Japan Post suspension of international mail

[sqidd]

Which Mandrake branch is it that you can check shipping charges before you order? Complex?

Thanks!

[RedComet]

9 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Which Mandrake branch is it that you can check shipping charges before you order? Complex?

Thanks!

Here are some prices in case they are useful, it seems they only have a few different sizes of Mandarake boxes, so perhaps that's why some not exactly the same items cost the same to ship DHL.

DX VF-1S (and I would assume the 1A) or VF-31F 4130yen

DX VF-1J or YF-21 Full Set 7950 Yen

 

[ridgebacks]

38 minutes ago, Roy Focker said:

DHL is fast!  I placed an order with Mandarake.  Was worried about shipping cost but figured I got a enough good price on my order that expensive shipping wouldn't hurt too much.  DHL picked it up and delivered it here in the USA in less than 24 hours.

I only used DHL twice, and both time they charged me almost 40% of the package fee with handling fee, clearance fee, etc. on top of the tax duty that goes to the government. And that ballooned the price of my item by almost 200% adding everything up. If a website only gives me DHL shipping, I'd just shop elsewhere.

[sqidd]

11 minutes ago, RedComet said:

Here are some prices in case they are useful, it seems they only have a few different sizes of Mandarake boxes, so perhaps that's why some not exactly the same items cost the same to ship DHL.

DX VF-1S (and I would assume the 1A) or VF-31F 4130yen

DX VF-1J or YF-21 Full Set 7950 Yen

 

Thank you sir!

[borgified]

27 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Which Mandrake branch is it that you can check shipping charges before you order? Complex?

Thanks!

 

11 minutes ago, RedComet said:

Here are some prices in case they are useful, it seems they only have a few different sizes of Mandarake boxes, so perhaps that's why some not exactly the same items cost the same to ship DHL.

DX VF-1S (and I would assume the 1A) or VF-31F 4130yen

DX VF-1J or YF-21 Full Set 7950 Yen

 

Just now, sqidd said:

Thank you sir!

Correction folks.

Its Sarha only that does the shipping estimates (not other branches. This conversation was brought up before in another Macross thread if my memory serves me correctly).

So I take it that we all missed the DX YF-21 Full Set pre-orders?? How come that I wasn't notified of it, I guess that I'll end up paying the Jacked Up fee upon release date.   

[sqidd]

8 minutes ago, borgified said:

 

 

Correction folks.

Its Sarha only that does the shipping estimates (not other branches. This conversation was brought up before in another Macross thread if my memory serves me correctly).

So I take it that we all missed the DX YF-21 Full Set pre-orders?? How come that I wasn't notified of it, I guess that I'll end up paying the Jacked Up fee upon release date.   

Thank you sir!

Too bad you missed those 21's. I manages to snag 37 of them. You snooze you lose I suppose.

[RedComet]

9 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Thank you sir!

Too bad you missed those 21's. I manages to snag 37 of them. You snooze you lose I suppose.

Haha, just projecting what I hope they release next I guess  I meant YF-19 haha

[sqidd]

4 minutes ago, RedComet said:

Haha, just projecting what I hope they release next I guess  I meant YF-19 haha

Oh yea, fingers crossed on the 21! 

[David Hingtgen]

DHL is both ridiculously expensive, and ridiculously fast.  Sometimes it's like they just have a courier hop on board the next flight out, carry it through customs, then bring it to you...

[sqidd]

3 minutes ago, David Hingtgen said:

DHL is both ridiculously expensive, and ridiculously fast.  Sometimes it's like they just have a courier hop on board the next flight out, carry it through customs, then bring it to you...

I think it's incredibly inexpensive. A package that would cost $20 to ship across the US in 4-5 days will go to the other side of the planet in 3 days for $75 DHL. That's CHEAP.

You not wanting to pay that much for shipping doesn't affect it's value.

[RedComet]

4 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I think it's incredibly inexpensive. A package that would cost $20 to ship across the US in 4-5 days will go to the other side of the planet in 3 days for $75 DHL. That's CHEAP.

You not wanting to pay that much for shipping doesn't affect it's value.

I think it's a better deal than that! A VF-1S costs $20 USPS CA to GA and DHL is $40 from Japan to anywhere in the states. Color me fairly impressed. I think we were all just a little spoiled by how INSANELY cheap an SAL small packet was that could arrive in a week for $25.

Edited June 2, 2020 by RedComet

[F360]

let not forget Mandarke gets a pretty nice discount rate for DHL.  Other stores that use DHL might not get that nice of  a discount.

 

[sqidd]

15 minutes ago, F360 said:

let not forget Mandarke gets a pretty nice discount rate for DHL.  Other stores that use DHL might not get that nice of  a discount.

 

Absolutely. When the JP Post went down you could tell which vendors had negotiated good deals and which ones had not. Mandrake had the foresight and volume to negotiate good rates and it's paying off for them (an assumption). I haven't gotten anything out of JP since the Post went down that hasn't come from mandrake or AmazonJP. Mostly Mandrake.

[Roy Focker]

I used Nagoya and shipping was about 4000 yen.  The Valk was price was below my budget so I was okay with shipping.

[Mommar]

On 5/28/2020 at 8:00 AM, anubis20 said:

Anyone have stuff stuck at Anime Export? They offer no other shipping options

Oh, they do offer a second option.  Some bullshit courier service that requires you send AE your Social Security Number and then they'll pass it along.  For some reason DHL doesn't need that...

[pafy6285]

27 minutes ago, sqidd said:

Mandrake had the foresight and volume to negotiate good rates and it's paying off for them (an assumption).

I would say not foresight but more of a long business relationship with DHL. Mandarake has been offering DHL for years, and even then it's sometimes cheaper to use DHL than EMS for example. Only reason I don't personally use DHL when I order from Mandarake is due to customs (and associated broker fees).

[Mommar]

Looks like Hobby Search is another Japanese site that can't figure out what FedEx is.  Their shipping "solutions" are both stupid too.

[Lolicon]

DHL from Amazon Japan for only 1200 (later 1600) yen was the best.

RIP ridiculously cheap and psychotic fast shipping. 

Addendum: Purchased a MB Astray Red Alternative Strike whatever from them on Monday and it will be here Thursday. 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Lolicon

[Anasazi37]

5 hours ago, sqidd said:

Which Mandrake branch is it that you can check shipping charges before you order? Complex?

Thanks!

SAHRA. A few of us posted on the technique in another thread. If you can't find the exact item you want, find one that is really similar (i.e., different color variant or an earlier release) so the size and weight of the box are the same, then go through the motions of trying to purchase it. At one point you'll see a shipping estimate since items at that branch are ready to ship. With that said, since their only current option for shipping to the US is DHL, you might not see an estimate right now. You'll probably just get the bill after submitting your order. That's already happened to me once.

[sqidd]

6 hours ago, Anasazi37 said:

SAHRA. A few of us posted on the technique in another thread. If you can't find the exact item you want, find one that is really similar (i.e., different color variant or an earlier release) so the size and weight of the box are the same, then go through the motions of trying to purchase it. At one point you'll see a shipping estimate since items at that branch are ready to ship. With that said, since their only current option for shipping to the US is DHL, you might not see an estimate right now. You'll probably just get the bill after submitting your order. That's already happened to me once.

Thanks

Yesterday I did a bit of goofing around with that. It looks like if you get one item like a DX VF-1 shipping is about $75. Any more than that and it looks like you get the next box size which is about $200. But, you can fit a lot of stuff in that one box. 3-4 items DX size. The trick is finding that many items at one location. If this JP Post thing keeps up Mandrake would do well to set up some sort of "warehouse" system where you can store items from different locations until you have enough to justify shipping. If they had that right now they would make 5 sales off of me.

[Anasazi37]

2 hours ago, sqidd said:

Thanks

Yesterday I did a bit of goofing around with that. It looks like if you get one item like a DX VF-1 shipping is about $75. Any more than that and it looks like you get the next box size which is about $200. But, you can fit a lot of stuff in that one box. 3-4 items DX size. The trick is finding that many items at one location. If this JP Post thing keeps up Mandrake would do well to set up some sort of "warehouse" system where you can store items from different locations until you have enough to justify shipping. If they had that right now they would make 5 sales off of me.

And SAHRA is basically a warehouse, so that could work if they wanted to do it, like HLJ's Private Warehouse but for the entire network of stores. I think other locations send their imperfect items there for sale online so they don't take up precious shelf space, so purchased items could move the same way. And that's usually imperfect by Mandarake standards, which means someone at some point thought there might possibly be an outside chance that a corner of a box got scuffed in a way that is only visible with an electron microscope. And I will say that SAHRA packs items way better than the other branches, more in line with HLJ, AJ, and package forwarding services, so they clearly have that part of the logistics chain worked out.

[Kanzaki]

Speaking from personal experience shopping with Mandarake:

1) SAHRA pre-estimated shipping costs are slightly higher than other Mandarake outlets around nearby region, as they are averaged out on merchandise of the similar size/dimensions (Mandarake’s shipping boxes comes in a variety of fixed sizes).

 

2) if you compare SAHRA’s shipping cost and another  within nearby region, say UTSUNOMIYA or COMPLEX, the latter would usually (from my experience) be cheaper than SAHRA’s pre-estimated shipping cost. This is particularly true when it comes to DHL options. However I am unsure whether the distance from SAHRA to Tokyo airport plays a part in the slight increase of cost.

 

3) Mandarake’s DHL option is comparatively cheaper than other retailers, e.g., Ami-Ami, Jungle. However I can’t be sure whether this is consistent across all merchandises. (I’ve shipped a DX VF-1J via Mandarake and Ami Ami, and the DHL cost for Ami Ami proves higher

[chyll2]

SAHRA rate is always higher for me..the bigger the price of the item, the bigger the delta.

 

Mandarake rate for DHL is cheap, but amazon JP fulfilled orders are still the cheapest.

[sqidd]

3 hours ago, chyll2 said:

 

 

Mandarake rate for DHL is cheap, but amazon JP fulfilled orders are still the cheapest.

When you're shipping as much stuff as Amazon you get DEEP discounts.

You guys would be shocked how much wiggle room there is in negotiated shipping charges. After 8yrs of loyalty to UPS (at a decent rate) I worked my rep hard for a better discount. She knocked 45% out of it! That's a massive chunk.And I'm a bit player. I only spend $50-75K/yr with them. Imagine the bargaining power of Amazon.

[Sanity is Optional]

I imagine Amazon also ships enough quantity via DHL that the overhead DHL incurrs on their shipments goes down significantly as well. Costs a lot less to schedule one semi than hundreds of smaller trucks.

[sharky]

I recently odered a Bandai Sozo Galleria Robot Soldier (from Laputa) from Mandarake and the DHL shipping was only 1360 yen.  Granted the box weight was very light, but I was still pleasantly surprised.  I was expecting it to be double that.

[technoblue]

On 5/31/2020 at 12:48 PM, technoblue said:

Goodsmile sent my copy of Figma Darkness 22 April and it has been stuck at Tokyo International since 23 April, as luck would have it. 

So to close on my own post, Figma Darkness arrived today! Wasn't expecting to see this EMS delivery so soon, given that other members here had March orders that didn't go out until later in May. All told, my shipment was delayed 5 weeks. I'll take it.

Granted, I'm curious to know whether or not the international shipping situation is improving at all.

I don't have much to add to the DHL discussion, other than I have been seeing an understandable delay of about 2 days on my DHL Express packages. The lower cost DHL services have longer delays, and some countries (like Germany) have stopped shipping DHL economy packet shipments to the US.

https://www.dhl.de/coronavirus-en#usa

Alas, this is slowing down Bricklink orders but I can deal.

[Slave IV]

My last few orders from AJ have all had shipping less than 1600Y. So it seems like they are just moving to a more weight/size based pricing instead of just flat out increasing the prices. Latest one being Diaclone Waruder DA-58. It’s a pretty big boy probably comparable to a plain Valk so that could be good news for future AJ shopping. Bad news is getting DX orders at AJ is also becoming mythical. 

[RedComet]

Well, shortly after complaining about it, my long lost box finally arrived! Only 62 days late  Anyone want any of this group buy stuff that I long ago replaced? DX VF S, Jx2, Strike Parts, Missiles 

[crackpot]

1 hour ago, RedComet said:

Well, shortly after complaining about it, my long lost box finally arrived! Only 62 days late  Anyone want any of this group buy stuff that I long ago replaced? DX VF S, Jx2, Strike Parts, Missiles 

Might be interested with the missiles. 

[borgified]

5 hours ago, RedComet said:

Well, shortly after complaining about it, my long lost box finally arrived! Only 62 days late  Anyone want any of this group buy stuff that I long ago replaced? DX VF S, Jx2, Strike Parts, Missiles 

At least your package got delivered.

You got one interested buyer so you can put the rest up got grabs on the boards.

[Vertex]

So here's a new wrinkle in my dealings with NY. Last week I had to move to a new home and when I contacted them to request changing the shipping address on a pending/unfulfilled order I placed at the begging of the year they responded saying that its against there policy to change shipping addresses. They also provided no suggestion as to how to resolve this impasse. Having the item ship, whenever that may be, to my old address is not an option.

I'm awaiting to hear back on my response as I find it hard to believe that they can not accommodate an address change on a yet to ship order. Particularly in this period of delayed releases and slow/long shipping times. I don't think its unlikely that people are no longer at an address they gave 6-12+ months ago. Fortunately this is my only pending order with them, and very likely the last time I purchase something through them.

Putting this out there as I don't recall anyone mentioning having an issue with changing a shipping address with NY.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Vertex

[jenius]

34 minutes ago, Vertex said:

So here's a new wrinkle in my dealings with NY. Last week I had to move to a new home and when I contacted them to request changing the shipping address on a pending/unfulfilled order I placed at the begging of the year they responded saying that its against there policy to change shipping addresses. They also provided no suggestion as to how to resolve this impasse. Having the item ship, whenever that may be, to my old address is not an option.

I'm awaiting to hear back on my response as I find it hard to believe that they can not accommodate an address change on a yet to ship order. Particularly in this period of delayed releases and slow/long shipping times. I don't think its unlikely that people are no longer at an address they gave 6-12+ months ago. Fortunately this is my only pending order with them, and very likely the last time I purchase something through them.

Putting this out there as I don't recall anyone mentioning having an issue with changing a shipping address with NY.

This comes up from time to time and is bewildering... maybe it depends on who you get at NY. Sometimes it's a quick and easy "Thanks, we've updated your address on that order" and sometimes they tell you to go pound sand. Try using chat. If you get an answer you don't like one day.. try again another. 

[F360]

1 hour ago, Vertex said:

So here's a new wrinkle in my dealings with NY. Last week I had to move to a new home and when I contacted them to request changing the shipping address on a pending/unfulfilled order I placed at the begging of the year they responded saying that its against there policy to change shipping addresses. They also provided no suggestion as to how to resolve this impasse. Having the item ship, whenever that may be, to my old address is not an option.

I'm awaiting to hear back on my response as I find it hard to believe that they can not accommodate an address change on a yet to ship order. Particularly in this period of delayed releases and slow/long shipping times. I don't think its unlikely that people are no longer at an address they gave 6-12+ months ago. Fortunately this is my only pending order with them, and very likely the last time I purchase something through them.

Putting this out there as I don't recall anyone mentioning having an issue with changing a shipping address with NY.

I was able to change shipping address before with N-Y. 

First you have to add the new address in your account first.   

Then you open a ticket or chat with address change request for that order number.

Let them know you want to change the preorder to another shipping address from your account. 

But for change of shipping address , IIRC if pay by paypal, there might be issues if you change to ship to another country from your original payment  

[Vertex]

4 hours ago, jenius said:

This comes up from time to time and is bewildering... maybe it depends on who you get at NY. Sometimes it's a quick and easy "Thanks, we've updated your address on that order" and sometimes they tell you to go pound sand. Try using chat. If you get an answer you don't like one day.. try again another. 

 

Rgr, that. I wasn't sure if the subject had come up previously. It doesn't surprise me that you got different results at times. I'll press on trying to work out the problem with them. 

 

3 hours ago, F360 said:

I was able to change shipping address before with N-Y. 

First you have to add the new address in your account first.   

Then you open a ticket or chat with address change request for that order number.

Let them know you want to change the preorder to another shipping address from your account. 

But for change of shipping address , IIRC if pay by paypal, there might be issues if you change to ship to another country from your original payment  

I was surprised that they flat out denied the request and didn't provide any alternatives. I actually did change my address on the website before contacting them to make the request on the pending order.  I've been through this situation before, albeit not with this vendor, and even when the country changed (oddly enough when I moved back to the US from Japan) it wasn't a problem. This time it still within the same country and state so you'd think it wouldnt be that difficult.

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by Vertex