Mugen & models in motion

[Neil Skull]

Hi Dave,

I know it is not a dig a Kyosho.

Its about the current situation with our hobby and price and availability.

Dave for Kyosho The delivery from Warehouse to Shop is 2 days, I imagine it will be the same for Mugen. The problem is the shops.
As more and more modellers look to HK the shops are losing business and ultimately closing.
The biggest affected shops are the ones that specialise in High Price Racing products.
A few years ago the gap was quite big between UK and HK prices, the customers know what they want and can easily look on HK sites and see a price which is often very tempting.
Now it is not so good, Customs are clamping down a lot and the pound on the exchange is not so strong.

When the new law comes in you will find it even tougher, Especially if all the racing shops are gone.

Ask yourself now how many racing shops exist that stock all the spares you need for all the brands you want?

Your Local shop Dave is not a specialist racer shop, It is a good general shop who has a small order occasionly but will get whatever you need. This maybe your only option in the future.

What i see from the businees point of view is a big demise in our hobby.

We at Kyosho are quite fortunate we have a good network of shops and we sell a huge range of products, Any shop who orders once or twice a week can get racing parts to order pretty quick.

You also need to think on a larger scale if all the customers went to HK there would not be any UK or European Distributors let alone shops.
And in due course the manufacturers will lose massive turnover as demand for hobby products dwindle due to lack of easy availability.
Prices will rocket due to high manufacturing costs against turnover.

BE WARNED

[Jamie.T]

Neil, i personally think the biggest problem in the UK at the moment is distributors like Yours.

As we all know, renting and running a brick and mortar shop is expensive, so the best and cheapest way of doing it is to run an internet based shop from a much cheaper premises or from home. But unfortunately all UK distributors except Schumacher dont deal with internet only shops.

So, how is the hobby going to move forward? There are currently loads of internet only based companies springing up at the moment, and many of them are very good, but sadly its the distributors that aren't moving with the times.

As a result, internet shops are buying stock from abroad as well as the end user. We also know the hobby is facing tough times, because of this running and maintaining a high street shop just isnt as easy anymore. Just take Microtech and MIM for example, who will be next?

P.s, this is not a personal dig at you Neil, but an observation of ALL uk distributors.

[Neil Skull]

Hi Jamie,

I take it you must have asked me already to supply you?

I understand that Internet may be the way forward for lots of retail goods.

But as i am sure i said to you at the time and anyone who asks us is that we are fighting very hard to support the shops wherever we can.
Its a fight we are currently losing and may one day have to accept defeat.

The point is we need the Begginer or average moddeler to be able to walk into a local shop and get the help and support when starting out and when things go wrong. If the local shops lose out to Internet only then they will dissapear. This will contribute ultimately to the demise of our hobby.

It may be that racing type products will eventually only be sold this way as Schumacer have accepted, But dont forget they also sell direct to the Public so their situation is totally different than that of a dedicated distributor.

[Nige]

Originally Posted by Proshop

Another that does not support shops, it's not the RC companies it's import duty and other taxes. all your doing is by-passing that. Wait till the new Customs law comes in set up for registered distributors in UK (not just for RC) They register their business and what they distribute i.e Tamiya or as you said OS and everything that comes to UK shores Via mail will have to have a disclaimer telling customs what is manufactures name and CE reg.
If it's name comes up i.e OS, Ripmax are the distributor it will be sent to them, they will add their mark up and contact you! If duties not paid it gets sent back. Your loss, you can still put "Gift" on it but it won't dodge the customs fee any more and you'll pay top dollar, which if it's from a Distributor it will be full retail as to not upset the shops. If you can't afford quality don't buy it Model shops have a cheaper option. If every one carries on like you then there will be no shops, no advice, no distributors and the Internet will charge what it wants because it can and will, then their make up will be 200% plus not 30% as it is at the moment!

Do you have a link to this new customs law and is it finalised/just a consultation document?

On reading your post I believe that if I buy a bag of "Xxxxx" manufacturer screws from Hong Kong (as a personal import) it will go to the registered UK distriubutor?

Really? I think it would be unworkable with the volume of items being received daily into the UK. Also distributors wouldn't need to sell anything as they'd rake a lot of revenue just from the administration of this.

And what about purchasing within the EC, surely it would be exempted?

Sounds to me just like scaremongering, though if true people will just buy brands with no UK distributor so can't see it helping anyone.

[peetbee]

Looking on the HMRC site, there seems to be proposals to existing regulations regarding business to business imports. They are designed to speed up items through the customs process ie: CML wouldn't have their stock from Associated held up in customs as they would register their details accordingly.

But doesn't look like anything is changing for imports to individuals.

I wait to be corrected though!

Just had a thought, the method Proshop has commented on would be even more impossible to administer if the parcel contents consisted of parts from different manufacturers distributed by different UK distributors!

[DAVO]

Originally Posted by racingdwarf

I just don't agree with the RC being a rip off comments. I run on a very very tight budget, 90% of my stuff is second hand. But if you look at what we the customer demand from a competative car these days the very best grade materials, the best workmanship and finish of parts, the instruction book has to be top notch all this from a small company normally and all for under £500 remembering that in the big picture of life the number of units they will sell is small compaired to say a mass produced TV for... Hmmm £800+ or a PC or laptop at £300+ or a good camera£££. the number of people I hear moan about prices...then look at what they are wearing to go racing in 80quid trainers, £50+jeans etc. RC in the uk is a tiny market place tbh I am amazed people make a living at shop level
BUT that said I still stand by a point I make. with NO uk importer with stock, it will make using your local shop hard, as if your budget is tight and you can't have boxes of new parts to hand you will have to be ordering parts monday afternoon at the latest to stand any chance of getting them! by the weekend and then if half the stuff turns up or the wrong stuff, well your weekend is screwed! I'm sorry but parts in france is just no good to support your LHS,parts from germany will be no better.

its not kits that i think are a rip off its stuff like tires turbo glow plugs etc.