Hobby Search

[bill937ca]

Hobby Search has modified their ordering system.  It appears orders may be moving to a lottery system for "certain products".  This suggests they expect  supply side shortages. The full notice:

 

2023/04/27

Regarding entry conditions for the Order ticket lottery

As of 1st May(Japan Time GMT+9), we will be adding the following condition for participation of Order Ticket Lottery to certain products:

Entry Restriction:
The customer must have an order shipped from our store, at least one month prior to the start date of the lottery.

We are making this change to maintain fairness, so your understanding would be greatly appreciated.

[Beaver]

I thought the lottery system was just for very-limited-edition products like the ultra-high-definition exclusive anime prints that they have done two runs of recently as a promotional exercise along with the points giveaway for following their new Twitter account........

[katoftw]

11 hours ago, Beaver said:

I thought the lottery system was just for very-limited-edition products like the ultra-high-definition exclusive anime prints that they have done two runs of recently as a promotional exercise along with the points giveaway for following their new Twitter account........

Yeah that's correct.

[disturbman]

One more piece in the coffin of HS for me. Yesterday, we discovered that HS quoted MSRP plus Japanese sales tax before applying their discount. Which means what looks like a 15% discount is in fact a 5% one as overseas buyers never pay domestic sales tax. Far, far lower than other shops and slightly dishonest.

Edited July 4, 2023 by disturbman

[katoftw]

Cannot say I noticed this. There is difference prices between en and jp Web pages. Can you show an example please.

 

Edit// just checked myself. Indeed interesting. An item on hs was 10% more on the eng webpage. Used to be the other way around.

Edited July 4, 2023 by katoftw

[disturbman]

We discovered this by comparing the price of the upcoming Kato 500 on HS and RGR. HS used the price Kato put on their poster, which by law has to include sales tax, whereas RGR removed the sales tax on their English page and then applied their 25% discount.

[Darklighter]

On 7/4/2023 at 11:06 AM, disturbman said:

Yesterday, we discovered that HS quoted MSRP plus Japanese sales tax before applying their discount. Which means what looks like a 15% discount is in fact a 5% one as overseas buyers never pay domestic sales tax. Far, far lower than other shops and slightly dishonest.

They have been quoting the MSRP plus Japanese sales tax for at least 5 years now: 

Afaik only the discount rate has changed. AmiAmi have been quoting the list price incl. Japanese sales tax since 2013 or so.

 

[Das Steinkopf]

 I rarely use them these days other than for niche items that I can't source from elsewhere such as RLF decals or some of the Baiodo stuff, that said I am slowing down my purchasing as there is very little in the way of rolling stock that I am after as I have over 30 JRF locomotives and a ridiculous amount of KoKi's and Taki's, when it comes to buildings and track I have ample there as well and need to focus on building layouts instead of collecting gear. The only items I have on pre order from them is the Popondetta HoKi 1000's but I am unsure as to when they will be produced as I had asked about them when I went to Popondetta in Akihabara in May and they said that they were somewhere in the future and had no set date for production.

 

 I am not happy with this revelation as many people have a belief that Japanese retailers have a high level of integrity and in many respects Japanese society prides itself on those principles, this behaviour shows a level of contempt towards international customers, especially for those of us who have our governments sales tax added to our orders, they have basically taken advantage of our rather naive trust in them and treated us as a soft touch. One thing Hobbysearch doesn't realise is that international modellers have a high level of connectivity via forums and social media, with people from all corners of the globe talking with each other be it Europe, Asia, Oceania, the America's etc, they seem to neglect this or be ignorant to the fact we share information amongst each other on a regular basis. Any successful business runs on the principle of showing goodwill towards their customers, especially regular ones who you ensure to maintain a positive relationship with as they provide a constant source of revenue through repeat sales. In Australia we have a concept of voting with our feet, if a business treats you poorly or thinks that they can "touch you up" financially we just simply walk out and never go back to that shop, you can only take advantage of blind trust when no one shines a light on what is really happening, the only way they learn is when they take a hit to the hip pocket and sales dwindle..

[bill937ca]

Hobby Search is running a contest to giveaway 1,999 points. To enter you need to place an order during Oct.23rd 2023 12:00 - Nov.5th 23:59 2023 .  No minimum order amount is stated.  Registration is required.  There will be 100 winners.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/campaign/point/2310_e.html?utm_source=nsl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20231022_newspoint&utm_content=font_en

 

Guess business is slow. 🙂

[bc6]

lol I dont see how business can be slow I always order from them 😂

[cteno4]

From all their new email blitzes I would guess they got a new marketing person or firm.

 

jeff

[VentureForth]

Small Packets from Hobby Search to the US East Coast... What are some expected shipping times?  I'm coming up on 5 weeks now waiting.  I expect it to be a while.  I'll be patient for another 3 weeks or so.  Heck, I guess I'll be patient no matter what.  Don't have a choice.  😛  

[cteno4]

Was it surface or air? If surface it will be probably 6-8 weeks. Air should be 2-4 weeks, but the whole Sal replacements outside of EMS since covid has been sort of a weird moving target.

 

on a good note I’ve never had a japan post package to the us over go missing and I’ve done hundreds (maybe near a thousand now) over the last 30 years or so. A few Sal ended us getting stuck some where and took 3-6 weeks instead of its usual 10-14 days. But Sal is gone and the air replacements don’t seem to function quite the same.

 

yes patience is the key as impatience just gets you upset and the package does not turn up any sooner!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[VentureForth]

Thanks, cteno4.  It was surface, so I know I'm in it for the long haul.  Considerable less expensive than the cheapest air alternative.

 

When I lived in Japan, we depended a lot on SAL.  It was the most cost/time efficient service they had and I'm sure it was just absorbed by another service and the rate card eliminated.  But the surface "small package" seems to be quite a value and I hope to see my stuff soon!

[katoftw]

Surface is listed as 1 to 3 months. So your 3 weeks ain't even close. Keep waiting.

[bill937ca]

5 hours ago, VentureForth said:

Thanks, cteno4.  It was surface, so I know I'm in it for the long haul.  Considerable less expensive than the cheapest air alternative.

 

When I lived in Japan, we depended a lot on SAL.  It was the most cost/time efficient service they had and I'm sure it was just absorbed by another service and the rate card eliminated.  But the surface "small package" seems to be quite a value and I hope to see my stuff soon!

When I did surface while EMS was suspended it always took 3 months.  SAL was air on an space-available basis. Big difference.

 

Edited February 24 by bill937ca

[cteno4]

Ouch yes surface will be a wait. All dependent on containers it gets in and what ship it goes on… sort of like Sal but with ships instead of planes.

 

I miss Sal so much! No waiting to build up big orders to save on shipping and if you needed even a small thing it was no worries to send it Sal for a few bucks by itself! It was so reliable. Between Covid, trade war, and international shipping rate agreement battles, Sal just lost out.

 

jeff

[Gunzel]

Surface to Australia at least tends to get beaten up a lot, squashed, holes, grease stains. I avoid it now except for heavy tough things like books. 

[VentureForth]

This just in!  Hobby Search is offering discounted express shipping to the US!  This is cheaper than what I paid for my Small Packet surface shipment in January (and I'll probably get today's order first at this rate!)

 

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

Edited March 5 by VentureForth

[VentureForth]

Argh!  My surface purchase from 1/16 STILL hasn't arrived.  😞

[Welshbloke]

I wonder if the discount US shipping deal has overloaded their staff a bit. I ordered something five days ago, payment taken yesterday but no dispatch yet (checked EMS and yes, they do post to the UK again). Just unusual given how efficient HS generally are.

[Welshbloke]

Ah, a dispatch email just arrived. Was getting worried there!

[bill937ca]

2 hours ago, VentureForth said:

Argh!  My surface purchase from 1/16 STILL hasn't arrived.  😞

Still early.