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Hobbyking customs duties, scam or not? Your opinions please?


Joe Tosh

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I do order regularly from Hobbyking (6th time now) and I've never had any issues with customs charging me duties. :)

Until now, I received a rather bizarre email from their shipping company:

SCS Express International Ltd

Dear xxxxxx,

Re: Your order no. xxxxx from Dynamic Model under our Airwaybill number xxxx

We are glad to inform you that your parcel order from Hobby King had arrived at our Europe hub station. Your parcel had been cleared from EU region by bulk declaration under one consolidated shipment in order to minimize the clearance costs.

Now the Parcel is ready for dispatch to you and waiting for your payment settle by Paypal as follows :

The total sum of amount of EUR xx.xx which is inclusive of any duty and VAT charge if applicable.

( Attached file for the AWB copy and the receipt for your reference)

You have no need to pay more VAT or duties in your own countries as your parcel was finished custom clearance in EU region.

All VAT charge needs to be paid within ten working days as Free storage charge only for 10 working days only.

Our Paypal account is [email protected]

Once we was received payment confirmation from Paypal, our EU Hub station will arrange your parcel to be delivered to you by UPS service within 2-4 working days.

You can track the further shipping details and status from our web site at www.scsexpress.com by using our Airwaybill number quoted as above after your payment was being confirmed and accepted on next working day afternoon.

Please copy & paste the following your payment details into Paypal.

Order no. xxx under Airwaybill no. xxx

Finished custom clearance dated : 16-Apr-2012

Once again, thank you for using our SCS Express Hand-Carry Service to handle your shipment.

If you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us by Email at our mail box at

[email protected]

I'm finding this really strange, cause:

-I've been hit by customs before (not with an HK-order), and it was then collected by the postman at my door

-The English grammar used in this mail is of poor quality (you would expect an international shipping company to write proper English, wouldn't you?)

-There are 3 different fonts and 2 colors used in the email, like it was drawn up by some amateur

-They only propose me to pay with paypal?? That's the thing I find the most suspicious...

They're not asking me a big amount of money (approx.

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could well be legit but i would be in touch with hobbyking myself.

the shipping company should have the tracking no. type to scan (barcode) see if that tallies up with the order no. etc you have, if it does seems it could be legit.

slightly different for the u.k, you either get a ransom note from parcel force or the postie delivers a grey card telling you theres a parcel to be paid for at the office.

sorry i cant be of more help, gaz. :thumbsup:

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sounds abit dodgy mate,i think they take it to the eu as the import tax and duties are lower then the uk then ship from their then in the meantime charge you more then the uk import duties cost.and say its because off blah blah blah.

sounds dodgy to me are they even allowed to do that?

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Just had a look at their site looks legit to me, btw I had a similar experience recently with amazon.com whose shipping agent also operate in tandem with a customs clearing house, same as you had to pay a one of fee and that was it no card from the postie demanding a handling fee etc, just a courier delivery..

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I'd get in touch with Hobbyking as if its been sent from HK why is it not Royal mail asking for the charges. Ever time i have been caught its only ever been Royal Mail that asks for the duty and custom charge just dosent seem right

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I just went for a quick drive about to find my postie who put a card through the door while I was in the shower,

Going by my emails, I made my order for 2 batteries on the 3rd April, It was shipped on the 6th, And I found my postman 10 minutes ago with my parcel, If it's any help.

When was yours posted,And how much do they want.

Edited by babylon
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good point didnt notice that.then it would be down the the courier it was shipped with then if they have their own depot and deliver in that country.so may be legit but still i would be cautious and pay via goods to be able to open a case against them if needs be

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Thanks for replies guys, I should have specified I live in Belgium, sorry for that. :)

I'm still in doubt what to do.

I'm gonna email Hobbyking and ask them if this is legit, or maybe give them a call tomorrow (it's 9 PM now over there).

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Yes I did, I always do. Value was set at approx. $33.

I've received a text book answer from their customer services, which is of no use at all.

I can't even understand why this would be sent to UK customs??? I live in Belgium! :shockingscary:

What is the threshold on the value of goods imported into Belgium? $33 is still about ~

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I don't really know if there's a threshold value for imported stuff in Belgium. I guess it has more to do with good or bad luck if you get hit by customs. :rolleyes:

Good point about paypal, didn't think about it but I can indeed always open a claim later.

The first email had indeed all the correct details, apart from looking bizarre...

Thanks for advice! :)

I'm quite certain every country has regulations on importing goods & the value threshold before the items are subject to vat & import duties; 2 minutes on google gave me an exact answer ( I searched for "vat threshold on imported goods belgium" ):

http://www.dutycalculator.com/help_center/Import-duty-taxes-when-importing-into-Belgium/

150 Euros for Import duty & 22 Euros for VAT.

Not hard to find these things out & it is very important to look them up if you don't want any nasty surprises when ordering from overseas....

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I

I'm quite certain every country has regulations on importing goods & the value threshold before the items are subject to vat & import duties; 2 minutes on google gave me an exact answer ( I searched for "vat threshold on imported goods belgium" ):

http://www.dutycalcu...g-into-Belgium/

150 Euros for Import duty & 22 Euros for VAT.

Not hard to find these things out & it is very important to look them up if you don't want any nasty surprises when ordering from overseas....

Unbelievable I have to learn that from a Brit! :lol:

Thanks a lot Neill, really useful. :thumbsup:

What's bizarre is that my decalred value is about $33 (approx 25

Edited by Joe Tosh
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