pafy6285

AJ link: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B09YT84WJ5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1PF2ZPDWL7L9G&keywords=4573102634733&qid=1651129258&sprefix=4573102634733%2Caps%2C360&sr=8-1

Though temporarily out of stock. It was available at PO time, but by a third party for 42.8k yen and domestic only. Not sure if AJ itself opened their own PO

6 hours ago, FattyMoBookyButt said:

Metal Build Justice up on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Tamashi-Nations-Mobile-Gundam-Spirits/dp/B09G9Y77SP

($290, shipped & sold by Amazon.)

 

Probably the PO that I canceled earlier this week, lol. Actually already have a Justice (still in HLJ warehouse), but want another copy so got one from Amazon JP which is cheaper (shipped to Canada) and canceled the .com PO

1 minute ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Searched "VF-31AX" on Amazon japan, and noticed there was an "all buying options" link available, and the listing there was from Amazon Japan.

there's a better keyword to search for in AJ which narrows down to the item. Also useful if the product title/description are all in japanese.

Just now, kajnrig said:

Got lucky with Amiami. How did y'all find the pages on HLJ and Amazon Japan?

HLJ link was posted like 12 hours ago (on another site). For AJ, there's a trick on what to search for

got one from HLJ

9 hours ago, gulan said:

did amazon jp list theirs or is it all the scalpers?

it's all scalpers when I was able to view the item page in AJ. I think AJ did offer their own, however, it's possible that there could be a delay making it available for international customer thus the locals would definitely buy it all up before it becomes available to us.

Available in AJ (international) for an affordable price of 40k yen and 100k shipping:

HLJ order confirmed. MS Edge for the win, lol (firefox and chrome showing blank page, could be caching though)

34 minutes ago, 68whiskey said:

So nothing metal build in that set ? Just gunpla model type stuff ?

as per the event info site, looks like Metal builds will be available on 9/2

https://en.gundam.info/content/onlineexpo2021

Looks like PBandai US will be selling gundam base gunplas and seems like there will be Metal builds as well (though nothing specific)

https://en.gundam.info/content/onlineexpo2021

seems like P-Bandai US will be selling exclusive Gundam base items listed in the event, and seems like there will be metal builds as well

22 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

per the post from pafy, removed NY from being able to use their payment processing services....so you see....paypal helped NY rip-off people.......

to clarify it's unclear if PayPal removed them or NY removed PayPal to prevent buyers from easily disputing and getting a refund. You would think that there won't be any buyers after removing PayPal, but there are still buyers who gamble especially during the NY sale a month ago.

Just now, spacemanoeuvres said:

No pay later; but within PayPal protection range. Buy at your own risk. 

I believe they don't offer PayPal currently. It was removed a month or two ago, and unknown if they'll bring it back

10 hours ago, bleecher said:

You're a true hero.

not really, posted it after securing my order, lol. And the item link was posted by HLJ themselves an hour before it opened (though the page is not available or 404 before the order time) on a site. Was actually surprised it was not posted here much earlier.

hlj: https://www.hlj.com/dx-chogokin-first-limit-edition-vf-31ax-kairos-plus-hayate-immelman-bans62108

1 minute ago, crackpot said:

Thanks. I found the thread but it doesn't even tell you where to check. I'd like to check if my info is there. 

I think they might have removed the link since it contains sensitive information. It's basically a plain text list of emails, addresses and phone numbers

2 minutes ago, crackpot said:

And what forum is that supposed to be? 

look for the n-y thread in MFC (myfigurecollection) forum

So someone posted in another forum of NY accounts for sale for 0.01 BTC (with a link of the list of account info), and a user replied that his info is in the said list (and also mentioned that he's using a unique email for NY or shops ). Didn't find my info from the said list but in any case make sure you're not re-using NY account creds on other sites.

7 minutes ago, Paco Grande said:

 

The issue is that we don't know what the fees will be until it's too late. For Fedex I didn't receive the invoice with all the fees until 2 weeks or more after I received the item. Also if I'm paying $30-40 or more to someone like HLJ I'm assuming that's ALL the fees because it's already expensive. I'm used to DHL through Amazon Japan which has no more surprise fees because Amazon pays the taxes etc. on my behalf. Anyway, hopefully Japan Post shows Canada some love soon and I won't have to use couriers anymore.

FYI for anyone not aware, some of the couriers like UPS have actually had class action lawsuits against them (at least in Canada) and had to pay the fees back. What they were doing is charging the full shipping amount including fees to the shipper, and then turning around and double charging the same fees to the receiver. So getting the fees twice. I ended up getting some money back from UPS because of the lawsuit. I just don't trust the couriers at all.

you can still estimate the possible taxes/duties though. For figures, toys and related items there's no duty (0%) but you need to pay the GST or the federal portion of HST which is 5% of the declared item value. And as mentioned, if using Fedex Express (do note that this is different from Fedex ground which is usually used on items bought from the US) their disbursement fee of  ~$10 can be waived if you pay through a Fedex account (you can create one), so you'll basically just be paying the duties/taxes. So no need to go to the nearest CBSA office and self-clear, unlike the other two couriers (DHL and UPS).  You should always factor at least that 5% tax in your purchases unless the seller (like Amazon JP) prepays it (I think only Amazon is doing this among the Japanese shops/sellers)

DHL's own fee is around ~$17 nowadays for the most part (unless you have a really high value item), which I say is still somewhat reasonable (comparing to Canada Post's own fee which is $10). As for UPS, avoid it like a plague as they have the highest fees among the three.

On 6/6/2021 at 2:06 PM, Angesdad said:

A fellow Canadian member here getting ripped off by dhl and fedex in fees. I am hopeful though we also get EMS back soon as JPost resumed services to US as of June 1st.

If you can't avoid using a courier and Fedex Express is available, choose Fedex (assuming the shipping is lower or around the same) as they waive their disbursement fees (~$10) if you pay using a Fedex Account (you need to create one) so you'll just be paying for the duties and taxes. When you receive your invoice, call their support and tell them that you'll be using your Fedex account to pay for the duties/taxes.

FYI to my fellow Canadian collectors out there, Japan Post will suspend Surface Parcel to Canada starting May 19: https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2021/0518_01_en.html

So for now, the couriers are the only options to ship to Canada

Thought won't be able to get one, but got it from HLJ and also got the confirmation email.

40 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

How does it and the new fees compare with DHL?

 

You can maybe compare it to Mandarake's own DHL rate (https://earth.mandarake.co.jp/help/shipping_options-en.html ). For example a 5 kg item (disregarding volume/size) is 5250 yen to US/Canada while it's 12700 for EMS (with the surcharge). Issue with DHL or other couriers of course is that its rate are mostly based on volume, so it could still be more expensive if the item is large.

Good news, looks like EMS will be resuming for US / North America this June or summer. The bad news, it's more expensive with the introduction of a "temporary" surcharge. Less than 1.5kg, the rate is somewhat acceptable but more than that, courier shipping will look like a better option. For example, for 2kg EMS will cost 6100 yen. For 5 kg, 12700 yen. Also the surcharge is not flat, the higher the base rate (or weight), the higher the surcharge. Link to the table (in Japanese): https://www.post.japanpost.jp/notification/pressrelease/2021/00_honsha/0415_01_02.pdf

Other details (in Japanese PDF): https://www.post.japanpost.jp/notification/pressrelease/2021/00_honsha/0415_01.html

8 minutes ago, Mommar said:

Didn’t you guys say FromJapan charged you the full amount?  They only just charged me for the down payment.

AFAIK FromJapan always charge for the full amount. I believe it was FJ's mistake that some were just charged partially.