Never ordered from Japan before. Advice?

[RocketGTR]

Yes Ironhide is bigger than Tracks so yes shipping would be more expensive. Just have to kind of mentally adjust. Though I should also note that I shipped two Ironhides in one package and so the shippins is actually 1990 halved. I vaguely recall that a single shipped item may have been slightly more with just one IH.

I've only ordered Macross 1/60 scale stuff from AE recently those won't really apply to these kind of calculations.

[Joalro]

Hey, I just wanted to bring this thread alive again because I wanted to ask essentially the same question. I've been holding off on buying cheetor because I've been a bit financially tight, but with the holidays coming up this is going to be my gift from my wife. I've looked through many of the sites listed in the thread and it seems most of them are sold out, or say they might sell more once the figure i actually released.

On the other hand, the Toy Trove seems to have him, but he's definitely more expensive than the other sites at $89.99 before tax and shipping.

What do you guys reccomend?

EDIT: Just found him on AmiAmi. Anyone have any comments about this?

[Darth Cylon]

I order all my MP from Amiami these days. They are excellent and don't forget to check their sale section.

[Joalro]

Originally Posted by Darth Cylon

I order all my MP from Amiami these days. They are excellent and don't forget to check their sale section.

Thanks for the input! They are definitely much cheaper than big bad toy store or toy trove, so it's definitely nice to get confirmation that it's an alright source.

[innermanchild]

Originally Posted by Joalro

Hey, I just wanted to bring this thread alive again because I wanted to ask essentially the same question. I've been holding off on buying cheetor because I've been a bit financially tight, but with the holidays coming up this is going to be my gift from my wife. I've looked through many of the sites listed in the thread and it seems most of them are sold out, or say they might sell more once the figure i actually released.

On the other hand, the Toy Trove seems to have him, but he's definitely more expensive than the other sites at $89.99 before tax and shipping.

What do you guys reccomend?

EDIT: Just found him on AmiAmi. Anyone have any comments about this?

I just got my order in from TF-Direct today and I was very impressed by the protection they put in the packaging. The boxes were wrapped in some sort of giant plastic bubble that looked like those things they use for bubble soccer. Also, if you order for $150, you get free shipping.

[MapleMegatron]

Originally Posted by Joalro

Hey, I just wanted to bring this thread alive again because I wanted to ask essentially the same question. I've been holding off on buying cheetor because I've been a bit financially tight, but with the holidays coming up this is going to be my gift from my wife. I've looked through many of the sites listed in the thread and it seems most of them are sold out, or say they might sell more once the figure i actually released.

On the other hand, the Toy Trove seems to have him, but he's definitely more expensive than the other sites at $89.99 before tax and shipping.

What do you guys reccomend?

EDIT: Just found him on AmiAmi. Anyone have any comments about this?

I ordered him from Nippon Yassan. Much cheaper. I stopped ordering from Amiami since they always mark the full price for customs and I just never catch a break anymore. Be wary, only ship cheetor. If you combine shipping with another item and the price ends up anywhere near the 100$ mark, will be charged taxes. Especially since Amiami no longer offers the cheaper non registered option for shipping higher priced orders (which used to be able to slide by customs unnoticed).

[Joalro]

Originally Posted by MapleMegatron

I ordered him from Nippon Yassan. Much cheaper. I stopped ordering from Amiami since they always mark the full price for customs and I just never catch a break anymore. Be wary, only ship cheetor. If you combine shipping with another item and the price ends up anywhere near the 100$ mark, will be charged taxes. Especially since Amiami no longer offers the cheaper non registered option for shipping higher priced orders (which used to be able to slide by customs unnoticed).

A few people on the first page seemed unhappy with them. Apparently they have higher shipping costs and poor customer service.

Regardless, he is unavailable on that site anyway.

[xueyue2]

Originally Posted by MapleMegatron

I ordered him from Nippon Yassan. Much cheaper. I stopped ordering from Amiami since they always mark the full price for customs and I just never catch a break anymore. Be wary, only ship cheetor. If you combine shipping with another item and the price ends up anywhere near the 100$ mark, will be charged taxes. Especially since Amiami no longer offers the cheaper non registered option for shipping higher priced orders (which used to be able to slide by customs unnoticed).

Go to AE, it's a better version of NY.

[Joalro]

Originally Posted by xueyue2

Go to AE, it's a better version of NY.

I did AE last time, but they are sold out. I'm probably doing AmiAmi

[Chigimus]

In the order of best to worst..... Amiami (pay later, pay reasonable shipping cost) > AE (pay now, pay reasonable shipping) > HLJ (pay later and order stacking available, but pay a little more on product price, still reasonable shipping) > NY (pay now [I think? ] for similar or higher product price and pay more for shipping).

Although, strictly on product price, AE generally seems to offer the lowest pre-order pricing, just that they have a limited window of time to order and so it seems like they have less quantities to offer. So AA is a good alternative as they seem to keep their PO's open for as long as there's inventory to offer, doesn't seem to be based on a limited time offering.

The only catch with AA is that they hate you if you cancel your pre-order. If you're absolutely sure you're not going to back out, then go with AA. If there's a chance you may change your mind, I would try AE. And as mentioned previously, if your item costs less than $100, you improve your chances that you won't get dinged with duty/customs charges by the time it arrives. Occasionally you might get hit if it's over $100, but chances are slim in my experience. I'm sure I've had orders from both AA and AE in the past for over $100 more times than I remember, but have only been dinged once or twice. YMMV.