HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

So today I received an email from HobbyKing stating that the new US Warehouse was open!

<table border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "> <table border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "><font style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; ">Take a look at our planes with USPS shipping!</font>
<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "><font style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; ">Now that HobbyKing.com has its own warehouse in USA you can get
low cost shipping on large parcels</font></span><font style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; ">, such as this large scale EPO
SuperMarine Spitfire for just $139.99 &amp; about $15 shipping!
Just click the USA Warehouse link in the homepage or search for
'USA Warehouse'.
Many more new products to arrive soon.
Stay tuned!

</font>http://www.micrelec.gr/img/details_button.gif</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; "><font style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">Thanks for your support.
hobbyking.com
</font></td> </tr> </tbody></table>
So I click on the link to see the US warehouse and ....

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BUMMER.

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RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

Go to their website. The USA warehouse link works for me.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

I'm going to www.hobbyking.com....where are you going to?
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RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

They probably got so many hits that their servers went down... Just wait a few hours and they'll be back.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

That's what I'm thinking happened as well...that why I'm somewhat amused by the sequence of events.
I wonder if they have any idea how much interest there is in the US for a US warehouse?
I hope they'll be able to keep items in stock in the US warehouse!
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RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

Probably not... In the beginning anyway... But I'm sure they have an idea of the NA market, lots of people order all the time from their chinese WH already.

What's going to be interesting is to see how long it will take from them to restock.

And if they will ship to Canada from the US warehouse... [sm=teeth_smile.gif]

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

I order (when I have to) from the Chinese warehouse but the shipping time is so LONG!
Some US vendors such as valuehobby.com provide competitive prices and much better shipping cost/timeframes.
Granted valuehobby doesn't have the kind of inventory in stock that hobbyking does, but they are a good local alternative.

The success of the HK US warehouse will depend entirely on it's ability to keep products in stock.

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RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

BTW, if you guys are trying to reload, don't do that, it will just make the situation worse.

I don't think I would want to be the first to order from their US warehouse anyway, I'm thinking it will be quite disorganized and slow for the first few weeks.

Hopefully it will be up an running at full steam for October end.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

I can imagine what a dent they will put in some of the other supliers. Quite a few guys at our field order from HobbyKing. I don't because I don't care to wait months for parts and getting something returned....really not good. Now with something in the USA, this should be wide open soon.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

Cost of doing business is much higher in the US of A compared to China. I've only ordered from HobbyKing once. I did it because my cost was much lower than comparable items available in the states. Delivery time was acceptable. Hope it doesn't drive their prices up. On the other hand, it may provide a bit more competition to Hobbico/Great Planes/Tower.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

From what I've seen for Hobby King's previous US warehouse items, the higher price is only worth it if you are ordering one or two items. It was still cheaper for me to order from Hong Kong if I had a large order.

The trick to getting a good price and getting your stuff in about 1 week from Hong Kong is to get the EMS Express shipping. If you order at least 1kg worth of stuff, it's typically only a few bucks more to get the Express shipping instead of registered airmail. Even with the Express shipping, I usually get stuff for less that 1/2 of what other US hobby shops charge (Tower, Horizon, etc.).

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

I imagine what you'll see most at the US warehouse is batteries. With the problems they've been having with their own postal service regarding battery shipments it only makes sense for them to have local warehouses here and in Germany. Should mean much quicker shipping as well.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

They probably sent that email to everyone who has given them an email address. A lot of people have probably hit the site in a short time period. In a week the "excitement" will be over and the servers should be fine.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

From the home page, there is a link on the bottom right for the warehouses. The [link=http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbyking/store/US.asp?HobbyKing_USA_Hobby_Warehouse]USA [/link] one has less than one page of stuff (all planes).

I notice the EU one has 9 pages (still not a lot) and lots of batteries etc per above comment.

in terms of price, the F4U Corsair (first one on the page) is $10 more versus HK pricing (US dollars).

Obviously, planes (heavy and large) and LiPOS (hazard) would be top on the list for advantages.

RE: HobbyKing US Warehouse
 

and I should add, if it is inexpensive Chinese ARFs you want, there are US-based sites like bananahobbies and nitroplanes which already have stock and US shipping. I do not know why anyone would pay all the shipping from HK for an ARF. Of course, being in-stock from nitroplanes is a crap shoot.