Hobby Search

[Guest ___]

Do you need English staff?  In the days of Google Translate and automated label printing software, who need English staff?

 

They don't have a full time paid English staff. They have or at least in the past always had one student intern that spoke English. They swapped them out every other semester. I actually had established a good relationship with the intern about two or three years ago only for his time to end, and a new one would come in, and have to start all over again to re-establish a decent relationship. It was tough becasue the girl who replaced Atsu had very different ideas on how she interpreted HS policy which was sad becasue Atsu was very good with international customer, Rissa (I think her name was) was very poor with her CS skills. After the fourth or fifth intern, I just gave up.

[bill937ca]

Do you need English staff?  In the days of Google Translate and automated label printing software, who need English staff?

 

They don't have a full time paid English staff. They have or at least in the past always had one student intern that spoke English. They swapped them out every other semester. I actually had established a good relationship with the intern about two or three years ago only for his time to end, and a new one would come in, and have to start all over again to re-establish a decent relationship. It was tough becasue the girl who replaced Atsu had very different ideas on how she interpreted HS policy which was sad becasue Atsu was very good with international customer, Rissa (I think her name was) was very poor with her CS skills. After the fourth or fifth intern, I just gave up.

 

The moving around of CS staff seems to be a trait of Japanese business operations, not just HS's operation.

[bill937ca]

"3/26 Due to system maintenance, the Hobby Search website will be unavailable on

the 27th March 2011, from half-past eleven in the morning, to half-past four in the afternoon.

(Downtime: 27/03/2011 11:30 ~ 16:30 GMT +9)

 

We apologize for your inconvenience, and your understanding is greatly appreciated."

[angusmclean]

I haven't done an exhaustive check of the site, but the few Kato train sets on HS's site which are in stock this morning, seem to have only a 10% discount. Is this something recent?

 

Angus

[bill937ca]

I haven't done an exhaustive check of the site, but the few Kato train sets on HS's site which are in stock this morning, seem to have only a 10% discount. Is this something recent?

 

You got it.  The discount percentage is no longer presented. It looks like when items are restocked, the discount is down to 10%.  An example:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10049309

 

Your prime English language competitor is gone so prices are rising. I know you can buy on eBay, but where else can you order in English and reserve new items?  This sucks.  But to further qualify that, there have always been items that did not get the full discount, some only 5% and magazines 1%.  Points are still 3%.

[angusmclean]

Your prime English language competitor is gone so prices are rising. I know you can buy on eBay, but where else can you order in English and reserve new items?  This sucks.    But to further qualify that, there have always been items that did not get the full discount, some only 5% and magazines 1%.  Points are still 3%.

 

My main supplier has always been Rainbow Ten, but I have used HS for some items as their range of parts in stock is particular extensive.  Having said that, RT will order-in parts I ask for.  The biggest difference in use of the websites is that HS is much more user-friendly with illustrations and detail in text.  Discounts at RT are still generally 20%, so the costs are much lower. I have always used SAL from them for many years, and communication is in English and prompt.  Although RT's site doesn't show a pre-order ability, I just order by text as soon as an item is announced, and they have never failed to deliver, even when the item is completely pre-sold like the recent E5. I can't ever imagine purchasing from the likes of Newhall.  Ha ha

 

Angus

[bill937ca]

I can't ever imagine purchasing from the likes of Newhall.  Ha ha

Me neither.    Experience has taught me that I'm not the only one wanting sold out items.  They all come back eventually.

[angusmclean]

An aside to this subject, for those who are new to the hobby, I found at a very early stage that having a catalogue from each main model producer, Kato, Tomix, Microace, Greenmax, is essential to helping to understand what is available, and now with group discussion such as this, and translation available for reading Japanese-language sites (albeit in curious form) gives us a huge insight into Japanese railways which wasn't available back when I started in 1990 :))  Don't forget that Wikipedia, either in English or Japanese form, contains massive amounts of detail regarding prototypes. Simply entering a series or model description such as E321 or JNR C51 in either form brings up results which can then be extended by using links. Some interesting pages on the Japanese pages may even have an English-language version available on the menu down the left-hand side. 

 

Angus

[Guest ___]

I can't ever imagine purchasing from the likes of Newhall.  Ha ha

Me neither.    Experience has taught me that I'm not the only one wanting sold out items.  They all come back eventually.

 

Nothing against the Newhall or anything, but I just can't afford them. Even when I was getting out of American HO and into Japanese N six years ago, it didn't long to find places 60% cheaper than Newhall.I never have placed an order with them, and it is extremely unlikely I ever will either due to the costs.

[cteno4]

My main supplier has always been Rainbow Ten, but I have used HS for some items as their range of parts in stock is particular extensive.  Having said that, RT will order-in parts I ask for.  The biggest difference in use of the websites is that HS is much more user-friendly with illustrations and detail in text.  Discounts at RT are still generally 20%, so the costs are much lower. I have always used SAL from them for many years, and communication is in English and prompt.  Although RT's site doesn't show a pre-order ability, I just order by text as soon as an item is announced, and they have never failed to deliver, even when the item is completely pre-sold like the recent E5. I can't ever imagine purchasing from the likes of Newhall.  Ha ha

 

Angus

 

I use to use RT quite a bit, especially for all the pre orders. then when HS and HW started to do the price wars i moved over there, easier to shop on the site than search through the spread sheet.

 

are the prices now 20% off? use to be only 8% or so usually. but maybe they were competing with hs and hw at 20% off. will have to go back and start looking at RT again. they have always been great service and also would order items that i would be looking for not on the sheets as well. they also happily did SAL and shipped in very small packages so thing were super cheap on the SAL charges as well.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

My main supplier has always been Rainbow Ten, but I have used HS for some items as their range of parts in stock is particular extensive.  Having said that, RT will order-in parts I ask for.  The biggest difference in use of the websites is that HS is much more user-friendly with illustrations and detail in text.  Discounts at RT are still generally 20%, so the costs are much lower. I have always used SAL from them for many years, and communication is in English and prompt.  Although RT's site doesn't show a pre-order ability, I just order by text as soon as an item is announced, and they have never failed to deliver, even when the item is completely pre-sold like the recent E5. I can't ever imagine purchasing from the likes of Newhall.  Ha ha

 

Angus

 

I use to use RT quite a bit, especially for all the pre orders. then when HS and HW started to do the price wars i moved over there, easier to shop on the site than search through the spread sheet.

 

are the prices now 20% off? use to be only 8% or so usually. but maybe they were competing with hs and hw at 20% off. will have to go back and start looking at RT again. they have always been great service and also would order items that i would be looking for not on the sheets as well. they also happily did SAL and shipped in very small packages so thing were super cheap on the SAL charges as well.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

RT has been at 20% off for quite a while now, yes. I think RT has had most of my business, frankly, although I love the HS website.

[The_Ghan]

The site is back up.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[bill937ca]

The site is back up.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

 

And the discount is now 10%!

[lordwinslow2]

The site is back up.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

 

And the discount is now 10%!

 

Wow your right, I am glad I just got my last order from them before this change.

 

Winslow

[rankodd]

Ye gads!~

 

Am I ever lucky that I just finished my big order from them... I've got close to $1500 waiting to ship or just shipped... 

[Guest ___]

Interesting to note, I recalled the BBQ train price was higher than what is showing now, but here's breaking down what was on the page as of today, and what my bill was. The item price is the price I was billed for the cost of the unit in my email conformation along with my tracking number.

 

Regular Price : 13,500 yen  about 166.03 USD  

Sales Price : 12,150 yen  about 149.43 USD  

Item price         :      11,475 yen  about 140.94 USD

 

The regular price and sales price clearly reflect 15% as I stated in the other thread, and this price is the same as I recall the page being, if not a little cheaper than what it was prior to the downtime today, as I recall the original prices shown o nthe site while this was reservation as being ¥140,000 and the sale price was ¥13300. There was clearly a price adjustment somewhere.

[Guest ___]

Interesting to note, I recalled the BBQ train price was higher than what is showing now, but here's breaking down what was on the page as of today, and what my bill was. The item price is the price I was billed for the cost of the unit in my email conformation along with my tracking number.

 

Regular Price  :  13,500 yen  about 166.03 USD

Sales Price  :  12,150 yen  about 149.43 USD

Item price        :      11,475 yen  about 140.94 USD

 

The regular price and sales price clearly reflect 10% However, I have applied no point (in fact I have zero points as I cashed them all out on my last order a few months ago) they are clearing taking nine dollars off somewhere. I am assuming this is a better reflection of 15%

[ToniBabelony]

Good to see you guys noticed it. I was planning on ordering some stuff from HS, but this makes me want to order somewhere else (Plaza Japan, Rainbowten). It almost looks like HS is taking advantage of HWJs closure.

[keitaro]

I said this would happen in another thread. Only a matter of time till rainbow follows suit

[Guest ___]

Good to see you guys noticed it. I was planning on ordering some stuff from HS, but this makes me want to order somewhere else (Plaza Japan, Rainbowten). It almost looks like HS is taking advantage of HWJs closure.

 

I thought they were moving to this prior to HW's announcement. Of course mind ya HS could have been losing too much money underselling to compete. Having never seen HS actual storefront it's hard to say what their overhead is running it.

[bill937ca]

Good to see you guys noticed it. I was planning on ordering some stuff from HS, but this makes me want to order somewhere else (Plaza Japan, Rainbowten). It almost looks like HS is taking advantage of HWJs closure.

 

I thought they were moving to this prior to HW's announcement. Of course mind ya HS could have been losing too much money underselling to compete. Having never seen HS actual storefront it's hard to say what their overhead is running it.

 

HS mentions changes to pricing and points as early as last December and then that notice disappeared.  The change to the cancellation policy remains and it was 2010/12/20.

 

 

"2010/12/20 We will be changing our cancellation rules on 01/11/2011."

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/info_details_e.asp

[keitaro]

I sure hope hw come back soon with a new and improved site

[Guest ___]

with as many of our members in japan, shame we can't do our own in-house store.

[The_Ghan]

For those of you wanting to purchase Kato stuff, I also use Banzai Hobby.  They're pretty competitive - 20% off.

 

http://banzaihobby.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[keitaro]

are you sure price has changed i looked through my last order the other day and the prices are all the same still?