Getting started with a SOCOM M14

[Azubi]

I have been stung (and rightly so) on every order I have put in with ehobby over the last 2 years or so.

[RWJP]

True, unless you happen to be buying other things in HK as well. Say a red dot sight, suppressor, etc.

 

 

 

So? That just makes the whole order more expensive, and you'd then have to pay VAT on whatever other items you bought as well, and shipping could be more expensive.

 

Frankly, unless what you want simply is not available anywhere in the UK, i'd avoid importing.

 

(By the way, i'm not complaining about VAT/Charges for importing, i'm just pointing out that i've yet to come across a product where it is cheaper to import)

[evansy]

+ Shipping

+ VAT

+ParcelFarce handling fee

 

msrundles link will work out cheaper...

 

If my rudimentary maths is correct, on ehobby's cheapest shipping, you'll be paying roughly £41 for the mags (inc postage), plus about £9 tax, and then £8.50 courtesy of ParcelFarce... so roughly £58.50

 

AirsoftSupplyDrop's cheapest shipping is a little over £5.50, so roughly £55.50

 

Importing works out more expensive.

What I've noticed with Ehobby is that when you use the cheapest shipping option it is sent via standard air mail rather than EMS so it goes directly to Royal Mail instead of Parcelfarce so there is a smaller chance of getting charged all the fees.

The down side is it takes longer to get here.

[DarkLite]

So? That just makes the whole order more expensive, and you'd then have to pay VAT on whatever other items you bought as well, and shipping could be more expensive.

 

Frankly, unless what you want simply is not available anywhere in the UK, i'd avoid importing.

 

(By the way, i'm not complaining about VAT/Charges for importing, i'm just pointing out that i've yet to come across a product where it is cheaper to import)

 

I'd disagree - often when I make a large order it works out cheaper to buy from HK, even when applying the VAT/Import charges.

[TheFull9]

In all my experiences over the last few years I'd say Darklite has it right. I'm obsessive when it comes to shopping around for the best prices, I make all my airsoft purchases in one go near the end of each month and the entire rest of that month is spent going online, every night, checking every retailer I have bookmarked (which is a lot) to compare the costs. This includes the basic price of the items at each place, cost of the different shipping options that each retailer offers and any deals they might have on, likelihood of getting import charges and the level of those charges when levied, taking in to account the speed of delivery and different systems each courier and post services uses to get my stuff to me.

 

For starters, the vast majority of the stuff I want is never available at UK retailers, so that pretty much makes HK the only option anyway, or the US when it comes to tac gear. Even on the odd occasion that Fire-Support or LWA (for example) do have some of the items that I want, they never have all of it and then you're looking at multiplying your shipping costs buy purchasing from more than one place, which proportionally always works out to cost more; one 10Kg box pretty much always ends up cheaper to ship than two 5kg boxes. I won't go in to any... 'unconventional' ways of lessening the amount if VAT and fees you pay when importing, because that is illegal and none of you out there reading this should do that. However I almost exclusively shop at WGC and UnCo now, which is of course entirely unrelated to my previous point.

 

The upshot of it all, after using all the reputable UK retailers and most of the HK ones over the last 3 years or so, is that other than to double/triple check that it won't be better for me to buy from the UK, I always end up going to Hong Kong when buying airsoft stuff. I bought about $950 worth of guns and bits from WGC yesterday and the $-£ ratio is a bit better than it has been recently, and with the sales they had on I picked up a G&P WOC (not the -X, a proper one with steel internals), a KSC G17, a King Arms M4 front set including the barrel, a 10" free float rail with all the accessories, a Dytac outer barrel a few magpul parts and some other high-end miscellaneous gun parts for ~£600 inclusive of the EMS shipping. Based on past experience I'm looking at just over £100 in tax and charges, so roughly £700 in total (don't ask me why it's so low).

 

Even if I'd been able to get what I wanted over here (best of luck finding much stock of GBB rifles in this country) I'd have been looking at that £700 total just for the GBB M4 and the G17, to get all the rest of it as well, in the UK, would've brought the total price closer to £1k. I'm not saying it's never better to buy in-country, if and when I get around to getting myself a PST ACR I'll go to Dingodogs because the UK spec version is better and it will work out at basically the same price as importing one, but that's a rare exception to the rule from what I've seen.

 

Ah, what I wouldn't give now to be getting $2 to the pound again as we were back in 07. Being able to look at your total before shipping and then just thinking to yourself "yep, I'll be paying half what the number says", now that'd really be awesome.

[FireKnife]

Ah, what I wouldn't give now to be getting $2 to the pound again as we were back in 07. Being able to look at your total before shipping and then just thinking to yourself "yep, I'll be paying half what the number says", now that'd really be awesome.

 

I wish we had those days back.

 

However the only two reasons that i personally try not to buy abroad is:

 

1. I don't buy in bulk, i buy what i want when i need it, or when it is on sale, so it then ends up the same if not a little cheaper to buy from HK and thus not worth it.

 

2. If a gun that i buy from HK goes then i either have no way to send it back or a very expensive postal service to send it back and then possibly get stung with tax on the way back (have seen it happen). If i buy in the UK and i want something done to the gun or a repair made then it is easier to send it back where it came from and get the work done.

 

However i have bought abroad back when it was £1 - $2 and if it does ever again then i will buy even more but at the moment with the way i buy it isn't worth it. Come on American economy, fail, as ours sure as hell isn't going to get better.

 

'FireKnife'

[TheFull9]

In those cases yes it's a lot more likely to make sense, buying 1 item at a time from HK doesn't generally work as well, it's more when you get in to the larger orders that it starts to become cheaper than the UK. Most months I'd be looking at buying a rifle of some kind along with parts to customise said rifle, some magazines/gear and a few other misc. bits and bobs; the more items you're buying/the greater overall value of your order, the cheaper it works out to be comparatively.

 

If you're doing what I'd imagine a lot of newer/beginner softers here often do and picking up a chinese or lower priced gun with a couple of mags and some BBs, then given your other point with regards the warranty/guarantee, staying inside these borders is a better move. Particularly if you're starting out and not able/confident with fixing any breakages yourself, later on down the line though that tends to change I'd say. Personally I've been at this a few years and if any guns I did import were to go wrong right away I'd just buy the appropriate parts and fix it myself, I'd think that most of the more experienced crowd would tend to do the same given that a lot of the time you're after items that you can't get here so it's the only option available anyway.

[FireKnife]

I must admit, bar one gun i can get what i want in the UK so i often buy here for the reasons i have put previously.

 

In the 2-3 cases i have bought abroad both have been due to 1. the gun being in stock and 2. the gun being half what i would pay in the UK so i went for it. However i do agree that often importing in terms of RIFs seems to be more in the realms of the experienced player with a desire to fix his own guns. Yet still i have seen players older and wiser than me that refuse to work out how the bb gets out the end of the barrel and trust to experts to fix it for them (one does swear blind to the 'experts' at Z1, maybe he is mates with them and gets special treatment?) so they buy UK so they have that UK guarentee.

 

When i get to the point that i have to money to buy something new without worrying about if i can live off what is left then i will go back to importing as even if i do get stung it is still at least £20 i am saving minimum.

 

In terms of what i buy it is always Marui or KWA pistols so i am not so fussed about them going wrong, just i can get them for the same price as HK, just with an added warranty that i wouldn't get from HK.

 

'FireKnife'