Lately I’ve been finding things on the marketplace in Facebook.

A person in Oswego, NY is selling a Midwest Cranberry Isle Lobster Yacht kit. Similar to what I have in my collection. I have not purchased it, but we did correspond.

I’ve only used Ali once which was to buy a ridiculously cheap powerful servo. It was so cheap I ordered three. However, I would be more careful if I used them again. On Amazon you can find an item and swipe through several different views of the same product before ordering it. Ali Express follows a similar format but the photos are not all the same product so when my servos arrived they were actually servo drums because that was the photo in view when I placed my order. Every email I had regarding the gradual movement of the item from China to UK had a photo of the servo on it. Ali gave me a refund without an issue but the whole procedure involved reading at least 20 emails from them.

Absolutely! The odd time I have bought from them I have waited an eternity for the goods to arrive. I once ordered some stepper motors to make power feeds for my lathe, I neatly gave up on the project waiting...

Hi Roy:
Honestly not positive about item value affecting shipping times or customs trouble. We just purchased some items (luggage) through Amazon and both orders (from China) were delayed. Hold up at receiving port (San Francisco or Los Angeles) it seems.

I have been buying small items from both Ali and Bangood for several years. Maximum freight time has been approx 3 weeks however of late 7 to 10 days, delivered to my home in Australia.

One negative I have been caught with has been the way that they word their ads. I was caught recently when trying to purchase an ESC and did not delve deep enough into the ad thinking I was getting a good deal. I received the tuning card and contacted them but of course realised after it was my error . Luckily it was not an expensive error and I received a partial refund.


Ad is attached.

I asked Evan Designs about tariffs for their products.

Ron,
Yes we have had some tariffs, however they are not consistently applied
on new inventory
also tariffs on purchases are issued by the country at their discretion.

Evan Designs
https://evandesigns.com/

Hi Jump do they check all incoming items or only items over a certain value?
Roy

My examples are…
The last time I ordered anything from AliEx it took about a month to get to me in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA: under tRump’s tariffs I cannot say.
The rule of thumb right now is that Amazon products that originate from China have jumped from 4 to 5 days to two weeks under the tariffs as they are getting hung up in extended customs scrutiny.


A replacement part from Trumpeter/ HobbyBoss took a whopping 13 weeks to get to me once.

I think the Chinese are "Cheap and Cheerful" and 7 times out of 10 the goods are fine but its just the varying wait time to get them, as I might have said my order took three months to arrive - admittedly about half the price of the same goods in the UK and worked fine but a three month wait to me when you pay up front is totally unacceptable.
I might be old school but I like to support local business and I am also of the belief if you go into a shop with a wallet full of money you will alway spend more that you intended - however - I was brought up hand your cash over and walk away with the goods - dont let other people use your money to run there business.
Also just had a bad experience with Flea bay - regarding payment from them witk their fee's and the time to realease the money. As I said if you sell something face to face - the buyer hands the money over and you give them the goods not wait two or three weeks to get your money.
Unfortunately I think Covid saw the end to the vast magority of model shops in the UK and only a few survive

Hi, Nick I agree with your sentiments regarding small UK based businesses.
But we all realise that when buying from UK shops or on-line quite often has revealed the goods are made in China.
A friend some years ago worked for a large UK import company and brought in goods from 'the factory gates' in China. Sold in the UK's largest outlets at very very much higher prices from when they arrived in UK.

So I do not feel it is a problem buying from a direct supplier based in China, my pension only goes so far. Similar items have varying prices mainly depending on how long you wish to wait for delivery.

Most items I have bought are reliable and I have found complaints are rectified quickly. I like Component shop as they have checked for quality and reliability and I am happy to pay their modest prices.

I have not seen any effect of recent trade/tariff disruption from DT. The DT's used to describe delirium tremens (hallucinations often due to too much alcohol consumption). So the connection comes easily for me!

I presume non-American trade has not been affected by these tariffs.

Some time ago I had to pay VAT on an item from overseas. Be warned that if this is collected by the Post Office they charge a fixed sum for the service. I recall I paid £3 or 4 VAT and the PO charged £7 to collect it and I had to go to the Postal sorting Office to pay it!

We found out during Covid that by relying on overseas suppliers that the rest of the world may also be in the queue!

Roy

I do not use Aliexpress, Banggood or any other cheap oriental outlet. I would rather support UK based businesses, most of which are small family owned enterprises, it's a case of use it or loose it. You can get instant phone or email support, faster delivery times and and no fuss warranties.
That's my two penneth anyway...

As for me I had delivery problems but maybe it was just my problem because everything arrived regularly to a friend of mine. In fact I had him order many things and I gave him the money.
Living in two different places I think the problem is local delivery not Aliexpress.
So far however I have always experienced very long times.