A thumbs up for RCTANK DE. Ordered some gear yesterday evening and today was refunded the money, emailed and was told i had sent the order twice. Some retailers would have just shipped a double order. A good site for gear and shipping is usually quite fast, its my first place to check for gear.

If you want straight dealers I would without a second thought recommend the two Ds,
Dom @ www.rctank.de and Dave @ www.forgebeartanks.com.
Trust me your money is safe with them and efficient handling of your order is guaranteed

And shipping seems surprisingly fast with these two vendors which has been my experiences.

How do they handle the VAT tax for US buyers?

Dave @ www.forgebeartanks.com
Automatically removes VAT (Value Added Tax) from all North American addresses BUT Dom @ www.rctank.de
Does need reminding that you are in the USA/Canada when you place an order..

If you are not in the EU , think its no tax . Send an email asking via the contact page on RCTANK de . No problems communicating in english, if you want an Elmod fusion board its the place to buy.

Thank you.

I got an email a while back from rctank that vat would only be excluded for orders for non-EU customers if the order was greater than some amount i cannot remember. 20 € or something?

Its not a big deal but I have ordered small items before and paying vat twice sticks in the throat a bit.

just means waiting til i have an order for a few things to get over the limit.

might be worth bearing in mind though. To avoid misunderstandings. Assuming its a policy that is still in effect that us....

p

First, I can definitely back up both of those recommendations. I've been dealing with both Dave and Dom for years and never had any problems.

Second, I believe asiatam has the same policy about a minimum order before removing the vat. I do the same thing, and just wait until I have enough stuff to order that I won't have to pay vat.

Brexit shouldn't have any effect on Dom (rctank.de), but I'm not sure what the effects will be on Dave (forgebear). Shaun would probably know more about how that will work. And there's another up-and-coming vendor in the UK, wcp RC models, that I think a lot of us are going to want to get to know. This guy is making 3D printed items that are just fantastic. Right now he's working on a 251 half track and his half-tracks will be sold almost ready to run. They'll be fully assembled but you'll still have to paint it and add your own Electronics. I have one pre-ordered already, even though I still don't know the final price, but they tell me the finished product should sell for less than 400 pounds. I've been telling Will, the owner, that he really needs to create a presence here. He's currently on rctw but he has yet to sign up here at RCU. He will, though, so keep an eye out for him.

On January 1st 2021 the UK is finally and completely out of the European Union,
When the UK joined the EU it was required to impose VAT (Value Added Tax) on nearly every commercial transaction to bring it in line with all the other members of the EU,
With our departure there will no longer be a legal requirement to impose that particular tax BUT that does not mean it will be abolished'
if only,
I think it will remain but it may be modified into a scale of percentages instead of a fixed amount, time will tell.

I think the UKs Purchase Tax in the pre EEC days was what they called it before renaming it to VAT upon joining?

The only difference being that it was applied at point of manufacture as opposed to point of sale. So it was invisible to many.

Which is lucky for the consumer as for some categories of goods it was an eye watering 33%!!

p

As VAT is the 3rd largest tax in the British economy after Income tax and National Insurance it seems unlikely that it will be abolished when the UK leaves the EU next month although if the country does get rid of VAT I would not rush out to party in the streets because if there is a return to purchase tax it should be remembered that it ran at 40% on some items unlike VATs paltry 15%.

I was in the states once and was shocked at sales tax.

Which i assume is similar to VAT. It just seemed a bit "in your face".

Doesn't matter where you are, when its applied or what its called....the government gets its cut!

p

Sales tax in the US varies by state and by the product. Some states don't tax things like food and clothing (IE: life necessities), but then other states tax everything. Even state taxes on income can vary widely. Like here in Texas there is no state income tax, but in Maryland there is state income tax, county income tax (44% of state tax), and in some cases city/local taxes. In TX the property taxes are higher to help offset the income tax. Places with income tax typically have lower property taxes, but I can guarantee I don't pay anywhere near income tax rates on my property in TX even though it is high. So a lower wage goes further in Texas due to the lower taxes and lower cost of living. Well except in the cites, the cost of living is pretty high in the cites comparatively.

Not sure how the rest of the US does it but being in the People's Paradise of California has its price.

California gets a feed from US Customs so when you purchase something from abroad our greedy state is right there with hands open to charge you with whatever our local (it varies across different counties) sales tax is on your purchase. Governments everywhere have an insatiable appetite for our money...That's in addition to any import duty fees US Customs may charge...

Jerry

Funny...when I lived there, I called it the People's Republic of California. Only got marginally better moving to the Democratic People's Republic of Maryland.

Man...two places I've lived that I will never live again...Cali and Maryland.

Here in Michigan sales tax is 6% but they do not charge you tax for food in the grocery store or non-alcoholic beverages. Food at restaurants has to pay sales tax. But you're definitely right that it varies widely from state to state. I understand that in Nevada there is no state income tax, but their state sales tax is 20%. That way they get most of their sales tax money from tourists. I'm sure that's nice for the people that live there.

But the bottom line is, once the government starts taking in that money you're going to have to pry it out of their cold dead fingers to get it back.

I think the worst part of shopping in the USA compared to the UK is I get to the Checkout anywhere in the UK and I already know how much to pay coz the price is on the ticket nothing gets loaded on at the checkout,
I go to the Checkout in the USA and I get shafted by state sales tax and just about everything else the Government, The State and the County can get out of me and so the bargain that I just bought turns into a ripoff.
And don't get me started on the US Postal Service charges.

It is seriously wrong if you are in the UK and any state over here charges you sales tax...I had no idea that even happened.
I believe in Cali the only thing we never used to pay sales tax on are magazines and newspapers but as I've not purchased either in such a long time that may have changed. I have no doubt that there is a slimy little room some where in this state where over paid civil 'servants'
stay up late thinking of ways to 1) misuse and misspend tax revenues 2) extract more tax from us. We DO have the prestige of having some of the highest tax rates in the US. Every election there are more proposals for raising existing or adding new taxes than for any other issue...our government will never have enough and now they're beginning to just feel the pinch as the exodus of people and businesses accelerates. I hope shortly to be one of them...I just to be proud of living here, that time is long passed.

See? Now I got myself started on one of my hottest topics. I'll stop.....

I've purchased a number of items from RCTank.de and they've been fabulous...

Jerry

There was a time when you could buy stuff online and not have to pay sales tax, but now the state of Michigan has eBay collecting the sales tax, even if the item is coming from another country. They're also not supposed to charge us sales tax on shipping, under Michigan law, but they do anyway. If your item cost $20 and it's $10 shipping you'll pay taxes on the whole $30. That's why the 1/6 scale Stuart tank I just bought cost me an extra $24 for the tax. They charged me tax on the $299 I paid for the tank, but then they also charge 6% on $120 shipping. Bunch of crooks.

I don't know Ebay has promoted this "free shipping" thing forever now. It's a way they can make more money in final valuation fees. If the seller starts the price with the shipping fees calculated in their price Ebay makes money on the item and the shipping. I always make the buyer pay a shipping cost so I don't get hit with extra valuation fees.