I am awaiting delivery of a kit from China, which I bought for what I consider to be a good price (just under £30). It’s my first such purchase, and it now occurs to me that there may be hidden costs - import duty, additional postage, etc. Can any UK members with experience of such things tell me if this is likely to be the case, please?
Many thanks,
Hutch.
Never had import changes with items bought from China. Japan and the US on the other hand, they can be hit or miss, more hits than misses.
Thanks, Bish - it’s something I didn’t even think about when I ordered it.
And its not the import charges that are the issue, thats usually around 3 or 4 quid. Its the £8 the RM add on as an admin fee.
Oh, well, I’ll just have to wait & see, but now you’ve given me an idea of what to expect, I can budget for it, and try to remember next time.
Thanks again.
Now the thing about this is who you bought it off and where from.
To avoid import duty, VAT and RM adding their collection fee When purchasing from China I always purchase from Dawn Grocery Store on Ebay.
They have a policy of putting £15 on the customs docket and in all my purchases from them at very good prices including shipping I have never had these stopped in customs.
I bought a Model collect 1/35 kit from them 2 weeks ago this coming Thursday but due to the virus things are slower as under normal circumstances they take about a week. I am tracking through the internet and I think Royal Mail might have it but their tracking systems are somewhat loose and spotty.
At the moment the royal mail tracking says “Sender preparing item”. I do know that it left Yanwen Facility and was handed to Royal Mail on Jun 29.
Everything always slows down once Royal Mail gets it!
Hi, Snapdragon, the item was bought from “leilei”, via e-bay. I think the whole process is going to be something of a lottery, this time at least[:)] Thanks for the tip re: Dawn Grocery Store, though - stored for future reference!
Cheers,
Hutch.
can you give me a little more detail on your purchase via PM please. I can’t find the vendor!
Personally, i avoid Dawn’s, i stoped useing them a while ago. Their prices look cheap but their postage is high, almost every AFV kit is £12. There are other sellers over there who have free postage and the price of the kit is about the same as Dawn’s have it with the postage added. Dawn’s also don’t combine postage and when ever i ordered they never left feedback or responeded to any messages.
You will often see the same kit sold by 4 or 5 sellers at the same price. And as i mentioned, i have never had a customes charge no matter who the seller was.
Yes, I’ve seen this a few times, especially with suppliers in China. There were several of these when I was looking for the Comet (you probably guessed that’s what it is), but the one I went for was a few quid cheaper with free postage.
This is starting to get a bit confusing[*-)], but given the recent turn in Anglo-Chinese relations over HK, it might be academic anyway - I might not get anything[:)] Watch this space!
I iknown what you mean Hutch. Where i can, i get kits from the UK, even if it means paying a bit extra. But there are a lot of the newer kits especially, and some of the Dragon kits, that you just can’t get over here. Thats when i bit the bullet and order from over there.
Well, it arrived yesterday, with no additional charges, so either I’ve been lucky, or I was worrying about nothing. I knew when I ordered it how long it would take to get here, and it’s only cost me the advertised price, so I’m a happy bunny!
Hutch.
Glad that it worked out for you! I previously to the pandemic ordered a lot from China from specific trusted sellers with no issue. With the airlines curtailed it would be a long wait now!
Thanks, Modelmaker66, do you have anything in transit at the moment, or are you waiting for normal service to resume?
Glad it arrived! I ordered a kit that I assumed was being sent from the US because it said free shipping for Prime members, on May 18th, from Amazon. To my surprise, the shipping notice then says to expect delivery between July 17th and August 3rd. And am still waiting as of today, and given Amazon’s terrific customer service, think I’m out the $85.
Oddly enough, I have bought kits and AM tracks off Ebay from China with free shipping, and most arrived within two to six weeks.
Glad you got it. I have a figure coming from Russia that shipped out this week and I’m curious when it will show up. As of right now it left Moscow today.
That’s really bad - at least I knew where mine was coming from, I hope yours turns up soon.
I’ve never bought anything direct from Russia, and haven’t heard how their postal system is holding up, although some of Eastern Europe seems to have been having a hard time. I usually buy canopy masks from “Pmask” in Poland, for example, but rumour has it that they’ve even stopped advertising on the web because they can’t post their orders out. Hope your order arrives without too much delay - news that it’s been sent is a positive sign.
Hutch, Hannants sells the Pmask sets. I don’t use their canopy masks myself as i don’t like the vinyl ones, but i have just used their white lines set for Fw 190’s.
I’ve ordered a number of things from Russia before this mess started and it usually took about three weeks. Not in any hurry to get the figure since it’s for a project that I won’t be getting to till at least October.