Hazegawa Camel - buying from Japan

[elderly]

I want to buy the 1:16 Hazegawa Sopwith Camel.

 

Has anybody recently purchased one of these from Japan

and if so, how much extra was the VAT, Import Duty and charges by the carrier for implementing them add up to?

 

Or should I just bite the bullet and purchase from a UK seller?

 

Thanks.

[cmatthewbacon]

In my experience, it’s no longer a “lottery” whether you get hit on importing kits... it’s happened to every one I’ve bought in the last year... perhaps another “benefit” of Brexit preparation. Anyway, you pay 20% VAT on the cost of the kit PLUS Postage and Packing. The “handling fee” is fixed at £8. If the kit and postage costs more than £135, you’ll also have to pay Customs Duty, which seems to be 4.7% for plastic kits. Collecting both VAT and Duty is included in the same £8 fee...

best,

M.

[spruecutter96]

Hello. 

 

What the price difference between the list prices in the UK and Japan? As I understand it, the people who make the import charges can charge you anywhere from £15 to £35, just for the "honour" of processing your parcel - and that's on top of the actual import charge. When you're staring that kind of extra charge in the face, then buying from a UK trader seems like a reasonable option. 

 

If you can get to the Hannants London shop (just down the road from the Hendon RAF Museum) and you order the kit from the main Hannants warehouse, you get an automatic 10% discount on the standard list-price. It is best to make your order about 7 days before you intend to collect the model (deliveries from the warehouse usually happen on Thursdays). I would strongly recommend that you phone the London shop before making a long journey,

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Chris.  

 

 

[Graham Boak]

No, there is no import charge as such, and is certainly not left to "the people who make".  You have to pay the VAT charge on the goods (plus P&P), plus a handling charge by RM (if they bother to collect them, which certainly isn't always.  By all means check what this adds up to before comparing them to the prices offered by importers, and don't forget to include postage where relevant.  Plus of course your travel costs (not just car fuel but insurance, depreciation etc) to wherever it is collected.  If it is then cheaper to order within the UK, good.  However, I think you will find that the people who can charge you extra for processing your parcel are the importers and retailers such as Hannants themselves.

 

There is however no reason why the kit manufacturers should charge the same amount to Western markets as they do to the home market.  That's capitalism, and without knowing details of these costs at each stage of the import and sales procedure there's no way of determining just who is being excessive.  As a customer, you just have to look at the end price options: just be sure to include all costs in the comparison.

[cmatthewbacon]

Looking at the prices online, you're not going to save much, if anything, by buying from Japan; that said, both Hannants and eModels are out of stock, so their prices my change after a re-stock. Your best bet would be to go to a large model show, where there will be many traders, some of whom may have it in stock so you can walk away with it under one arm, rather than making a special journey. I wonder where you might find one of those in the near future.... 😜

 

best,

M.

[elderly]

Thanks for the responses.

 

The cheapest (I realise NOT always the best!) from Japan including postage, VAT and the £8.00 collecting fee

works out at a little over £150.

 

So assuming that any UK retailers actually had one in stock - there would be about a £30 difference.

 

A large model show is an excellent idea, BUT at a 240 mile round trip for me to a certain very large show

and with the possibility that nobody is actually selling one there ..............

 

 

[cmatthewbacon]

Fair enough.... I couldn't find a Japanese one for much less than £130, which is more like £170 with VAT, duty and handling fee, and the emodels price was £153. It does look as though availability is the biggest issue rather than price, though!

 

best,

M.

[Graham Boak]

I would guess that the larger the box, the more likely to be "caught".  As I tend to buy only 1/700 ships and the odd 1/72 fighter from Japan anyway, perhaps that's why I've been luckier.  However there was a time when Liverpool were having an anti-drug blitz, and all packages were caught up in that.  Or so I was told.

 

To be fair, even importers, distributors and retailers have to pay wages, taxes, admin, storage costs, carry the costs of unsold items, and still make a profit.  It isn't necessarily just greed.  So I guess it's like all imports,  balancing whether you prefer supporting some other country's economy or your own.  Not that there seems to be a lot of choice nowadays.

[elderly]

I've never said that I expected to avoid the add on costs that would probably be added to a personal import from Japan,

but of course it would be a bonus.

 

I am happy to, and do support UK sellers - to reinforce that point I've never done a personal import before.

However - there is a limit to what I want to spend on a particular high value kit and I saw headline prices 

varying from £108 in Japan, to as high as iirc £245 in the UK ....... so it made me think, and that's why I posed my original question.

 

If anybody who is going to THAT show sees one, if they could please let me know who is offering it - I could maybe take it from there?

[Paul Thompson]

1 hour ago, elderly said:

 

However - there is a limit to what I want to spend on a particular high value kit and I saw headline prices 

varying from £108 in Japan, to as high as iirc £245 in the UK ....... so it made me think, and that's why I posed my original question.

 

 

£245 is outrageous, but if it was for the original 1/8th scale kit it would be relatively cheap...............

 

I'll be at SMW and will let you know if I see one.

 

Paul.

[elderly]

That's extremely kind of you Paul.

 

Yes the £245 shop (I didn't bookmark it !)  is outrageous;

the average in the UK is from from about £155 to £179......... if anybody had one in stock 🥺.

Edited November 7, 2019 by elderly

[Duncan B]

On 11/7/2019 at 11:06 AM, Graham Boak said:

No, there is no import charge as such, and is certainly not left to "the people who make".  You have to pay the VAT charge on the goods (plus P&P), plus a handling charge by RM (if they bother to collect them, which certainly isn't always.  By all means check what this adds up to before comparing them to the prices offered by importers, and don't forget to include postage where relevant.  Plus of course your travel costs (not just car fuel but insurance, depreciation etc) to wherever it is collected.  If it is then cheaper to order within the UK, good.  However, I think you will find that the people who can charge you extra for processing your parcel are the importers and retailers such as Hannants themselves.

 

There is however no reason why the kit manufacturers should charge the same amount to Western markets as they do to the home market.  That's capitalism, and without knowing details of these costs at each stage of the import and sales procedure there's no way of determining just who is being excessive.  As a customer, you just have to look at the end price options: just be sure to include all costs in the comparison.

Add fluctuating exchange rates and possibly Bank charges for international currency transactions to your list of additional costs, those will certainly apply to UK Businesses importing goods.

 

Duncan B 

[Graham Boak]

That's true for the business user's additional cost, but a private buyer will simply get the conversion rate of the day, or as given on (e.g) HLJ website when ordering (if different).

[Paul Thompson]

On 07/11/2019 at 19:42, elderly said:

That's extremely kind of you Paul.

 

Yes the £245 shop (I didn't bookmark it !)  is outrageous;

the average in the UK is from from about £155 to £179......... if anybody had one in stock 🥺.

Well, I'm afraid you can stop holding your breath, if you were. I didn't see a single one, although it's quite possible I just missed it. Still, persevere, long enough you have to get lucky eventually. Good luck.

[elderly]

Thanks for looking Paul .... I'll speak to some UK retailers and see if they have any idea if they might get them in the foreseeable future 

and if not I'll have to go down the Japanese route.

[colin]

If you have a account with HLJ, purchase it with the delivery charge and then put it in your private warehouse.

Then the next day transfer it out to the delivery section, this way the model cost is put on the customs note but not the postage charge, it saves you paying vat on the postage charge, every little helps, especially if its a large heavy item and the postage is high

[elderly]

4 hours ago, colin said:

If you have a account with HLJ .......

Good idea! 

I wanted to see what HLJ would charge for shipping and so I put the item into my cart;

however it then said that as they are waiting for stock, my order would go straight into the Private Warehouse.

 

BUT - as far as I can see, they will not give a shipping quote with Private Warehouse until payment is made.

[colin]

Unfortunately they will only give a price for in stock items as it's on size and weight.

Try picking something size and what you think weight is that's in stock and add that, should give you a rough idea on cost

Their shipping cost have gone up quite a bit lately though

[elderly]

On 11/7/2019 at 12:15 PM, cmatthewbacon said:

. It does look as though availability is the biggest issue rather than price, though!

 

best,

M.

Quite right .... I've found two UK sellers whose websites showed stock, and I could successfully put the Camel into my basket.

However when I telephoned them before checking out, neither actually had any stock ........ VERY frustrating.

 

 

[Bozothenutter]

2 minutes ago, elderly said:

Quite right .... I've found two UK sellers whose websites showed stock, and I could successfully put the Camel into my basket.

However when I telephoned them before checking out, neither actually had any stock ........ VERY frustrating.

 

 

I have noticed this in other area's of interest aswell, one reply I got was "but the importer has in in stock, our systems are connected......"

[elderly]

After a few phone calls to UK retailers none of whom had any idea of when stock might arrive (it could be months!),

I've been 'forced' to order directly from Japan  ........  watch this space 🤔.

[48-Alone-Is-Great]

I stopped buying from HLJ a long time ago after a string of very bad experiences.

 

This  100% Japanese webshop, working hard to also cater to customers abroad, has the 1/16 Hasegawa Sopwith Camel in stock for around $120: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10223161

The site is a great source of info btw: for many of the kits it shows the contents of the box, including manual, decalsheets etc.

 

Cheers.

[elderly]

I might be a day early posting this progress report as the kit is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

 

The story so far:

I ordered it from Plaza Japan on the night of Friday 15th.

 

By Tuesday 19th it had been dispatched via Japan Post EMS service.

 

It arrived in the Coventry UK the next day (20th) and then spent two days in customs.

 

Since then it has been held at a local delivery office which I wrongly assumed was my local Royal Mail delivery office.

 

Today I did some phoning around and discovered that it was being held at a Parcelforce delivery office

awaiting payment of the customs charge -  no card has yet been sent to me informing me of this.

 

I've just paid this charge over the phone  -  20% VAT as expected, no duty as expected,

but an outrageous Parcelforce £12.00 handling fee!!!!!!

 

The total of the kit, EMS shipping, VAT and the handling fee came to £159.

 

ETA.  IT'S ARRIVED !   

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by elderly

[Faraway]

A bit late for @elderly but for anyone else, I found this... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hasegawa-Scale-Sopwith-Camel-Model/dp/B00CCWU9Y6/ref=sr_1_9?crid=29OTU09BRYRZ0&keywords=hasegawa&qid=1576343604&sprefix=%2Caps%2C324&sr=8-9

[elderly]

Given 2020 hindsight  (and a little patience) ....... it's now in stock at a UK retailer for £153 plus postage.