Hobby King

[o00scorpion00o]

Has anyone noticed that Hobby King has 0 stock available for a lot of stuff ?

Is this common? I've been waiting to order the last few days and they don't seem to be getting anything in. It seems strange that they would allow their stock to get so low. And I fear now that when stock does come in that there will be Hugh demand and it could take weeks for me to get anything!


Mark

 

[spinningmagnets]

A lot of people recently got an income-tax return, and immediately bought some of the parts they had been wanting since before December, but until now, they simply didn't have enough ducats hidden in their mattresses.

 

[dogman dan]

It would be nice if HK tidied up thier catalog a bit. Some items seem perpetually backorderd or out of stock. I'd prefer when browsing to have a button to push that displayed only in stock items.

Sometimes you can just get something similar, like 20c instead of 30c or vice versa.

 

[auraslip]

oooh man, that would be nice Dogman.

I've waited a month while things were on back order.... what a big pain!

 

[o00scorpion00o]

For the love of God,


Every decent battery and charger on HK is on back order, it's like the whole universe just decided to buy on HK!

 

[sangesf]

What they need to do as well, is to set it up so you can see ONLY the items in your particular country's warehouse.
Like if I only wanted to see the USA warehouse stuff, I can't do that now.

 

[neptronix]

What they need to do as well, is to set it up so you can see ONLY the items in your particular country's warehouse.
Like if I only wanted to see the USA warehouse stuff, I can't do that now.

You can.
just gotta click USA warehouse on the front page

But the list you get for that is atrocious ...

And yeah, i waited 2 months for 4mm bullets.
I've learned to always buy more than you need from them.

 

[dogman dan]

Yup, you have to hoard, then the hoarding eats up the stock fast. Vicious cycle. Another new rule of thumb to go with cut range claims in half, double your order to HK when it's in stock.

Everybody that wants to go back to paying 4x as much for lipo raise thier hand, what? nobody? I just thank god a millionare is willing to operate HK at pretty much no profit, just because he hated paying so much for this stuff himself.

Luke tells me that the owner of HK was amazed to learn we were putting this lipo on bikes and going 50 mph. He thought all these huge US orders for lipo were mom and pop hobby shop owners selling at flea markets. Obviously we've done some unexpected things to his normal supply and demand.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

I've ordered my mac 500 kit with upgraded gears from cell_man, ( I can just imagine the amount of Emails in his inbox )

Now I've no LiPo's I can get the charger from the U.K but it's more expensive of course, and with no batteries in HK I might as well wait anyway, but that is a lesson again to buy more wait less! I will probably get stung for income tax in Dublin, that will be interesting, though in fairness they are dumb and don't even know what half the stuff is never mind the value of it. I got charged 12 Euros for my ping which I thought wasn't bad, and the magic pie had no duty applied, probably because they just thought it was a normal bike wheel! :lol:


Anyway I can use the time to make battery and charging harnesses and to check it to make sure it's right, I don't want LiPo fireballs!


Mark

 

[neptronix]

Everybody that wants to go back to paying 4x as much for lipo raise thier hand, what? nobody? I just thank god a millionare is willing to operate HK at pretty much no profit, just because he hated paying so much for this stuff himself.

Luke tells me that the owner of HK was amazed to learn we were putting this lipo on bikes and going 50 mph. He thought all these huge US orders for lipo were mom and pop hobby shop owners selling at flea markets. Obviously we've done some unexpected things to his normal supply and demand.

Dogman, you nailed it. HK does sell a lot of crap, but with the batteries... they are really doing the world a service. ( well, except their competiton!!! )

P.S. What the hell does Luke do for a living now? Seems like he's in touch with every battery maker on the planet.

 

[Gordo]

P.S. What the hell does Luke do for a living now? Seems like he's in touch with every battery maker on the planet.

Luke just likes to travel, meet friends and he needs an excuse.

 

[auraslip]

It's gotten pretty out of hand. I've noticed US ebay sellers on marking up HK merchandise X10. I guess if it's out of stock and you gotta have it this week it's worth it.

A lot of the connects and wiring they sell can also be had on ebay, but the connects are most from China too. Slow shipping times.

 

[julesa]

Whew, I guess I got my order placed in the nick of time... 12 Zippy packs (15C 6S 5Ah) are on their way!

 

[zombiess]

I'm glad I bought a dozen 6s packs when I did even though I didn't need that many. I finally need 2 more packs for my 24s2p pack for my 8x8 setup. If they had 2 more 6s 20c packs in stock I'd probably buy them so I'd have two packs since i've swapped 6 packs to diff connectors from the 4mm bullets. Gotta swap 2 packs back since I have 30 4mm bullets that came in from back order.

Pretty funny that the large us orders are most likely coming from this site, that kicks ass.

 

[Xrain]

I just wish the US warehouse would sell to Alaska... We are actually part of the US...

Instead my only option is an Ebay reseller, or slow-boat from China.

 

[wojtek]

yep , same with EURO warehouse - hardly anything available there.

another thing- i was all happy to order from german warehouse as it is so easy to ship back in case a pack is damaged - but hey, it is only possibly if i send them back ON THE SAME DAY i received them!!!
taking that they don't send to luxembourg, i have to order to my friend's house in germany so collecting and shipping back on the same day is just not possible.
WHAT A SILLY rule!

 

[o00scorpion00o]

yep , same with EURO warehouse - hardly anything available there.

another thing- i was all happy to order from german warehouse as it is so easy to ship back in case a pack is damaged - but hey, it is only possibly if i send them back ON THE SAME DAY i received them!!!
taking that they don't send to luxembourg, i have to order to my friend's house in germany so collecting and shipping back on the same day is just not possible.
WHAT A SILLY rule!

Hi wojtek,

So are you telling me that the German warehouse doesn't send to anywhere outside of Germany?

we have here in the E.U some kind of consumer law where we can return anything faulty. However the fact you bought through HK in the United States means those laws don't apply? And HK would have to agree to take the pack back either to the U.S or Germany?
While you pay for the shipping back of course!

Interesting, if anyone can shed some light on that!

Mark

 

[wojtek]

sorry i wasn't precise enough. i am not sure about rest of EU, i only tried luxembourg...

they prob send to other eu countries, or at least the big ones.

yes i am aware of the consumer law - not sure how they go around it.

here is the link: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/doa.asp

ok they say: All European customers who find their battery to be zero voltage, or puffed upon receiving their parcel, can now send the battery back to our German warehouse for exchange to a store credit if the claim is made on the same day.

maybe i misunderstood- they only say about the claim on the same day. well it doesn't help much but i can make a claim anyway just in case, and then say sorry my mistake

so it is not clear when the packs must be sent.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

sorry i wasn't precise enough. i am not sure about rest of EU, i only tried luxembourg...

they prob send to other eu countries, or at least the big ones.

yes i am aware of the consumer law - not sure how they go around it.

here is the link: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/doa.asp

ok they say: All European customers who find their battery to be zero voltage, or puffed upon receiving their parcel, can now send the battery back to our German warehouse for exchange to a store credit if the claim is made on the same day.

maybe i misunderstood- they only say about the claim on the same day. well it doesn't help much but i can make a claim anyway just in case, and then say sorry my mistake

so it is not clear when the packs must be sent.

I say they get around it simply because you make the purchase in the U.S and it's only shipped from Germany, therefore E.U law does not apply! that's how they do it. I suppose having the warehouse close is handy though. But it would be a pain in the arse to send something back to Hong Kong! you would imagine they allow you to send back to Germany for the duration of the warranty, and they probably know you wouldn't bother sending to Hong Kong because of the shipping expense.

An E.U store would change that indeed, but the HK products would probably cost more because of our higher taxes, at least you don't get stung for import tax if it's shipped from Germany! So I suppose it's swings and roundabouts as they say!

 

[wojtek]

yes exactly!

the price difference between international warehouse and german warehouse is small enough.. + you get stuff on the 2nd / 3rd day normally. It takes longer sometimes.

so i dont complain. the only thing, most of the time the products im after are not in DE warehouse.

 

[wineboyrider]

2 theories on this.
1.) Business model is bad ass and they are frantically trying to get more stock.
2.) They are broke and bleeding money badly and don't care to lose anymore cash on selling to us clowns.

I hope it's 1) of course 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[el_walto]

It would be nice if HK tidied up thier catalog a bit. Some items seem perpetually backorderd or out of stock. I'd prefer when browsing to have a button to push that displayed only in stock items.

Sometimes you can just get something similar, like 20c instead of 30c or vice versa.

Please email hobby king and suggest this to them. Especially for their battery finder. I suggested this exact same feature a couple weeks ago.

 

[el_walto]

I waited a couple weeks on my last order and all three items I had on backorder were back in stock within two weeks. Seems like they are just making lots of sales and having troubles keeping stock.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

I waited a couple weeks on my last order and all three items I had on backorder were back in stock within two weeks. Seems like they are just making lots of sales and having troubles keeping stock.

Yeah could be the reason too because their lipos are definitely the best deal around so I could forgive HK for a few days out of stock!


Mark

 

[zombiess]

I'm also willing to wait for back ordered items from them because they always get more in. I placed an order for 30 4mm bullet connectors and only waited 2.5 weeks to get them. I think they just have way too many orders being placed from what I've seen posted on rc sites and on here.

If they get more 20c 6s in stock I think we should do another swarm sale. I think we put hurt on the stock with the last few because some of us are lipo freaks and hoard lol. I giggle when I think about the range I could get with 24s3p but I don't think I will ride that far. If I had just 2 more 6s packs I'd probably sell my current 12s3p pack and harness to someone on here.

Then again, a 24s3p pack would work pretty well with a xlyte 5304 This hobby is just evil and addicting. At least it's good for the environment and much cheaper than some of my other hobbies.