Buying rc parts over seas???

[Frank211]

1st, bare with me guys, 2nd,not here to start something bad!
So here reading some posts/comments about buying here only in America, some won't even buy from over seas, but some do buy BOOM racing(over seas) Yeah racing(over seas) RC mart (over seas), or eBay,i don't get it?

It's like a double standard???

I have no clue how most stuff is done/works, me,i just buy what looks good, if i can spend less money on something that looks nice to me,i will buy it, if i can get what i want for a few less bucks ill buy it. Some say support your local rc hobby shop, i do , but prices aren't in my range most of the time, or they might and usually won't have what I'm looking for, now that there are rc hobby shops online, that's where most of my stuff comes from.

Im guessing, some materials come from overseas, isn't that the same as buying a rc part from overseas?

I'm just trying to understand why one is like this? Nothing against anyone, your money is your money!

Just to be Frank, i guess you have to have money for this hobby??? Something i don't have, LOL.........but I'm fine with that!

[HumboldtEF]

Well I personally would only think of it in terms of where the Hobby shop is located not where the parts originate from, we all know 98% of everything comes from china.

I Also believe cheap parts can end up costing you more if they happen to break and you end up buying another. I usually have some fun money to burn so its not too painfull to go name brand so to speak but I cant blame anyone who's on a tight budget for doing otherwise.

I buy 99% of my parts from RPP or Amain but from time to time I'll order though Asiatees but man the shipping times and cost really blows and thats a big deterrent for me.

[bbrigg]

I would support an LHS if I had one but, as an expat, I don't have that option. There are a few in the country and, where their pricing makes sense I will order from them.

My RTR TRX-4 cost me over $800 from one of the dealers and now I have absolutely no access to Traxxas spare parts in country and RCMart is not allowed to ship here to protect the "Traxxas dealer" in a neighboring country who doesn't even offer any Traxxas products on their website.

I have ordered from AsiaTees, RCMart and some eBay sellers. Some of the products come from China, some Taiwan and others from the USA. You take your own chances with the quality but I have been pretty lucky with what I have purchased.

I don't have any issues with buying from China with the only exception being JX servos who stole (not copied) the entire design from Holmes Hobbies. The losses to HH are not inconsequential and they don't help those of us who like the HH products as they prevent us from benefitting from economies of scale which might have otherwise saved us a few dollars.

Buying locally makes sense as it helps to ensure that there are spares available near to hand. Not having this option means that I need to keep a lot of spares on hand. I have a full set of tires, foams, link ends, bearings, a good assortment of screws, spare motor and 2 spare servos. Either that or risk my rig being unusable for up to six weeks waiting for something like a servo horn.

I'm just lucky that radios and receivers are available in country (3 to 5 days for shipping and prices lower than I can find on eBay) so I don't have to keep a spare on hand. Brushless ESCs are a different story but the HW 1080 is easy and cheap.

If you are still stateside delivery options are a lot better so just support those whose price/quality ratio is affordable to you. It's your money, after all and you're the one using the rig.

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[tjohanne]

If I buy from my local insanely overpriced hobby shop, I support the four millionaire stockholders of the company, and I strengthen their monopoly in my country - which they use to increase prices even further. I'd rather walk to China or swim to the US than to buy locally.

I mostly buy from rcmart and amain, for good selection and prices.

I have to buy smart. Amain has good shipping costs to my country. Rcmart too. Tamiya is considerably cheaper in Europe than US, for instance. Crawlers the opposite. Yeah Racing, Xtra Speed, etc. often have free ebay shipping.

Point is, if I didn't buy smart, I couldn't afford this hobby at all.

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[Peaker]

It is the only option here ( Denmark )
You can get some spare parts ( original ) but hop-up parts you have to go outside the country.
But it is not really the price issue here, things from outside the EU get slammed in customs anyway, resulting in things getting pretty expensive at times.
So a 20 USD part if it fall prey to customs it become a +50 dollars part, so you would want to buy in bulk so your handling fee ( 22.5 USD ) cover more parts cuz that's a fixed amount.
The tax itself are not that bad, it is the shameful handling fee and the local sales tax ( 25 % ) that do one in here.


I think Denmark are riddled with monopolies too, not just in this little market.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and its not just my feet.

[Xx Losungen xX]

I was just discussing this the other day regarding buying stuff online and overseas in general, here's my take on it.

My money isn't free, I worked for it. I have a right to make my money work smarter, not harder for myself just as the mom and pop store has a right to be competitive and earn my dollar. They aren't entitled to my money, that I work hard for, just because I "should" support my local economy, they also have to work for it.

[BigSki]

Outside of Vanquish and a small handful of wheel & niche parts manufacturers, no one is producing RC parts in the USA. Some parts are designed here, then sent out to the manufacturing facilities in Taiwan or China then shipped here for distribution.

With this in mind, I'll support RPP or Locked Up RC for small parts. This way, if there's an issue I can have some recourse. If you buy the same thing off of flea-bay to save a few bucks by dealing with a distributor instead of a retailer, you're on your own in terms of getting help with an issue.

[Szczerba]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Outside of Vanquish and a small handful of wheel & niche parts manufacturers, no one is producing RC parts in the USA. Some parts are designed here, then sent out to the manufacturing facilities in Taiwan or China then shipped here for distribution.

Pro-Line makes quite a bit (but not all) of their parts in the USA, I believe.

[tjohanne]

Originally Posted by BigSki

If you buy the same thing off of flea-bay to save a few bucks buy dealing with a distributor instead of a retailer, you're on your own in terms of getting help with an issue.

Wrong. It's fully insured by PayPal. The few times I've had problems on eBay (and I've bought a lot), PayPal has refunded me immediately. As opposed to a hobby shop, which can actually get more personal and tricky.




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[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by tjohanne

Wrong. It's fully insured by PayPal. The few times I've had problems on eBay (and I've bought a lot), PayPal has refunded me immediately. As opposed to a hobby shop, which can actually get more personal and tricky.




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Does that also include after the purchase support like warantee stuff?

EDIT: Nevermind, I guess thats typically through the manufacture anyway.

[scalemadness]

I buy off ebay alot from RCmart with no local hobbyshop the closest being 2hrs away as well as being highly overpriced. That being sad i used to only order from one hobbyshop located in my province fair pricing excellent customer service sadly they closed the doors 3 yrs ago.

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by tjohanne

Wrong. It's fully insured by PayPal. The few times I've had problems on eBay (and I've bought a lot), PayPal has refunded me immediately. As opposed to a hobby shop, which can actually get more personal and tricky.




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I was referring to a warranty claim, not something that doesn't show up or arrives broken. Glad to hear that PP was quick to issue you a refund. I've had a few claims in the past where it took a while to get reimbursed.

[tjohanne]

Fair enough.
When I had problems with an SSD-RC product bought via Hong Kong, I contacted SSD directly and got excellent service.
When I contacted Tekin for something I also bought via Hong Kong, I got crap service.. but not because of where I bought it from. In that case it would be easier to deal with a local shop (but then I wouldn't have bought the product in the first place, because it's not sold there).

Anyway, I live in a country where local hobby shops really are irrelevant unless you buy very mainstream RTR stuff. All they really do is import stuff, triple the price and then push it on you. I try to avoid feeding those sharks. It feels better to send my money to HK or USA.



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[Peaker]

I'll support RPP.
I would too, and have done so, but that have been in times of plenty, and now i have to turn over every dime i have.


But if RPP made a EU branch, i would throw my arms in the air and go o hell yeah.