Brits shafted again !

[Verminator]

I dont often get out my soap box but I feel a rant is warranted.
About a month ago I was in one of my few local model shops that mainly deals with diecasts but has a small range of kits and spotted the Revell Germany issue of the 2005/6 Mustang so on impulse bought it even though it was £15. I got home opened the box to find a scarlet bodyshell, bum I thought that will take some covering up unless I do it red decal sheet one colour of stripe only silver
Anyhow to get to my gripe, came back from New England USA two weeks ago with a number of kits including a Revell US issue Mustang paid $12, with a white bodyshell and two colours of stripe, now as this kit is made in China in both guises and shipped roughly the same distance why do us Brits end up with a crappy red body, one decal option and paying twice as much as our US friends do?
I know there are import duties and varying sale tax rates but c'mon.

[stevenoble]

I know where you're coming from.I recently bought the Tamiya Peugeot 307 WRC from Japan and think I paid about £15 or so delivered to the UK.My local model shop was selling the kit for £36.99.With the money I saved I got the Crazy Modeler photo etch parts set and some Marlboro decals and still had some change.One reason I think a lot of the local hobby stores are closing down.There used to be 3 in my local town,now there is only 1 and they do not carry a lot of the stuff I want to buy,so most of it comes from the internet.It is sad to say that most of the local stores just can't compete with the web based stores.

[hirofkd]

German kits are imports in the UK, right? How much is the Mustang kit in Germany? That'll be a fair comparison to the US counterpart. You might be paying tax and other business expenses to the UK importer.

[SteveK2003]

That's a bummer. Not much you can do about the prices, but you can make the local shops carry what you want them to, if it is economically viable for you to buy it there. If the owners know what you want to buy, and they still fail to stock it, then that's their own fault. We lost maybe a half-dozen hobby shops within 25 miles of my hometown in part because the owners failed to keep up with what was current.

[tigeraid]

Damn, sounds like your local shops do have pretty rough prices. I haven't opened my store just yet (hopefully tomorrow) but just a quick check on the example of the Peugeot 307 WRC... From me it'd convert to 25 GBP, with 5.50 GBP shipping, so even all the way from Canada you'd only pay about 30.00 GBP.

and the Peugeot 307 WRC is one of my more expensive kits...

Have you guys tried shopping on Canadian or American sites?

[stevenoble]

Originally Posted by tigeraid

Have you guys tried shopping on Canadian or American sites?

Yes I do get a lot of bits from America and Canada now.Not kits,but detail sets,decals etc and they work out good price wise.
I only really use my local store for Tamiya sprays and brushes,thinners that sort of thing.His kit prices seem on the high side so I leave them alone.

[MPWR]

All right, it does suck to take a beating due to taxes, shipping, import fees and so on. But remind me again just who it is that has it good? I think you'll find this is not strictly a British phenomenon. My LHS (a good high turnover shop) wants $60 USD for the Tamiya SLR. If I want one, I'll order it from Japan for $34 (or 18 quid).

Enjoy the fact that at least you have a strong currency- you can go wild once you reach our shores. Lately I don't even think of ordering stuff from the UK! I don't even order stuff from Canada anymore. I remember (not too long ago) when shopping on Canadian sites, you could ignore the cost of shipping and still comfortably come out ahead dollar for dollar (Canadian dollars used to be what we lit our cigarettes with in the States)- not anymore!

At least (even considering taxes and excange rates and shipping and such) this is still a very reasonably priced hobby. It's good fun to complain about the price of kits (and diecast chassies! ) and all- but if you only build three kits in a year, it's really not that bad. This hobby is really the cheapest thing I do!

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by MPWR

This hobby is really the cheapest thing I do!

I suppose it is when compared to helicopters etc.