Hi Guys,

I stay in bangalore and I was planning to start RC and I was thinking of ordering 350$ worth of stuff from HobbyCity NOT including radio.

Just when my brother told me that there will be customs I realized it won't be easy.

I was plannning to order a couple of Turnigy Lipos(1S 200 mAh through 6S 5000mAh), charger, Few brushless motors of varying sizes, 2 ESCs, couple of HXT servos of varying sizes, Tachometer, wattmeter, Few Props of varying sizes etc.

I went through some of the posts here and came to know that some people have successfully ordered and received from HC but of lower values like 50$.

I read about this thread http://www.rcindia.org/rc-outlets-and-resellers/customs-(tax)-on-imported-toys-(value)-418/ - which I didn't understand really

and another thread saying that Hobbycity will declare less value if required to reduce customs!

IF I order all these using the airparcel coming upto 3.5 to 4 KGs, what customs amount do i have to pay? and what value should I ask HobbyCity to declare?

Getting into this hobby for me depends on weather I can get these stuff or not

I know people would suggest me to get started with some thing cheap initially , but I am the kind of guy who would like to have all the accessories ready with me If I want to start something.

Eagerly waiting for answers!

Thanks,
Vinay.

Wouldn't it be easier if you made it different orders with the description "toy spare parts", and around the $50 range for price (not sure about this, others may please correct me).  This would fall under the "personal" use category, and has a fair chance of not having any customs duty applied.

I think you should just order and keep the customs declaration form the way it is..

Be Honest and order away...

I did not imply that a reduced value should be shown.  Just split one order into multiple ones.  The description should also help.

If i split the package the shipping would be high!   In case if Iam honest, then How much customs should I pay aprrox? I never have ordered anything from abroad so no idea! Any guessing from your side would be usefull.

Well am not sure how much you would be charged as customs  I think about 10% of the total amount.

Why don't you buy some stuff from mr.sai 

http://stores.shop.ebay.in/rcforallin

10% of the total amount as customs should be fine considering the quality and the princing at HC.

I did go through all the local dealers site mentioned in the dealers section. I did consider buying from Mr. Sai initially, but as an initial investment to buy all the stuff I need at once, HC looked like the way to go, If customs were not very high of course!

Most of the things I am planning to order are not available with any local dealer (like a turnigy 6S 5Ah Lipo at a sweet price of 3K INR, Turnigy Sk 1150 W motor for 1,250 INR   which I plan to put on a 62" trainer etc.). So I'am left with no choice but to buy from HC.

I was planning to get an RDS8000 as a radio for 140$ from US from my brother, and buy the rest of the electronics from HC initially, and order rest of the build material from Mr. Sai. or other dealers depending on price and availibility  

As per this thread,

http://www.rcindia.org/rc-outlets-and-resellers/customs-(tax)-on-imported-toys-(value)-418/

rcdhamaka here mentions CVD, cess etc   and as per

Quote from: flyingboxcar on July 10, 2009, 10:44:21 PM
Section/Chapter 95 is the general chapter and if you import commercialy you need to have an IE code and can get taxed up to 36% of value of goods including shipping and insurance.
As a hobbyist you are better using and quoting chapter 98  http://www.cbec.gov.in/customs/cst-0809/chap-98.pdf, wherin you can get levied up to max of 17.4% of taxes.
Although the basic rate of duty is same the CVD and cesses apply differently in case of import through post for personal use.

what does "wherin you can get levied up to max of 17.4% of " mean and get leived of 17.4% of what tax and how much?
and Although the basic rate of duty is same how much is this for the kind of goods I'am ordering, if I mention as per chap 98?
"CVD and cesses apply differently." how much would this be for personal use? Does 350$ come under personal use?

Can somebody please explain this? I'am really poor at understanding Non-technical stuff   I need help badly
Please sombody help 

Thanks,
Vinay?

The basic rate of duty has come down further from 12% and is 10%.
What this means is that for personal imports through post assessed customs duty including all additions would be around 14-15%. So now you can figure out what will be your duty on a package valued at USD 350. BTW if by 350 you mean only the items cost, you need to add to that freight and insurance as well before arriving at a figure on which duty would be imposed. If you did not opt for insurance the customs guy would put in a standard percentage on item+frieght and  then caluclate the insurance and duty.
Hope this helps

Hi,

What already is suggested is to split the order into multiple orders and somehow make sure each will be around 100 Usd.

One of the orders could get stuck up in customs. Then you need to visit the Foreign Post office , like the one on Bahadurshah Zafar marg in Delhi, incase your order does not come in 15+ days.

The FPO is a govt customs office and works like one , my friend had some experience.

Dont worry, just keep the dream of flying alive and everything will fall in place.

Hi Guys,

In case anyone has any problems with the customs, I thought it would be better to include the nos for you guys.

Hope this helps ?

Mumbai : 022 22611791, 022 26156125, 022 22611791, 022 22614488 Vinod Kumar (director)

Customs Mumbai : 022 26156152

Delhi : 01123233314

Bangalore : 080 22867302, 080 25589993 ( International Branch )

Customs at Bangalore : 080 25589992

Cheers 

Atul G.

Quote from: hangingtough on October 06, 2009, 02:49:01 PM

One of the orders could get stuck up in customs. Then you need to visit the Foreign Post office , like the one on Bahadurshah Zafar marg in Delhi, incase your order does not come in 15+ days.

Thanks Guys for the reply. I stay in bangalore and the shipping address will be bangalore. Does this mean my parcel could get stuck up in Delhi also?

Also If I select Air Parcel during check out(this does not have tracking), and if it gets stuck up at customs, then how will I come to know? will the customs call me inform me?

Vinay,
I think there are no specific rates of customs duty on hobby goods imported for personal use and shipped to residential addresses. During the last 10 are so years I had imported all my hobby stuff from Tower Hobbies and I always used the then available postal surface mail  as shipping option. I also purchased several items from Hobby City,during the last 10 months, mostly brushless motors and Li-Po batteries and I used Regd Air Parcel as shipping method. The orders to Tower Hobbies ranged between  $.30-00 to $ 1000+, and my orders to Hobby King ranged between $20 to $160. All these orders both from  Tower Hobbies and Hobby City came through the Foreign Postal Customs Office located in Chennai. And I live in a small town in the state of Andhra Pradesh an overnight journey by an express train away to chennai. All the parcels from Tower were opened to verify the correctness of the contents checking against the invoice that comes along with other customs declaration forms from Tower,and attached to the outside of the parcel . After inspection the parcels were sealed again and released the parcel for delivery by post office. I never have been asked to pay any  customs duty during the last 10 years are so till now.
Only once about 5 years ago I received a notice from the foreign postal customs office informing me that a parcel from Tower Hobbies had arrived without an invoice attached to the parcel and asking me to provide one for inspection. Obviously it must have been lost during the shipping ,so I emailed Tower Hobbies explaining the situation and they faxed a copy of the invoice to me.Then I sent the copy of that invoice along with a letter requesting the release of the parcel directly to the chief of the office i.e The Dy.Collector of Foreign Postal Customs Office in Chennai by Regd Post and I received the parcel on the third day.
Except this single instance I had never even contacted by the customs  office. The parcels from Hobby City were not even opened for inspection but are passed and delivered to me.
When Tower Hobbies stopped offering International Surface Mail as a shipping option about an year or so ago I stopped purchasing major items from tower hobbies because Air Shipping or Courier shipping are too high for me and limited my tower purchases to small replacement parts and such which does not cost much even by Air Parcel.
However after a long period  about a couple of weeks ago I purchased a Hitec 7 Ch Computer Radio system from Tower Hobbies because it was not available at Hobby City. I received the parcel shipped by Air Mail Parcel Service yesterday . The parcel is not even opened for inspection but was passed for delivery.

So I believe only Luck matters when it comes to customs duty.  Also I never lost anything during shipping

Off topic, but which Hitec radio model did you get, and why Hitec ?   

Thanks Mr.Rao for the Update 

I will go ahead and book at hobby city in 2 installments, just to be on the safer side 

Quote from: anwar on October 10, 2009, 04:29:57 AM
Off topic, but which Hitec radio model did you get, and why Hitec ?   

Ever since I started in this hobby I have been using Hitec Radios.They are Prism-7X, Laser-4 and Neon-3Ch and my receivers are a mix of SC and DC (PPM ) 72 Mhz FM of Hitec . So when I ordered my new radio I wanted a radio which can be used with my existing Rx also. These radios never failed me in the field. I purchased the Prism-7X as a single channel radio but later upgraded with SPECTRA 72MHz synthesized RF module. Cost is also a deciding factor for me when selecting a radio. when compared with other Radios like Futaba etc which offer similar features Hitec is the lowest priced one and extra Rx too are pretty cheap. So I decided to stay with Hitec. At first I considered 2.4 GHz systems too but the cost of extra Rx made me drop the idea. For the kind of flying I enjoy a 7 Ch Radio would suffice and I don't need a more sophisticated Radio with higher no.of channels and features.
So I decided on Hitec Eclipse 7 ch FM Radio System.
About a couple of weeks back I received an e-mail from Tower Hobbies that for international customers it is offering a discount of $ 60.00  for orders between $200 and $ 249-00. So I decided to take advantage of this offer and ordered  Hitec ECLIPSE-7 FM Radio with SPECTRA MODULE and an 8 Ch FM Rx for $215-00. After deducting $60-00 discount and adding $ 42-00 Air Shipping charges I ended up with paying $.197.00 for my Radio System.
But the people at the Tower Hobbies made a mistake and instead of sending an Eclipse-7 FM system they shipped me an ECLIPSE 7 QPCM Tx with SPECTRA RF Module and HPD-07RH 7Ch QPCM Rx, which costs $270.And I am not complaining.

While placing my order I noticed that a new SPECTRA 2.4 GHz Module and 7 Ch OPTIMA Rx would be available in Mid OCT so I back ordered a SPECTRA 2.4 GHz RF Module and two OPTIMA 2.4GHz,7-Ch Rx for $ 130-00.
And I am eagerly awaiting them to turn up at my door.

Makes sense !

Quote from: Rao on October 10, 2009, 02:38:48 AM
...
After inspection the parcels were sealed again and released the parcel for delivery by post office. I never have been asked to pay any  customs duty during the last 10 years are so till now.
...
The parcels from Hobby City were not even opened for inspection but are passed and delivered to me.

So I believe only Luck matters when it comes to customs duty.  Also I never lost anything during shipping

Rao sir (Capt, I am lending your style here )
Wow. You are lucky. Even i have ordered several times from tower over the past many years, and my experiences have been mixed. I always used the surface shipping option, and 9 out of 10 times, i got a letter from the customs department Delhi that there was an inbound package and needed inspection. Since it was usually not possible for me to visit Delhi just for this, I usually ignored these letters and the package came to me after about a month.
Out of around 20 times i must have ordered from tower, i have had only 2 packages missing. One was in 2002, when i ordered a 6EXA . The shipment just vanished. and the other was in 2008 when i placed a small order that included a FAAST Rx ( should have used UPS here though ) .
I would like to document here, my experience about a visit to Customs in Bahadur Shah Zafar marg.
Once in 2004 there was a parcel  coming from Tower, and i got the letter from Customs. Incidentally i was in Delhi at that time, so I visited the Foreign Post Office. It was a pretty shocking experience for me. At every step, i was offered to bribe and threatened that if not, it would take me the entire day, if not 2 days... There were around 3-4 steps needed that included verification, opening of parcel, attesting it from one officer. I spent over half a day, and was so frustrated that i just walked out.

Maybe things have changed, or other places are better .
I still order, both from Tower and HC , but keep my fingers crossed till the point i get my shipment in hand.
-Gaurav

Dear Gaurav,

What action did you take in case of the missing shipments.Have you informed Tower Hobbies.Because in the very early days I started in this hobby when placing the my very first order I contacted Tower Hobbies and asked what happens if a shipment is not delivered or lost during shipping especially when the order is shipped using United States Postal Service's Surface or Air mail parcel service. I was told that if a shipment is not delivered with in 3 months after dispatch, then it will be declared as Lost during shipping and that Tower Hobbies would again ship your order for no cost at all. I think they have some kind of insurance which covers all International Shipments sent by Tower Hobbies. All one have to do is informing Service@Tower Hobbies along with the order/invoice number provided by Tower Hobbies when the order is shipped and you can also get this number from your account page in Tower Hobbies web site. Only after receiving that assurance did I placed my very first order. Because the amounts of money involved with these orders are, at least to me, were by no means small to be ignored. I believe purchasing from Tower is 100% safe.

And when I received that single notice from Foreign Post Customs Office, Chennai, I contacted my cousin who is a Dy.Collector in Land Customs about what I should do about that shipment and he advised me to do what I did then. He advised me that when I receive such notices I should always approach the Chief of that office (who would usually be an I.A.S. ranked officer) through Regd.Post  explaining that the parcel containing the order is hobby stuff for personal usage and requesting him to clear your parcel and release it for delivery. I just did that and my parcel passed customs without any duty imposed and delivered to me in 3 days.

My cousin told me that it, usually, is the lower ranked ppl like peons, Clerks, and some times customs inspectors who demand AMYAMYA ( bribes ) to even lift a hand. The top brass are completely different. He told me to always approach the top brass through post and to go to the customs office in person only as a last resort and pray to god that your luck holds.

Good Luck,
Rao
   

Sounds like a workable strategy  Others who try this, kindly update your experience here.

Quote from: Rao on October 12, 2009, 11:10:36 PM

My cousin told me that it, usually, is the lower ranked ppl like peons, Clerks, and some times customs inspectors who demand AMYAMYA ( bribes ) to even lift a hand. The top brass are completely different. He told me to always approach the top brass through post and to go to the customs office in person only as a last resort and pray to god that your luck holds.

Good Luck,
Rao
 

Raoji
What you say may be an exception rather than a rule and might work once or twice , I have   around 3 decades of professional experience in my job dealing with this  and I can say the lower levels can simply loose your file  and after that even though your parcel will be there you could struggle for eternity  and  run around to all the IAS's you want but things will not move as day to day work is done at the lower level and these guys know that you cannot be going to the Higher up's for every small thing .



Sai

Dear Sai,
I am not claiming that everybody's experience should be similar to mine.I told only my experience with the Foreign Postal Customs office only one time when I was notified by them that a parcel addressed to me arrived with out a required invoice and asked me to produce one for the releasing of the parcel. Then I asked my cousin what course of action I should and acted as he advised and it worked for me. I am an individual person importing hobby stuff for my personal non-commercial usage. I know that as commercial importers you have to pay customs and other duties as required.
Also I am not silly enough to say that everybody's experience should be similar to mine. Before and after that single instance I was never bothered by customs and never had to visit the customs office to get my parcel. I had clearly stated that visit the customs office in person only as a last resort and pray to God that your Luck prevails.
I purchased a Hitec Radio system a couple of weeks ago from Tower Hobbies which was shipped by Air Mail and I received it a few days ago and the parcel was not even opened for inspection by customs but delivered to me.
As I stated it is the LUCK ALONE which matters when dealing with customs.

regards,
Rao. 

 

vinay did you place an order,if you have let us know how it goes

My experience..

My item got detained with the mumbai customs and the guys over there were very helpfull. All I had to do was send a mail to the and attach a bill of the item and had to pay some customs duty..

But got my item safely.. 

Sorry guys I was busy and could not reply.

Yup, Placed the order , Hope it goes well. Recently I visited the jakkur air field, and most of them there all get the stuff from HC. Many have even got stuff more than 10 times from HC itself. So as per them, my order should not be a porblem .

Still It's all luck. Let see how is mine

Also getting from US through my Bro the following things, Getting them on Nov 1st  .

1)RDS8000 Mode 2, 8ch 2.4 ghz TX with battery X 1 and charger 110V - HobbyPeople.net
2)8 channel 2.4 GHZ full range receiver X 1 - HobbyPeople.net
3)7 Channel 2.4 GHZ full range receiver X 1 - HobbyPeople.net
4)Futaba S3004 X 4(based on suggestions to use the best when it comes to servos, from the experienced people from Jakkur club) - TowerHobbies
5)1/4 inch foam sheet for covering receiver - TowerHobbies
6)Thunder AC6 Charger 6 cells 50 W USB with built in 110V 220V adapter - NitroPlanes.com
7)6 channel Dynam simulator - NitroPlanes.com (Plan to use it with emulator and some other program.)
8)20 KG - 10 Gram ressolution, digital Spring balance to measure thrust. - Ordered from Meritline.com yet to reach my Bro, Hope it reaches by this Friday. Ordered 2 weeks back.
9)A small 5 KG Kitchen weighing machine 1 Gram resolution, to measure plane weight and Whey Protien and Glucon D   - Amazon.

Currently Iam using G/4/5 with a Frontech USB Game Pad with Mode 2 settings. Enjoying it. But it has a problem, I move the sticks half way and in the game it moves fullway. SO difficult to control. But Iam able to take off with a cessana and also able to land a Yak clearly on the Runway. Howering is difficult as both the sticks are spring controlled, so cant keep the throttle at a particular point.

Any Place where I can get a 220 V charger for the RDS8000? Iam not sure if I can use the AC6 to charge the batteries of the RDS8k. If the TX can take the AA batteries, then I will load it with the Sanyo Eneloop batteries (2000 mah low self discharge) that I have, No need to charge for a long time then.

What I ordered from HC is a suspense Have Ordered via Air Parcel.

Will post the PICS for sure once I get the Parcel into my hands.