Guest ___ Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Since, I posted a list of all the big players at the moment, thoguht it might not be a bad idea to compare notes on where we buy our toys from :P Link to comment
Bernard Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 One of my favorite places to buy my trains from used to sell on eBay a few years ago and was located in NJ. His prices were reasonable and the shipping was free. I haven't seen him list for a long time now. Link to comment
Guest ___ Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 Just donned on me that I forgot HobbyLink Japan on that one-d'oh! Didn't include Newhall Station because I Was sticking mainly to those doing business in Japan. Link to comment
Guest ___ Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 One of my favorite places to buy my trains from used to sell on eBay a few years ago and was located in NJ. His prices were reasonable and the shipping was free. I haven't seen him list for a long time now. Wish I could find more eBay sales, but I suspect it would just be a typical bidding war. Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I buy largely from Rainbow Ten; although their prices are frequently no different from the competition, some items I've recently purchased were a good bit cheaper there; also, they offer SAL shipping for when I'm feeling cheap*. I also buy from Hobby Search (nice web page, points program) and occasionally from eBay sellers, including Plaza Japan and Good-Job Japan. I've had excellent service from all, although I recently had a problem with an order from Good-Job, and found that they don't really speak much English: I had to use Japanese to effectively communicate the problem with them. (They use an automatic translator to produce their English emails, and outside of the usual transactions, it pretty quickly becomes incomprehensible.) Still, good service! Just not in English. *I've heard some grousing lately about SAL; My delivery times average about three weeks for SAL. I don't mind for the savings. I'm a patient man. Link to comment
Bernard Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 I agree with the simplicity of the Hobby Search web pages. Everything is clearly listed with photos and in English. It makes ordering very easy for me. Link to comment
Guest ___ Posted December 29, 2008 Share Posted December 29, 2008 HobbySearch does not like FireFox. In fact anytime I order using FF as soon as I add something to the cart, it reloads and doubles the quantity so as soon as I add it the cart I have to hit stop load ASAP. HobbySearches billing system has also been a been to me.I have had problems with their system taking my credit card. Last week it tried to bill so many times to get the authorization that my card locked and had to re-activate my Master Card, then cancel the order with HS and re-order. Despite this, HobbySearch is my favorite place to order from. To date, I've p[laced and had about 20 orders with HS. I have too many problems with PlazaJapan and have given up on them. Link to comment
bill937ca Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Hobby Search is my number one source. I've never had a problem with them. And I really haven't had a problem with any other dealer. Never at anytime have I had to contact a dealer about the order after shipment. That's in over two years of ordering. I've ordered from Plaza Japan, Rainbow Ten, Hobby Search, Hobbyworld Japan and a couple of Hong Kong eBay vendors along with Lee's Trains in the US. Link to comment
bill937ca Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 I also buy from Hobby Search (nice web page, points program) As the Japanese Yen gets stronger, the vendors with points programs (Hobby Search, Hobby World Japan) that give you a yen for each point are giving us a better deal. More bang for our points! Link to comment
Bernard Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Aaron - I thought it was only me that was having problems ordering online with FireFox w/Hobby Search. I'll use Safari from now on. Thanks! Link to comment
bill937ca Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 Aaron - I thought it was only me that was having problems ordering online with FireFox w/Hobby Search. I'll use Safari from now on. Thanks! Internet Explorer, last I heard, was the most common browser in Asia. Most Asian web sites are written for IE. ::) I use Firefox, but I haven't had any problems with Hobby Search. Link to comment
Guest ___ Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I can order with FF, but I suspect it may have been the culprit on my last order where my card kept getting kicked back after the order was completed and confirmed so I re-attempted with IE. I guess I'll find out after they re-open if that was the problem. Won't be making any orders on HS with my EeePC on Linux and FF. Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I can order with FF, but I suspect it may have been the culprit on my last order where my card kept getting kicked back after the order was completed and confirmed so I re-attempted with IE. I guess I'll find out after they re-open if that was the problem. Won't be making any orders on HS with my EeePC on Linux and FF. I don't have any problems with Safari on any of the sites; You should be fine with Konqueror or its ilk. Link to comment
alpineaustralia Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I use Popendatta and they are actually cheaper than the pther Japanese suppliers but the communication and the ordering process can be a little strained. See my previous blog on them. Link to comment
alpineaustralia Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 My list of suppliers is: Dauphin: http://www.dauphin-railwaymodel.jp/ Hobby Search: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/ Hobby link: http://www.hlj.com/index.html Hobby world: http://hobbyworld.aoshima-bk.co.jp/scripts/hw/kengte.aspx?sc=28///103 D Trains: http://209.85.171.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.d-stagerailwaynet.com/index.html Popondetta: http://209.85.171.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.popondetta.com/index.html Rainbowten: http://www.rainbowten.co.jp/english/ Link to comment
CaptOblivious Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Hold the phone, I've seen Dauphin before, but not D-Stage. They have used stuff! They have used stuff that I want! Could you tell us a little more about how to order from them? Link to comment
Guest ___ Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 http://www.dauphin-railwaymodel.jp/TW-3000.jpg in N-scale, this has caught my attention. Link to comment
alpineaustralia Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Please be aware that Popondetta is still experiencing problems with its payment system (as has been the case for over a month now) as I was advised by them in an email received yesterday which read as follows: The system for payment does not restore now either. About an order from you article, we do hold. We do Hold till a system restores it. If you want to do an additional order, tell us. 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 http://www.popondetta.jp/ [E-mail] tu-han@popondetta.com Link to comment
cteno4 Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 does Popondetta do only EMS and Surface shipping? do they do SAL? thanks jeff Link to comment
alpineaustralia Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 They do not do SAL. They only do EMS and seamail. Link to comment
cteno4 Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 now thats a bummer! wonder why? sal seems safer than surface mail, which seems the diciest of all shipping methods as it goes into containers and is gone for sometimes up to months at a time! Well if a must have comes along there it would be worth popping or the ems, ill try registering and see how it goes. when you have communicated with them do they have someone that can read/write english? dont mind trying to track down what i want via google translate, but the last communication step or any special order does really require that. glad to hear you have had such good luck with them. cheers jeff Link to comment
bill937ca Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 SAL has size and weight restrictions on it whereas EMS can still be used. An example is the Kato V14 set. http://cgi.ebay.com/UNITRACK-Variation-Set-V14-Kato-20-873_W0QQitemZ360187473789QQcmdZViewItemQQptZModel_RR_Trains?hash=item53dcd8af7d&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262 Link to comment
cteno4 Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 EMS, SAL and surface mail all have the same limitations on size and weight (30kg max and over all size restriction). SAL is always cheaper than EMS, but the difference gets smaller the larger you get. http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/service/i_parcel_en.html good info on all the shipping methods http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/service/compare_en.html I wonder if plaza does this because large SAL packages can take 3-4 weeks to arrive and maybe also prone to getting smashed up more (w/o insurance!). also maybe their shipping agent charges larger handling fee for large sal packages. small packet airmail has the restrictions of 2kg and smaller package size. it gets you the ems airmail priority but w/o the tracking or express delivery at the other end (just regular first class/airmail delivery). i have had small packet airmail shipments (small parts) arrive in like 4 days in the past. just seems odd they would do surface mail and not SAL. must be something with their shipping agent or some problem for them with sal cheers jeff Link to comment
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