Does our finances dictate which retailer

[davethepitch]

I have been studying for a while where people are buying their items from whether it be China, USA or the UK but i am not sure whether it is because certain items are only available outside of the UK or whether foreign retailers are offering more products at a more affordable price.

I understand that duties have to be paid by UK retailers which gives rise to the price and items from the far east may be mass produced and it does not cost them the same to produce.

I am looking for a ZMR 250 full carbon fibre frame and i can purchase one of these frames for just under £20 delivered from the UK (but business address in China) and if i order from a known supplier in the UK i would pay £28 delivered for the same frame (the difference of £8 could pay for a new motor)

So is our choice of buying purely for personal financial situations or should we support the growth of UK suppliers.

[Tim2100]

It is a case of supply and demand.  In theory we should support our local businesses, they bring experience, knowledge and can push the boundaries of the hobby.  However when buying things it is easier to get them from China at a reduced cost.   Where possible I often try to buy from a uk business but when they are 50-100% more expensive it gets very difficult.

[quadfather]

For me it';s both.  If money wasn';t the problem I';d order from UK retailers and only buy from abroad if it';s not available here.  That said, I do try to support UK retailers as much as I can, but it largely depends on the UK mark-ups.

For example, I could by a ZTW Spider 40A ESC for £24.50 (ex-VAT no less) plus shipping in the UK, or I get it for less than a tenner (inc VAT) with free shipping from China.  That';s a no brainer,  some are just taking the p!ss with their mark-ups.  If the same ESC was say £15 shipped in the UK then I';d consider it.

[Friskle]

For the most part UK shops, dont carry a big % of what we want , for this hobby specifically, plus they dont help themselves with mark ups, yes we all know the usual Vat, Duty costs etc, but most LHS are greedy, one shop near us you can choose any few items you want, take note of the price, look at another UK shop, and its always a few quid cheaper, in all fairness, i have yet to figure out how the one near us stays in business.

for example an SC32 Two stroke near us, is 7 quid dearer than one i normally get stuff from, both UK shops, same Engine, yet such a difference in price.

[Paul01]

I';ve been to my local shop on a few occasion and just can';t justify their prices considering they mainly sell unknown brands for silly prices. They also sell everything you don';t want and make you feel like your being funny when you ask for anything they don';t have.

I mainly buy from China due to cost, but do try to order from UK suppliers whenever I can justify it like when I got my taranis.

[ched]

For me it';s financial reasons why I buy from China.

I would buy from UK retailers if I had more to spend no question.
The thing that we need to remember is UK suppliers don';t just have vat and their profits to add they also have to buy in larger quantities and thus they do pay import duty that we mostly get away with our China orders.
Plus UK sellers have UK sales of goods acts to comply with including failures during the first 12 months (most China suppliers will only replace faulty items shortly after delivery). They also have minimum wages to pay, premises, employers liability insurance, national insurance, business rates, so many overheads to pay. Not to mention the UK postal charges seem so much more expensive than shipping from China! Just look at Royal Mail charges....

I do support UK retailers when I want things fast and if the cost isn';t too much different to China.

Just remember that every £1 we spend in China goes from the UK never to be seen again! So if we can keep the money in the UK we all benefit, in that 20%vat is aid to gov plus national insurance, and income tax. So it helps our economy.

[davethepitch]

Take the frame scenario i have now i either pay just under £20 with free delivery for a full carbon ZMR 250 frame from a UK outlet (albeit a Chinese business) or almost a third more for the same frame at £28 delivered from a UK retailer.

[ched]

Take the frame scenario i have now i either pay just under £20 with free delivery for a full carbon ZMR 250 frame from a UK outlet (albeit a Chinese business) or almost a third more for the same frame at £28 delivered from a UK retailer.

I agree Dave, it';s difficult to justify paying so much more from UK. The more I think about it the more annoying it is that it';s so expensive to support UK businesses. It';s why we have lost most of our manufacturing and a similar thing has happened to High Streets with the big supermarkets killing small shops then when they are dominant they squeeze the suppliers as they have no option...........

Sorry to go on, go on, go on..........

[davethepitch]

There is a frame i really like and will soon be available to buy and as good as it is i doubt i would be able justify the price. 

[Friskle]

But its not just LHS, its UK online retailers also.

i know this is slightly different, As DJI dictated what the minimum price stores can sell thier products at and the store had to agree to become a distributer,, when i was building Wookong Multis at a rate of 5 or 6 a week, the Wookong was currently priced up @ £935, now the profit margin on that price, even after taking into account all the other expenses, was massive, a near double your money situation, so you can gather from that roughly what the cost price of the Wooking was.

how many other companies dictate like that i dont know.

overheads are a good excuse, and in most cases a well used one, take the Visionaire, average price was £195, yet odd ones were selling at £199, where i got mine it was £192, another online only retailer ( UK ) had it up for £197, yet the one at £192 is a shop and has overheads, overheads or not, for the most part UK business love to stick some "extra" on, to be honest, you would have thought they would have learned the odd lesson or two by now, and instead of trying to sting the public, they could still happily make a profit and still be reasonable.

[kilby]

I';d be a liar if I said that price wasn';t an issue, if I had money I would have bought a nice Icom receiver the other day (chickened out of a bidding situation) instead of something ';serviceable'; for £42

I will buy from the UK if the price is decent and the items are in stock (as claimed) and if I am in a hurry.

However I will say that I have never had an issue with a Banggood or others, which is more than I can say for UK sellers and the LHS.

Around our way another LHS has become internet only, but to be honest they don';t deserve to be in business, their service was awful (it was a chore to sell you something), their stock was awful (claim of "in stock" was seldom a reality), awful items in stock and terrible pricing.

It';s not unknown to do a 80 mile trip to go to another store, which is nice if I have the time (and I am happy to pay a bit extra)

I do understand this is not a hobby with items that everybody would buy but things like scalpel blades or thick CA are not esoteric things.

Also the likes of Banggood shopping is always an adventure, yeah guys I will take a software defined radio (SDR) and some RGB LEDs too.

I also understand that stores cannot afford to keep stock ';just in case anybody would want it'; so that is often another reason for having to buy from elsewhere in the world.

[Friskle]

I';d be a liar if I said that price wasn';t an issue, if I had money I would have bought a nice Icom receiver the other day (chickened out of a bidding situation) instead of something ';serviceable'; for £42

I will buy from the UK if the price is decent and the items are in stock (as claimed) and if I am in a hurry.

However I will say that I have never had an issue with a Banggood or others, which is more than I can say for UK sellers and the LHS.

Around our way another LHS has become internet only, but to be honest they don';t deserve to be in business, their service was awful (it was a chore to sell you something), their stock was awful (claim of "in stock" was seldom a reality), awful items in stock and terrible pricing.

It';s not unknown to do a 80 mile trip to go to another store, which is nice if I have the time (and I am happy to pay a bit extra)

I do understand this is not a hobby with items that everybody would buy but things like scalpel blades or thick CA are not esoteric things.

Also the likes of Banggood shopping is always an adventure, yeah guys I will take a software defined radio (SDR) and some RGB LEDs too.

I also understand that stores cannot afford to keep stock ';just in case anybody would want it'; so that is often another reason for having to buy from elsewhere in the world.

Exactly, UHU POR, at our LHS 5og tube @ @ £4.50  , another one a few more miles away @ £3.99,  Online UK retailer @ £2.50

[davethepitch]

if I had money I would have bought a nice Icom receiver the other day (chickened out of a bidding situation) instead of something ';serviceable'; for £42

I have had an Icom 706 mk2g, Icom 746 also a Yaesu 847, Yaesu VX5R and a Kenwood TS 200 and i have liked them all but the only one i have kept is my Icom IC-91E handheld transceiver which is capable of Dstar if i install a UT-121.

The reason i only have a handheld now is because i think Amateur radio has been ruined by idiots but that';s another story.

But going back to the subject we are talking about i often wonder what the difference is between the two frames i am looking at being as they are both in the UK but one is a third dearer.

[guest325]

My latest Chinese purchase was my Hi8 tablet, it cost me less than  £60 delivered - a Hudle from Tesco is inferior and costs £129 on offer!!!
I buy from the UK if I don';t have a viable option, like my Wot4 I recently purchased but got it for £10 less delivered off t';Internet than off both of my nearest lms, their prices take the p155!!!

[hoverfly]

It is always nice to support British  suppliers, it keeps them in business, and with the decent ones you get good customer servive all be it prices are higher than from the east. If you are skint and desparate then its usualy Hobby/k.
What gets up my nose is companies taking the urin sample , for example a well known British company selling  TS 5823 200 mw  T/X for £45 when they are buying them trade. "Would you like a F.P.V. set up on your quad sir  ?Ok bend over and brace yourself."   

[bazzerh]

There';s a very odd shop in Cannock, West Midlands called wheelspin models. Their Internet prices are very competitive and you get free delivery if you spend enough. But if you call into the lavish showroom and pick something up yourself you get treated to the non Internet prices which aren';t advertised on their website. It';s not just a teeny bit either it';s more like 5-10% on top. Even though they fulfil and dispatch Internet orders from the same premises. You just think what? You can';t even order online and do shop pickup. Just plain weird to me.

[Nige8021]

I';ve been looking for some (6) 3508 6/700Kv motors, either Multistar or Sunnysky  the cheapest UK supplier are coming out around £35, BG or HK £22 from their international warehouses. So I';d be saving £78 !!! just don';t want to wait a month to get them

[nub]

My finances dont dictate whete I buy from they dictate what I buy.

[JeremyE]

I';d say what I buy dictates where I buy it from. If its a part that I may need warranty or potentially replaced, then I will source it in the UK. If its a part that I don';t feel I need either of those, then I will look for the best price and get it from wherever that is (obviously a known reliable source though).

[annikk.exe]

I went into the local hobby shop once.
The place smelled of cat urine.
The only member of staff was a bored looking woman behind the front desk, she was reading a book.  She stopped reading and looked up at me as I walked in.  I peered around the shelves, and it seems like this particular hobby shop is all about selling radio controlled cars (prebuilt, no assembly required) and random train set parts.

I didn';t much feel like looking around, so I asked the woman "do you have any hex spacers or a Naze32 Acro board?" and she said "no."
So I left, and she went back to her book.

I have no clue how that hobby shop remains open..  It';s missing the boat if it doesn';t get into the multirotor action.

[Friskle]

I went into the local hobby shop once.
The place smelled of cat urine.
The only member of staff was a bored looking woman behind the front desk, she was reading a book.  She stopped reading and looked up at me as I walked in.  I peered around the shelves, and it seems like this particular hobby shop is all about selling radio controlled cars (prebuilt, no assembly required) and random train set parts.

I didn';t much feel like looking around, so I asked the woman "do you have any hex spacers or a Naze32 Acro board?" and she said "no."
So I left, and she went back to her book.

I have no clue how that hobby shop remains open..  It';s missing the boat if it doesn';t get into the multirotor action.

Yep, how did they cope before this hobby came along .

[davethepitch]

Yep, how did they cope before this hobby came along .

It was probably a book store and she was a librarian.

[Hands0n]

UK shopkeeps always amuse me. They come in one of two extremes, generally.  There';s the one that couldn';t give a toss about the customer. Then there';s the one that is the basis of Arkwright';s Open All Hours - they';d sell you a gallon of Frat Oil before letting you out of the shop empty handed. 

The latter I love to use, although there are no RC hobby shops anywhere near where I am, so I go on-line and use whatever I can find, at the right price.

I usually compare prices vigorously and select the cheapest that suits the delivery that I am after.  I';ll use UK and Chinese stores interchangeably. 

Part of our problem with prices here in the UK is that we make bu99er all these days!  Not even nylon stand-off posts that cost £3 each here and £3 for 20 from China (you get what I mean, I hope).

[davethepitch]

I have a pretty well established RC and model shop within a mile of where i live but they do not sell the type of parts i use unless i go to a DJI Phantom but other than that Pete (the owner) is a nice guy.

[powerlord]

I don';t do shops at all really. It must be 5 years since I was in my town centre, 15 since I used it regularity.

I use the local supermarket, and the Internet. That';s it.

I don';t feel a need to ';keep local shops in business'; anymore than in 1910 I';d have felt a need to keep he local horse stables in business.

Times change. Retail is dead in the UK. Good riddens to it.

The reason most of the local bakers, butchers and candlestick makers are closed down, is because they were on the whole, crap.

The bread I get from tescos is better than any of the remaining local bakers clinging on to life.

I';ve found the product support massively better from the Chinese sellers than I ever got from a UK shop OR a UK online shop... So I tend to ';deal with the maker'; these days whenever I can.

Specialist shops took a while for the Internet to hit them... And yet when you think about it, they are the type of business that should fare best when it does not need a physical presence and can cover a global catchment area.... That';s what we are seeing now I suppose.. The death hell of the specialist local shop.

Good riddens to it.