US postage can anyone help

[Darren Boyle]

All of the above are surely excellent reasons NOT to bother buying from the states!! Yes, before you all say, I know I am a UK based shop who is bound to say that, but if I could ask Ash how much he actually paid???

Ash, you said it was a Mini-T right, well there are two versions PRO and RTR, (not sure which one you got) but you say there is £22 VAT and duty to pay. Well the PRO version here in the UK is only £79.95 (well it is with us anyway) so by the time you pay your excess, did it cost "considerably" less than £58 then? Since if it didnt then it is dearer than here in the UK, which incidently is IN STOCK, only takes one day to arrive to you and is easier to sort out than the samll amount of grief you have experienced.....

My point is simple, in "most" cases, it is not cheaper, it is slower, it is more grief and more problematic ordering from overseas, yet people still continue to do it and then moan when the UK shops close down or are not very helpful to a customer who has brought all his major purchases from elsewhere. Put yourselves in the shops shoes.

Yes I agree, you can "cheat" the system and avoid duty etc, but we cant at the shops when we buy from a UK distributor and to be fair (as already pointed out) it is illegal and a case of fraud to do so!!

[martboy21]

i used to order fro overseas but your right its hassle,i orderd a max amps 2 cell 5000 mah lipo and all in all came to 94.67 once parcel force had stuck there holding fee and income charges. plus things take forever to get here unless you pay EVEN more to get them here quicker. its a gamble and sometimes it is cheaper,i bought a front carbon fibre k factory shock tower from you recently and although i paid slightly over than what i would from overseas i got it next day.

if i cant get something here then i have no choice but i cant be arsed to wait 10-14 days shipping, i want things now!


he;s got a point guys,if we dont have model shops then theres not as much of a communtity and without sounding too political the market in england will fail.

however i do think some items can be at a reduced price

my lhs quoted me 229.99 for ft b4, i laughed when i saw it on the net for 159 delivered!
i even went back to my lhs to tell them to see if they would price match etc but they told me if i bought from them they would give me aftersales service, what... t a price of 50 quid,no thanks id rather stick to good old fashoined d.i.y!

cheers

dms racing have always deliverd on time and DO ring you in person if thers a problem,not like another modelshop who has the item in stock, you add to cart, purchase it then recive an email saying there out stock and it will be 10 days!

[DCM]

Originally Posted by gaza121

In future Ask the seller to class the item as a Personal gift with a value of less than $18 and you will not get charged!

My missus got stung ny customs ordering a special monopoly set off fleebay which with customs charges came to just unfer 50 quid!

most legit businesses wont do that these days, in America.... HK, now thats different. Also, if you ask, you can get done for fraud. Next time ash, pay EMS an more often it just slips through with no charges.

Also, don't leave it so long, they will only hold it for a little while before they return it.

[ashleyb4]

well the mini t pro is discontinued by losi and i couldnt find it on any uk shops so i bought it from whereever it was available

A

[martboy21]

your right hk is different and sometimes freakly fast,i ordred a k factory rear b4 shock tower last monday evening,it wouldnt have been processed till tuesday and i still got it fri morning from www.rcmart.com with 3 dollar delivery,very good,i got for 11 pound as appossed to 27 in uk!!

[Darren Boyle]

ASH,

well the mini t pro is discontinued by losi and i couldnt find it on any uk shops so i bought it from whereever it was available

Its not discontinued mate, readily available (we actually had two more come into just last week)

I thought you told us you look on our site often, it is on there mate!

Product "AB0210 - Mini-T Pro, 1/18th scale mini stadium truck - NEW LOWER PRICE - £79.95" it is listed in the Losi catologue pages, kit list pages and because of its low price the sale pages too!!

Never mind, but we all know for next time.... (I take it you have ended up paying more than £79.95 then?)


MART
Fair point about the KFactory rear tower, a saving there worth having I have to agree. As for your local HS quoting £230 ish for a B4 then I have no sympathy for them. There is no discount at all on that price yet CML have reduced them to us to be able to be more inline with overseas pricing, your local shop on the other hand is just being plain greedy

Have to say, service is service but not if you have to give your right arm to get it, it is our belief that customers want a "good" price (not always the very best to the penny though) and a good, well backed knowledgable service to go with it. Price with no service/back up is useless just as much as quality service at sky high prices is equally as useless, there has to be a balance!!

[losixxx]

Originally Posted by DMS Racing

My point is simple, in "most" cases, it is not cheaper,

sorry Darren have to disagree with you there, just the opposite in most case's it is cheaper and more times than not cheaper than uk shops pay trade!, but then again depends what your buying and who you want buy it from really.

[Darren Boyle]

I did say in "most" cases, but not if you compare "legit" customs aprroved purchases with "competativley" priced UK stores.

Of course I agree with you 100% it is up to half price if you compare an expensive (no discount given) UK shop with a back door/no tax paid import, but as you say "then again depends what your buying and who you want buy it from really"

[martboy21]

i totally agree with you, i think also because usa usualy have things released quicker there it makes us more inclined to shop around.

i remember when the new brushless vxls came out,you couldnt get them here for love nor money but america had them everywhere.i chose not to buy one in the end purley on the fact the werent out here yet.

little while back my yougest brother bought the traxxas jato 3.3 from america..he thought and i quote "thought" he got a good price. but then i remember he paid over 06/70 pounds in charges,he was relly peed of as you can imagine

that losi pro sounds interesting,might look into it?

[racingdwarf]

I support my local LHS whenever poss. And yes I have pointed out to quite a few new club member that a b4 from usa is cheeper but then you add tax and handling charges and heypresto it's about £5 cheeper is it worth it?.....err no BUT I do deal with losi parts house for some parts e.g xx4 WE chassis £31.05 to my door, and bulk orders of losi wheels can be a large saving.and then there is the Losi hex drive driver sets WHY are they sooooo expencive £50 here sub £20 in the US?? I know it's an old question but how come this is horizon? where does all the extra cost come from on certain parts, I know we all have to make a few quid but in some cases the wee wee is well and truly taken.

[Darren Boyle]

MART,
To be honest most of the BIG US manufacturers are trying to implement a "global" release on most products so that (within a day or two) the items are available across the globe at the same time, but I do know for a fact that the example you give "Traxxas" do not!!! TRAXXAS look after number one first (the USA) the rest of the world has to wait for the scraps that are left. Most of the really popular Traxxas lines are never in stock in this country for that very reason, which is the reason why we dont stock Traxxas any more, we got fed up with poor stock levels and due to that poor service that came with it. Traxxas cars are amongst some of the very best I have ever seen for design and quality but they are no good to us if you can never get them or the bits that they need.

RACINGDWARF,
ALL the Losi parts that you refer to were priced BEFORE Horizon took over what we knew as Helger and all "NEW" bits that have arrived SINCE then have benfited now from much cheaper pricing, but anything that was released pre-takeover was left as it was. This was done so that all the stock out there on the shelves of all the model shops was not seen to be "overpriced or expensive" literally overnight. As an example If I had a part on my shelf that I had paid for that was selling at £10 and all of a sudden it was now £6 what do I do? Keep it at £10 and be seen as dear, hence it wont sell and we would get a bad reputation, or reduce my price on my paid for stock to £6 and lose money on it (problem is our shop, like most good ones, doesnt have 1 part at £10 we have hundreds, thousands in fact and if we lost money on all of them we would go bust) this is why stock with prices already determined does not get adjsuted, but as new models repalce older ones this will (and is) working itself out of the system. It is unfortunate that with the oldest car in the Losi stable (XX4) this appears to be really harsh, since the parts for these were priced back in the mid 90's and due tom its success and popualrity the car is still kicking around. Try comparing some of the newer things like Micro-T, Losi 8IGHT spares, XXXCR spares, they are MUCH cheaper then ever before when you compare to the dollar price.
The tool set you mention is $49.99 RRP from Losi but sells here for £41.35 (nearer 40 than 50 quid) but it has been about for a few years (older pricing) a new comparison, for instance the latest "tool" a three size turnbuckle wrench (A99165) is $5.99 and only £3.99 here, a much better "rate of exchange"

[martboy21]

i didnt realise that traxxas were tha bad,i mean when he got his jato i was really jealous,he got a proper package. with a dvd explaining EVERYTHING. i sat there with green envy with my shumacher menace 4 x4 and wished i had bought that! i wouldnt buy a traxxas anyway because i feel they dont give enough to us (as you said) and the whole competive racing feel from them well quite frankly isnt there!?i belive theyfocus mainly on the "bashing" (hate that word!) side of things.

quickly guys whats better for mamba max and lipo set up?

mini t pro or rc18t?

[martboy21]

got to agree on the hex drivers!absolute joke,you could buy a 2nd hand rolling chassis for that!?

[bigred5765]

Originally Posted by DMS Racing

I did say in "most" cases, but not if you compare "legit" customs approved purchases with "competitively" priced UK stores.

Of course I agree with you 100% it is up to half price if you compare an expensive (no discount given) UK shop with a back door/no tax paid import, but as you say "then again depends what your buying and who you want buy it from really"

playing devils advocate here
and i admit to doing this more than once in the past
but just to show how us Brits are being ripped of
OK ae b4 ft car here in the UK £159 i seen in a earlier post
USA price $219 so thats £111.73 plus doing it all legal and above board
17.5% vat =£19.55 = £131.28 plus postal charges of £11 = £142.28
that,s legal and legit i know it's only £17 but add on some spares and the cost comes down as postal charge £11 is per parcel no matter how big Ive save £80 -90 on my items in the past
I'm not saying its right
but just hate people saying don't do it Ill get ripped of
by customs
sorry you wont

[Darren Boyle]

How many spares do you have to add to an order to take the saving from £17 to £80/90 then? If you save £17 on a £160 purchase surely you would need to spend BIG bucks to save the amounts you say. Plus, would you be buying all of those "spares" becasue they are needed or just to save money, since a decent LHS here should have them on the shelf waiting for you, so you dont have to keep them in YOUR pitbox.

Dont want my post(s) to sound like I am arguing because I am not, but If an average person brough a B4 FT out of one months pay packet then they would save just the £17, but to make these huge £80+ type savings on a regular basis would require a racer to be spending probably £600+ per month on their hobby (every month!! £6K per year, some probably do but not all!!)

At the end of the day as well, you dont get ripped off by customs, you just pay what your are meant and supposed to for an import.

[DCM]

You forget that there is an import duty of 8% then you add that to the invoice total (including shipping) and then calculate the VAT.

$219 + 8% ($17.52)= $236.52

$236.52 + 17.5% (41.39) = $277.91 (£142)

This is not including shipping costs

[Darren Boyle]

£17 saving may of just shrinked a little!! Thats even more spares needed to save £80/90 then...............

[losixxx]

not at all Darren, way off the mark with £500 per month, you can save £80 on £200 worth of stuff...its not great having your LHS with stock on the shelf if you break something trackside...a hell of a lot of people carry a lot of spares to continue there day's racing. at the saving's you make people bulk order for the season hassle free racing !

[Darren Boyle]

But do decent LHS not go trackside then, since we do!

I would like to see a total of £200 worth of parts from the UK that we can get for £120 from the US there cant be many....is there?

Is spending £200 on spares for a whole season when you dont know if you are going need them really "hassle free" then.

Again just interested to know to obtain feedback really.......

Darren

[bigred5765]

order all mine once a years take what i need for the weekend just in case, and last time i ordered over a year ago i got 3 new cars and spares and saved 300 quid