HLJ postage costs

[indycals]

I find that the postage rates have gone up globally. I wanted to buy a $5 decal sheet from USA but postage would have been $30 so I dropped the idea.

I sell a lot on eBay where I have to fill out customs forms for international orders - my cost to ship a set of decals internationally is less than $4. That said - it does not provide full tracking - once it leaves the US you can only trace it to your country's customs office. For full tracking I can see it going up to $30 (my option would be USPS priority mail which is over $40).

[Orso]

I buy directly from your home page and the last ones was only $1.36 and I find that postage very cheap.

[Careless]

It looks like the cost of small package postage from Hong Kong (HobbyEasy) has at least doubled as well but oddly larger packages - over 0.5 kg - haven't increased as much.

[SteveNoble]

HLJ shouldn't be able to undercut the likes of Hiroboy simply by avoiding the customs charge. Steve will, I'm sure, have to pay customs charges on everything he ships in. If tax is due, it's due and it should be paid.

Whilst I partly agree with what you're saying, it's not really that HLJ are out to undercut Hiroboy. The prices in general from Japan are a lot cheaper, well they used to be should I say. At one point I was paying less than half price for kits from Japan as opposed to buying them here in the UK. My local model shop had the Ebbro Lotus 72c at £59.99, I think I paid around £30 delivered from HLJ. You really can't compete with that. I'm all for supporting local model shops and buying in the UK where possible. But a £30 saving means I can get two kits for the price of one. With my modelling budget really tightening up since I bought a house and had a child I really have to watch where I spend my funds and make sure I spend them wisely.
Anyway right now the prices are not as cheap as they used to be from Japan. Add the charges and vat and you're not far off, if at all, the price in the UK.
Also remember that the model shops here are probably buying 100's of kits to sell, whereas I'm only buying one. I can also sat that I pay plenty in taxes to the UK government, when I earn my money, spend it, save it, it's all taxed. So if I save a little bit on the few models I buy I'm not so fussed that the government missed out on a fiver in tax. When you have big companies fiddling millions in taxes by having offshore accounts and basically just paying nothing like what they should and they never get caught out then I rest my case. The way I see it is this. The kits are sent from Japan with full customs labels and are presented to HM Customs. If they choose not to check and charge on them that's their loss. It's not illegal to buy from Japan or anywhere else for that matter. If any kit I order is subject to charges I pay them no problem. It's a person's perogative to buy his/her kits where ever they choose and that's the power of the web, choice..

[daveyman]

Steve, don't get me wrong, I'm as happy as anybody else if a, correctly declared, kit comes thru and somehow misses the customs charge. It's a bonus. What I have never liked is items being falsely declared to avoid it, that's all.
Anyway, think I've dragged us off topic as customs is a separate thing to postage costs.

[F1Noob]

I am distribution in another industry, I pack and ship all over the world. The US Postal Service has been bypassing customs on smaller packages for years, so I am able to ship to Canada and some other countries without my customers, or myself, having to pay any duties. There has been an uproar in recent years about this, from UPS, FedEx and some other manufacturers that make things that require larger packages to ship. I wouldn't be surprised to see many domestic carriers drastically raising their international rates to be more comparable to the likes of UPS< FedEx, DHL, etc.

[Flemming]

Hi

Got an answer from HLJ:

My question:

I'm questioning the cost.

The order below is from late last year. 6280 Yen with FedEx. A big box of stuff. That is ok.

And now this weekend where the SAL parcel at 8960 Yen was the cheapest. IIRC the FEDEX charge was around 14000 Yen? Which leads to the question. Error or drastic increase in prices?

Reply from HLJ

Yes, we are sorry, but at the beginning of the year, all carriers that we deal with have raised their prices somewhat.

Thank you for your understanding, and for shopping with HobbyLink Japan!

Flemming

[shood23]

HLJ shouldn't be able to undercut the likes of Hiroboy simply by avoiding the customs charge. Steve will, I'm sure, have to pay customs charges on everything he ships in. If tax is due, it's due and it should be paid.

Ive no issues with the customs charge. I will buy from japan alot as i can get them quicker than if i wait for steve to get them to here and get them online. Alot of times ive had a kit well over a month before steve has them here. Again this is no bad words to anyone in the supply chain, steve esspecially, just something we have noticed with shipping cost rising globally.

Shaun

I guess you are the only one on F1M that starts building his kits right after you received it

Nope just impatient like most of us are here.

[smb]

This across the board increase in shipping from Japan is bullshit based on monopolistic behavior by the major shippers. The biggest expense to them is fuel costs and such costs have come down considerably. Unfortunately, in Japan such behavior is not prosecuted as actively as it is in the U.S.

[Sennafan]

I think I may have not been clear in my post

I have bought from HLJ for years

The last few years the FedEx option has been great, prices great, quick delivery

However, like I said before, I used to get a bill from FedEx for like $30-40 after each delivery but to a business account

I replied to FedEx several times about this and said that I knew nothing about such costs

So what likely has happened is that FedEx isn’t gong to eat this cost, and has passed it back to HLJ and hence they have increased their shipment to be in line with customs charges

I think it all comes down to how each company declares their value of items

Maybe some companies ship items and declare only a small percent of the real value