Your Experiences of Importing into the U.K.

[Welshbloke]

3 hours ago, marknewton said:

It's interesting to compare your HS experience with mine. I had two orders that were returned to them when EMS was suspended. I received an email informing me that it had been returned to them, and a subsequent email informing me of the paused orders/changed shipping methods button. I've just had one parcel delivered yesterday, and the other is on its way, both with DHL. I'm not overly impressed with DHL so far, but I have no complaints about HS's communications. I wonder what the difference is?

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

 

Probably that yours was actually sent out and returned. Mine just went straight into their warehouse as the item arrived in stock 24hrs after SAL was stopped.

[ia909]

On 9/7/2020 at 5:55 PM, ia909 said:

Back when things were normal I used to order small items up to about £50, use the cheapest SAL and take the risk of it being uninsured, not tracked etc. I would say 75% of the time if the stated value was more than £15 - £18 you'd pay £10 handling fee to Royal Mail and whatever VAT applied. Legally Customs can add the cost of shipping on top of the declared item value and so charge VAT on that too but with SAL they never did.

 

For higher value I'd use EMS or similar which unfortunately goes via Parcelforce that charges a nominally higher fee, £12, but when I was working from the office, delivery was an issue. Also, with Parceforce they send a letter through the post telling you to pay the fees. That can add another two or three days before you can finally arrange delivery (Saturdays are £10 extra!). With SAL, I could just collect at the local post office on an evening. Parcelforce means treking down to their delivery centre if no-one's home.

 

Now I place one big order and hang the cost and use DHL. I've had three parcels delivered to the door within four working days from Hobbysearch and Ami Ami and await an order placed yesterday evening (Sunday) with RG-Rokko that DHL will deliver this Thursday. My recent Buyee parcel took three days from Osaka to Coventry then spent two weeks at Parcelforce International Centre. I'd rather pay DHL and get the stuff fast. The extra cost over EMS really isn't a lot and it's so much less painful to!

 

The names above plus Plaza Japan, Model Train Plus, Hobby Link are all fine. To me the point of ordering from Japan is that it gives you choices that you simply don't get here. Keith at Train Trax has decent supplies of Kato but trying getting new Tomix or Greenmax - virtually no chance.

Update!!

 

Order placed with RG-Rokko Sunday at 16.07, delivered by DHL to London, Wednesday at 16.00.  Less than three working days. Quite amazing.

[Kanpai Keith]

4 hours ago, ia909 said:

Update!!

 

Order placed with RG-Rokko Sunday at 16.07, delivered by DHL to London, Wednesday at 16.00.  Less than three working days. Quite amazing.

How does delivery work with DHL, what’s the process to pay fees and receive the package?

[roadstar_na6]

I guess it‘s like with all couriers. You receive the parcel and get an invoice a few days later

[GCS]

9 hours ago, Kanpai Keith said:

How does delivery work with DHL, what’s the process to pay fees and receive the package?

You get an email/text to pay fees, pay online and it’s done and on its way to you.

 

I second what others are saying, DHL is expensive but the longest I’ve had to wait it 4 days which considering the COVID situation is very impressive.

With Rokko, all my parcels have shipped on day 1, day 2 arrive in Osaka and that’s when you pay the fees, then it ships internationally. 
 

Guy

Edited September 10, 2020 by GCS

[ia909]

9 hours ago, Kanpai Keith said:

How does delivery work with DHL, what’s the process to pay fees and receive the package?

With DHL, at least to the UK, it's as GCS says, you get a text and an email, pay the fee online and then wait for the delivery.

 

Using my recent experience with RG-ROKKO, I placed the order Sunday afternoon, received a text from DHL on Monday at 07:00 to say the parcel would be delivered Thursday. Then at 10:34 on Monday another text with a link to pay the fees which I paid straight away. Yesterday (Wednesday), at 10:51 a message to say the parcel would be delivered in the afternoon which it was.

 

It's definitely the most expensive way of getting stuff, (though I don't think it's that much more than EMS), but it's fast, reliable, and request for payment is online unlike EMS via Parcelforce. Compared to a recent Buyee purchase, DHL has probably saved me three weeks of waiting. And one last thing, DHL has multiple drop-off options if you won't be in including 'vacation hold'. WIth Parcelforce if you're away for a while, (unlikely as it may be these days), or the fee letter goes missing, and you don't respond, they send the parcel back. That happened once with an HS parcel. Wasn't too pleased.

[Kanpai Keith]

You say expensive.... how expensive?  Is there a magic value to order that makes it worthwhile?

[GCS]

43 minutes ago, Kanpai Keith said:

You say expensive.... how expensive?  Is there a magic value to order that makes it worthwhile?

About 5,500/6,000 yen for one Kato bookcase, but if you have something valuable/rare coming it’s worth it. My 12 car ICE 4 came from Rokko with DHL and that was 6,000 yen, expensive compared to SAL/EMS but it’s quick, parcels always arrive in very good condition.

 

its just one of those things, you pay for why you get, if you want a great quick delivery you just need to pay extra for it. 
 

Guy

[Yavianice]

1 hour ago, GCS said:

but if you have something valuable/rare coming it’s worth it

 

I never had a damaged or lost parcel from Japan regardless of what service (EMS/SAL/DHL) I chose. If there is any damage to trains or contents, it is usually due to insufficient packaging from the seller. So for me the only difference is wait times at the customs. If you don't take customs into account, it's about the same delivery time for me in Germany.

[Welshbloke]

4 hours ago, Yavianice said:

 

I never had a damaged or lost parcel from Japan regardless of what service (EMS/SAL/DHL) I chose. If there is any damage to trains or contents, it is usually due to insufficient packaging from the seller. So for me the only difference is wait times at the customs. If you don't take customs into account, it's about the same delivery time for me in Germany.

 

Exactly. The only difference in service between registered SAL and EMS was the delivery time (and the lower ransom demand when it got here). Cheaper just meant slower.

[ia909]

On 9/10/2020 at 9:30 AM, Kanpai Keith said:

You say expensive.... how expensive?  Is there a magic value to order that makes it worthwhile?

So my last order was around ¥3,200 so about £23. I suspect that might increase as the value of the item goes up. To properly compare to other services, you’d have to deduct ‘normal’ postage costs to get the real extra cost. And make sure the other methods include insurance. I would usually save up a place a single large order of say £200 and the use DHL. Sometimes a smaller order if theses a specific need. As I say, for me the convenience and not having to wait four weeks is sometimes worth the relatively modest extra cost. Ultimately everyone has to balance their own priorities 

[cteno4]

One thing with DHL is their liability is $25/kg, so quite limited. I think getting more starts at about $20 extra.

 

that being said I’ve never lost a DHL, Sal or Ems from japan and hundreds of them over the years! At $20 per shippment for insurance it’s worth just self insuring and pocketing all the savings over time.

 

jeff

[Welshbloke]

Waiting for the ransom demand now. Apparently my Hokutosei was "presented to customs" in Coventry on the 15th.

[Kamome]

Good news it’s finally got to the UK. I’m still contemplating the Kato HO Hokutosei. Just ordered the final few carriages for a Tsurugi/Nihonkai 25 0 formation before I start getting the rest of a Fuji/Hayabusa 25 100 formation. 
 

I’m a bit of a stickler for blue trains and Kato prices are doubly attractive.

[Welshbloke]

I only got into it because the EF510 was silly cheap (for what it is) last year. Then acquired a lone coach and found that the intermediate couplers won't connect to the loco ones. They're more like TN couplers in N than the Kadee-ish things on most JDM HO stock. So when Kato announced a re-run of the basic set I went for it.

[marknewton]

On 9/11/2020 at 1:16 AM, Welshbloke said:

Cheaper just meant slower.

I wish. DHL to Australia is more expensive than EMS, and nowhere near as fast. I've got another parcel on the way that took only two days to come from Japan to Sydney, but has since been on a five day excursion around their various facilities, with no sign of it ever getting delivered to me. I'm really looking forward to the resumption of EMS service, because DHL are crap as far as I'm concerned.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Glad Pingvin]

Last weekend I paid for a collection of my Yahoo Auction latest winnings from Zenmarket and FedEx was actually cheaper than anything else apart from surface mail. I usually use FedEx from Zen because I am impatient. This is the first time I have had a delay when using them because the package is still showing waiting courier pickup. Nevermind, I know when it is finally collected I will get it in 48 hours which is still brilliant service.

[cteno4]

Yeah DHL seems to mainly focus on just the international air freight then getting it to destination in country and delivery are farmed out a lot, so bit of that lowest bidder thing could happen. Luckily here in the us they seem to have a good regional distribution for their us hub to most areas and we have excellent delivery here locally in the dc area but I expect we are a big destination for international shipping... out trucks are all DHL branded and uniformed drivers, probably sub contractors but they present as DHL, where as other places it’s just a guy in a car...
 

jeff

[chadbag]

I wonder if Mark's DHL issue is an outlier in Australia or something that happens often in Australia.  

 

I've had exactly 1 DHL, out of a whole lot, here in the US, get misdirected and take a few extra days to show up.

 

Did Mark get that unfortunate outlier or is Australia more likely to have issues with the local distribution?

[cteno4]

That’s my guess is it’s that last bit of regional and local delivery in country that DHL now farms out a lot is the issue. It’s going to depend on who they contracted with. DHL now far exceeds EMS to here in dc generally in the last couple of years. Ems was slowly slipping for me over about the last 5 years, but I only did maybe 5-10 per year. All DHL have been at or before when they said and all like 1-4 days in shipping total. Worst was at the height of covid and one package was stuck at the us hub but I think that was just overload on them when everyone else was shutting down.

 

jeff

[Welshbloke]

From experience in the UK a lot depends on how conscientious your local depot's drivers are. Case in point, Yodel have an utterly dire reputation here but we've never had any trouble, same goes for Hermes. We seem to be on the regular route of drivers who want to deliver stuff rather than just claim they couldn't.

[Kanpai Keith]

Anyone used amazon JP to buy items and bring them into the U.K.?  Trying to get my head around how it works?

[Glad Pingvin]

14 minutes ago, Kanpai Keith said:

Anyone used amazon JP to buy items and bring them into the U.K.?  Trying to get my head around how it works?

My first Japanese purchase was from Amazon.jp, it worked really well, apart from my credit card company blocking my card because they thought it was fraudulent activity, you don't pay Japanese vat on purchases and you prepay the customs charge so it made a very slick transaction. I only bought one item but I think it is more cost effective to buy multiple items in one consignment for shipping. The only reason I haven't been back is because I like hunting out bargains on Yahoo Auctions.

[Kanpai Keith]

31 minutes ago, Glad Pingvin said:

My first Japanese purchase was from Amazon.jp, it worked really well, apart from my credit card company blocking my card because they thought it was fraudulent activity, you don't pay Japanese vat on purchases and you prepay the customs charge so it made a very slick transaction. I only bought one item but I think it is more cost effective to buy multiple items in one consignment for shipping. The only reason I haven't been back is because I like hunting out bargains on Yahoo Auctions.

I’m looking at placing an order.  Cheaper the PlazaJapan and easier than other sites I’ve been looking at.  I’ll give it a go.

[Kanpai Keith]

1st Amazon JP order placed.