Buying from Popondetta by email

[alpineaustralia]

A number of people are a little confused about buying from Popodetta by email.

I thought I might set out an actual transaction trail to show how I deal with them.

I usually start with an email (in English) as follows:

 

My email:

 

Dear sir

 

<New order>

 

651系スーパーひたち4両増結セット(新ロット)/10-174/ランク：【走】A【ボ】A【付】A

651 their super secret system and 4 sets増結(Lot New) / 10-174 / Rank:

【travel】 A 【Bo】 A 【with】 A   \6,930  1個 ポポンデッタ　秋葉原店 Akihabara shop Popondetta

 

九州新幹線800系つばめ6両/10-491/ランク：【走】A【ボ】A【付】A Kyushu Shinkansen

Tsubame-6 and 800 / 10-491 / Rank: 【travel】 A 【Bo】 A 【with】 A   \10,290  1個

ポポンデッタ　秋葉原店 Akihabara shop Popondetta

 

Kind regards

 

They usually reply the very next day with an email repeating the order and price (less the 5% domestice consumption tax) along the following lines.  In this example, I had sent some other emails adding to my order by starting an new list headed by the words "<Additional order>":

 

Dear XX,

 

Thank you for visiting Popondetta. We are pleased to hear from you. Here is the list for you.

 

<Available>

651系スーパーひたち4両増結セット(新ロット)/10-174/ランク：【走】A【ボ】A【付】A \6,930

九州新幹線800系つばめ6両/10-491/ランク：【走】A【ボ】A【付】A \10,290

 

Subtotal      17,220

Tax             -820

-----------------------------

Total         16,400 yen

 

If you are ready to make a payment, please let us know. After receiving the reply, we will inform you how much the shipping rates cost. If you have already decided which postal service you would like to use, please let us know too.

 

Best regards,

Popondetta

 

Popondetta Co., Ltd.

Rail Way BLDG

3-3-3 Sotokanda

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

JAPAN

TEL: 81-3-5297-5530

FAX: 81-3-5297-5538

URL: http://www.popondetta.jp/

E-mail: tu-han@popondetta.com

 

I then send an email saying whether I want EMS or seamail. I choose seamail for larger orders. It can take between 2 weeks and 3 months and generally the boxes have seen some punishment along the way and so I dont generally buy trains using seamail- rather  track and other less sensitive things. They then send back an email as follows:

 

Dear XX,

 

Thank you so much for the reply. We have already finished packing your order.

 

商品名）

KATO

グランドひかり6両基本セット/10-354/ランク：【走】A【ボ】A【付】A/\11,550

クハE351-100 屋根上部品/Z04-2918   \378 *1

651系スーパーひたち4両増結セット(新ロット)/10-174/ランク：【走】A【ボ】A【付】A \6,930

九州新幹線800系つばめ6両/10-491/ランク：【走】A【ボ】A【付】A \10,290

7007-1C3 DF200-0 カプラーセット(Front and rear) \378

Z07-2662 DF200-0 手すり \378　*2

 

Your order costs as below.

 

 Subtotal           28,840

 Shipping rate       5,400

---------------------------------

 Total              34,240yen

 

Here is the URL: （URL）https://www.digi-coin.com/Y?34jo491Q7s15y5

 

As you know that the web site is in Japanese. After logging on the web site, you will see a conformation page for your order.

* 注文情報確認 & ご注文内容の確認 Conformation of your order

購入店舗 Name of the store you purchase

商品名 Name of the item

商品コード Code of the item

決済金額 Total price of your order

注文番号 Ordering number

以上でよろしければ、｛お支払い手続きへ｝ボタンを押して下さい。

Please click the button {Proceeding of the payment}.

 

* 購入 Purchase

【1】 購入商品を確認してください。Please check your order.

店舗名 Name of the store you purchase

ご購入商品名 Name of the item

ご購入金額 Total price

【2】 購入方法を選択して下さい。Please choose the way of purchasing.

クレジットカード Credit card

【3】 以上でよろしければ、【次へ＞＞】ボタンを押して下さい。

If everything is okay, click next.

商品の購入は、それぞれのお支払い手続き完了後にします。

Purchasing will be settled after completing the payment.

 

戻る Back

次へ＞＞ Next

 

Then you will go on to the page to fill out your credit card information. We are afraid that we are not sure about the page; however, there will be these Japanese words as below.

クレジットカード番号 Credit card number

有効期限 Expiration date

支払方法 Payment method

１回払い Single payment

リボ払い Revolving repayment

分割払い Divided payment

 

Please make sure that you need to complete your payment within 3 days after receiving this message, because the URL will be expired. Your order will be sent after we receive a conformation from the settlement service web site.

 

As for sending any items, we don't have our own packages since we care about recycling. We use any recycling boxes or materials. We hope you understand that and appreciate your cooperation.

 

We will e-mail you again after your order is completed. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We are very happy to hear from you. Thank you so much for shopping at Popondetta.

 

Best regards,

Popondetta

 

Popondetta Co., Ltd.

Rail Way BLDG

3-3-3 Sotokanda

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

JAPAN

TEL: 81-3-5297-5530

FAX: 81-3-5297-5538

URL: http://www.popondetta.jp/

E-mail: tu-han@popondetta.com

 

You then click on the hyperlink and follow the instructions as indicated in their email and that the order is confirmed with a further email as follows:

 

Dear XX,

 

Thank you for shopping at Popondetta. We confirmed that we had received your payment, so we sent out your order today by EMS.

 

Here is the slip number: EJ008166757JP

 

If you have any further question, please feel free to ask. Thank you again for your shopping. We look forward to hearing from you again.

 

Best regards,

Popondetta

 

Popondetta Co., Ltd.

Rail Way BLDG

3-3-3 Sotokanda

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

JAPAN

TEL: 81-3-5297-5530

FAX: 81-3-5297-5538

URL: http://www.popondetta.jp/

E-mail: tu-han@popondetta.com

[disturbman]

Alpine, your message above is empty.

[alpineaustralia]

Apologies. I am not sure what happened. My post read like this....

 

A number of people have written asking about purchasing from Popodetta.

I have literally bought about 70-80% of my stuff from them and thought it might be a good idea to post how I deal with them.

Firstly, I write an email to them copying out my order by copy/pasting it from their website. The following is an actual email trail of an order that I placed with them:

 

 

Dear sir

 

<New order>

 

651系スーパーひたち4両増結セット(新ロット)/10-174/ランク：[走]A[ボ]A[付]A 651 their super secret system and 4 sets増結(Lot New) / 10-174 / Rank: [travel] A [bo] A [with] A   \6,930  1個 ポポンデッタ　秋葉原店 Akihabara shop Popondetta  

 

九州新幹線800系つばめ6両/10-491/ランク：[走]A[ボ]A[付]A Kyushu Shinkansen Tsubame-6 and 800 / 10-491 / Rank: [travel] A [bo] A [with] A   \10,290  1個 ポポンデッタ　秋葉原店 Akihabara shop Popondetta  

 

Kind regards

 

They then write back (ususally within a day or two at most) confirming whether my order is in stock and the price les the domestic 5% consumption tax:

 

Thank you for visiting Popondetta. We are pleased to hear from you. Here is the list for you.

 

<Available>

651系スーパーひたち4両増結セット(新ロット)/10-174/ランク：[走]A[ボ]A[付]A \6,930

九州新幹線800系つばめ6両/10-491/ランク：[走]A[ボ]A[付]A \10,290

 

Subtotal      17,220

Tax             -820

-----------------------------

Total         16,400 yen

 

If you are ready to make a payment, please let us know. After receiving the reply, we will inform you how much the shipping rates cost. If you have already decided which postal service you would like to use, please let us know too.

 

Best regards,

Popondetta

 

Popondetta Co., Ltd.

Rail Way BLDG

3-3-3 Sotokanda

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

JAPAN

TEL: 81-3-5297-5530

FAX: 81-3-5297-5538

URL: http://www.popondetta.jp/

E-mail: tu-han@popondetta.com

 

You then write back to them confirming whther you want the items sent by EMS or seamail (which is a lot cheaper but will arrive with 1 to 3 months later and the box will have been ecrushed and kicked around). I only ship large, heavy or unbreakable items by seamail. Once confirmed, they will send another email along the following lines.  In this example, I had actually sent another email with an additional list of items under the heading "<Additional order>". When my order was complete, they sent the following email:

 

Thank you so much for the reply. We have already finished packing your order.

 

（商品名）

KATO

グランドひかり6両基本セット/10-354/ランク：[走]A[ボ]A[付]A/\11,550

クハE351-100 屋根上部品/Z04-2918   \378 *1

651系スーパーひたち4両増結セット(新ロット)/10-174/ランク：[走]A[ボ]A[付]A \6,930

九州新幹線800系つばめ6両/10-491/ランク：[走]A[ボ]A[付]A \10,290

7007-1C3 DF200-0 カプラーセット(Front and rear) \378

Z07-2662 DF200-0 手すり \378　*2

 

Your order costs as below.

 

 Subtotal           28,840

 Shipping rate       5,400

---------------------------------

 Total              34,240yen

 

Here is the URL: （URL）https://www.digi-coin.com/XXXXXXXX

 

As you know that the web site is in Japanese. After logging on the web site, you will see a conformation page for your order.

* 注文情報確認 & ご注文内容の確認 Conformation of your order

購入店舗 Name of the store you purchase

商品名 Name of the item

商品コード Code of the item

決済金額 Total price of your order

注文番号 Ordering number

以上でよろしければ、｛お支払い手続きへ｝ボタンを押して下さい。

Please click the button {Proceeding of the payment}.

 

* 購入 Purchase

[1] 購入商品を確認してください。Please check your order.

店舗名 Name of the store you purchase

ご購入商品名 Name of the item

ご購入金額 Total price

[2] 購入方法を選択して下さい。Please choose the way of purchasing.

クレジットカード Credit card

[3] 以上でよろしければ、【次へ＞＞】ボタンを押して下さい。

If everything is okay, click next.

商品の購入は、それぞれのお支払い手続き完了後にします。

Purchasing will be settled after completing the payment.

 

戻る Back

次へ＞＞ Next

 

Then you will go on to the page to fill out your credit card information. We are afraid that we are not sure about the page; however, there will be these Japanese words as below.

クレジットカード番号 Credit card number

有効期限 Expiration date

支払方法 Payment method

１回払い Single payment

リボ払い Revolving repayment

分割払い Divided payment

 

Please make sure that you need to complete your payment within 3 days after receiving this message, because the URL will be expired. Your order will be sent after we receive a conformation from the settlement service web site.

 

As for sending any items, we don't have our own packages since we care about recycling. We use any recycling boxes or materials. We hope you understand that and appreciate your cooperation.

 

We will e-mail you again after your order is completed. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We are very happy to hear from you. Thank you so much for shopping at Popondetta.

 

Best regards,

Popondetta

 

Popondetta Co., Ltd.

Rail Way BLDG

3-3-3 Sotokanda

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

JAPAN

TEL: 81-3-5297-5530

FAX: 81-3-5297-5538

URL: http://www.popondetta.jp/

E-mail: tu-han@popondetta.com

 

You simply click on the hyperlink provided and follow the steps as set out in the email. Then a day or so later, they send an email confirming that the order was sent and, if you selected EMS, a tracking number:

 

 

Thank you for shopping at Popondetta. We confirmed that we had received your payment, so we sent out your order today by EMS.

 

Here is the slip number: EJXXXXXXXXXXJP

 

If you have any further question, please feel free to ask. Thank you again for your shopping. We look forward to hearing from you again.

 

Best regards,

Popondetta

 

Popondetta Co., Ltd.

Rail Way BLDG

3-3-3 Sotokanda

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

JAPAN

TEL: 81-3-5297-5530

FAX: 81-3-5297-5538

URL: http://www.popondetta.jp/

E-mail: tu-han@popondetta.com

 

Easy!

[railzilla]

I also bought a lot from Popondetta. Mainly because the ship by surface mail which saves a lot of cash when buying track and structures. However i use their webshop from the beginning.

It is not that easy to find but they have a site in english to register here http://www.popondetta.com/registrationform/

After that they will send you a log in for their webshop.

with the article number from Kato or Whomever its possible to find things. I don't speak a single word Japanese and still could place my order . Once you got it with the translation tool you just fill up the shopping cart.

 

BTW: they deduct 5% of the price for export as its the Japanese tax.

Also cool they sell 2nd hand stuff. Its worth to check out and get a long sold out train. Got a Romancecar 3100 with special livery on a occasiaon and the unit was like new.

[bc6]

Another fyi dont use a gmail account when sending email to Popondetta as it will disappear in the interwebs. Luckily I had another non free email account to use and it got through to them.

[scott]

Thanks again for posting this--I just sent off an e-mail, and I'm crossing my fingers that the item is still there....

[alpineaustralia]

You are most welcome. Good luck!

[scott]

One quick thing to mention--the Popondetta response e-mail says you can specify the shipping method you want. But when I asked for SAL, they said they could only do EMS. I guess I should have cancelled the order at that point, given the cost, but the fog of materialism descended on me....

[alpineaustralia]

yes- they only use EMS or Seamail

[scott]

Oh--for some reason I assumed SAL and Seamail were the same thing. And they only offered EMS in their response. Oh, well--I'll just have to deal with the pain of getting the model soon. 

[alpineaustralia]

I ordered a large amount of stuff from them by seamail once and it took 3 months to arrive.  In the time it took to arrive, the Australian dollar depreciated and the trains were 30% greater in value from when I placed the order.

[cteno4]

ok what gives with the grading system on the used stuf? looks like A - C is backwards from the western scale...

 

cheers

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

ok what gives with the grading system on the used stuf? looks like A - C is backwards from the western scale...

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

How do you figure? The explanations seem pretty straightforward here:

http://www.u-shop.co.jp/stk/stk_shp_grade.cfm?cmpny_id=571E&bid=BPODTD

A = like new, C = spare parts.

[scott]

I think they just got the English words reversed compared to the arrows.

[cteno4]

DOH! do i feel stupid... now i see the N and S are new and new old stock, makes total sense. i was looking at that before the full cup of coffee was in my system i think....

 

starting to think i may need to lurk popondetta, some good used things seem to be in there and the ordering does not seem too hard!

 

thanks,

 

jeff

[to2leo]

I never thought of using Popondetta to purchase pre-owned items.  However, please be very careful as you are ordering that might not be properly tested, also I don't think there's any warranty for it.  Having that said, I am enjoy my 5 sets of tried tested and true train sets at 50 to 60% of the MSRP.

[cteno4]

Actually i would trust them much more than buying something second hand off Ebay which i do -- and have had very good luck doing that. they have their layouts and i expect they do a cursory testing of it to do their grading. from the volume of used stuff they have i expect they are pretty good at evaluating trains and also have practice from the trains that get run on their layout.

 

Actually really there is little warrantee when importing even new Japanese trains overseas. the manufacturer warrantees dont go off shore as far as i know. HW, HS, and Plaza are pretty good at standing behind stuff, but that will probably only last a short time after purchase. even then the cost of shipping the unit over and then back ends up being a big chunk of the price of the unit. Luckily this has never been a big problem.

 

that being said plaza japan was good at getting me replacement drive shafts for my kato 800 after one stripped after about 5 hours of running. most likely it was a bit of grit jamming the gears and causing the stripping so really was not a manufacturer defect...

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Alpine,

 

do they want you to order via email only or their web site check out? upon registering (thru the non japanese reg page) i got this email message that is not clear if i am to use the web site to do an order or an email (When you order an article in our website, the payment method please choose "来店" which leads me to believe you do web checkout) and then they will do the email notification for the payment.

 

im confused if you can use the web site check out option. i tried checking out and logged in and it did fill in the proper address (although it has the japanese city list, but my city was listed in my address properly), and the "来店" (visit store) option was there for payment. shipping was specified as sagawa, but wonder if that is set when they send the payment details?

 

bummer they do not so sal but will do surface mail, they have a lot of interesting things!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

 

reg reply:

 

Thank you for visiting Popondetta.

 

Our shop customer's member was made to be registered.

Please log in in the address and the password that registers the member, and

order.

 

Email：xx

Password：xx

 

When you order an article in our website, the payment method please choose "来店".

We send an email to you about a payment method after having taken an order from you.

 

Best regards,

Popondetta

[railzilla]

Actually you can order as you prefer. I use the web shop for convinience. Once the order is seny thry will send you an email with the list to confirm. In this email you also can choose.the shipping method. If there are any issues like an item is not in stock thry also will ask you on how to proceed. The contact is very friendly and competent.

 

I actually think the 2nd Hand items.are tested. A test is needed to classify the item correctly. In Japan it would be a big embarrasment if they would ship defective goods.

[cteno4]

Ratzilla,

 

thanks went ahead and pulled the rigger on an order to try them out! the fun thing other than the used stuff is all the tomytec vehicle sets they have split up for individual sale! was able to find a few dump trucks and busses that i wanted multiple copies of but gets really expensive if you try to pick them up via ebay one by one.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[alpineaustralia]

They do test the stuff they sell. Whatsmore, when you buy the item in the shop, they will also test (or allow you to test) functionality on a test track.

 

In terms of email vs registration. I started purchsing from them before they even had registration and so I have never registered and simply keep sending email orders.

[cteno4]

Happy to report the whole checkout process went smoothly and emails to set shipping and get the final total and payment link. all went swimmingly well. the auto google translate in firefox works well on their site, just a few nav buttons in art to figure out and remember.

 

I asked why they did not do SAL and they said it was not convenient for them to do SAL. Must mean paperwork or having to use a local service to do it. I would have thought that surface mail and SAL would be the same amount of trouble though. perhaps surface mail they just do a run once a week to the PO/shipping office and thus no trouble, but SAL they would not want to wait that long. who knows. too bad as i would probably buy more from them if they had sal.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

very happy, the order arrived ems yesterday. total time from placing order to doing payments, to shipping to doorstep was 4 days, very good. happy camper with 5 identical busses and 6 identical mini busses to populate ttrak scenes with the same bus line, along with a few extra dump trucks and two of the same airport shuttle busses. ended up a lot cheaper than trying to find these many identical busses on ebay an shipping worked out to a little over $1 per vehicle so really not bad at all! really great being able to pick up multiple copies of the same vehicle and not cost a fortune!

 

oh another way to spend money... at least having to use only ems keeps the temptation down a tad! the used stuff is a whole nother treasure trove as well...

 

cheers

 

jeff

[clem24]

Yes this thread is bad. Really, really bad. Especially for the 3 Ws.... Wife, Wallet, Will.........

[cteno4]

Yes this thread is bad. Really, really bad. Especially for the 3 Ws.... Wife, Wallet, Will.........

 

LOL! had not heard that one! yes you are spot on there... at least the EMS only shipping puts a little brake on them!

 

just need to hog tie that mouse finger that wants to click on the checkout button.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps an order came from popoendetta last week w/in 2.5 days of placing the order! they are snappy on getting stuff done and shipped! last two ems from them came faster than ems usually from hs and defiitely faster getting the order out than hs (usually a day or so for me) or hw (usually a couple of days after payment). jr