Hobby Search

[cteno4]

My guess would be that the volume estimator failed and the box these items would need to be shipped in was bigger and this can make a big difference with DHL as they go more on volume than weight for the costing. There may be a trigger for DHL in volume/size that has a big rate jump that got hit.

 

hlj was trumpeting this last fall saying ship heavy stuff as it doesn’t effect the shipping vis DHL and FedEx as volume does!

 

btw I’ve only seen the Amazon jp $34-45 for a casket show up on preorders and some marketplace sellers. Amazon in stock caskets usually like $16 or smaller add to other things.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

On 3/12/2021 at 12:46 PM, cteno4 said:

 

btw I’ve only seen the Amazon jp $34-45 for a casket show up on preorders and some marketplace sellers. Amazon in stock caskets usually like $16 or smaller add to other things.

 

 

I've definitely seen it on non preorders at Amazon, which is why I think it is bad size / weight info connected to the item in their database.  Their whole system is automated so that is the easiest and most likely explanation.

 

3rd party sellers on Amazon are a different matter.  Some ship through Amazon and some ship themselves.

[cteno4]

But we’re the non preorders third party sellers with the high shipping? All the high priced non preorders I’ve seen have been with 3rd party sellers, so I’ve assumed they were passing on a lot of the Amazon fulfillment costs thru shipping charges or just or just high shipping costs with extra paperwork and such for out of country. But could still be with item dimension errors as you note, that’s a very old problem with e-commerce! 
 

I still don’t get the high shipping price put on pre-orders at Amazon. I’ve never wanted to bite and I think disturbman said that is the final shipping price he got.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

43 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

But we’re the non preorders third party sellers with the high shipping? All the high priced non preorders I’ve seen have been with 3rd party sellers, so I’ve assumed they were passing on a lot of the Amazon fulfillment costs thru shipping charges or just or just high shipping costs with extra paperwork and such for out of country. But could still be with item dimension errors as you note, that’s a very old problem with e-commerce! 
 

I still don’t get the high shipping price put on pre-orders at Amazon. I’ve never wanted to bite and I think disturbman said that is the final shipping price he got.

 

jeff

no. Sold by Amazon and fulfilled by Amazon.  Back when I was doing most of my buying the 3rd party sellers on Amazon mostly wouldn’t ship internationally or did it themselves with high prices for shipping.  Now I regularly find 3rd party stuff on Amazon that is fulfilled by Amazon at the same rates as Amazon sold stuff.  

[disturbman]

Yes, I tried to see if it would update before shipping, it didn't. The test was not worth it 🙂

Though that model is still beautiful.

Edited March 13, 2021 by disturbman

[E231-500]

I am in Australia and have usually been a loyal Hobby Search customer.

 

However now I do pretty much all my shopping at Plaza Japan.

 

I only use HS now if its something I either cant get at PJ or I have missed a pre order window at PJ and HS has what I want still available.

 

At least with PJ I can get a selection of postage options plus proper postage cost at checkout. No Surprises.

 

(And its WAY cheaper than buying local - even factoring in postage via DHL!) 

[lukewang01]

Japan Post has announced that they will be updating shipping cost for some of their shipping methods.
Due to this update of shipping cost, we will be applying this updated shipping cost to our services as of 2nd April 2021.

Affected shipping methods:
- Registered Air
- Registered SAL
- SAL Small Packet
- Surface Small Packet
- ePacket Light

(Only small packet shipments are affected by this change)

For the detail of the update, please check the link below.

[Japan Post Website - News page]
https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/2021fee_change/index_en.html

If you wish to change shipping method for your paused orders before updated shipping cost is applied, please do so by March 31st.

[How to change shipping method of your paused orders]
1.Log into your account page
2.Click "Check Paused Order" to change shipping method

[Account Page Login Link]
https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/mypage/

Note: Above option will not be available on April 1st while we process update on our system.

[roadstar_na6]

For comparison, here's the old price chart for ePacket: click me!

Edited March 25, 2021 by roadstar_na6

[cteno4]

Ouch, SAL is taking a hike to the US. Still decent deal. Rates sending packages within the us are not cheap these days and SAL has been way below them and we basically have no slow boat parcel post anymore (we still have this odd retail ground service, but that is almost as expensive as 2-3 priority mail), so I expect SAL travels mostly like our priority mail and that’s more expensive that SAL even at the new rates, so I can understand the rate increases.

 

Jeff

[gavino200]

So, is SAL back already? Or do we still need to use DHL? I miss SAL. DHL is too quick. There isn't enough time for the anticipation to grow to a maximum.

[disturbman]

6 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

For comparison, here's the old price chart: click me!

If I'm reading this correctly, for Europe, it seems that sending anything lighter to 200gr has become more expensive while anything bigger as become less expensive to ship.

[cteno4]

I miss SAL too. Bummer to need a part or something and be looking at $15-25 shipping and thus want to wait for a larger order, but then maybe part is not there when you have more to buy! Very nice thing about HLJ’s virtual warehouse.
 

I haven’t seen SAL come back to the us or even EMS, just small air epacket. I think this is just setting the new rates in anticipation of it returning here later. The previous administration has been pounding on international mail rates for a while there. I don’t see a lot of air travel picking up us<>japan a lot for a while here and that’s how japan post travels.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

4 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

Bummer to need a part or something and be looking at $15-25 shipping and thus want to wait for a larger order, but then maybe part is not there when you have more to buy! Very nice thing about HLJ’s virtual warehouse.

 

I agree. That's a big weakness. What's HLJ? A virtual warehouse sounds perfect.

[katoftw]

Hobby Link Japan

[cteno4]

Sorry about that! Hlj.com. They dont have a huge train selection, but they do backorder things from distributors like Tomytec parts and sankei kits and that’s a nice feature with the virtual warehouse they have. You can ship any combo of stuff at any time. Usually it was 60 days (with no paid extension time) in the virtual warehouse before it would get auto shipped (they send you warnings), but during covid they have suspended this limit.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[maihama eki]

SAL was always almost too good to last. If you ever tried to ship something from the U.S. to another country you realized what a super bargain SAL was.

 

I am getting a little tired of the DHL pricing too. It's okay when I can combine items on a per month basis. Unfortunately, the arrival schedule for some items is sort-of unpredictable, and you get surprised with a Y2000 item getting shipped for Y2500. The DHL service - in my experience - is hard to complain about though. Packages arrive at my door only a couple of days after I pay for items, and I've never had anything arrive smashed or beat up.

 

The Covid tax on shipping, I guess. 

[cteno4]

Yeah I’ve been wondering for 20 years when the party would end! I saved thousands of dollars using it. 

 

maybe more shops will get into more of a virtual warehouse concept for orders to help folks with shipping more as shipping may really become a limiting factor for many or become bigger factor in where you buy what. I doubt DHL rates will retreat here once they have boosted them.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

Do you think it would be worth emailing HS ad suggesting it to them?

[cteno4]

Maybe, couldn’t hurt to ask and point out a competitor has it and increasing shipping prices make this more of a competitive feature now.

 

they sort of have it with their order hold to send at end of the month, but the large set of rules they have makes me think it may be past their structure limits. It requires storage area and some sort of bin system to do this along with heavier data tracking, which they may not have.

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

They moved so that may no longer be the case.

 

[bill937ca]

On 3/5/2021 at 3:19 PM, bill937ca said:

From my email archive. On a $197.52 Cdn AmiAmi order (14,260 Yen). I paid $38.35 to DHL. The HST would have been $25.67.

 

I have a 11,550 Yen order coming from RG Rokko by DHL.  DHL charged me $17.00 processing fee. $2.21 HST on the fee itself and $12.53 HST on the imported item for a total of $31.74. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by bill937ca

[cteno4]

Ouch, that’s insult to injury paying HST on the bloody fee for collecting the HST! Surprising there was not a fee for collecting the HST on the HST collected for the fee, and around and around...

 

jeff

[disturbman]

Why? VAT is applicable to all goods and services. Makes sense to pay VAT on the collecting fee. This is done here too. When VAT was temporary lowered last year, the collecting fee was also lowered due to the lower VAT on it.

Edited April 6, 2021 by disturbman

[inobu]

What do we do?...........I'm going to find a harbor and throw tea in it............the only body of water I could find is a cup so I dumped

a tea bag in it. I also dumped some sugar in it for good measure. I feel better now.......

 

Inobu

 

 

[cteno4]

Just irony disturbman, I’m not objecting to the gst it’s the “fees” that end up surrounding it. The collection fee is quite an extreme in the days now where that could be handled very inexpensively electronically. We are talking about a 50 cent e-commerce transaction at a small scale, let alone DHL scale. I’m fine with a nominal fee for something like this, this is excessive to where the gst on the fee is more than is fair for the bloody fee to begin with...

 

jeff