Anyone order batteries (lipos) from Hobby King lately? Just wondering what the wait time is these days. Last time I ordered some packs from them (in March) it took 41 days to arrive!
Colin
i'm currently waiting.....for 4 weeks now
I'm currently at 6 weeks. I emailed HK to look into it. They have it tracked them to Vancouver about 2 weeks ago. They offered to investigate further, if I don't receive them this week I will.
I have a shipment at Vancouver since July 5. It might be better to go to HK in the US and pay the extra costs of shipping.
I know Chi, a TEMAC member, is looking to import and sell batteries. He has some samples to test right now.....
Use Fedex, It comes within 4 days. Only con is you will be hit with a second fee for processing. To me it is worth the additional money especially during the nice weather.
Glenn
@electroflyer , there was no FedEx option when I ordered. I specifically looked. Just useless EMS and regular. Went with regular. Whatever, I still have some puffies to fly with for the rest of the season. Even with this inconvenience, the nano-tech batteries were half the price of local ThunderPower batteries.
Quote from: electroflyer on July 22, 2014, 09:50:02 AM
Use Fedex, It comes within 4 days. Only con is you will be hit with a second fee for processing. To me it is worth the additional money especially during the nice weather.
Glenn
Glenn How much was the extra fee, was it just the $10.00 hit.
@electroflyer
Hi,
I think the brokerage fee is $12.95. I am not sure if it is based on value or just a one time fee to look after customs, but in a pinch it was better than watching the season disappear with crappy batteries.
I think my last FEDEX fee for lipos from HK was around $15
Well now that the EMS shipping is routed to Sinapore or wherever, I would rather pay a fee from Fedex and know that my items are here quickly. The interesting thing is, my orders seemed to be placed in a faster Que when using Fedex. May be a coincidence, but I have had other orders sit for days before any word as to status when using even EMS express.
I think the whole reason that most order from HK is the affordability of the products (especially lipos) but unfortunately if one has to factor in customs, taxes etc it can sometimes negate any saving regardless of the time it took to get here.
So I guess the question becomes ... if one uses the FEDEX option (to keep wait time reasonable) what's the rate of "extra" charges that this option incurs? Does anyone know? Ie: for X amount of declared value you would have to pay X% in customs ,taxes etc? Would give people a ball park percentage I guess of what charges to expect.
BTW, I ordered $126 worth of lipos through another mail order company the other day and used the FedEx option and the total "extra" charges came to CDN $40 approx. So I guess based on that scenario I could use around 32% to calculate future FedEx "extra" charges?
Thanks!
Colin
Of the $15 that I was last charged by FedEx, I think $10 was admin fees. The remaining $5 was the actual duty.
Wouldn't the actual duty be %13 of declared value?
There is no duty on the import of LiPo batteries.
You may be charged Sales Tax which in Ontario is now HST at 13%.
Jack.
Well, I've been asking the good folks over at RC Canada the same thing and the general consensus is all about ordering from the USA warehouse order with the Purolater shipping option.
Funny, I just set up two dummy orders ... one "regular" and one USA (using the Purolater option) and the purolater shipping was LESS! ($29.30 VS $29.99)
I'm totally good with spending LESS to get it FASTER! ;D ;D
Colin
Ok guys, I just put through a HK "USA warehouse" order using the Purolater shipping option. The value was $99.11 and the Purolater shipping was $29.30. Bit steep relative to the value of the order but hey there was a lipo and some heavy bigger stuff in there. (couple of rolls of covering)
So now we wait and see how fast ... and if any extra charges. Again did a dummy "International Warehouse" for the exact same items and again it came out to MORE than the Purolater shipping.
So, if this works ... in other words reasonably fast (one to two weeks) and no extra charges I will resume my relationship with HK! (55 orders so far!)
Will keep everyone posted.
Colin
Well, well, I am duly impressed. As others have advised ... the US warehouse/Purolater combo IS the way to go! Got my package today ... NINE DAYS AFTER ORDERING.
I have NEVER gotten any order from HK this fast. Even in the good old days I never got an order from them (lipo or Non lipo) faster than 12 days. And no extra fees! (unless they ding me later like FedEx does) So, guess how I'm gonna be ordering from HK going forward? ;)
Colin
Just as a follow up. Someone suggested Motionrc.com in the US. I ordered batteries on a Sunday, they shipped them Monday I received them Friday of the same week. I used USPS, no duty or taxes, they arrived in my mailbox. Another of our morning fliers ordered some late last week and received them yesterday. Same deal. Prices are very reasonable. Have a look at their site. HobbyKing meanwhile are "investigating " my order which is now more than 8 weeks and still waiting. It's a no brainer now for me where to order stuff. motionrc for the win.
Awesome heads up Jim, thanks for that! We need to id ALL sources for affordable lipos. If anyone else can contribute I'm sure we'd all appreciate it! ;D
Colin
Hey Jim,
Which of the following options did you use for your battery order to get them here so quickly?
USPS (First Class Mail International Parcels)
USPS (Priority Mail International)
USPS (Express Mail International)
Also, I'm assuming that you ordered the "Admiral" brand? I've never heard of them ... do you have any prior experience with them and if so ... how do they compare to the HK packs?
Thanks!
Colin
I just used the least expensive USPS. I have a sonic 64 wing which I have been flying for a couple of years now. Mostly with 3 cell 2200's but sometimes with HK 4 cell 2200's (admittedly somewhat puffy). I put in a fresh Admiral 2200 (35c) 4 cell. It flew much faster for about 30 seconds then blew apart my EDF fan blades. Not sure whether to brag or complain about that. I then looked up HK to replace the fan and they didn't have one. While I was on Motionrc for another order I noticed they did have a replacement fan which I added to my 2nd order. I also got 1300 3 cells which I have tried in my Hyperbype and they are performing better than my HK's. The HK's of course are older.
Quote from: Canuke on August 06, 2014, 08:31:27 AM
Just as a follow up. Someone suggested Motionrc.com in the US. I ordered batteries on a Sunday, they shipped them Monday I received them Friday of the same week. I used USPS, no duty or taxes, they arrived in my mailbox. Another of our morning fliers ordered some late last week and received them yesterday. Same deal. Prices are very reasonable. Have a look at their site. HobbyKing meanwhile are "investigating " my order which is now more than 8 weeks and still waiting. It's a no brainer now for me where to order stuff. motionrc for the win.
When looking for your shipment and its late, go to RCgroups and PM HobbyKingCCNYC, Rob will get you answers asap. Give him your order# and tracking.
What he will do, is reorder from the US warehouse and ship Purolater.
I had lipos sitting in Vancouver for 5 weeks, Rob just place the order with the US warehouse and it is shipped.
Thanks for the information. Rob is sending me a replacement order via Fedex. Just a small correction, the group on RCGROUPS is HK C SNY. Again thanks for the help. I'm still going to use rcmotion for batteries at least until HK gets their battery deliveries straightened out.
Hi guys, there's already a thread full of sources for things. Post the details for this new place and I'll add it to the original posting.
http://temac.ca/smf/index.php/topic,4208.0.html
p.s. my hobby king order from June still isn't here. There goes the season.
I just abandoned an order for batteries from HK's international warehouse when the only shipping option available was FedEx, and the fees exceeded the value of the items.
It was nice while it lasted!
I received the battery reorder today. Fedex came to my door, no additional charges. If anybody is in the same position Rob from rcgroups is the answer.
Jim
I had a similar incident earlier. Rob from HK-USA (rcgroups) assisted me too. The items were resent from US via FedEx.
FedEx didn't ask for any broker fee or border delivery chart. But a week later, I received the invoice to pay $15.66 as broker fee.
Hopefully this only applies to me.
Oscar
So my Hobby King battery order from June just arrived.
ouch.... looks like the guys at the post office were playing hack sack with your box. Are the batteries in the same shape as the box?
Batteries are fine, but the season's pretty much over. And thus ended my relationship with Hobby King.
What was the actual ship date?
jack.
Shipped July 8/2014. Arrived September 30/2014.
Anyone buy any batts from them through the International warehouse lately? I just tried to order a few packs from them through the International warehouse (this packs were not available through the USA warehouse) and I didn't get any shipping options. Just got this message:
"Unable to ship this parcel to your country due to size/weight."
So does this mean that shipping packs through the International warehouse is now NOT even an option? Last time I visited this subject, you could order through the International warehouse but you would have to endure exceedingly long wait times so the USA warehouse with Purolater shipping was the better option.
Colin
I always buy stuff from HK's intl. warehouse... and I always use Fedex... super cheap, some times even cheaper than regular intl shipping...
Here is the trick:
1 - get a Fedex account (free, all you have to do is to go to fedex.com and create an account, and add a credit card)
2 - shop @ hobbyking intl warehouse. (So far I remember, the Fedex limits are 4.5kg)
3 - The important trick: ADD A LIPO BATTERY (+1000mah)TO THE ORDER. This is going to trigger the Fedex shipping option.
4 - Place the order, and select 20 - 30% declaration (Customs). This is important because Fedex charges HST, so the lower you declare the value of the package, the lower will be the tax.
5 - As soon as you place the order, wait for the tracking number.
5 - As soon as you get the tracking number, call fedex and tell them you are expecting an intl. shipping and provide the tracking number. They will associate the shipping to your fedex account (yey!! no brokerage fees).
6 - Enjoy your batteries / new toy 3 days later 8)
Attached are 2 of my previous order from HK intl warehouse... Shipping with Fedex was waaay lower than EMS.... and it is even faster than EMS (Max 4 business days)... the funny part is, in the other screenshot, I didn't order a battery, but I was able to select FEDEX... in both cases, I got the package even before getting the tracking number from HK...
just in case, just tried to place an order full of batteries... it seems it is working for me via Fedex....