Amiami or HLJ for Canadian

[zfarsh]

ok, I have been pre-ordering my MP transformers from Anime Export last year, and although I have not had any problems with my products or shipping, I wasn't able to cancel some of my orders after paying, they just never respond back, so I was caught in a bad situation once and not too pleasant. Also, wanting to not pay right away and waiting for release, and seing if exchange becomes more in my favour, I am considering Amiami and HLJ. Last year, it was the reverse, and I wanted to pay right away, as I was afraid it would go up.

Which one do you guys recommend?

Ever been hit with duty? I think HLJ cannot undervalue, like Anime Export can, and I don't know about Amiami, but I got a feeling they cant either. Bought a figma fig once from Amiami without any issues, but never dealt with HLJ.

My purchases are less than 100 $

[MULTIPLEX]

I've been using HLJ recently and seem to recall you can cancel preorders before the item is in stock. Also, you can pay later. For stuff under $100, I wouldn't worry about customs. I like their website. Easy to use their "Private Warehouse".

Never used amiami.

[chinaman99]

I have used hlj for 3 or 4 mps. Fast shipping and was really happy
I ordered ultra Magnus and Starsaber which are > 100$ and didn't get hit with duty. That's no guarantee you will never get hit though
They put full price on duty form but in yen so maybe the custom agent is too lazy to do the conversion lol

More recently I have pre ordered with anime export as they put their pre orders up earlier and were slightly cheaper

Hlj always responded to my emails within couple days

[nuropa]

i haven't got hit with custom with HLJ on 3 or so orders. most recent is MP21 and MP22 together, they declared full value but I didn't get hit with custom, but it was just after xmas, probably too busy to care.

[Oberon Prime]

Originally Posted by zfarsh

ok, I have been pre-ordering my MP transformers from Anime Export last year, and although I have not had any problems with my products or shipping, I wasn't able to cancel some of my orders after paying, they just never respond back, so I was caught in a bad situation once and not too pleasant. Also, wanting to not pay right away and waiting for release, and seing if exchange becomes more in my favour, I am considering Amiami and HLJ. Last year, it was the reverse, and I wanted to pay right away, as I was afraid it would go up.

Which one do you guys recommend?

Ever been hit with duty? I think HLJ cannot undervalue, like Anime Export can, and I don't know about Amiami, but I got a feeling they cant either. Bought a figma fig once from Amiami without any issues, but never dealt with HLJ.

My purchases are less than 100 $

I've done 4 orders with HLJ and while the first 3 were well under $100 the 4th was well over. And I have never paid duty or customs fees. They never marked it down, however prices are shown in JPY which I magine requires some extra work and double checking that perhaps most customs agents are not inclined to go through.

On the other hand I could have been lucky but it seems that most people I have seen post about using HLJ have had similar luck.

Also regarding the pay when it comes in feature of the service (which I admit is why I chose them over N-Y). They use PayPal so unless you signup for a Payment Agreement you are simply emailed when it comes in to provide payment and are given 3 days.

Though they do not explicitly offer a cancellation option after it's in stock, one could just not submit the payment.

This could of course be potentially damaging to ones relationship with the store and could prevent future preorders. I have never had to do this so have never contacted them to feel out their reaction. But it seems that since they charge a lower early bird price on preorders they could be quite okay with a few ditched preorders they can then sell at a higher price.

But regardless of how not paying works out if you preorder and when it comes in realize you cannot pay then those willing to deal with the blowback do have an out.

[zfarsh]

thanks guys, I will have to give HLJ a try then.

[Chigimus]

LOL, in trying to help you find an answer, you actually asked a very similar question last year here, which leads to this other thread here.

From that, and from my little bit of experience, nowadays the prices on HLJ seem to be slightly higher than AmiAmi, Anime Export, or Nippon-Yasan, but they do seem to have their pre-orders open for a longer period of time then the rest of the other Japanese sources.

HLJ doesn't seem to charge duties/customs (it seems most of them don't actually) with the exception of AmiAmi.

I also read somewhere that if you pre-order with AmiAmi, they're not so friendly if you cancel pre-orders with them either as their site explicitly states "AmiAmi does not accept cancellations regardless of item stock status (in-stock, back-order, pre-order, etc.). Please only place orders for items you intend on purchasing.". HLJ can allow you to cancel pre-orders without much hassle (I think) as long as you don't make a habit of it.

So yeah, depending on price difference, HLJ may be your better option between the 2.

[Rev]

Love HLJ. Hit with customs once on over $200. Cost $33

[joshimus]

Only ever used HLJ and have always been happy with them...so, yeah. I can't compare with the other one I haven't used, but as others have said including myself, good experiences with HLJ

[funkmasterke]

AmiAmi usually has a better discount, but they usually use bigger boxes so shipping ends up being a little more expensive. They don't really like you cancelling orders, they are pretty ban happy.

HLJ has worse discount but usually cheaper shipping. They have an automated system so you can cancel orders with a single click, and they really could care less.

I usually chose HLJ just for the private warehouse, AmiAmi's combine by month some times can get a little frustrating when something gets delayed or released early.