Well, I was so impressed with this I bit the bullet - logged onto Wingnuts and ordered myself one. Snaffled a few off the 'bay but this is a first to order from source - I'll have to see how it pans out fiscally. Of course this way I get exactly what I want as opposed to what's available that no one else wants!! - I know what I mean?
Great job by the way - I am following along avidly.
Andi - I'm pleased you like it - I did order from Wingnuts for the first few, but it takes a few weeks to arrive & you do occasionally get stung for the customs payment which makes it not too far short of buying it direct from Hannants (UK) (which I did for the Snipe) and it arrives the next day.. You can also arrange to pick up from the Hannants at the RAF Museum at Hendon and then you pay no postage & you get an additional 10% discount on the kit price.
Sorry for taking this off at a tangent for a short while .................
Yes .......... I've been offered this advice before - BUT, I've been struggling with this notion of eBay v WNW v Hannants .......... and mainly because I simply cannot find a shipping/postage cost anywhere for Hannants ............ taking out eBay for the mo' ... The basic cost of the kit is already £25.00 less by ordering direct [shipping free] from WNW, Now I know I'm going to get stung by import duties - but to the tune of 25 quid? - And I've yet to factor in the cost of the "phantom" shipping charge from Hannants!!
I may be being a bit dim here?? [probably] But for the life of me I can't make sense of the differing rates, calculations and opinions.
Can anyone who has done both - or even individually please provide some kind of empirical evidence, as in tell me what it cost them!!
Apologies for minor hijack............
Andi
I’ve had a couple of deliveries from Wingnuts to the UK before Hannants started selling them.
In general terms on imports you can be liable for:
Duty - the rate varies depending on product & country it’s from but it’s often around 10% (can be 0% of course)
VAT – this is charged on the total of the declared value of the item + the postage on the parcel + any duty.
Handling charge – this is charged by Royal Mail, Parcelforce or any other carrier for doing the customs clearance – it varies but depending on the company but budget on £10 - £22 per shipment.
However, if your parcel isn’t caught for duty/VAT then there’s no handling charge by the carrier.
So on a kit costing say £50 (equivalent) in NZ with say £8 postage marked on the parcel (let’s assume there’s 5% duty) you’d pay:
£50 kit
£2.5 duty
£12.1 VAT based on the above two figures plus the £8 postage (even though it was ‘free postage’ by WNW) i.e. 20% of £60.5
£15 (assumed handling fee)
Total £79.60
The handling fee is a killer as it’s not relative to value. I recently had to pay £22 Royal Mail handling charge on a small £75 item from the US (but I really needed it).
I’d still buy direct from WNW if Hannants didn’t have what I wanted in stock & were unlikely to get it but I’d not be expecting to save money (it could easily cost more). You may be fortunate & not get charged of course.
Regards
Russell
