niznai

Exactly the same here, exactly the same timeline. I even had items come in three days form ordering. Same day postage from HK, three days in transit. Maybe they changed management?

It happened for a while (see above).

I had items come form UK in three days. I had items coming from the Netherlands in three days, I've had post come from Germany in three days. All normal airmail (I am too cheap to pay extras). There is no reason why it shouldn't be here from HK in three days.

For people who think it takes too long.

I have had parcels stopped by Australian quarantine. This happened on two occassions and they don't have the courtesy to let you know. What they found was the box the parcel came in had traces of fruit. I then started advising everybody who has to send me parcels to use boxes that have been nowhere near anything organic, soil, etc.

By the way, it took three months for one of those parcels to arrive and I didn't know anything about it for all that time. Nasty. Get informed about oyur country's quarantine legislation and advise everyone sending you a parcel.

There is also the random parcel inspection by customs that can slow things down. That can cost up to a week in my experience.

cannon

iTrader: (35)

Metal .. a time line for you according to what I have seen with EMS:

Day 1 ... you order and pay
Day 2/3 ... they pack the order and possibly sent to HK Post
Day 3/4 ... possibly sent via air (BTW .. HK is 9 hours from Australia by plane .. not a few hours
Day 4/5 ... order arrives at Australian Customs
Day 4/5 .. if no duty, GST item can clear customs
Day 4/5 .... if lucky the parcel is sent the same day to the delivery hub
Day 5/6 ... if the order gets to the delivery hub before 6am then the parcel can be collected by the courier who delivers it

So easily the parcel can take a week. If lucky the process can be speeded up a little but in the current screening processes used in all international postal services the slowing down is unavoidable.

It was even worse around the time of the Beijing Olympics

sidecarphil1

iTrader: (1)

yeah i know i dont blame them for that delay , just pissed that i had a tracking number and it was 6 weeks saying "in customs"

ooooh i was jumping !!!!!

dameetz

Yeah...I noticed this too...they used to be very fast....my recent order from them took 4 days to be shipped...nevertheless my order came and I cant complaint much about it.

RossoTorro

iTrader: (1)

When that happens to me i usally call them b@stards at customs and tell them to speed things up. It usally works! Tell them you need them parts for some race you are racing at.

Metla

[QUOTE=cannon;6276840]Metal .. a time line for you according to what I have seen with EMS:d

/QUOTE]

I track every parcel I order. Nothing better to do.

Upto a week before it leaves HK but on average 5 days.

5 days later it arrives in Auckland (no idea where it could have gone for those days,and 9 hours is an incredibly short flight, I remember when crap went by boat, In fact the local distributor brings everything in by boat, it takes months....hail RCMART))

Clears customs with 12 hours, then makes its way to my house in a crappy little town 700km away overnight.

Senna Racing

iTrader: (2)

guys the problem i have is that i ordered stuff from them on the 5/08/09 and only received my order with missing parts on the 22/08/09

the problem was that i ordered $1200 of stuffs and i understand that they need prof a address (which visa will only process the order if your details will match the delivery Address) so what the f^&k

so 3 days after my order i received a email stating that they needed prof of address so i sent them a pdf of my bank statement. They did not find this saticfatture and replied 3 days after the fact so it took a phone call to HK to sort out which took about 30 mins to get a resolution (so much for hiding it from the misses )

I was firstly hoping that i would have my radio and parts for the bathurst round which didnt happen

after a week of sending emails and final a phone call they processed my order by then there was parts out of stock and only shipped the order on 14/08/09. after an other email asking what parts were out of stock as i my be able to do with out or find locally i was advised again 2 days later that it had been shipped

here is the postal record which is impassive 17-Aug-2009 Kowloon East Post Office Kowloon East Post Office

Date # Location Delivery Status
17-Aug-2009 Hong Kong Item posted.
17-Aug-2009 Hong Kong In transit.
17-Aug-2009 Hong Kong Processed for departure.
17-Aug-2009 Hong Kong The item left Hong Kong for its destination on 17-Aug-2009
18-Aug-2009 Australia Arrived.
18-Aug-2009 Australia Pending customs inspection.
18-Aug-2009 Australia In transit.
19-Aug-2009 Australia Unsuccessful delivery.
19-Aug-2009 Australia Unsuccessful delivery.
19-Aug-2009 Australia Delivered.

but after opening the box when i got home that evening there are some missing parts.

i sent a email stating the problem which it took days for them to reply, i have also set a email regarding that it and still no reply this is why i will not take my business with rcmart again

her is a copy of my emails that still has not had a response Flag this message
RE: [rcmart:QBC784Y] missing parts
Thursday, 27 August, 2009 7:24 AM
From:
"wayne morris" <[email protected]>
View contact details
To:
"Sales Department" <[email protected]>
i have double checked and triple checked before i sent you the email

and no they were not in the box can you please forward me these parts as i have paid for them as the box was not damaged nor does it seem to have been tampered with

and was hoping that i would place another order with you this week, but have been waiting to hear back from you to what

i have never had any of these problems before please advice

wayne

--- On Tue, 25/8/09, Sales Department <[email protected]> wrote:


From: Sales Department <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [rcmart:QBC784Y] missing parts
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, 25 August, 2009, 9:16 AM

rcMart

Dear wayne morris,


Ticket Number: QBC784Y
Date replied: 2009-08-25
Ticket Status: Open

Thank you for your mail. According to our record, we have sent all items to you. Would you please double check it? Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com Flag this message
missing parts
Friday, 21 August, 2009 4:41 PM
From:
"wayne morris" <[email protected]>
View contact details
To:
"rcMart CRM" <[email protected]>

dear dinball

i have received my parcel which i collected yesterday. which i thank you for the speedy post.

however there was some parts missing are these the parts that were on back order or the parts that you were waiting for

1 x sr3520 dsm2 micro receiver
1 x s9551 futaba servo
1 x 51342 aluminmum differential set

please advise as the package was unopened

wayne

--- On Tue, 18/8/09, rcMart CRM <[email protected]> wrote:


From: rcMart CRM <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: RE: [rcmartRQSBZ7] Re: 47. Cancel
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, 18 August, 2009, 10:14 AM

rcMart

Dear wayne morris,


Ticket Number: DRQSBZ7
Date replied: 2009-08-18
Ticket Status: Open

Thank you for your enquiry. Your order was sent on 14/08 Your tracking number is CP812197077HK. Normally, air shipping takes 7-20 days to arrive. Or EMS shipping takes 3-7 days to arrive. ( Sometime the delivery will be affected by any reasons such as disaster or bad weather. ) Also you can login your A/C and see the order history about the tracking number. You can trace your parcel at http://app1.hongkongpost.com/CGI/mt/enquiry.jsp If you do not receive it, please contact us again. We will help you to follow up on this matter.

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

they had no problem taking the moneys from my account on the 5th when the order was first placed but THERE SERVICE TEAM DOES NOT WORK ON THE SAME CALANDER THAT THERE CREDIT TEAM HAVE

SlowerOne

That's the price we pay for buying things overseas. The timeline is no worse than going to your LHS and ordering things, but no one does it.

As for Customs the World over - they are trying to raise revenue, and that means they will stop and examine every parcel, and then add the relevant taxes. Add that to the handling charges we get in the UK from our Post Office, and it really isn't worth ordering parts from overseas unless you can't get them anywhere at home.

I've found that buying expensive items second-hand at home (radio, chassis, etc.) is the best way to save money. Ordering from overseas means I have to wait until it comes, so I order in good time.

Live with it - Governments are fed up with losing taxes to people like us who order from overseas, so they are playing catch-up!

niznai

Actually items under a certain value are tax free in any country. Check with your customs and they'll tell you. In Australia, most R/C items will fit under the threshold (2000AU$ last I checked).

Customs only get involved to check for illegal stuff and quarantine related matters.

As for timeline in Australia if you want something from Tamiya and its not on the shelf, it will be six weeks no exception. That is if they don't fuck up and you find out six weeks later and then have to wait for another six weeks 'cos they can't be bothered with some unhappy customer just because they ordered the wrong part or they forgot to order it altogether. Pretty much the same thing with any other company with local exclusive importer.

I found that buying expensive bits overseas is the safest way to save money (prices here are just shameless) and they come quicker too. In the good old days I remember my CR01 took three days to arrive and so did my F-350. Both cost less with shipping from HK than they do here in Oz now, after the initial overinflated price has come down a bit.

So you see, it is a case of what fits best your situation.

RossoTorro

iTrader: (1)

I ordered F1 tires from Norwegian Tamiya dealer 8 years ago, still not gotten them. They are still on order. Beat that! Talk about lousy customer service, and they wonder why we order from Japan and Hong Kong???

Metla

Done two order last night, One through Amain and one through RCmart.Lets see which one gets here first.

xray09ACT

iTrader: (7)

Amain........

a few tips.

Any order over $1000 will always get flagged and stuck in customs.
Always expect a wait when its around a holiday ie christmas, easter and other generic international holidays.
Remember what countries have trade agreements with Aus.

The only time I order from o/s is generally because i can't get something locally and they are on order or deemed "hard to get"

But also bare in mind that the reason is your local store is generally more expencive than from o/s is because they have their business to run and if there are any issues with product ie DOA units then they will sort it out.
Your LHS has factor in getting a certain percentage of returns which are heading for the bin.

Had a mate who sells dictaphones, he just gets them from the US because the price he can get them from over there is far cheaper than he can get them from the wholesaler over here so much so he can throw 3 in the bin and still make a profit on the fourth.

Also you don't have the issue with lost or non posted items as listed before......


I guess the real question how much are you willing to lose if something is missing, DOA or broken?
Chances are you will end up buying it from your LHS because you needed it yesterday anyway. So the $50 you were saving turns into the $300 extra you have to spend.

niznai

I tend to think it is a bit more random even though there may be a general rule such as that.

I have bought a set of wheels for my car (real car) from Germany and they were sent at the same time but each in its own box. Three arrived as expected in about two weeks whereas the fourth took a detour and did six. Not stopped in customs. Heaven knows what happened there. The purchase price was clearly stated on each parcel's invoice and they were over 1000AU$ each. My car's headlights came normally again even though they were again over the 1000AU$ each and had invoices with purchase price in plain view attached to the boxes.

tellan

Last order was for 2 lipos ordered on the Wednesday delivered to Uk on the Friday .Three days in total.
Usually 3-5 days tops.

CARD

iTrader: (10)

Once bought a 1:5 scale buggy years ago in ebay (HK seller), it appeal at my door step in Vic, Oz on the 3rd day... Thats quick!!

Slower transaction time now aday might be due to tighter securities check?! I find Oz site transport was all right...