How would you rank online retailers?
Fri 2011/01/07 08:14 JST
Hello guys!
Update: Thanks to everyone who answered my previous question. I'll change it a bit now:
Basing from your experiences when ordering online from these retailers, how do you rank them according to:
1- Being most of the time, the best/cheapest deal
2- And so on
3- And so forth
4- ...
Shipping/Handling Costs:
1) Shop X
2) Shop Y
3)
4)
5)
Figure Price:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Magazine Price:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Overall Experience:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
You can add more retailers if you wish :P
Thank you so much and your comments will be of great help!
Regards,
Vince
Amiami, i have easier communication with them with my questions.
price seems to be almost same.
sometimes, amiami put too much "padding" on packages making the box larger, so cost higher shipping fee.
almost all my figures are from them, i go to HLJ if i forget to pre-order an item and it's sold out at Amiami.
Oh :/ Well thanks for your input :)
i havent order from amiami, or HLJ yet, but i normally order from Hobby search, mostly because of their point system.
But what can you say about HS' shipping/handling costs? Can you give me an estimate for a single 1/7-1/10 figure? Thanks too :)
HS use EMS and SAL
i would say a 1/8 pvc would range around $20 maybe. but they actually have a chart showing a estimate price base on the weight of the pvc.
Sometime they r doing 50% off shipping deal (thats actually when i first order from them and make quite a lotof order). so a $20 shipping is like $10.
and the points u got after every purchase can be save or use on ur next order.
Alright :)
Ive never ordered from HLJ.
Amiami is bro tier so I am a loyal costumer of theirs.
Also, I feel amiami's rival is not HLJ but HS.
I was a former HJL customer. I'm so outdated @_@
I started with HLJ, but after I found out about AmiAmi I've done all of my orders through them...
Ooo.. For the reason of lower total costs?
Their website is better designed, they don't bombard me with advertisements, I've been able to work easily with them during all my moves... overall just better. Money isn't really one of the factors I look at.
Hobby Search
I might try that soon ^-^ Thank you!
I LOVE amiami, HLJ just doesnt seem too user-friendly from my experiance. Plus amiami is fun to say xD
My only concern about AA is their policy on order cancellation :/
Thats a good point. I have canceled orders from HLJ (hence why I never really have ordered from them)
But sometimes it's not about loyalty. Possibly order something from HLJ if youre not sure you will have the money for it?
Yup xD
What concern? Most stores have the exact same policy that once ordered you cannot cancel it. However, I've canceled many items with Amiami with no trouble at all. Same with HLJ and HS. The only store I've had trouble with, and massive trouble at that, is Otacute.
I give Amiami an A+, HS an A (higher prices than amiami), HLJ a B+, and Otacute a big fat F (for failure at everything). I've had over 30 orders of various sizes from all 4 of those companies and as far as shipping costs go I have not seen any massive difference between them. People claim Amiami is more expensive in terms of shipping but I have not seen that being the case.
I started with HLJ, but then went to HOBBY SEARCH. Why? its cheaper(most of the times) and the dutch customs seam not to care XD
Your country's custom doesn't like HLJ XD
it seams ^_^"
xD
i've ordered from each of them recently, amiami generally seems a little more expensive on shipping, whether it's due to using a larger box or what i'm not sure.
I generally try to order from amiami regardless of that because of their lower figure prices. Even with possibly higher shipping, the total is usually still less than the total from HLJ.
However, one thing i'll say is in terms of ease of shopping & ordering, HLJ wins hands down. AmiAmi is like shopping from the 1990s at times, but it could be worse i guess.
Both are good, HLJ should drop their prices a little more to match amiami, but as it is now, it's a good option to use when amiami is out of stock or when hlj is running a sale.
Very well said :) Thank you!
I preferred HLJ, before I found out about AmiAmi. Now most of my orders are from AmiAmi, other than magazines, which tend to come from HobbYSearch, who seemed to lower their prices to compete with AmiAmi.
Hmm.. Magazines. Thanks for pointing that out too :)
Otacute
Otacute? Hmm..
otacute on alot of the items have lower price then amiami
shipping charge is good with many choices.
I only ordered once, but it is as good as any other.
Otacute actually has a tendency to be more expensive in my experience. Only because they are faithful to the yen to dollar transition. But that means NO discounts. Almost everything on Amiami has a percentage off.
it didn't for things I was buying.
even though they don't specify a "discount"
their prices on many things are lower. some are higher. depend on what you are buying and the exchange rate.
like Alter Mugi(at 0%off/$59.99)/Max factory ritsu (at 0%off/$56.90) they have both for under $60 as normal price while amiami has Alter Mugi at (21%off/5300yen/$63.85) and Max factory ritsu at (19%off/5180/$62.4) even though a discount is specified, it end up still being higher then Otacute. Some items are indeed higher though.
Otacute charges in USD and prices are great, package came nicely packed as well.
Hobby Search uses points and discounts to lure you in, but I find that they have highest shipping charges (even though it is accurate, they packed more then I desire)
Mandarake uses little packaging, and devalues the custom forms :P. but I've gotten every-order perfect.
AmiAmi I only ordered the k-on psp game, came just fine, shipping is good. and reasonable.
Play-Asia has low price CDs but High price everything else. I ordered twice, came ok although the bubble-mail envelope they used in one of the order came in poor shape, item was little squashed.
HLJ I ordered once, but got canceled for unexpected no inventory.
amazon jp is very nice if you are buying multiple of dvds/blu-rays. they ship as it release and only 300yen/item (+2000yen per order)
book tw is good too. They have all sorts of items from Taiwan licensed to Japanese licensed and like k-on booster pack you can buy just one pack or "only swimsuit/uniform set" k-on petite set instead of a whole box. They ship by DHL Express at reasonable rate. I ordered 7 dvd and it costs about ~$20 shipping, came in two days. Although their dvd prices are little higher.
Kingstone tw, I ordered manga, low price, came fast via DHL express, but their shipping is way too high.
Wow. I'll take these things you said into consideration when ordering. I just started collecting figures again so that's why I want to know your experiences from these big guys. Thank you so much ^-^
Hobbysearch doesn't really have high shipping charges, it's all based on the shipping company they use, so Hobbysearch has nothing do do with it.
HobbySearch pads it very well to protect your products from damage, although sometimes a bit too excessive. But hey, you wouldn't want your goods damaged right? I'm sure a few hundred yens won't hurt to protect your goods. Because, if they don't put sufficient padding, you have an angry customer who complains that there products weren't "protected enough"
That's what I thought too. Why can't we all just live in Japan >:O! hehe
haahhaa yeh XD but if you're looking for reliable ones, then hobbysearch, amiami and hlj are your friend :) But haven't used otacute or any others as of yet.
Hobbysearch are always prompt with your queries ^^ HLJ has a better ordering / cancelling system imo.
Thank you once again :)
if you use paypal, they charge 500yen fee (if you want SAL) because they need to send it registered. if you use debit/credit, they don't
if you don't order at least 5000yen in the same store, they also charge 500yen handling fee. But every order I made was over 5000yen so I never have to pay the handling fees yet.
you'd just have to pay the 5% sales tax on the anime goods and everything else (8.1% for where Im at, but only for local purchase)
a Higher cost for Video game related items and media related items.
Higher cost of living, slightly lower wage (on avg, then USA)
so I don't know how them Otakus brings wallet full to events like comikets and still be well off.
Hobbysearch is easy to cancel, i think. Just email them with the form specifying the item, and item code and it's canceled next day. and they switching to automatic system in few days where you just click cancel if you want to cancel.
I tried out most online retailers now. Mandarake is coolest. They seem to not put too much extra weight to the package, and calculate shipping cost manually. all my 5-6packages I've ordered so far came quickly without any damage. plus, I think they send the payment request and ship the things faster then Hobby Search. Ordered seven times so far from Hobby Search, and half the time it takes 1-2 full days before they ask for payment then another day before they ship. and most Mandarake orders so far asks for the payment and ship in few hours to a day at the most. For me anyways. I still like Hobby Search, they got nice and sturdy boxes, which makes me think bunch of padding isn't needed.
That's cool :) And yeah, I'm about to order something in Mandarake for the first time so it's good to know that they're reputable :)
For cheapest price and cheapest shipping for figures, I'm tied between Toylet.net and Hobby Search, though I only use Toylet cuz they accept debit. both are pretty well-known for authenticity.
For cheapest price for electronics such as games, Play-Asia for me (or rather it's the only place I know of so far that has games).
Both Play-Asia and Toylet take great care for the shipment of the item. For Toylet, I don't recall even seeing a single dent on the box of a figure that I order.
Hmm.. I just found a very interesting figure in Toylet xD Thanks T_T
yesasia sell games too and many are cheaper than play asia. and order over $50 (i believe it 50 or 35) u will get free shipping (just regular shipping). Yesasia do have figure as well but the price is kind of high but some r rather cheap.
I'll visit that website too when I try to order something :) Thank you!
Funny thing. Toylet is based in City of Industry , CA XD.
It's usually Amiami - Hobby Search - Otacute - HLJ for me...
HS is better in a long run since you can rack up points for future freebies in the form of discounts!
Octacute can sometimes get those limited items for you...
My bad it's Otacute not Octacute... ^^;
It's okay :P Thank you too :)
Shipping/Handling Costs:
1) HLJ (especially when they have shipping promo)
2) HS
3) AmiAmi (dunno why their padding is close to 50% of the whole box)
Figure Price:
1) AmiAmi
2) HS
3) HLJ (their sale price can be very cheap. And since they start implementing permanent discount, they're close to HS already)
Site Usability:
1) HS (large product images, price filtering by currency. Their English translation of products can be sucky though)
2) HLJ (estimated shipping cost in product page, price filtering by currency. Ability to list items based on every manufacturers and series in their database are good too. Products images are small though, and the Search function sometimes ruled out discontinued products from the search results)
3) AmiAmi (large product images. Hard to see products from not-so-big companies though (the company quick links number are smaller than HS too). Also some old discontinued products usually will be wiped out from their list)
Choices choices choices...
It's good to read people's varying thoughts and experiences. Thank you everyone :)!
Has someone tried ordering through Kid Nemo? I can't seem to find where are they based in. USA or Japan? :/
havent order from kidnemo yet, as i always tried to but end up on HS. i believe kidnemo is based in USA
Cause this http://www.kidnemo.fm/product/en/600/Creator+s+Collection+Chie+Bath+unit+set+1+6+PVC+Figure.html is a must for me ^-^ lol. And the other website that has it is Toylet. I don't know which store to pre-order on.
I buy everything I can from AmiAmi. Over 50 orders from them over the past year and I have never once had a problem. I tend to only buy nendoroids, they have a custom box to ship them in, made of heavy duty cardboard. Shipping with SAL (since i am in no hurry), they are the cheapest around ($40 to my front door, generally). Otacute is a close second in price, they tend to be 3-4 dollars higher though. Another nice thing about amiami is there English customer support tech, a guy named Ricky Wilson, very helpful when I placed a double order by mistake.
Kid Nemo is out of California btw. I tend not to order from US retailers unless I have to, mostly since there is usually a 1 month delay with them getting stock in.
Cool :) Thanks for the insight
Shipping/handling cost:
1) HLJ
2) Otacute
3) Amiami
Figure Price:
1) AmiAmi
2) HS
3) HLJ
4) Otacute
Site Usability:
1) HS
2) HLJ
3) Otacute
4) Amiami
I'm a loyal customer for Amiami, they have one of the cheapest price. Their shipping is good, I usually will receive their shipments for less than five working days (EMS), never tried their SAL before though. Communication wise, Amiami usually responds to my questions and requests within 1 day.
I just started to pre-order some figures from Hobby Search, can't really comment on their shipping and handling cost. HS' price is kinda close to Amiami (Amiami is cheaper) but they have the point system.
I mainly shop at Otacute for those exclusive Touhou stuffs. Shipping wise, they provide Fedex which Amiami doesn't, and I like to use Fedex when I'm ordering pricey stuffs. Otacute uses USD instead of JPY though.
HLJ stuffs are little pricey when compared to Amiami. But I really like their shipping especially when the promotion is going on and their packaging is the best!
I agree. Oh well oh well.. Thank you for your input :)
Hobby Search and Mandrake are tops for me with honorable mention going to Otacute. Amiami is off my radar ever since they started giving big discounts to Japan only customers.
I had been buying stuffs from HLJ, AmiAmi and Hobbysearch and this is my experience from it
HLJ has the best item range and Shipping is pretty okay. They often have Sales for their item to mitigate their price of the items. most of the sales are to clear their unwanted items but sometimes the deal is really good.
As for AmiAmi i usually only preorder stuff from theresince they tend to have low stock for their items. i find that the shipping is pretty expensive if your package size is medium. I would recommend you only buy from them when you order 1-2 items or more than 7 items.
Hobbysearch had pretty nice point system though it is pretty useless until you had accumulated plenty of the points. Shipping cost is about the same with HLJ and they process your order pretty fast as well.
Thank you for the tips. Much appreciated :)
Same photo as my post 0.0
Really? O_O
Oh yeah :P I just saw it. lol
well, my experience with figures isnt so long yet, but so far ordered from HLJ, HS, Play-asia and AmiAmi
HLJ, is good for things that are sold out everywhere else, but the prices are higher,
also once they have a sale, thought im kind of dissapointed with them... just today i received my package... 40 days after ordering >< dont know if its cause of christmas and all that, but i was not happy (in that time received packages from HS and P-A in 2 weeks time)
I ordered from Play-Asia 2 times and was veeery happy, got some items that were sold out even on HLJ, the shipping was very fast (i always order with SAL)
Hobby Search has quite decent prices, fast shipping - but it seemed to be more than on other websites. and i guess the point system is quite nice, but i havent ordered enough as for now my fav is AmiAmi
cant rly have an opinion on them since i first ordered less than 2 weeks ago, hasnt come yet, but the prices are MUCH cheaper, got some preorders with them~
everyone seems to be saying that shipping is to much from Amiami but i got Haruhi Kouyou Academy ver. from them and the shipping price was less than the estimate on HLJ, also the total for her was less than her price on HLJ (w/o shipping)
...waaah i write to much xD hope it makes some sense xD
Don't worry xD I read everything :) And it did make sense. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I'm probably one of the few here that don't use HLJ, HSm Play-Asia or AmiAmi. I've used an Amazon seller called ABCToy4Me a few times and was pretty pleased. Their shipping is fair since they ship from the US and I got my items fairly quickly. Plus the newspaper they used as packaging was interesting to read/look at. I've used Toysnjoys.com a few times for import games. Once again, the shipping was fair since they ship from the US. I got my stuff from them fairly quickly. Mostly, I use bigbadtoystore.com. Sometimes their prices are a bit more than what AmiAmi or HLJ may have an item listed for, but since BBTS ships from the US, shipping is much cheaper and makes the order much cheaper. Though, most things I buy from BBTS are cheaper in price than HLJ and Play-Asia, particularly the Marvel Bishoujo line and the Play Arts/Play Arts Kai figures.
HLJ, HS, Play-Asia or AmiAmi*
Forgot to mention BigBadToyStore's packaing. They always use a generous amount of bubble wrap to package the figures, but not enough to make the box too big and cost more in shipping. Their packing is probably some of the best I've seen.
Hmmm.. That's worth looking at. I'll consider that website too when ordering :) Again, thank you for sharing yours :)
AMIAMI after sale support is sub-standard, they reply only if they feel like to or just ignore you completely. There are many Japanese online retail stores with same prices as AMIAMI if not lower. I would look somewhere else for better service.