pafy6285
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Everything posted by pafy6285
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wotafa's Sazabi review:
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Using some proxy calculators and checking EMS rates, and assuming that the dimensions found in HLJ / hobbysearch are accurate, and that it will be shipped with just the original bandai brown box, cheapest rate is ~45000 yen (EMS and Fedex) or ~$350. Yeah scalpers scored big with this one considering the raw profit. And there's already a lot of sold transactions in YAJ and Rakuma even at the current price range (some even buying two or more). IIRC, the metal structure NU was still available on retailers like Amazon JP when it was released and it took a while before it got to absurd pricing. So scalpers already identified this line as a lucrative one even with high upfront cost.
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To those interested, quite a number of listings of metal structure Sazabi in Rakuma with the lowest being at 320k yen (or ~USD $2450 at current forex). Though you have to be strategic when choosing a listing as the cheapest ones will most probably be bought by somebody else before your proxy can. YAJ on the other hand is around 340k yen (buy it now) with occasional lower 330s. Can't say if this will still get lower, but I think that's a decent post-release price relative to the PO price of US based stores.
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Metal robot Deathscythe available on Hobby-genki: https://hobby-genki.com/en/gundam/5229-metal-robot-spirits-side-ms-gundam-deathscythe-hell.html
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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
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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
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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.
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HLJ link was posted like 12 hours ago (on another site). For AJ, there's a trick on what to search for
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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.
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Available in AJ (international) for an affordable price of 40k yen and 100k shipping:
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HLJ order confirmed. MS Edge for the win, lol (firefox and chrome showing blank page, could be caching though)
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as per the event info site, looks like Metal builds will be available on 9/2
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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)
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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
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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.
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I believe they don't offer PayPal currently. It was removed a month or two ago, and unknown if they'll bring it back
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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.
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hlj: https://www.hlj.com/dx-chogokin-first-limit-edition-vf-31ax-kairos-plus-hayate-immelman-bans62108
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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.
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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.
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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
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Thought won't be able to get one, but got it from HLJ and also got the confirmation email.
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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.
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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
