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Post by Philip Ayres on Nov 10, 2010 12:21:19 GMT
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Post by skillex on Feb 19, 2011 15:01:11 GMT
Does anyone have any advice/recommendations about buying TFs online? I'm particularly thinking of non-UK releases like Scourge and Kup. I know there are a few sites around but wondered what you guys used.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 19, 2011 16:19:24 GMT
Kapow Toys seem reasonably reliable but you need to group your orders well so that you're preordering things due at about the same time or you'll end up wondering why your stuff hasn't shipped. See here for the contrasting experiences members of this forum have had with them. But of the UK retailers they seem (IMO) to be the best: I've had one very bad experience with the 3Darths (stock not being marked as a pre order when it isn't even in the country), as have others recently, and Toyzandgamez have had a bit of flack recently too. Wade through pages of the 2005 boards UK sightings thread for detailsBig Bad Toy Store are a very reliable US site, but there's been quite a bit of elevated prices there recently ($19 for Windcharger and $25 for Warpath). Pile of Loot is an invaluable feature saving money on postage. Their parcels do seem to attract the attention of HM's Revenue & Customs regularly. For Japanese stuff goto www.hlj.com. Here group your orders to stuff due out the same day as if they don't have all the stock to fill your order they not set it aside to wait for the rest of it to turn up. Learn where the Ship My Order now button is on the order status page. Again vunerable to the CUTA experience.
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 20, 2011 20:04:23 GMT
I've yet to have a 100% positive experience with an online store. HLJ can be ok, but it's hit and miss whether a pre-order will guarantee an order. But they don't charge you unless they ship it so swings and roundabouts.
-Ralph
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Post by Jaymz on Feb 21, 2011 20:14:35 GMT
I get stuff from Frankie ( Toyspark on ebay, but you can also e-mail him which is usually cheaper than the ebay prices) or Robot Kingdom. Both are Hong Kong based, and mark stuff down to avoid customs. With EMS shipping stuff shows up quickly and tracked. |
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Post by skillex on Feb 21, 2011 20:27:57 GMT
Ah, thanks very much for all the advice, guys. Much appreciated!
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Feb 22, 2011 0:21:39 GMT
I've used Toyspark before and can recommend him as well.
Andy
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Post by mabus1984 on Feb 23, 2011 23:02:02 GMT
Kapow are good enough, though i remember one seller on eBay who i bought an Encore off, and i managed to get a bucket load of cheap MISB Encores off them through private messaging. Great posting as well. Like i got a MISB Encore Soundwave for 25 pound and even Encore Megatron MISB for 30 quid and that includes the postage - and even though i guessed they resealed them they where still in immaculate condition
Finding such a good seller though is a problem, and even then they may be dodgy. There are many eBay sellers out there who care nothing about charging a fortune for P&P and skimping out on you with cheap ass P&P that costs next to nothing so they can keep make more money. eBay prices are also very very high at times as well, usually well above the price you could get it elsewhere.
Amazon is likewise dodgy and usually over-priced.
I pre-ordered Scourge and Kup alongside Thundercracker and Wheeljack from Kapow. I pre-ordered Warpath from Toys and Gamez. Those two are the best i think and what made me buy one from one and not the other was simply price, quantity and P&P.
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Post by Shockprowl on Feb 24, 2011 10:34:18 GMT
Very usefulll chap, thanks. Good thread.
I've used Toyz and Gamez and BBTS in the past. Toyz and Gamez I've always found very reliable, but you pay a bit more. BBTS are great with their pile of loot, but the fear of CUTA does put me off BBTS. I generally end up paying a bit more for figs posted from this country, often fro ebay. I chance Amazon every now and then. I used ebay, but I generally check with the seller to make sure they're going to send it in a box, and naturally I only used sellers with good feedback. 'Tis tricky though!
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 11, 2014 19:26:09 GMT
There is probably a thread for this somewhere, so apologies if I'm starting one unnecessarily, but I was just wondering what the board's favoured US/Japanese companies are for importing toys? I've used a few over the years, but wondered if I'm missing out on some good sellers by not knowing about them. I've used places like BBTS, Amazon.com and HLJ, but for those obscure releases and third party toys that don't come the way of places like Omegalock and Kapow, where do you look to?
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 11, 2014 20:03:31 GMT
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 12, 2014 12:51:08 GMT
I have looked at their site before, seems comprehensive. What percentage chance is there of customs action buying from them?
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Post by Toph on Jan 12, 2014 14:23:44 GMT
Isnt Robot Kingdom the one with really poor customer relations and had the security hack but refused to admit it? Or was that TFScource? I can never keep it straight.
Pinwing,
You'd have to check with the others to see how many customs problems there are, as I don't know first hand, but for items you purchase from america, you're welcome to have them sent to me.
For Bogatan, Kayceevee, and now Philip, I've been holding onto a "Pile O' Loot," if you will, and ship things out for them in one go. Have a box set up for each, and would be happy to start one for you as well.
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 12, 2014 14:26:43 GMT
TFSource was the one with the security hack.
Andy
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Post by Toph on Jan 12, 2014 14:34:15 GMT
Thats good to know, and hope i can remember. I avoid both simply because i couldnt remember which one.
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Post by Bogatan on Jan 12, 2014 16:46:00 GMT
Tru.com also do international shipping same as amazon, can be usrful but isnt on all items. MP Prime wasnt but MP Thundercracker was for example. But on whst it does ship it will often work out cheaper than going to a tru uk store.
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 12, 2014 17:34:51 GMT
Pinwing, You'd have to check with the others to see how many customs problems there are, as I don't know first hand, but for items you purchase from america, you're welcome to have them sent to me. For Bogatan, Kayceevee, and now Philip, I've been holding onto a "Pile O' Loot," if you will, and ship things out for them in one go. Have a box set up for each, and would be happy to start one for you as well. That is incredibly kind of you to offer, thank you. I'll bear that in mind for future reference. |
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kayevcee
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
The Weather Wizard
Posts: 5,527
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Post by kayevcee on Jan 12, 2014 18:14:34 GMT
www.robotkingdom.com is excellent. I've bought from them a couple of times before. www.chimungmung.com has a lot of different items (Robotkingdom doesn't stock Toyworld after too many delays and lack of communication) and sometimes throws in a sheet of Autobot or Decepticon logos with 3P purchases. www.ehobbybaseshop.com is another one. I've only bought from them once (they were the only shop in HK that still had the first run of Maketoys' Giant in stock) but they were very good. All Hong Kong based. All very liberal with their interpretation of RRPs when it comes to filling in customs forms. -Nick
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2014 21:44:20 GMT
I've put a lot of business BBTS's way in the past two years. Their Pile of Loot option suited me really well when I was on tour. It meant I could spend a little bit of wages on my favourite things and when I got back at the end of seven months, I could look forward to a big box (or two as it happened) of goodies for me to enjoy during leave. I did get stung with a massive customs charge but I had already calculated that. They've always responded well to my inquiries and of all the newsletters I get in my TF folder, BBTS's are usually the most interesting. As an example of good customer service, in one instance I had bought and paid for MP Soundwave and his cassettes. It was sat in my PoL waiting to go when I found that I had made a pre-order - and paid for it - at another site some 6 months prior. I informed BBTS of the problem and, no questions asked, they refunded me on the MP items (more on that other site below). They can fall down with their item descriptions sometimes, causing me to look wider to find what a particular add-on item is supposed to be added on to, or who a third-party figure is supposed to represent, for example. Annoyingly, they'll often give a great description in their newsletter but when you get to the item it just has a generic description (weight etc). Also, as mentioned elsewhere, they can put pre-order offers out at the first sniff of a new hot-seller. I'm happy with this because it ensures I get it and I'm a pleasure delayer by habit so don't mind what can turn out to be a long wait with the release date shifting several times. My first importer was www.yahobby.com/ as they were the only place I could find a black 350z Megatron Alternator. My wife then bought MP-10 from them. But that was where the good news stopped. When they first put a pre-order out for MP Soundwave, I put an order in. I didn't even clock that they'd taken the money at the time of the order, such was my haste. When the release came and no Soundwave arrived, I checked to see if the order had been dispatched. It was still pending. I got no response from their 'contact us' link and eventually replied to one of their newsletters. They agreed to refund me the £128 for not delivering the item and then promptly refunded me $128. When I informed them of their mistake, they wanted me to give them the $128 back and refused to just refund the outstanding amount until I did so. Also, to say there was a language barrier would be an understatement - more of a language forcefield. I've ordered from www.robotkingdom.com too recently but their items are yet to arrive. I've also found some nice items on www.TFSource.com that are out-of-stock everywhere else. Their description are also very good with customer reviews on several products. My first order from them will be put in at the end of the month so we'll see how it goes. Failing that, I've done well on ebay with items that have free postage. For the most part, when they're coming from China, they list the item value as $20 and send several individual packages. This means I usually avoid customs charges. If you want specific sellers, I'll take a look. (Bloody hell, that was a bit of a mouthful. Sorry) |
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Post by Toph on Jan 9, 2015 22:27:02 GMT
Prices seem odd for this. $65 BBTS, but $38.50 Robot Kingdom? That seems like a much bigger difference than usual. Omegalock it's the same price as the first one. Weird. But shipping is rediculous. Once the $20 shipping is applied, it's the same as BBTS. |
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 9, 2015 22:57:41 GMT
But your shipping from BBTS is local to the US. For us in the UK the cheapest shipping is the same from either company - $20 air mail small parcel. You expect BBTS to have a markup on Robot Kingdom prices, there always is because it's an import item for them, but this just seems to have a much bigger gap than usual. And on the UK importer company prices too.
In fact what I'm saying is BBTS & Omegalock are charging what I'd expect - Robot Kingdom seem to have this specific figure very cheap. Their price for MP21 was $60, so $38 for this one seems odd. Maybe it isn't, maybe being just under $40 it feels unusually cheap.
(That's one reason why I don't understand why people buy items from BBTS which they have had to import from Japan, because in the UK you're effectively paying BBTS's costs for importing to the US and then the additional customs/postage to get it here. It makes more sense to order direct from an Asian company like Robot Kingdom because then you're only paying those costs once)
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Post by Toph on Jan 10, 2015 5:30:15 GMT
I didn't know RK was UK.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 10, 2015 9:15:50 GMT
It's not, it's in Hong Kong.
But for us in the UK the shipping is comparable to what BBTS charge.
For Japanese items it's HLJ everytime for me if they have them.
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kayevcee
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
The Weather Wizard
Posts: 5,527
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Post by kayevcee on Jan 10, 2015 11:10:24 GMT
I used to buy Takara items from HLJ all the time- then they became like BBTS and every item I bought from them got stopped by customs and had a big fee slapped on it. Of course, these days EVERYTHING gets stopped by customs so HLJ is as good a source as any.
-Nick
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 10, 2015 11:12:15 GMT
HLJ's hit rate has got better since they started pricing items in Yen and the exchange rate altered. Now the Maths has got a bit hard for HM's customs and excise!
For many years it was Y2000 = £10, so divide by £200 to get UK price. Now it's something like Y1300 = £10
US$ has always been c $1.5 = £1 with fluctuations either way of about $0.10 to the pound
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 10, 2015 11:27:28 GMT
I think I said somewhere before that I've had a good CUTA avoidance rate using the small packet shipping option from Robot Kingdom. Their other options get hit every time.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 10, 2015 12:07:42 GMT
But their EMS option comes via courier which involves a lower clearance fee and lower percentage than Parcelfarce
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Post by Pinwig on Jan 10, 2015 14:14:42 GMT
Which is a good thing, I'll make a note of that for future reference, but it's more expensive to start with. Maybe quicker though. The small parcel stuff I've had from them has come royal mail, not parcel force, and half the time they don't seem to care about collecting customs charges. Parcel force seem to collect customs by default.
Mind you it's odd that their VAT percentage is lower. It should all be 20%. Perhaps they don't include the postage charge like parcel force.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2015 19:38:54 GMT
I just wanted to share where i buy my products,
Number 1 = Etoysjapan.com ( friendly people and trustworthy)
Number 2 = anime-export.com ( cheapest )
Number 3 = Anime-island.com,
There is ofcourse Hlj.com but i'm not a fan , although i know everyone else is.
I hope this will help people out.
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 11, 2015 20:11:14 GMT
Cheers.
Can't say I have ever used any of the three of them but will bear them in mind next time. I think HLJ has a hold on us as it's pretty much the best place to get the Generations books from (well that we have discovered anyway).
Andy
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