were both brought from the US no import duty
got stung on my lathe and 25 pairs of brushes, but still cheaper than UK!

trick when ordering is to try and get them to put a lower value on the shipping so you get charged less import duty and also try and get "GIFT" on there

I imported a camera $1100 CAD and paid like £30 import duty as they put $250CAD on the invoice.

I know we should support shops and I do support 1 shop now, but its not the shops its the importers that control the prices here, but that's a different argument!!

[Col]

I remember reading somewhere on this forum that if the kit is marked as a scale model rather than a toy car, or radio car, that if it gets stopped the import tax is charged at a lower rate...
Don't quote me as my memory is useless but might be worth looking into.
On another note, Daz bought an XX4 from the states for substantially cheaper than over here, paid no tax and it arrived in around 10 days! Got to be worth the risk

[BenG]

Well , ordering from the overseas is a little mixture of luck and timing. I have bought full cars from Hong Kong, but UPS slap you with a £52.49 fee, I have been sent a FREE replacement part, and they tried to charge us. I dont kow if they do it on value or weight, as I ordered 6 packs of batteries form Hong Kong, the box was heavy, it cost me like $300, but there was no import tax

[losixxx]

if memory serve's me right any item be it gift or not over the value of £18 or equivelent exchange value is liable to customs/import duty. the smaller the package the better chance it has of not get charged

[Lee]

I get a lot of stuff from over seas, kits cells speedos etc, it all started off great the first few items i never paid anything but i find if it sent EMS the parcel farce gets hold of it then they rip you off and blame customs. the other day i had a carbon fibre cyclone chassis sent from the states, it probably weighs 30-50g max, it was ticked gift and had a value of about £20 but i still got taxed £8. not too bad i hear you say but parcel farce then put a £13 handling charge on it, my advice is GO DHL!!! i have never had any problems with them.