how much ?

? your asking the duty I can tell about FedEx my friend it would be like 20 to 35 % but I don't know about Post or airmail.
Regards,
Aman.

ok alright.

The phantom tracking number is a well known Chinese phenomenon. Not actually Hobbyking's fault except for the fact HobbyKing decided to use one of the worst Air freight company on the planet. It's amazing what a company will do to squeeze every last cent out of a customer. Prior to HK shifting all it's freight to Singapore Air I could make a purchase and pay the extra to have it delivered via EMS. The parcel would arrive within 5 days. I never needed a tracking number.

Then a massive price hike in freight fees hit when HK switched to Singapore Air. EMS freight was taking up to 3 weeks to arrive. Where was the extra money I paid for EMS going? Straight into HK's coffers. Why do other dealers in China send items completely freight free when HK charges exorbitant fees for the identical service? I honestly believe they are using the Chinese government's business incentives to supply free freight to their overseas buyers. What about HK's archaic and very dubious freight calculations?. As far as I'm aware they are the only business in the world using their freight calculation method. The entire system is designed to help reap more profit from their customers.

Let's use an example of how they make profit from freight costs. You buy a Bixler 3. It costs you $158.40 (assuming your are a platinum member) HK states it weighs 2652g with packaging. It doesn't, in fact every item will come in lighter than they say, it's referred to as their "safety margin" Along with your plane you also buy 2 x Nanotech 2200mah 3s batteries and it adds $48.19 to the total cost and 506g of weight. Total of your order $207.58 with their freight factor of 3158g.

First off your freight class in now in excess of 3kg, this takes the total cost to a staggering $422.48  Why is the cost so high? Because the freight is now only able to sent using HobbyKing's exclusive EMSExpress. You have no other options but to take one of the most expensive modes of Airline carriage, EMSExpress. Sounds fast doesn't it. Believe me it's not. The parcel can't travel direct, it has to go via Singapore to avoid the dreaded Lipo restrictions. Here comes the interesting part. You've paid for the cost of a worker boxing up your plane and the cost of the material used. It finally arrives at your door in only one box. Where are the batteries? They are INSIDE the box the plane comes in. Sticky taped to stop them roaming around during transit. If you're very lucky they haven't pulled free and damaged your Bixler.

Why did you have to pay so much to have 2 batteries hitch a ride in the plane's box. If you had simply purchased the two batteries they would have come in their own box, but they didn't, so where did the extra money go. you guessed it, straight into HobbyKing's bank account under PROFIT. The truth is you've just paid $214.90 for freight.

 At this point some may say it's due to the batteries the cost is so high. Surprisingly, that's not the case. Because if you purchased only the plane, the freight costs would have been $191.47 and there was no other option listed than Fedex Priority. Why do you have to pay for a really expensive mode when standard freight takes probably a week more and at a fraction of the cost?.

The really interesting thing about these prices is the fact you paid extra weight fees for the batteries when there was no extra cost to HobbyKing. Also HobbyKing are basing their charges on one off prices. If you lived in Hong Kong and sent a Bixler overseas you'd be paying for a one off rate. Does HobbyKing pay the same rate, absolutely not, they enjoy a massive reduction in freight fees due to the amount sent out of their warehouses. Can you imagine an airline not giving bulk incentives? of course not. When a company goes to an Airline and tells them they wish to use their freight system exclusively the Airline will fall over itself to give the best rate possible. I had a chat with the manager of another Hobby business in Hong Kong and he openly admitted he was given not only a huge freight discount, a free high class dinner for himself and his wife, plus other gifts and bonus's every year. All written off by the airline in tax.

Finally, weigh the packaging each time you receive anything from HK. Is it the same weight as you paid for? I very much doubt it. The owner of HobbyKing stated in an interview a few years ago, "HobbyKing make absolutely nothing from freight fees" Either he was lying or things have changed dramatically since that interview.

Does this explain how HK killed off just about every small hobbyshop in the western world by selling items way under what the small hobby shops were paying for them? They sold their stock for very little profit, but made up for that loss in freight fees. Imagine the amount of money we spend on freight. Now multiply that by the thousands of hobbyists doing exactly the same every single day. In this day and age with businesses cutting costs to the bone and competition between airlines driving costs down, why are HobbyKing's freight fees higher than ever?

The honeymoon between Hobbyist's and HobbyKing is almost over. Their prices are skyrocketing whilst their end costs are plummeting. They now have the buying power to almost dictate to manufacturers their own terms. I know for a fact a certain plane being sold for around $100.00 is manufactured and sold wholesale for $15.00. Over a number of years I've collected a number of wholesale price lists and believe me the profit margin in hobby items is massive. I received one just prior to Christmas offering me complete quadcopter kits for only $89.00. Those same quadcopters retail for anything up to $400 or $500. I just can't convince my bank manager or my wife that I need 100 of them.

Sorry I got carried away there. I started off to say many tracking numbers mean nothing with Singapore Air. I had a parcel for which I paid EMS fees, go well overdue and the tracking showed it as sitting in a warehouse in Singapore. I complained to HK and the airline. HK told me it was out of their hands and Singapore Air totally ignored me. My parcel finally arrived 13 days late and yet tracking showed my parcel was still sitting in that warehouse. In fact it was still there 3 weeks later. The fact is, you can pay for tracking but it's often not sent with tracking. I know that some companies have bogus tracking numbers and perhaps that's why my tracking number didn't actually show where my errant parcel was.

The next time you get a tracking number, make a point of following it every day or even twice a day. Watch to see if it shows exactly where it is in steps. If it doesn't show you that your parcel Left Hong Kong, arrived at the airport in your country, arrived at customs, arrived at freight depot, arrived at local freight depot and finally arrived at destination and delivered, you have a bogus tracking number. I've seen them say the parcel left Hong Kong and that was it, a bogus tracking number. I read of a case in the US where a customer had a parcel go missing and the tracking number said it arrived in the country of destination and nothing more. He never received his parcel so the company sent a replacement order, big problem, they gave him the identical tracking number. The company doesn't issue the tracking number, the freight company does and the reason the numbers are so long is because they use a lot of them, none are re-issued. I've personally had a tracking number issued and my order  hadn't even been picked. Another tracking number showed my parcel had left the warehouse and should have been already delivered, but the item suddenly became out of stock when I complained about it not turning up. Some tracking numbers are genuine and can be trusted, many of them are fakes and can't be trusted. The awkward part is figuring out which is which. :-)

  Stu 

Oh Dear!!! that was a scroller. I do apologize. It doesn't look that had on the small box you type in. One thing I failed to mention. The prices mentioned were based on myself buying the plane and having it delivered to Australia.

Stu

If you want to avoid paying customs duty then you need to order using normal registered post etc,. If you use anything like USPS priority, FedEx, DHL, EMS, etc. - you will most likely end up paying duty (max 30% as per my commercial imports experience of almost 4 years). It's basically a choice between the safety of your order vs. the money you might have to pay to get your shipment quickly.. I personally end up choosing the latter most of the timez.. Then again I'm quite new to the hobby and hence tend to favor paying more to waiting more than necessary..

Luckily we pay no taxes in Australia unless the item is over $2000 in value. Certain BIG retailers here are fighting to get the Government to slap us with a 10% tax on everything bought into the country by "ordinary" folk. So far the Government have done nothing. Far too many people now buy from China, to start charging them tax  they may as well commit political suicide. I've made a point of buying up as much in spare parts for my quads, planes and boats as I can. As I use it I top it back up. But I have around 30 new motors, a box of assorted ESCs and another of servos. Plus 3 large boxes of props and drawers full of the smaller pieces like horns, clevises, connectors and wiring etc. etc. I've already made a big saving.

HobbyKing has increased many items by anything from 50 top 100%. Mostly the smaller parts but motors have shot up as well. As for planes, I'm glad I have 40 built and another 17 still in their boxes. I won't be buying any more for a long time. As for boats, I still have 4 or 5 hulls ready to have gear installed but they rarely need replacing. It's only the electronics, props and batteries needed for them. Quad wise I have enough built which I can swap parts from if needed.

I'm just experimenting with some of the new frames available and it's easier to take the parts from those already built for the new frames. A lot cheaper as well. I do wish I hadn't bought so many KK2 boards though. There was a big drought on them last year and nobody could buy them due to an American buying up all the stock. As soon as a batch arrived I placed an order and then did the same with the next batch rather than deprive other guys by buying them all at once. Now I have a box of them and they rarely fail.

I'm afraid I'm past the getting parts in a hurry. HK decided to change their shipping and prices went up so much I now have everything sent slow boat. I was paying the dividend for faster delivery but I found it was not all that different in speed. In their quest for more of our money they opted for the cheapest carrier they could find. Obviously with cheap comes poor service and parcels went missing and delayed. I had one parcel with tracking which showed it in a warehouse in Singapore. I received the parcel a week later, but for a further 3 weeks the parcel was still in Singapore. Great tracking for $39.00. More than the items were worth actually.

Sorry, that was a lot of off topic ramblings. I'd better leave you alone.       Stu

Well Hey Prop sir,
Really Good Written sir I salute you for this and I agree to everyone here
Regards,
Aman.

My experience is that if your order is shipped through private courier like dhl or fedex you get your items quickly & easily. Just they charge nominal handling charges

Thank you Aman, that's nice of you to say. It's a rare moment when someone takes the time to say something nice to a stranger. A shame you can't bottle it and give it away. Then again there'll always be those who'll want a refund :-) Are you an ex HobbyKing buyer as well? there seems to be quite a number of them around. It's a shame the management didn't have a little more forethought and stopped to realise that many Non-Chinese people expect good service where they spend their money. They are beginning to take more notice recently but I feel it's too little too late. The opportunity for a fresh face to maybe win all those who deserted HK in the past is there for the taking.

I went hunting for something to buy myself for my birthday this afternoon and HK had what I needed for $39.00. I checked with BangGood and it was $43.00. Only 4 dollars the difference I thought. I then checked to see if it was available in the Aussie warehouse, it was, hooray I thought. Not for long. It was $45.00 plus $14.00 freight. Needless to say I went with BangGood with their free freight and saved myself $15.00. While I was there I checked out their ESCs again and found 45 amp Simon K flashed ESCs for only $15.00 each. Try finding them for that price at HobbyKing. Needless to say I grabbed them before they sell out.    Stu

A funny but do able method sprang up in my mind even i think it could be true. As we all know that tx\rx get caught up in the customs with wpc issue but my friend ordered a 9XR and module with a lipo and received the whole parcel with 1357.0 as duty. I think the warning sign(for lipos [Handle with care,explosion sign]) scares the customs  so they just don't break open the whole package but a few glance from top and the bill. In my case i had no Tx\Rx but lots of lipos(4 pcs 3000 mah via Fedex) and when i received my package i saw just one opening enough for a sneek-peek. So what do you guys think about this order tx rx with lipo?Gotta give it a try! 

Hey prop sir,
I was an hobbyking buyer but now i dont buy from them but Sometimes i have to buy from them but if the product is available somewhere at good low price and that too at a good online shopping webaite like banggood or any other then i buy from them.
Sir i have sent you a personal message hope you have checked it out  waiting for the reply:)
And Yes once again i salute you for the content written again.
Regards,:D
Aman.

Hi
I made an order for a Tx/Rx and 2 spare Rx along with a few lipos. My total bill was $113. Including shipping it was around $154. I am from Delhi and the package came through direct to my home without any hiccups at all! (ordered in Aug 2014)

Wow That's Surprising well your lucky my friend Congrats On That
Regards,
Aman.

LoL I think this way should work then even i'll try!! 

So It took about 5 months for Package to Be Delivered To You ??

Well I think my bad! I intended to state that it came perfectly well on time (12 days to be precise) without any hassles! And I ordered that in Aug 2014.

But how did you guys conclude that the package arrived now?  

Hey,
I thought that you received after 5 months, Sorry my bad.
Regards,
Aman.

quick question . A LiPo worth $68 from HK ( with shipping ) converts too Rs4216, how much more will be charged as customs or any other cost if shipped to india ?

About 30 % of that If By FedEx

oh damn it .. ok .. any chance of skipping customs ?

also, delivery time

Well as it will get shipped by Fedex so it will you reach at less time and yes there is always a chance of skipping customs.
Regards,
Aman.

less time as in > a week ? 4 days ? 3 days ?

Maybe a week or 8 days or 6 too.
As fedex is really but no gurantee on duties huh like you may get charged you may not.
Regards,
Aman.

.. wait, duties are extra that the customs ??