Buy HAM Radio equipments online tips & tricks

        Indian HAM’s always faced difficulty in getting commercial  radio equipment’s i.e. rig, antennas, antenna analyzers, few of us homebrew these equipment’s but it’s time consuming, require significant efforts and skills. Many HAM’s do want to import and use commercial radio equipment’s but are concerned about legal stuff, hindrance of bureaucratic paperwork without any confirmation, because there is no clear (no nonsense) guidelines from authorities.  

     Many especially young HAM’s buy equipment’s online thru Ebay, amazon Etc or sometimes they bring personally from abroad thru green channel, ignore legal stuff and (knowingly or unknowingly) take risk of confiscation to bring beloved radio equipment’s in shack. 

  

                I’ve purchased some of my equipment’s online by taking risk and I want to share my experience which will help other HAM's to get there equipment’s.

I purchased Yaesu ATAS120A antenna thru ebay online shop radiogearpro for 281$ they shipped it thru regular hongkong post and provided me tracking number. It arrived to my local post office in 15 days and I’d to pay custom duty of 3k to get it delivered. Other purchase was Nagoya MAG-77EL-WH which was purchased from Taiwanese seller palacemuseum he shipped it thru Taiwanese post but due to very low cost (25$)  it was held up by Mumbai customs at foreign post and asked me to produce WPC license for antenna import. I’ve to personally visit foreign post office, met customs commissioner and show him my HAM license and convince him that it’s not commercial import but for personal hobby use. Luckily he was young and helpful he arranged to release my shipment without penalty and I received it within weeks’ time. I’ve also ordered antenna analyzer for 269$ from Greece based ebay seller 2way-radioexpress. I was expecting this to be charged custom duty by customs but it was received without any charges.

 All online shopping was not that straight, Recently I ordered cheap (18$) Chinese uhf Tran receiver thru ebay but it was held up by customs at foreign post office for license, this time also I visited to foreign post office in Fort but unfortunately custom officer was unavailable this time and I’d to talk to post office guy who was unhelpful as informed me about recent notice to custom office from home department to restrict import of radio frequency devices without appropriate NOC  from WPC, I argued with him and showed my HAM license, but he didn’t buzz and insisted on getting WPC NOC. I was helpless as customs commissioner was unavailable for escalation and I’d to go back to my workplace for urgent issue. I gave up and never able to get that shipment due to lack of follow-up from my side (custom officer only available in weekdays with unpredictable time slots & availability) .  
         Update  27 March 2016 -  Last month i received reminder notice from customs for this same radio, so i decided to give another try this time fortunately helpful officer was there who listened to me gone thru my application for release of parcel, verified my HAM license and assured me of releasing my parcel. she was surprised that 1st time someone has responded to custom notice with valid License from WPC. After this visit i received my radio within week. i was required to pay 308 Rs towards import duty.

   International parcels send thru regular/express post can be tracked thru below link http://ipsweb.ptcmysore.gov.in/ipswebtracking/   (check status of my parcel no RF329957459SG  it took almost 10 months due to custom retention )

                Bottom line is its very convenient and mostly cheap to buy HAM equipment’s online from overseas sellers specially small less expensive items (usually costing below 10k INR , but there are some risks where you may have to spend extra time and efforts to get your item delivered but mostly you’ll get it without any issue. Below are few point while purchasing online.

1) I prefer purchase from eBay.com as they provide shipment guarantee (exclude custom retention)

2) when you buy from ebay always check rating of seller, always prefer seller with highest rating

3) In India gifts can be received upto 10k INR without custom or import duty, explore if you can use this facility (some can mark your item as gift)

4) buy from Asian buyer, item price may be expensive than US seller but delivery cost is always much more cheaper than US seller, so it’s always cheaper to by from Asian seller.

5) European delivery cost are also lesser than US

6) if you are buying multiple items and have option/facility to combine shipment DON’T USE IT,  always go for individual shipment, because if one shipment stuck at customs all your packages will get stuck. Strictly avoid

7) Insist on tracking no even if it cost more, you at least know where your item is and use tracking no for coordination with authorities, usually items below 10$ are sent without tracking no it’s frustrating if you don’t received item after wait of 1 month and then can’t figure out where it is     

8) national post services are cheap but slow, private courier services are very expensive but ship very fast and help in case of custom issues, custom authorities also usually pass private courier items quickly.

9) don’t just go in item price shipping cost can impact your final price, so always compare item + shipping price

10) postal shipping orders usually take upto 35 days for shipping so plan accordingly in advance.

That’s all for now

Enjoy shopping