ModelTrainPlus

[tt0880]

So, just curious, what is the longest anyone has had to wait for a package when it is SAL? I screwed up and cheaped out on the shipping (won't be doing that next time) and I'm still waiting on my order. Definitely out of Nariichi-san's hands at this point, so I know it's not him. I don't have much tracking info, but the little bit I can see says that my package is "Arrival at inward office of exchange" in New York, NY. This was on 1/31. 

 

Once it has hit US soil, how long does it typically take for it to head to your local area? Hopefully this is the last time I have this issue, because I will definitely be using ePacket next time :) 

[Yavianice]

2 minutes ago, tt0880 said:

So, just curious, what is the longest anyone has had to wait for a package when it is SAL?

My record is 35 days when it mysteriously arrived like it just teleported into my house. The tracking stopped abruptly when it arrived in the destination country.

 

3 minutes ago, tt0880 said:

Once it has hit US soil, how long does it typically take for it to head to your local area? Hopefully this is the last time I have this issue, because I will definitely be using ePacket next time :) 

For me, 3-5 days.

 

3 minutes ago, tt0880 said:

Definitely out of Nariichi-san's hands at this point, so I know it's not him. I don't have much tracking info, but the little bit I can see says that my package is "Arrival at inward office of exchange" in New York, NY. This was on 1/31. 

JR Post announced delays for N. America shipping last month. This is probably why your package has not arrived yet. See this page for the official statement:

 

http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2018/0110_02_en.html

[Kiha66]

6 minutes ago, tt0880 said:

I don't have much tracking info, but the little bit I can see says that my package is "Arrival at inward office of exchange" in New York, NY. This was on 1/31. 

 

Once it has hit US soil, how long does it typically take for it to head to your local area? Hopefully this is the last time I have this issue, because I will definitely be using ePacket next time :) 

 

It happens, I've had to wait up to two weeks for a package to leave Los Angeles Customs, although its usually only a few days.  SAL seems to go to the back of the line for the US mail, but during less busy times of the year it only takes a few days between arrival and showing up locally.  I usually go via SAL, it takes a bit longer but the savings are worth it to me.  Also it stops me from ordering too much as I try to wait for the previous order to arrive before buying more!

[cteno4]

Hmm we haven’t had that many bad mail delays here due to the weather, maybe a few days? 

 

I usually don’t do the registered sal so don’t know how long it sits in customs here. Ave is Usually now just over 2 weeks here to dc area. Customs here usually does not sit on stuff like this as there are no duties and I expect smuggling from japan is limited... ems stuff is thru customs in a day usually, but I’m sure Sal may wait a little if they get slammed and ems gets the priority.

 

im like kiha, I can wait and save a lot for more trains stuff. Never lost an Sal package with hundreds over the last 20 odd years. Totally self insured now by a very long shot as I’ve saved thousands of dollars using Sal. I also enjoy the surprise of it showing up, tracking its every move seems to take the fun out of it for me, but that’s me.

 

jeff

[Takahama Trainwatcher]

5 hours ago, cteno4 said:

im like kiha, I can wait and save a lot for more trains stuff. Never lost an Sal package with hundreds over the last 20 odd years. Totally self insured now by a very long shot as I’ve saved thousands of dollars using Sal. I also enjoy the surprise of it showing up, tracking its every move seems to take the fun out of it for me, but that’s me.

 

jeff

 

Likewise, I really like the knowledge that it is on its way. One day there's that happy surprise of the parcel waiting at the front door. It makes every day until that point kind of happy, too.

[smat racer]

Never had a delivery problem with SAL...but almost 3 months and still waiting on one SAL order to be delivered. (to Canada)

[keiichi77]

I usually ship SAL or Registered SAL for a couple reasons, its cheaper and 95% of the time I do not get hit with customs/taxes.  EMS I am not so lucky, I would say 80% of my packages get hit with customs/taxes and 100% of DHL shipments get hit, needless to say I have stopped using DHL. Although DHL is the fastest service I have seen from Japan (4 days to Nova Scotia) I would rather save money on shipping and taxes.

 

Most of my SAL packages average about 3 to 4 weeks but I did have one go astray and just when I wrote it off as lost it showed up after 4 months of touring Canada Posts network. ;)

[Kiha66]

I've lost one unregistered SAL package from Loco1hobby, but otherwise have been lucky.  Most of my packages are shipped registered SAL and I've never lost any other, although the USPS once sent one to Miami instead of San Francisco and I got to watch it bounce around the east coast for a few weeks till it came back. 

[cteno4]

Bummer, I’ve heard of very few Sal lost to the USA. But it can happen. I had one get soaked in water and a couple pretty crushed but all contents made it thru fine. Again with 6-10 Sal shipments you are completely self insured for the usually $50-200 box! After that it just means more trains for the same $$$.  I still do ems when it’s something that would be really hard to replace, but that’s more listening to Murphy... DHL of course for the odd Amazon.jp, but that’s required, but reasonable with them compared to ems now and wicked fast at 2 days 3 at most (most say arriving in 4 days but show up I. 2-3 now). Ems is generally now at 4 to 5. That could be us customs being a day or slower than they use to be I don’t track them really carefully.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

On 1/19/2018 at 1:10 PM, katoftw said:

It must be for certain regions or countries.  As I cannot do that.  I still switch to credit card and it still takes around the 4%, same as using paypal normally.

 

It is not obvious how to switch to have PayPal charge your CC with the original currency (Yen, Euro, whatever) so you may just be missing seeing the option.  I avoid PP like the plague, but recently had a few times I needed to pay for some stuff in Germany.  Even though I was looking for it, I almost missed  the option.   IIRC, on the final payment page, there is a small link about "other conversion options" or something like that.  Clicking that brought up a popup that let me specify to charge in the original currency.

 

Luckily, Amazon.co.jp makes it easy to do.   Since my CapitalOne (and several other cards) don't charge foreign currency fees, it always ends up cheaper to have the charge in the original currency and let them do it instead of PP or Amazon.

[Sascha]

On 2/14/2018 at 8:57 PM, chadbag said:

 

It is not obvious how to switch to have PayPal charge your CC with the original currency (Yen, Euro, whatever) so you may just be missing seeing the option.  I avoid PP like the plague, but recently had a few times I needed to pay for some stuff in Germany.  Even though I was looking for it, I almost missed  the option.   IIRC, on the final payment page, there is a small link about "other conversion options" or something like that.  Clicking that brought up a popup that let me specify to charge in the original currency.

 

Luckily, Amazon.co.jp makes it easy to do.   Since my CapitalOne (and several other cards) don't charge foreign currency fees, it always ends up cheaper to have the charge in the original currency and let them do it instead of PP or Amazon.

After you logged in to Paypal, and chose how to pay,you get to the "Ship to" screen.On the bottom of the "Ship to" area you see the Paypal rate, and below this there is a link that says "View conversion options" .If you click on the link it will bring you to the next screen that says"Currency conversion". There you can chose if you want to convert with Paypal, or your credit card company!!

[JR 500系]

Interesting enough, I just discovered this!

 

http://modeltrainplus.com/m-lite-led-lightboard/

 

It seems like a product exclusive to MTP, and it really looks interesting. It seems like a product able to change the older light boards on some models to a new LED one, which boasts quite a noticeable difference! 

 

Perhaps our friend Nariichi san can clarify more? It is mighty interesting, and hopping to see more products for many other models soon!  🙂

[railsquid]

They've been on sale for a while; I got some for my older Kato 205 series sets and they make a nice difference.

[katoftw]

10 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

Interesting enough, I just discovered this!

 

http://modeltrainplus.com/m-lite-led-lightboard/

 

It seems like a product exclusive to MTP, and it really looks interesting. It seems like a product able to change the older light boards on some models to a new LED one, which boasts quite a noticeable difference! 

 

Perhaps our friend Nariichi san can clarify more? It is mighty interesting, and hopping to see more products for many other models soon!  🙂

See page 12 of this thread.

[bill937ca]

Clearance time

 

https://www.modeltrainplus.net/collections/super-sale?page=1

[brill27mcb]

I just want to give a shout-out for good service received from Nariichi at Model Train Plus. Beyond his website and his brick-and-mortar store in Japan, he also offers a shopping service, plus a bidding service for Yahoo Japan Auctions (YJA). This was my first venture into bidding on YJA through an intermediary service. Both Model Train Plus services are clearly explained on his website. I used his bidding service to get items that were only made available within Japan, or no longer available except through the second-hand market there. I did my research (through buyee.com) and emailed Nariichi a list of direct YJA bid item links and my maximum bid amount for each item. Luckily, I ended up getting everything I was seeking. After all the items had arrived at his shop and he had confirmed that they were the right items, he packaged them up for forwarding, and DHL got them to me in the USA within two days. I'm a happy camper!

 

Rich K.

[Tony Galiani]

I will second that.  Just placed a small order but then saw pictures of the Tomix Family Mart.  While it was not listed on the Model Trains Plus web site, I sent a note to Nariichi and he held my order to get one for me and at a very reasonable price - actually a little less than I saw elsewhere.  And no additional shipping charges as well.  Looking forward to its arrival next week.

Side note - we went to various Family Marts on our trip - thinking it was the first shop we went into after our late arrival into Tokyo last year.  We also stopped at the one in Nikko and I have wanted to have a model of it so this works out nicely.

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

[VJM]

Has anyone heard from Nariichi-san lately?  I've sent him two mails over the last couple of weeks and haven't had any reply.

[cteno4]

I emailed with him like 3 weeks ago to arrange shipping an order. He can sometimes take a day to respond, but week or two is odd. 
 

jeff

[Kiha66]

Odd, he's always been very responsive.  I hope everything is alright.  I notice he hasn't posted on the store's facebook page for a few months now.

[disturbman]

Just over a month (August 22), but still odd. Hope he is alright.

[serotta1972]

My last interaction with Nariichi was August 25 when he shipped my Skyliner. Hope he’s doing okay.

[VJM]

Yep, finally got a reply from him late on Thursday night.  I assume he's been busy.  All good.

[tsubasa119]

Has anyone been billed for any  orders from Nariichi San recently? Just wondering how long it may have taken for him to contact for payment after the item have come in stock.

[Tony Galiani]

I ordered some items this past weekend and also requested a couple of items not on his site.  I have not been billed yet at this point.  Sometimes I have gotten things from him very quickly, other times it has taken a while.

Cheers,

Tony Galiani