G'morning Gentlemen,
as you may have read on a topic I posted yesterday, I decided to get a Revell 1/72 kit.
I have been ordering kits from Lucky Model several times for the good prices they offer and never had problems with them.
One year ago I ordered two Revell boxes, 1/72 Super Hornet and F-22, and saved some €10-12 comparing to the price they are asked for at my favourite shop.
The package arrived in two weeks, but I had to pay a €10 tax as it remained at the customs in Milan for 10 days, making me lose most of the money I saved.
This never happened to me before, also ordering goods worth €40 or more. I think that the officers did suspect in seeing that big package coming from Hong Kong, whose declared value was only €25... so they may have thought they'd better check the content.
The kit I was looking for (Revell's Horten 229, but I think I'll get the P-47, always in 1/72) is not available in the shops I visited in Rome, but I found it at a good price - shipping included £3.65, at which I can include a couple of Pavla seats - at ModelHobbies.co.uk.
Two questions:
1) are ModelHobbies reliable for shipping outside the UK?
2) although the package, which should be relatively small, would come from a country within the European Union, do I run the risk of having it controlled and taxed at the customs?
Thanks in advance and have a nice day!

UK is part of the EU, so no import duties. Ordering from USA, Asia and so on requires paying duties.

taxes like VAT are something else than duties, and are already included in your purchase price. You can get it back, but you have to have a VAT number, only companies do that.

Customs officers are trained in checking shipments. Hong Kong is known for being a business city, so the chance that the package is from a relative is rather small , especially when the recipient does not have an asian name.

Matthijs

Can't say about Customs (I thought there wouldn't be any because you're in the EU, but hate to tempt fate), but Model Hobbies has been good to me (shipping within the UK). I have had several orders from them lately, and the shipping is very quick. Packaging is robust so no risk of damage.

Hope this helps.

Tom

Thanks!