Hobby Search

[cteno4]

2 hours ago, Sheffie said:

 

 Just remember to pick up some door seals (or whatever they’re called) to go between the carriages. 

this is true as there almost always is something like a drive shaft or diaphragms half price and I throw it in as I have a good larder of spare parts which comes in handy now. 
 

jeff

[Cat]

Ooh, they do have a nice little fishing boat on sale that we could use.  I'm hoping it won't sell out fast, because we're also waiting on some cute new Hino Poncho mini buses from Kato that they think will arrive this month; so we'll wait til the end of the sale and see if we can get the buses in the same order.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Cat

[cteno4]

Sale ends the 16th

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

A couple of updates from Hobby Search about missing orders online and reduced staff during the State of Emergency.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/infodetails

 

2020/05/01

We are currently experiencing a system error, which is preventing certain orders to be displayed on the customer account pages.

If you find that your orders are missing, please do not worry.
Your orders are still with us, even if they cannot be seen for the time being.

This system error is expected to be recovered within a week, and we will be processing these after our break, so we hope for your patience while our tech team corrects this error.

We are very sorry for any inconveniences this may cause, and your understanding will be greatly appreciated.

 

020/05/01

To all customers who have sent us inquiries recently and are currently awaiting our reply, we are very sorry for keeping you waiting.
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and Tokyo's declaration for state of emergency, Hobby Search has been running on reduced staff and are unfortunately unable to perform to our standard level.

We are afraid we have been receiving very many inquiries related to the Covid-19 situation, but we regret that we are unable to reply at our usual speed due to such situation.

For information about how we are handling the situation, please check the Covid-19 FAQ page below.

https://www.1999.co.jp/covid-19faq_e.html

We are terribly sorry for all the inconveniences we are causing you, and your understanding and patience will be greatly appreciated.

[bill937ca]

Also an update on Golden Week.

 

2020/04/28

For the Japanese "Golden Week" holidays, Hobby Search will not be operating on Apr 29th, and between May 2nd to May 6th.
(Note: All dates are in Japan time [GMT+9])

For orders and inquiries received during the holidays, we will be processing them after their following working day onward.

Please note that we are likely to be experiencing delays in shipment and processing of inquiries after the holidays.
We apologize for any inconveniences caused, and will greatly appreciate your understanding and patience.

[Cat]

Here's hoping they can finalise a deal with DHL after the holidays!

[kenjidm]

Agree on that, I am sure many have delayed shipments...I have one package stuck with Japan Post with Hobby Search and another delivery that was sent back to HLJ

[bill937ca]

i think this is only one day....

 

2020/05/20In our resistance against Covid-19, Hobby Search is currently taking precaution measures such as readjusting work hours and working with reduced staff, on top of the standard hand sanitizing and wearing face mask to reduce risk of infection.

But with the state of emergency declaration being extended here in Tokyo, we have decided to take extra precaution and stop our operation for Saturday 23rd May.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and your understanding and patience will be greatly appreciated

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/infodetails

[nah00]

It does sound like a one-day thing, probably honestly just to give everyone a break since things have been so hectic for them. I still have stuff on order, wonder if they'll give you the option to switch to DHL if they do get a deal done with them. 

[.Montfort]

Hello there !

I ordered this very cute B train Shorty but I failed miserably. For unknown reasons, my order has been canceled by HobbySearch and my IP address is on some sort of blacklist. As if I had been banned from this website. Plus, I sent several emails to HobbySearch but I never got any answer...

[bill937ca]

You may get an answer.  Hobby Search was closed on the 17th for an  irregular holiday.  Shipping may be suspended to where you are.

 

[bill937ca]

4 hours ago, .Montfort said:

Hello there !

I ordered this very cute B train Shorty but I failed miserably.

 

Try   Hobby Link Japan.           https://www.hlj.com/jnr-kiha-52-series-iiyama-color-niigata-color-ban986919

Edited June 19, 2020 by bill937ca

[.Montfort]

Thank you very much for this link. Very very helpful. 

[cteno4]

HLJ orders have been going out pretty quickly here thur Covid, seems like little change from usual other than you need to use FedEx and DHL to many places. You can check to see if EMS is working to your location, but japan post seems to be pretty backed up in general so there could be some delays even if EMS is going to your country, so I would not expect the usual 2-5 day post for EMS. DHL and FedEx seem to be doing pretty well.

 

unfortunately the minimums for DHL and FedEx have gone up quite a bit during covid, so they are quite pricy for small orders currently. Amazon.co.jp is the cheapest for DHL minimum at around $13 (at least for shipping to the us) if you can find it there at a reasonable price you may have a cheaper shipping option if that’s all your are buying.

 

hlj is pretty good at responding to emails in a day or so. Hlj does good service and communications. Their virtual warehouse house lets you buys stuff over time and ship a pile later.

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Hobby Search and Zen Market took holidays this week because they are getting buried in their warehouses.  Checkout the photo of one days arrivals at Zen Market.

 

https://zenmarket.jp/en/blog/post/9243/what-happened-last-wednesday?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=en - email&utm_content=body&utm_term=wednesdaywarehouse

Edited June 19, 2020 by bill937ca

[Cat]

Yeah, I saw that photo too this morning.  I'm not helping their situation — two of those little bubble-wrapped packages on the shelves are mine that just came in!
: 3

[JR 500系]

OH wow.... that is truly... amazing! I could safely say Zen has been making good progress in their business? It is also by far the best Buy-from-Japan business that i have encountered so far... Fast response, easy to understand system, reliable etc.... 

[cteno4]

Those were some of the nightmare images I was having in my head at the backups and returns happening for Japanese shops and agents.

 

jeff

[.Montfort]

Deleted. Double post.

Edited June 20, 2020 by .Montfort
Deleted. Double post.

[Cat]

Gah!  We had a few June pre-orders and then another order of some in-stock and back-order items that we had requested surface shipping for both.

Checked my account a few days ago to see if the back-orders were in.  They were, but also noticed they had combined everything with the pre-orders and it was all preparing to ship DHL, eek.  Contact them about the order and asked that it be set back to surface please.  Didn't hear anything from them.  Got the DHL shipping notice today.  That got real expensive real fast — 9,390¥.

Also a little salt in the wound flavour that they never let you request combining pre-orders with regular orders.

I'm guessing things are really chaotic and hectic in their warehouse and the workers are kind of stressed out these days.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Cat

[cteno4]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. Before Covid things could get combined and shipped like that with HS, it’s not like using the virtual warehouse at hlj, you have to hope you catch them and it’s all within their combining regulations and at times just if the cs person is in a good mood or not perhaps. Give Covid I think they are just trying to get stuff out and dhl is the only option to the us really (I expect few are using the surface mail) so they just assume and out the door to make some space!

 

jeff

[Cat]

We've got two other shipments out at sea.  Not too surprised that there's mayhem in the warehouse now though.

[Yavianice]

I got a shipping quote for 12000 yen. Though I can also ship it separately and then it’s about the same price. So might as well ship it with the expensive shipping option.

[Cat]

Our surface parcel that was somewhat bigger than this order was 7300¥.  And another small surface packet that certainly wasn't SAL cheap, 2880¥.

[maihama eki]

I got my first DHL shipment from Hobby Search today.  A medium size (20x30x40 cm) box that shipped for Y3718 and arrived in 2 days.  I think that is better than EMS on price and delivery.