AmiAmi Character and Hobby

[disturbman]

I’m confused, their eBay shop doesn’t carry anything visible for me. And never came up in searches for sets.

Edited October 7, 2022 by disturbman

[Guest]

I found quite a few items, one example...

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275430892248

[bill937ca]

17 hours ago, Bob Martin said:

I found quite a few items, one example...

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275430892248

You didn't look very far. Good luck with this one!

 

Shipping and handling

Item location:

Tokyo, Japan

Ships to: 

Worldwide

Excludes: 

PO Box, APO/FPO, Africa, Alaska/Hawaii, American Samoa, Asia, Central America and Caribbean, Cook Islands, Europe, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Middle East, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, North America, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, Solomon Islands, South America, Southeast Asia, Tonga, Tuvalu, US Protectorates, Ukraine, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa

Edited October 7, 2022 by bill937ca

[Arctic]

Lol Ships: worldwide but excludes: everywhere

 

Hmmm... if it excludes Asia, doesn't that mean it excludes Japan...?

 

It excludes every continent except Oceania, and specifies every Oceania nation except Australia..?

 

So they will literally only ship to Australia.. Oh except that United States isn't included in "North America" as it is available in the shipping dropdown list?

 

What on earth were they thinking when they filled that in lol...

[katoftw]

32 minutes ago, Arctic said:

Hmmm... if it excludes Asia, doesn't that mean it excludes Japan...?

Japan doesn't count as worldwide when the sender is in Japan.

 

Oz does look like one of the few available destinations.

[katoftw]

Anyone done some shipping recently with AmiAmi?

 

My November items took 12 days for them to send after payment.

 

My December items were paid for on the 28th, and still haven't been shipped yet.  I am chalking this on up to New Years holidays.

 

I am using a non priority Japan Post shipping option.  I know they normally wait and batch send this stuff to save costs.  But waiting 1+ week, almost 2+ on each occasion is a little too long.

MY theory is that since many countries still don't have non priority shipping options, that the volumes are low and it is taking longer to get a full batch ready to go.

p.s.  If you ain't using the same or very similar shipping methods and you haven't had issues with shipping after payment delays, you probably dont need to reply.

Edited January 4, 2023 by katoftw

[Kamome]

Actually order fulfilment times seems to be taking longer generally, even with domestic orders too, although not as long as you’ve mentioned. I actually placed an order this week. 

 

Monday - Order placed for in stock items.

Wednesday - Payment request received and sent. 

Friday - received Sagawa shipping notification.

Sunday - most likely delivery day(usually 2 days for Kyushu)

 

This certainly wasn’t the case a few years ago whereby orders were fulfilled and shipped within a couple of days like most of their competitors. It used to usually take 4 days from order to delivery and sometimes around 2-3 days for preorders. Even some of those have been taking over a week between payment request and shipping notification in recent years. 

 

Yodobashi - Next day delivery if item available in Kyushu branch. 2 days if not. 

 

Tam Tam - Order to delivery, 3-4 days for Kyushu. 

 

Models Imon- Order to delivery 3-4 days

 

Amazon - Order to delivery,  2 days

 

Not sure what’s happening with Ami Ami. Are they getting a larger number of orders than before? Perhaps they haven’t expanded their operations enough to cope with a larger customer demand. 

 

Are they the same with their Amazon and Ebay listed items or are these being prioritised? A week turnaround isn’t terrible but other sites much quicker to dispatch and deliver orders. If there weren’t the considerable savings you get with Ami, I probably would’ve have dropped them as an option a while ago. 

 

Probably also worth considering, they are not predominantly a railway model shop, their physical store in Akihabara doesn’t carry any of these product lines. They may prioritise their anime related products which, I would assume, is their main customer base. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Kamome

[katoftw]

I emailed them at the 20 days after payment date. Get a email at 21 days saying it will be shipped soon and apologies.

 

It's now 22 days after payment. Still no shipment.  Delays happen, and I am fine with those. Especially being the new year period. But these timeframes are ridiculous.

Edited January 17, 2023 by katoftw

[katoftw]

Day 23 - get an email asking if I am happy with the level of service I have received. Comical. Just ship the items.

[Giugiaro]

My Plaza Japan order was made after your payment, and I got it yesterday from the Locky service.

It's not just a question of if delays happen or not. The competition already beat them to it.

[katoftw]

I have been thinking of making the switch to Plaza Japan for my pre-orders, as they do offer non priority shipping.  I've only done in stock orders with them so far.  Dunno if their ordering system is a flexible as AmiAmi's.

 

Day 26...

 

 

[disturbman]

You haven’t had much luck with your orders recently.

 

All my package with Ami were sent day plus one or two, these past few months.  I never experienced what you are experiencing.

[katoftw]

Just got an email 50 minutes ago.  After 27 days, they finally shipped my items.

[cteno4]

That’s good, let’s just hope this order just slipped through the cracks.

 

jeff

[katoftw]

It arrived. 

 

27 day to ship. 7 days to arrive. 😂 

 

Japan Post and Australia Post did a great job. AmiAmi did not.

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by katoftw

[Kamome]

Not as bad as 27 days to ship but 5 days from payment to shipping notification for domestic delivery of my preordered Tomix HO Kiha 40 and Kato N scale E2 200 series colour. So still another 2 days or so for Sagawa to get it here. That takes the total payment to delivery time of about a week. 

 

They’re definitely getting slower. I may consider other options in future. Super Rajikon also sell train stuff from their Osaka base, prices similar to Ami and gain points to spend on either trains or RC. 

 

Ami’s postage cost has also gone up for any new orders. 

[Madsing]

This looks like the new normal.

My last purchase from AmiAmi was paid on 7 Feb. Shipped on 10 March, 31 days later. But their prices cannot be beaten.

I paid for my pre-ordered 10-1758 Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Fukutoshin Line 17000 Series 6-Car Basic Set on Thursday last week. We’ll see when it ships. 

Marc

 

[katoftw]

What type of shipping? @Madsing

[Madsing]

“Air Small Packet” to Singapore. Shipping fee: 1,230 JPY. It was just a single item, Kato 10-1259 Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Fukutoshin Line 10000 Series Basic Set. Delivered 5 days later. 
Marc

 

[bill937ca]

AmiAmi has a store in the Radio Kaikan Building on the 4th floor right outside the JR Akihabara Station. Not sure if they stock model trains, but certainly they stock character goods.

 

https://www.amiami.com/eng/store/

 

 

Note:

- This is a separate shop from our online store, items avaialble in-stock and prices may be different.
- We are not able to provide assistance regarding our online store.
- Opening hours, closed days, opening hours for buy-back counter may change.Please check our twitter account for the latest news.

Edited April 5, 2023 by bill937ca

[Kamome]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:39 AM, bill937ca said:

AmiAmi has a store in the Radio Kaikan Building on the 4th floor right outside the JR Akihabara Station. Not sure if they stock model trains, but certainly they stock character goods.

Can't remember whether I read it on this forum, but I believe this store has no railway models. I also remember reading the service is also generally pretty awful. Doubly bad for a nation that prides themselves on service. I did see a "kind" notice on their website to explain their in store prices are different from those online. I imagine most of their inquiries relate to this and the staff get a bit irritated. 

[katoftw]

Yeah when the store was first opened. It was noted that it was missing a few sections.

 

The store is really aimed and amine, hobby and visiting tourists.

 

It's just a shop front to get exposure for their business in Eastern Japan / Kanto region.

[Kamome]

Still awaiting the shipping of my long pre-ordered, paid for, KATO HO Yume Kukan 3 coach set.  This is probably going to be one of the last times I use Ami as their payment to shipping times are becoming irritating. 

 

Unless their prices are hugely beneficial compared with alternatives, I'm not really sure there is any other advantage to using them anymore. Other sellers prices are getting more competitive and have a better sense of order fulfilment in a more reasonable time frame. 

[disturbman]

Have used them more than a few times this year, and haven't had any problem with shipping. Everything was shipped fast a day or two after payment.

[katoftw]

Just had a item arrive last week. Just the Kato EF66 by itself. So small package. Was a good experience this time. Payment day to my doorstep was 9 days. And is was non priority airmail. Weird it is so hit and miss.