RickyIS300

P-DUB, you are right about "GREY MARKETING" but what's more important is that they are selling r/c parts on Ebay to your customers. Essentially, they are taking business away from the hobby shops in the long run.

Most Hong Kong shops are selling below U.S. wholesale prices anyway and they don't care if you are a retail or wholesale customer. There are risks for hobby shops to import items like O.S. Engine, Tamiya, Kyosho, Futaba, the exclusive U.S. importer will collect evidence and then take action.

A) Have the U.S. Customs hold your shipment and possibly confiscate the entire shipment to protect the rights of the owner of the registered trademark.

B) Take you to civil court and drag it out as long as possible. The idea is to cost you a lot of legal fees until you give up.

They will do A, B or both. I'm not making this up, one of the big hobby shop had to pay $50k to settle a law suit and this was more than 15 years ago.
Racers can save a few bucks buying from oversea. Stuff like tires, inserts might be okay but for electronics, I just read the horror story about how Team Much More decline to service their units and is it worth the hassle? I guess you'll be the judge.

PD2

While that is true, e-Bay'ers and RC buyers alike have to look at the entire cost. A kit that normally sells for $150 in a LHS and is priced for $109 on e-Bay and shops like that seems like a great deal, until you realize that the HK locations are charging you $40 to $50 to ship it! Consumers have to be smart when it comes to this - the shipping is part of the costs. Just cause something, at a unit level is cheaper does not mean you are paying less - especially if you are paying HUGE shipping and handling fees. I just won't buy from them because of that! I'd rather by from a US based seller, LHS or the like than be charged fees that large. And they will charge you that large of an amount no matter how big the part or kit is!! Ridiculous! They may snare a few, but they ain't getting this guys cash!

PD2

RC Robin Hood

Yes, shipping cost SHOULD be considered as part of the cost but for most people out there, all they see is just the product cost and then they go compare the product cost with a hobby shop they don't take shipping cost into account.

And sometimes, it's not just the shipping cost, you also have to add import duty, tax and sometimes brokerage fees...

But what amazes me the most is that they are selling North American made products, eg Jaco stuff cheaper than what we can get here. Either those are not really Jaco products or they are getting an awsome deal from Jaco.

PD2

That's the other thing - fakes and fraudulent products! Being that they are over there in HK who knows what you will get and if its a supported or certified manufacturer's product. The other thing, is that yes, there are some HK companies that import US goods at wholesale rates and then sell them cheaper than US based LHS'. Every one knows that parts are where you make the most money - most margins are up to 50% or better. So its not hard to see that a HK based company will sacrifice the margin for increased sales.

PD2

Korgae

iTrader: (15)

You also have to look at there motivation for selling " grey market"- GREED!

from the overseas POV, selling to North America is a "gravy sale" They rely on their own market to keep them a float, but consider North America a place that they can make some "extra money" at the expense of the North American economy.

The big problem is that in North America we have a higher cost of living compared to the overseas countries. this puts us at a disadvantage and really can become a debate another place.

100% guaranteed prices would drop everywhere in North America if North America supported North America.. You never hear about Overseas customers come shop in North America as much as we all shop over there.

We are seeing a trend, more nice tracks are shutting down then opening...Think about the message that is happening.

Are these overseas shops going to build tracks in North America for all of to run our grey market goods?

Or maybe we can all race in the parking lot of our recently closed local hobby shop?

If your in the USA- Support the US sales channels.

If your in Canada- Support the CND sales channels.

It's the right thing to do. maybe not the cheapest ( yet) but still the right thing.

I am surprised the HK shop had the balls to post this thread, Like others mentioned, North American Distribution is willing and able to fight back.,, and will!

EAMotorsports

iTrader: (79)

If I was a company that had US distributors for my product and a company from overseas was trying to cut my US distributors it wouldnt take long for me to yank my products from that shop!!

I know Schumacher is the US distributor for Take off and Speedworld I think is the US distributor for Sorex. If I were one of those companies HKRCModel would never recieve another shipment from me!!

EA

kerry

iTrader: (1)

great points korgae, support those who support you. in advertising there is a saying "there is no such thing as bad publicity" this guy has had too much attention already, if we keep on keeping this thread on the main page then we are doing him a favor, he has his rights and we have ours lets not advertise his company anymore.


for the record i belive everyone should support the local scene as much as possible as long as its at a fair price.


all the best

gee-dub

iTrader: (1)

it might just be me, but does anyone see the fact that you can get this (rc) stuff substantially cheaper otherwise point to a problem in itself? supporting regional economy = good, mark-ups through non-competitive exclusive distribution agreements = bad (from a consumer standpoint).

i also find it amusing, if not ironic, that people who promote/resell foreign based products in direct competition with US manufactured products are bashing on hkrc. so let me get this straight... let's protect the retail sector from comparitive disadvantage, and 'stick it' to manufacturing? it doesn't work both ways.

jack rimer (don't know who he is, but sounds like he is associated with jaco) made the following post in the jaco tire thread regarding selling US made/exported products cheaper overseas than they do domestically:
"In order to compete and sell any tires overseas we must sell to our distributor at very little profit. He, in turn, is content to make next to nothing in order to move product. All of this is fine until you have his customers selling back into the US at unfairly low prices. "

while i agree 100% with his post, i think this goes back to the initial problem of jacking up the price in the US 'because we can'.

this will all fix itself eventually. for example, the xbox 360 will come out in november for 399usd and euros respectively. that equates to substantially more for europe when you factor in the exchange rate. conversely, the product will open at 346usd equivelant in japan. as soon as the east asian markets unify (like europe), the markets will be more even.