Anasazi37
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Everything posted by Anasazi37
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That is *a lot* more than I used to charge back in the day to customize Yamato 1/48s, even accounting for inflation. He's operating at a completely different level, though.
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Doorbell rang about 15 minutes ago and this was waiting for me outside, courtesy of NY (via UPS). This has been the smoothest and fastest transaction I've ever had with them, which included a last-minute change to my shipping method. It will probably never happen again, so I'm savoring it. The set I ordered through FJ, shipped via EMS, hasn't moved at all in the past ten days. I don't expect to see it for a few months.
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I was hoping that someone would get the joke
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An additional data point: my one set shipped on Friday via UPS (switched from EMS) and I didn't place my order until the day after the second listing went live (payment processed on 12 June 2019). I haven't purchased many items from them, so I'm not in any way a VIP customer.
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For Mandarake to ship a Yamato v1 1/60 CF to Albuquerque via DHL just cost me ¥6150. That's roughly twice the price of EMS for a package that size, and those v1 boxes are big. I hope AE comes back with a halfway decent estimate for you.
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If you're in the US, it's now the only option you get. And even for the SAHRA branch, where you can normally see what shipping will cost before placing your order because the item is guaranteed to be available, they aren't showing the cost. You have to place the order and hope it's not exorbitant. I picked up a 1/60 Yamato late last week from their Nakano branch and that was my experience. It's supposed to be here by Tuesday evening, so they got it out the door fairly fast.
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Same here! They must have packed up a bunch of orders right before close of business last Friday.
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Well, at least they're not as backlogged on printing shipping labels. That's apparently as far as my SSP has progressed in the past two days, according to UPS. I suspect they packed up a bunch of stuff right before leaving for their five-day Golden Week break and marked all of it as shipped, but we probably won't see any actual movement until Thursday when they're back in the office for two days before taking off for their next five-day break.
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NY just shipped my SSP set! What the?! They never ship things this quickly. Glad I changed my shipping method yesterday or the package would have been returned to them.
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They were a bit more...decisive with my request. I asked if it would be possible to switch to FedEx or DHL for my SSP set and the response I got back was "we just sent an invoice for UPS Express Saver to your account." Given their customer service track record, I expected that they would come back in a few days with an estimate, like the one you received, and then I'd make a decision. I didn't anticipate that they'd cut straight to asking for payment within a few hours of me submitting the request. It was an additional $36 and at this point I'm thinking "get the damn thing on a plane out of the country," so I rolled with it and paid the invoice. I still don't expect them to actually ship it soon, because who knows if they actually have it in stock, but at least it will get here before December (theoretically).
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Definitely good advice. Thank you!
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Yeah, the shipping section in their order workflow for US customers is now just a single field where you can enter a comment. You don't even get an estimate for what DHL costs when you choose SAHRA as the location, where they normally calculate that on the fly because the stock is guaranteed to be on hand. If I find an item at another branch that I want, I often put a similar one in my cart from SAHRA so I can get a sense for what the shipping will cost. No luck this time. You don't find out until you actually place your order, regardless of location.
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Proactive. Especially given their two-week-long shutdown for Golden Week. Didn't want to leave anything to chance.
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I contacted NY about my SSP PO, which was supposed to ship EMS, and asked to switch to a different shipping method (FedEx or DHL). I heard back from them within a few hours, so it seems like they're being fairly responsive before shutting down for Golden Week. The only option they offered me was UPS Express Saver for an additional $36. So...I took it. I just paid a similar amount ($60) for DHL shipping from Mandarake for a Yamato 1/60. Probably the last items I try to ship from Japan for many, many months. I have some items sitting in my Private Warehouse at HLJ that will continue to sit there.
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In the Japan Post discussion in the Toys section, someone mentioned up to a four-month delay in getting EMS shipments out of Japan, depending on when they receive your package: https://myfigurecollection.net/blog/45426 "EMS and Airmail packages already taken in charge by Japan Post will be shipped, but they will be sent by order of reception, and with the current volume of packages they already have at hands, just for EMS there's an estimated delivery period of upwards to 4 months."
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Tenso is another service where you have to watch out for small costs adding up. There's a per-item handling charge and another consolidation charge if you want to ship several items in one box. On top of that, their actual shipping prices are inflated, so they are probably skimming off the top. I put up with it for certain items that I can only ship to an address in Japan. Mostly for stuff I find on AJ.
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I've ordered a few things from YJ through FJ. Super simple. Yes, it gets shipped them like any other item. If tax is not included in the auction, they will add it. I think they will hold items for 45 days. Works a lot like HLJ's Private Warehouse. One thing to note is that if you use their protection plan, non-trackable shipping options won't be available. More instructions here: https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/member/order/ship.
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Thanks for sharing! I'm still waiting to hear back from them, but since Japan Post prices EMS by geographic zone, I'm pretty sure the estimate will be the same. FedEx and DHL might be different, but probably not by much. $70 is a lot more reasonable--even with the delay of a few weeks to get on a plane.
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Quick update on HLJ shipping options for the Fighter kit. As with the previous two kits, they are willing to generate quotes manually because they recognize that their automated system doesn't work for items this large. It usually takes them a day or two to do that.
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Everything else shows up in good shape except ferry, thankfully. Not that the truck trip between California and New Mexico is risk-free, but it's usually pretty safe. If everything showed up in bad shape, I'd definitely suspect my local post office. I think all of their staff know *exactly* who I am (that guy who orders a bunch of stuff from Japan). Turns out that one of them is a huge anime fan, so he's always asking about my packages and seems to give them some TLC (I have to pick all of them up because I'm out in the country). Makes the trip to the post office a little more enjoyable. And I'm definitely glad that we're all sharing our experiences. For folks who ship stuff from Japan infrequently, or have never done it before, it's valuable info.
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Seems like I'm the MW member taking one for the team when it comes to ferry shipments....Glad to hear that it's worked well for you and @jenius. Your consistent drum beat of "ferry works" is one of the main reasons why I tried it again after so many years. That didn't turn out well. On balance it's cost me more money than other methods, sadly. Will I consider using it again for bigger items that can take a serious beating, especially if there's a large savings? Probably. Like you guys, I'm not obsessed with pristine boxes for toys. I'm always pleasantly surprised when a valk shows up without some level of corner/edge damage on the box, which, as you point out, is hard to directly attribute to any one specific leg of the shipping process.
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Given all of the current shipping delays, on top of how long NY normally takes to process orders, that's a reasonable estimate. And the two sets I ordered in this round (one from FJ, one from NY) aren't going to be used anytime soon. My Hikaru 1S is already wearing the set I somehow managed to snag through AE in the first round, so these two are for future acquisitions. One for Roy, one just in case something else interesting pops up. So far I've managed to tamp down my desire to collect the entire Skull Squadron, but we'll see how long my resolve lasts.
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Based on the photos @tekeringshared, it looks like the gross weight of the shipping box is 5.45kg. Using the handy price calculator on Japan Post's site, setting Tochigi as the origin and New Mexico as the destination, you end up with ¥9400, which matches what is on that page for price-by-destination-zone. The last time I worked with HLJ on this, I think their EMS price came in a little lower than what I calculated. Maybe they get a volume discount.
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Thanks again, @tekering! This is always a huge help.
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Given mandatory waiting periods at ports on both ends, ferry will likely take even longer than usual. I grew tired of ferry years ago. Not worth the small price difference for small/light items that take 2-3 months to arrive and might get damaged. Like the hard to find books I shipped that way in December because I thought what heck, let’s try it again, seems to consistently work for some folks here, but now I have books with crushed edges and corners because heavier packages sat on mine for several months while in transit. And the books were packed well. My package had a “Damaged prior to receipt” sticker on it from USPS. For large/heavy stuff that is sturdy and well-packed, and if you’re in no hurry, maybe it makes sense. Could you eventually build up enough in savings by choosing ferry to buy an additional toy? Sure. It’s a trade off, where the price you pay is significantly longer wait times and possible damage to what you’ve already purchased (which would likely cost more to replace than the price difference between ferry and EMS). I decided that peace of mind is more important to me.
