Anyone have a recent hobby easy order that has actually arrived? I ordered two sets of barrels, on set for a panzer II with the KwK and the Mg-34 and one with two besas. Both were supposed to go on their free air mail service. Both shipped May 7th. I haven’t received them yet. Starting to think they’ll never arrive and I should ask hobby easy what’s up.
Also possible they are facing massive delays due to covid and other ongoing issues around China
I ordered the RFM Firefly kit and some resin goodies over a month ago and it should be here in Aus this week, so about 5 weeks all up. Nothing happened for about the 1st 2 weeks though!! May be worth an email.
Thanks. Perhaps my timeline isn’t crazy then 6 ish weeks to Australia, 9ish to Canada might sound right
Just US to Canada can take at least a month…and that was in normal times! 
I’m guessing the free shipping on barrels is also “we will send it when we can”
Hope they didn’t ship it on the “Ever Given”!
Ken
ROFL! I sure hope not, swimming to Egypt would have been faster
I’ve been using Hobby Easy since 2011 and have never had any problems, usually 6 to 8 orders a year. Since covid delivery times to Aust have been extended up from about 16-20 days to about 21-28. if you have concerns i suggest you email Daniel he and his team respond propmtly.
Check where the items were coming from. I think a lot of the barrels that hobbyeasy sell are shipped direct from poland, not hobbyeasys actual stores. From memory those polish items are sent as letters, which take quite some time!
Thanks for the timeline, I’ve dealt with them a few times and it always been a pleasure. I might shoot them an email, worried they might gotten lost in transit.
I was wondering the same, but the tracking does say Hong Kong. The big issue is the tracking seems to stop updating once it leaves the origin country
If you’re in Canada, and the items were shipped May 7th, I’m not sure how they could have gone Airmail. It has only been in the last few weeks that Hong Kong Post has started airmail services to Canada again after about a year (ever since international flights were stopped); prior to that the only options were Speedpost and surface mail. You should check your order on Hobbyeasy’s website; it should have the tracking number. I suspect it may have gone surface if the tracking number has not been updated. Does the number start with “RL”? If so that is a typical Hong Kong Post surface mail tracking number; airmail from Hong Kong post typically start with LK or CP I believe.
I’ve ordered from Hobbyeasy numerous times during Covid (the last being early June) and all have had to come Speedpost (not wanting to wait 3+ months for surface). Hobbyeasy has always had the “Free Airmail” section of their website, and that hasn’t changed throughout Covid.
As an aside, I ordered from Lucky Model around the time you ordered from Hobbyeasy (May 15) and they all of a sudden said they had airmail to Canada (and free for the items I was ordering). Supposedly they found a workaround by routing through England. However the tracking number first provided seemed to be a dead end, and eventually when I looked at the order on their site, the tracking number was different and was for surface mail. Needless to say I expressed my displeasure with them sending something via a method I did not approve without asking me first (since I would have told them to send it via Speedpost). Still haven’t received it.
I’m thinking you are right. My guess is they thought “cheap order, guy didn’t pay for shipping, so let’s just send it surface mail.”
The thing about the free airmail barrels is I am pretty sure you can’t change the shipping type. I was also made aware of the lack of airmail from Hong Kong by Daniel at hobbyeasy. I placed one order airmail and it got here in about 10 days. About a month later into covid I tried another order and Daniel told me airmail was suspended. I thought I would take a gamble on the barrels hoping they were sent from Aber direct, as it did say 2-3 weeks for the barrels to be available. I guess my gamble didn’t pay off as I think they were probably sent surface.
I refuse to pay speedpost for most orders. Paying $50 shipping on a $50 order isn’t my cup of tea
I agree, I wouldn’t pay $50 shipping on a $50 order, unless the total cost would still end up being cheaper then elsewhere. I’ve simply waited until I’ve had a $200+ order before placing it so I can justify the shipping cost. It does mean a some of the items I want are out-of-stock by the time I get around to placing an order, but I’ll get them at some point (case in point, ordering items from HE today, and some Elefant stuff I wanted that they just got re-stock of two days ago are now OOS!)
Darn that sucks! Yeah that is very true. The kits at HE are so cheap, Often with shipping the kits are still much cheaper than loca
How well does speedpost scale? I find regular airmail doesn’t scale well in that one kit a $30 shipping and two is like $50
That’s the thing. Once the postage cost gets to $50 or more, Speedpost is usually as cheap or cheaper then airmail. Case in point, the airmail for my current order (which is valued at $300, but nothing in it is standard “kit box” size, weighs 1.2kg, mostly resin and track sets) is $53, Speedpost is $52. And timewise, Speedpost typically takes 2-4 days to get to Canada, whereas airmail is usually 5-7.
Great to know. I’ll be waiting till I have a big order and then using speedpost next time
One issue I have encountered is the use of intermediary shipping companies. One I often see here in the US is called Orangeconnex. The package goes to their office directly from customs, (usually in California or New Jersey) they put their own label on it, with a new tracking number on it. Sometimes the tracking info is updated, sometimes not. I have had packages that stopped being updated delivered out of the blue, I peeled the label off, and found the original label, with the no longer functioning tracking number, underneath it. Unfortunately, this can make it very hard to track a package.
Ken
Whelp low and behold I just test it and my wallet will hate you in the future. Three kits at $124,
Speedpost $60, airmail $72, so speedpost seems to scale really well!
$184 with shipping for three kits that retail for $184 with no shipping
Well,
I had an order from Hobby easy take 3 days processing, then 4 days to go from Hong Kong to Chicago ISC. Then it sat, I was told, in Customs for…wait for it… wait for it… 33 days! Then left Chicago and got to me in Cincinnati, an 7 hour drive, in another 4 days. Total time 44 days. before the virus, 2 weeks tops. Never had a package held in Customs. Worst part, they never opened it. They would come and be gone either next day or after 2 says. So I feel your pain. My order was in April and arrive beginning of June. Really would like to do another order but a bit leary as I don’t need another 30 plus day stint in Customs.
The thing that irks me is that tracking stops updating once it “departs” Hong Kong. So I have had no tracking update since May 7th.
I also think they scan that it leaves when it gets loaded in a container but that container might sit at the airport for weeks awaiting a flight