Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[sqidd]

A option with AE is to have them ship to your Tenso address and then have Tenso ship them DHL. I just paid $68.28 to get five missile sets shipped. $13.66/ set for shipping is not exactly heart breaking. Let alone three day shipping.

I'm consolidating some other larger (size) purchases right now for another shipment.

I'm not offering, I don't have the time. But someone could really get all of the costs dialed in and probably do pretty well offering a shipping service from Japan. They would open a Tenso account. People can have their purchases shipped to that account. Based on time and/or size shipments would come to the US. That person would then re-ship to the individual people. I have to imagine that the person doing the logistics could make some money and the people using the service could get their stuff a lot faster for not much more money than a EMS shipment would cost (which isn't an option anyway). At some point there is going to be a huge shipping price break (size/weight). A "crate" or "pallet". That would be the goal to shoot for. I get pallets of product air freight (DHL or FedEx) out of China and when looked at from a $$/ size-weight perspective it's really inexpensive.  If you could get one of those going out every 2-4 weeks there could be a lot of happy people.

I'm not discounting the potential pitfalls. There are many. Only pointing out that there is a gap in the market to be filled.

[sqidd]

11 minutes ago, borgified said:

I think @vladykins was referring to the grey version @sqidd. 

 

That's probably the one I saw listed. I wanted to buy it. But having three is just silly!

[sixtybucks]

19 minutes ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

While this is a beautiful picture.... I cannot help but think to myself "oh god, will that sand damage the paint job or get into the joints?"

It's a weathering effect

[Slave IV]

4 minutes ago, sqidd said:

A option with AE is to have them ship to your Tenso address and then have Tenso ship them DHL. I just paid $68.28 to get five missile sets shipped. $13.66/ set for shipping is not exactly heart breaking. Let alone three day shipping.

I'm consolidating some other larger (size) purchases right now for another shipment.

I'm not offering, I don't have the time. But someone could really get all of the costs dialed in and probably do pretty well offering a shipping service from Japan. They would open a Tenso account. People can have their purchases shipped to that account. Based on time and/or size shipments would come to the US. That person would then re-ship to the individual people. I have to imagine that the person doing the logistics could make some money and the people using the service could get their stuff a lot faster for not much more money than a EMS shipment would cost (which isn't an option anyway). At some point there is going to be a huge shipping price break (size/weight). A "crate" or "pallet". That would be the goal to shoot for. I get pallets of product air freight (DHL or FedEx) out of China and when looked at from a $$/ size-weight perspective it's really inexpensive.  If you could get one of those going out every 2-4 weeks there could be a lot of happy people.

I'm not discounting the potential pitfalls. There are many. Only pointing out that there is a gap in the market to be filled.

The first issue I see to overcome here is having a bunch of people shipping to the same address. Most shops have limits on how many you buy and if they see a whole bunch of orders from different accounts going to the same address, they might take that as someone trying to circumvent their system and start cancelling orders and accounts.

[sqidd]

15 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

The first issue I see to overcome here is having a bunch of people shipping to the same address. Most shops have limits on how many you buy and if they see a whole bunch of orders from different accounts going to the same address, they might take that as someone trying to circumvent their system and start cancelling orders and accounts.

And there is potential pitfall #1.

I knew there would be some.

Trying to think of a work around on that right now.......

Ok, how about this. Everyone is going to have a US address tied to their account. The shops know about the EMS thing. It's not like they're going to assume that it's some sort of scalping operation....probably. Maybe that could be overcome by contacting all of the shops and selling them on the idea of getting the stuff off of their shelves. I have to imagine they would prefer to have them shipped rather than sitting there.

Another idea is to have a partner in Japan that could do the consolidation and shipping. The saved Tenso fees may cover what they need to make. But, that assumes they as an individual can get the same DHL rates as Tenso.

It would not be a simple operation to set up, that's for sure. But who knows when EMS will be on line. And then how long is it before they're caught up? It could be years.

[vladykins]

45 minutes ago, sqidd said:

The grey (standard) or Woodlands? I seem to remember they had a great deal on a standard recently.

The standard, aka the one you helped direct me to because it was an awesome deal and was one of my grails.   

[sqidd]

1 minute ago, vladykins said:

The standard, aka the one you helped direct me to because it was an awesome deal and was one of my grails.   

Excellent!

[vladykins]

I moved around some of my 1/48s for when this *eventually* shows up, along with the Dx Roy. It's now a race.

[MKT]

1 hour ago, SUPERULTRAROBORIDER said:

This is a great pic!

Much respect to collectors who are willing to not only bring their higher end stuff out in the open outdoors, but also won't bat so much an eyelid setting them down on the ground and dirt to give everyone else great pics.

[Slave IV]

19 minutes ago, sqidd said:

And there is potential pitfall #1.

I knew there would be some.

Trying to think of a work around on that right now.......

Ok, how about this. Everyone is going to have a US address tied to their account. The shops know about the EMS thing. It's not like they're going to assume that it's some sort of scalping operation....probably. Maybe that could be overcome by contacting all of the shops and selling them on the idea of getting the stuff off of their shelves. I have to imagine they would prefer to have them shipped rather than sitting there.

Another idea is to have a partner in Japan that could do the consolidation and shipping. The saved Tenso fees may cover what they need to make. But, that assumes they as an individual can get the same DHL rates as Tenso.

It would not be a simple operation to set up, that's for sure. But who knows when EMS will be on line. And then how long is it before they're caught up? It could be years.

I love this kind of thought and effort for us to get our fixes!

I do see the address thing as a pretty big issue though. Anyone getting involved is going to deal with a lot of liability. And we all know how this crowd can get if anything hinders or even delays their Macross fix. Even though it sounds reasonable and simple, I have a feeling the shops won't easily agree to sending all these different orders to the same address and even if they do, there is another potential issue of liability on them and many points of failure arise from something like one digit of one order communicated incorrectly. If this issue goes on for years, I feel like at that point, the shops will figure something else out and it opens up a bigger opportunity for new shipping companies and services to arise.

Not discouraging this idea at all though. Just want to make sure any effort is well thought out for the best chance of success.

 

@vladykins Congrats on that purchase! I was eyeing some of those too but I didn't want to deal with the shipping issue at hand. 

Edited July 8, 2020 by Slave IV

[SUPERULTRAROBORIDER]

1 hour ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

While this is a beautiful picture.... I cannot help but think to myself "oh god, will that sand damage the paint job or get into the joints?"

It was nerve-racking! I had a fanned paintbrush in my pocket that I used to brush away all debris when I was done. It did kind of scratch up the feet, but I really like the worn patina that it created.

[UNSpacy]

9 hours ago, dafob said:

Hobby-Genki still has the TV Super parts set available, though I've never heard of them before so I can't say either way:

https://hobby-genki.com/en/dx-chogokin/419-dx-chogokin-tv-version-vf-1-compatible-super-parts-set.html

 

Heck, they still have DX Kakizaki available for PO, which I haven't seen available anywhere else this late in the game: 

https://hobby-genki.com/en/dx-chogokin/212-dx-chogokin-macross-vf-1a-valkyrie-hayao-kakizaki-use.html

 

Has anyone here ordered from them before?  Online reviews are no worse (or better) than Nin-Nin but that's not saying much.

Thanks for the links.  Almost tempted to pick up kakizaki.  But it looks like they have the same refund policy as Nin-Nin... store credit...

[Alphahorizon]

Man, I have been away doing training for a few days and new TV packs dropped. Welp, I'll just Mandrake them in a few months I guess. They do look really good. I was expecting a little more greenish/blue to the tiny but still they look nice. 

[Bahamutzyro]

39 minutes ago, UNSpacy said:

Thanks for the links.  Almost tempted to pick up kakizaki.  But it looks like they have the same refund policy as Nin-Nin... store credit...

That no refund crap don’t stick. Paypal will refund you and your credit card will. If they don’t deliver goods, they breach the sale.

[Jade20X]

38 minutes ago, UNSpacy said:

Thanks for the links.  Almost tempted to pick up kakizaki.  But it looks like they have the same refund policy as Nin-Nin... store credit...

If Nin-Nin cancels an already paid PO that you have with them, is their refund to you only in store credit? I read their FAQ, but it wasn’t clear to me regarding prepaid POs. 

[Grey728]

There's no way I would accept anyone from taking my money on undelivered goods only to have them convert it to store credit. Having them relist the undelivered goods at a significantly higher price would just add insult to injury and destroy any faith I have in that business.

[Lolicon]

Nin nin tried to give me store credit after canceling my 31A order. I told them absolutely not and I wanted my money back if they couldn't deliver the goods. They relented and refunded me my money. Still annoys me that they basically got an interest-free loan out of it.

[Slave IV]

Yeah, either way if you are unhappy with the service or lack of service received, you should get your money back. If they won't do it, your credit card company will. Always use a credit card through Paypal to give yourself the most leverage when dealing with companies that don't specifically serve your market (or even when they do since it never hurts to protect yourself as much as possible).

[Sandman]

3 hours ago, SUPERULTRAROBORIDER said:

Awesome photo. You are a lot braver than me. My OD is cringing at the valk sitting in dirt.

[lavinrac]

4 hours ago, Lolicon said:

It's just a human quirk to think that bad things only happen to other people. "I haven't had any issues so therefore no issues exist."

Even HLJ has lost an item I had paid for and stored in PW... and that's only 60 days.

"I haven't had Covid-19, therefore Covid-19 doesn't exist" is a popular one these days  

 

[Alan Molina]

1 hour ago, Jade20X said:

If Nin-Nin cancels an already paid PO that you have with them, is their refund to you only in store credit? I read their FAQ, but it wasn’t clear to me regarding prepaid POs. 

still in a battle to get my money from nin - nin  with afew hours with Paypal overthe phone. still awaiting nin-nin reply, fingers crossed i do get my money back

[Duymon]

Usually paypal refunds take a few days, depending on how you paid.

The longest refunds in my experience are when you use a bank account to pay. 

[Jade20X]

16 minutes ago, Alan Molina said:

still in a battle to get my money from nin - nin  with afew hours with Paypal overthe phone. still awaiting nin-nin reply, fingers crossed i do get my money back

I wish you good luck. If you don’t mind, please let us know how this resolves for you.

[Valkyrie23]

AE has lost two of my orders before when I held them for almost a year. They could not locate a couple of YF-19 (1 Bandai, 1 Arcadia) after I requested shipping. They still won't answer my inquiries regarding those orders. Maybe an isolated incident but others here have mentioned something similar happening before. I still use AE but only as a last resort and always ship immediately. They haven't responded to my multiple emails regarding my DX super parts status since I paid for shipping either. Just letting ppl know they are far from perfect.

NY, on the other hand, responded to my tickets (took a few days between each exchange) regarding 4x super parts. I asked for UPS or DHL quote, they replied with an upcharge payment request for UPS. I paid, asked for change of address. They confirmed. I waited a few days and asked when items would ship and they responded soon - shipped a couple of days after that. Received the super parts in 3 days.  So in my experience recently, NY has AE beat in customer service.

My personal count:

AE has given me 3 bad experiences with 2 being horrible. 

NY I have received everything I ever ordered (I was not part of the 31A fiasco though)

 

TLDR:  (In my experience) AE hold system and customer service, despite what others have said, is complete garbage. I also never had any issues with orders from NY.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Valkyrie23

[jenius]

AE was great for me until I had to reach out to their customer service for the SV-51 leg fiasco. That was super frustrating because they would say something... then not do it. "We will check the legs and let you know". Then nothing. "Can you order me a replacement?" "We will check and let you know." Then nothing. Eventually I just shipped it and asked a friend to help me out but that made it pretty clear that AE customer service is for things like updating an address... anything more serious is the run-around.

NY just keeps getting worse for me. My three SSP have not been shipped. They're several months late at this point and require payment up front... super shady. I made a ticket the day the 0D came out and asked to upgrade shipping since I had EMS. No response. I made a second ticket, this time asking to "switch to UPS" or whatever the method is, I thought specifically identifying which method I wanted might help the ticket out. No response. Last night I got an email from NY (not a response to one of my two tickets). They asked me to make a ticket requesting to have my shipping changed on my 0D order since EMS is unavailable. I ALREADY HAVE TWO TICKETS FOR THAT VERY PURPOSE. gah. 

[Pedro2k6]

Anyone has used this page

https://hobby-genki.com/en/

They have TV SP and Kaki VF-1A still on PO.

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by Pedro2k6

[rdrunner]

1 minute ago, jenius said:

AE was great for me until I had to reach out to their customer service for the SV-51 leg fiasco. That was super frustrating because they would say something... then not do it. "We will check the legs and let you know". Then nothing. "Can you order me a replacement?" "We will check and let you know." Then nothing. Eventually I just shipped it and asked a friend to help me out but that made it pretty clear that AE customer service is for things like updating an address... anything more serious is the run-around.

NY just keeps getting worse for me. My three SSP have not been shipped. They're several months late at this point and require payment up front... super shady. I made a ticket the day the 0D came out and asked to upgrade shipping since I had EMS. No response. I made a second ticket, this time asking to "switch to UPS" or whatever the method is, I thought specifically identifying which method I wanted might help the ticket out. No response. Last night I got an email from NY (not a response to one of my two tickets). They asked me to make a ticket requesting to have my shipping changed on my 0D order since EMS is unavailable. I ALREADY HAVE TWO TICKETS FOR THAT VERY PURPOSE. gah. 

Funny you mentioned getting an email from NY last night because that's exactly when I received the same email as well.

Like you I already have two OPEN TICKETS for the exact same request, but I was asked to send a new ticket with the title "Change Shipping Method".  And, guess what, that's very similar (but not quite the exact words) of what I had already sent...

Did you also notice that the email was NOT a reply to your open tickets, but just an email out of nowhere from NY?  I said half jokingly in the 0D thread last night, that NY must have read what I have posted on here, and within hours I got that email.

[sqidd]

3 minutes ago, rdrunner said:

Funny you mentioned getting an email from NY last night because that's exactly when I received the same email as well.

Like you I already have two OPEN TICKETS for the exact same request, but I was asked to send a new ticket with the title "Change Shipping Method".  And, guess what, that's very similar (but not quite the exact words) of what I had already sent...

Did you also notice that the email was NOT a reply to your open tickets, but just an email out of nowhere from NY?  I said half jokingly in the 0D thread last night, that NY must have read what I have posted on here, and within hours I got that email.

How would they connect your screen name with your order?

[pafy6285]

57 minutes ago, rdrunner said:

Funny you mentioned getting an email from NY last night because that's exactly when I received the same email as well.

Like you I already have two OPEN TICKETS for the exact same request, but I was asked to send a new ticket with the title "Change Shipping Method".  And, guess what, that's very similar (but not quite the exact words) of what I had already sent...

Did you also notice that the email was NOT a reply to your open tickets, but just an email out of nowhere from NY?  I said half jokingly in the 0D thread last night, that NY must have read what I have posted on here, and within hours I got that email.

Same here, received an email about creating a new ticket with that subject. Though they also replied to my existing ticket with the same information and closed it.

[rdrunner]

1 hour ago, sqidd said:

How would they connect your screen name with your order?

I doubt many are in the same position as me with the exactly same three orders still outstanding and the timing of my rants kinda coincided with the submission of tickets... haha

[rdrunner]

34 minutes ago, pafy6285 said:

Same here, received an email about creating a new ticket with that subject. Though they also replied to my existing ticket with the same information and closed it.

Right.  So joking aside, I think they just wanted everyone with the same issue to send them a ticket with the EXACT title they gave us, so they can run a filter off the tickets they have received and deal with us all at some point?  At least I am hoping that would be the first step in the right direction.

[spacemanoeuvres]

3 minutes ago, rdrunner said:

Right.  So joking aside, I think they just wanted everyone with the same issue to send them a ticket with the EXACT title they gave us, so they can run a filter off the tickets they have received and deal with us all at some point?  At least I am hoping that would be the first step in the right direction.

Cool I got this email too. I’ll just send one with the secret code for all of my orders

[Guyffon]

2 hours ago, Pedro2k6 said:

Anyone has used this page

https://hobby-genki.com/en/

They have TV SP and Kaki VF-1A still on PO.

 

They even have Roy opened for pre order too at 25k yen. Its my 1st time seeing this site, so, buy at your own risk

Edited July 9, 2020 by Guyffon

[Rhubarbarian]

I haven't gotten that e-mail from NY (or any response whatsoever to my open tickets). I'm 100% certain they're using the COVID shipping difficulties as a cover for the fact that they don't have enough stock to fill all of their orders.

[RedComet]

16 minutes ago, Guyffon said:

They even have Roy opened for pre order too at 25k yen. Its my 1st time seeing this site, so, buy at your own risk

 

...aaaand it's gone. Dang, it definitely wasn't up a few hours ago. I would risk an unknown site for 26,000 yen if they take PayPal. Oh well