Reviews & Tips for ordering TFs from Online Retailers?

[chaingunsofdoom]

Originally Posted by Shepp

USPS and Canada Post i've had the most luck with. interestingly enough so far i've only had to pay duty on boxes they've opened and inspected. though in those cases i've had to pay duty on full retail price, regardless of how much i paid for the items (unless i paid more, then they gouged me for that). and i've only had one MISB item ever opened by customs.

I pay Customs fees -- $5 + GST on any box labelled over the $20 value. Un/Under-labelled always pass OK. Every BBTS box I've gotten in automagically tagged for fees (pile of loot is handy to condense shipping and avoid multiple $5 gouges).

I have multiple boxes inspected every year, but only 1 MISB was ever opened. Canada Post would not refund me the full value of it, and they would also need me to surrender the item to one of their offices to be destroyed. Passed on that deal.

[kidkid]

Originally Posted by chaingunsofdoom

I pay Customs fees -- $5 + GST on any box labelled over the $20 value. Un/Under-labelled always pass OK. Every BBTS box I've gotten in automagically tagged for fees (pile of loot is handy to condense shipping and avoid multiple $5 gouges).

I have multiple boxes inspected every year, but only 1 MISB was ever opened. Canada Post would not refund me the full value of it, and they would also need me to surrender the item to one of their offices to be destroyed. Passed on that deal.

I tell u my worst case. I receive my items from Canada Post after 2 months I got my items shipped. It was all wet, the boxes are riped, torned. I asked them what happen. They said they don't know...imagine if u get your stuff wet like that over a value of 500 bux.... and they tell u they are not responsible for it. Well, stuff like that happens once a while if u r unlucky.

[Phy]

No-one's mentioned Hobbylink Japan yet. I get most of my Gundam kits through them. Prices are alright, shipping's kind of expensive because it's coming from Japan, and it takes a while - usually about two-three weeks for me. It's about comparable with the more expensive US stores. I shop with them because I see them as being totally reliable. I trust that I'm going to get what I paid for from them. Customer service is on par with BBTS although their replacement deadline is a month after you receive your product, so be careful if you're ordering something fragile like MP-3 Starscream. Both of their shipment methods (SAL and EMS) will arrive via Canada Post on your end. I've never run into Customs fees with it but YMMV.

[kidkid]

Originally Posted by Phy

No-one's mentioned Hobbylink Japan yet. I get most of my Gundam kits through them. Prices are alright, shipping's kind of expensive because it's coming from Japan, and it takes a while.

For Gundams....here in Vancouver BC, u get them cheaper from stores instead of HobbyLink Japan, the speed here is crazy, once Japan has it, we have the new ones here within a week. Prices are decent, sometimes cheaper than what u get online too, and no shipping cost..don't haf to wait, etc. Well, not sure about Calgary though. As in Transformers, our speed here isn't that bad either for the Japanese ones, if u buy with cautious, u won't get ripe off, u may get something cheap too. Should edit something, this reply is only good for ppl at BC, haha~ cuz i am not sure what is it like at other province.

[Mumps]

Originally Posted by jourdo

This may or may not be the appropriate place for this, but does anyone know what ever happened to GreenPigToys? I used to use them, and them bang they were gone.

They dropped off the face of the earth.
After screwing a lot of people out of their money.

Apparently he liked me though, as he shipped everything I ever ordered, while other people never got any word back O_o
And I ordered stuff right in the middle of the whole fiasco without knowing about it, and got my stuff.

As for retailers:
Kooltoyz is my number 1. Followed now by BBTS, then A3U. I don't use HLJ for Transformers, just Anime figures. They ship pretty quickly, the shipping costs aren't too high, considering where they come from.

[Dark Rage]

Originally Posted by chaingunsofdoom

I pay Customs fees -- $5 + GST on any box labelled over the $20 value. Un/Under-labelled always pass OK. Every BBTS box I've gotten in automagically tagged for fees (pile of loot is handy to condense shipping and avoid multiple $5 gouges).

I have multiple boxes inspected every year, but only 1 MISB was ever opened. Canada Post would not refund me the full value of it, and they would also need me to surrender the item to one of their offices to be destroyed. Passed on that deal.

Wait, is that $5 and GST on the value of the sipment you ordered?

Crap, I'm planning to ship a large shipment from BBTS and HLJ...So worried now, especially with the 3 Megatrons in my shipments...

I think HLJ is pretty good for TFs and Gundams (Still back logged w/ lots of kits), since they charge you for the actual currency conversion rate, rather than the marked up items by other North American retailers. Of course, the tradeoff is always the expensive and/or long shipping associated with it.