Hobby Link Japan Shipping charges

[rdenham]

I have not ordered anything from Hobby Link Japan In a while & I know shipping options have changed over time so I would like to get some info.

If I were to order a Yamato VF-11B how much should I expect to pay for shipping the US West Coast? How much more would it be if I ordered multiple items such a Yamato VF-11B & YV-21?

[nhyone]

HLJ has the answers.

SAL is generally US$1 every 100 grams, but only up to 2 kg. EMS can range from US$4 per 100 grams (light) to US$1.50 per 100 grams (heavy).

(Sounds like buying vegetables/meat. )

[Chuey]

Despite their problems, I wish they still used UPS.

[HG Blows]

Despite their problems, I wish they still used UPS.

I agree. I had issues with UPS, but at least I'd get my stuff within 7 days. Nowadays, It takes about 20 business days to get my stuff.

[Graham]

The lesson, which I keep getting hit over the head with repeatedly (but never seem to learn ) is never order anything from HLJ if you want it in a hurry.

Even if the item is listed as 'in-stock' and even if you chose expedited shipping, i.e. EMS, HLJ still take forever and a day to get your order sent out.

Graham

[Valk009]

That is so true what Graham said...buy only from HLJ if you are not in a hurry!

I remember ordering a t-shirt from them as a gift for my friends birthday. I ordered it like three weeks in advance and choose the more expensive EMS option

Man was that a mistake...it took them nearly 5 weeks to get the item sent from Japan to Hong Kong and I ended up buying something else for my friend There is a consolation prize though as I am wearing the t-shirt now

Andy

[newca]

I used to love HLJ, but recent days, their pre-shipping speed is slowing down badly, don't know why too much Japanese holidays?

[Graham]

I suspect that they wait until they have a large enough quantity of parcels, before they call the post office to pick them up. Either that or they are seriously understaffed and work on a 2-3 week backlog before they get to your order.

However, as a customer, if I am paying a premium price for fast shipping, I expect fast shipping. There is absolutely no point in paying extra, if all HLJ does is keep the goods sitting around in there warehouse for a couple of weeks before shipping. this is why I seldom use HLJ anymore.

Luckily, living in HK, I'm able to find 98% of Japanese items easily enough. Unfortunately, there's always that 2% of items (mostly garage kits), that have to be bought through HLJ .

Graham

[Ido]

Yeah, HlJ is slow, I buy a lot of model supply I can't buy in my city from them, I usually buy without exceed a certain value as I use SAL, so even if the item is lost i don't care so much.

I must wait but I always receive my items, usually within 2 weeks, their price are often very good and I must say i'm very happy, I can buy a lot of thing they sell in some italian e-shop but I should pay 2 or 4 time more. Just happened to wait 2 months for a box once.

EMS is good but I have a tax problem with that.

ps

There are other asian e-shop that sell modeling tools as good as HLJ?

[VF Strike Valk]

The good thing about it being slow is that I'll actually forget about it...and then it shows up one day. I get a nice surprise at my door step.

They do have good customer service.

Edited February 16, 2005 by VF Strike Valk

[Kamineko]

I suspect that they wait until they have a large enough quantity of parcels, before they call the post office to pick them up. Either that or they are seriously understaffed and work on a 2-3 week backlog before they get to your order.

However, as a customer, if I am paying a premium price for fast shipping, I expect fast shipping. There is absolutely no point in paying extra, if all HLJ does is keep the goods sitting around in there warehouse for a couple of weeks before shipping. this is why I seldom use HLJ anymore.

Luckily, living in HK, I'm able to find 98% of Japanese items easily enough. Unfortunately, there's always that 2% of items (mostly garage kits), that have to be bought through HLJ .

Graham

Hmm, I usually classify their shipping as slow (EMS) and slower (SAL). Although I still am getting a turnaround time for an in-stock item of about 10 days shipped (EMS) to west coast USA, their preorders are much slower.

Shipping costs though . . . according to my records, half of what I have paid to HLJ has been in shipping fees.

[do not disturb]

don't use HLJ, if anything ask one of our overseas members like Seichii who actually has his own shopping service and can pretty much find just about anything and he ships stuff very quickly.

i've ordered from HLJ one time and one time only cause it took over 2 months to get my stuff. waiting a month is kind of ridiculous, but 2 months is friggin retarded.

[Godzilla]

Wow. Good thing I dont order from them.

[Subotnik]

I agree with their pre-shipping time, it seems to have gotten longer and longer since Christmas, but I've never had a problem with the actual shipping speed. 75% of the things I get sent via EMS take 3 days from the day it ships to the day it arrives on my doorstep here in New Zealand, and nothing has ever taken longer than 5 days except when it's landed in this country during some kind of holiday. I've only ever had one package take longer than 14 days via SAL, everything else has taken about 8 days, so no real problems there either.

That pre-shipping time is irritating though. It used to be that something would come into stock and it would be processed and listed as having shipped by the following night, but these days it's taking up to a week for in stock items, and it's not worth the wait when I can get the same thing for the same price through ebay and have it shipped the following day.