I can answer the question why Japanese website always look like they are still stuck in the 90s. Japanese culture as a whole does not like change very much, that is why communications within companies are still being done by fax machines instead of just emails. Dont get me wrong, everyone uses emails, but if you are sending something formal and want to be seen as professional, they will require you to fax it to them. The lack of want to change the old ways is also why Japanese people still uses stamps as a form of identification/signature. Following by that logic, website look like they are from the 90s simply because to the culture, that is just how professional website is suppose to look. If it aint broken, dont fix it.
It's just that faxes are included as a function in printers and copiers that are popular in Japan. Every workplace has printers and copiers, and as a result faxes are everywhere, but they are rarely used. Isn't fax attached to copiers in other countries?
That doesn't really make any sense though...Sure, many parts of Japanese culture is slow to adapt, things like women's and LGBTQ rights, but how can you say technology? The fax thing is odd, but it's Japan. They were using mobile phones with internet connectivity years before the iphone took over the world. When I was living there in 2009 kids were watching TV on their mobile phones, while I had a shitty Nokia. Anyway, I googled the reason and someone suggested it was due to the writing system, while someone else said it was how Asians read websites..Who knows. Saying it's cos they're stuck in the past doesn't really compute with a society that adopt other tech so fast.
Solaris can be expensive but I find buying at the right time is important! I recently saw a figure that looked incredible for around €100 and when there was only 3 days left before she released, they discounted it and it dropped to around €85! I think their second hand prices are a bit much and are more often than not the same or close brand new. Also they have a preorder DISCOUNT that lasts usually about a month (depends on release date, so it could be longer) that CONSIDERABLY marks prices down. Eg: Ahri LOL Apex figure? On AmiAmi she's about 180. Solaris? She's below 160 thanks to the preorder discount. They have constant special offer sales too so once you do a lil homework on it Solaris can be a viable option!
Solaris is my go-to store for anime figures. There are some insane prices there sometimes, but I usually find the figures there for less money, the shipping packaging is great and they had some figures I couldn't find elsewhere (for example the Gintama figures, that either are sold out or insanely expensive on other sites).
Thanks so much for the video! It really helped me out. I changed one of my AmiAmi pre-orders from DHL to Air Small Packet because of you. I’ve seen those options there for a little bit now but I haven’t known if they were trustworthy again so I’d been suffering DHL prices on more orders than I probably needed to. My collecting journey has been kind of bumbling but I’ve learned a lot with the help of cool people online sharing. Love what you’re doing!
First time figure buyer here - thanks for the overview! I was so confused by all the shipping options on AmiAmi. Ended up going with Solaris for faster shipping and paying up front.
Thank you for the video! This helped me out a ton. I've been buying from only crunchyroll or at conventions, because I didn't even know about the other websites!
This video was really, really informative. Thank you so much! I've been collecting everything from1/3 scale statues to anime figures and action figures for a long while and I had no idea what the differences were with the different shipping companies other than generally how quick they are. Thank you for clearing all of that up, it makes so much sense now. Btw, if you ever get dinged with those ridiculous FedEx handling/brokerage fees again, push back. Every time that happens to me I just call them and ask them to give me a breakdown of what the fees are for. When they mention the handling fees I ask them what I'm actually paying for there, and when they can't really explain it, I ask them to waive them. So far they always have.
The shipping cost with Amiami is always a pain. I remember my first ever order casually choosing DHL for shipping. Payment Request coming in and the shipping cost was 13000 Yen meanwhile EMS was 6500 Yen. Funfact in my Country the shipping cost is added to the product price and then taxed all together :) Just imagine paying taxes for 13000 Yen shipping
hers a tip (two years late) just ship items one at a time package size is a MASSIVE factor in international shipping still can be ludocrous but if you can get a pre owned figure or model at "small parcel air" shipping prices youre laughing as you save %40+ over usa gundam store or big bad toy store
For TOM in US, they show you the shipping cost at check out and from my experience it tends to be average $10 for the cheapest option. I haven't bought big scale figures so the shipping cost might change. Additionally, they have free shipping option for total cost $150+. You can combine In-stock and preorders to meet the free shipping. Also for preorders, they charge you upfront at the checkout. TOM RECENTLY changed their shipping policy. In short: shipping charges per figure have increased rather dramatically. You can only combine for free shipping for over $150s together for products being released on the same month or buying instock figures totaling $150+. If you use your TOM points, your total after redeeming points should be above $150 to get free shipping. Additionally this new free shipping option is the slowest shipping option through seas parcels for figures coming from their Japan warehouse.
This is very late, but thank you for this information! My friend recently got the Annual TOM membership and he sent me screenshots of his orders but I was wondering how he was able to get free shipping. Meanwhile, I’m still using amiami
@@RenKohana I still buy some stuff from amiami and some from TOM depending on how higher up the price is on TOM and how quickly I want it. TOM tends to be Slower shipping than amiami shipping
Year later but I love TOM the free shipping is a god send for bigger scale figures placed on pre order, it pays for itself I feel especially with their points system. I rather buy small figures like Nendoroids, prize figures etc in US shipped websites like Entertainment Earth, Figurise, Crunchyroll etc but the bigger $100+ figures are so worth it on TOMs website
Thanks for making this video Gwen. You are a wealth of information! My boyfriend and I have been after Pyrah Nikos for a while and now I know where to look!
This is the best in depth and practical tips for beginner collectors. I only figured out amiami's preowned system after a week since I started checking out that section everyday
DHL is fast with AmiAmi but if you order anime figures on Amazon Japan they will ship with DHL as well with global priority shipping for no more than 3055 yen. Its awesome!!! I get my figures in like 2 days!!
As an American I typically think Ami Ami is the way to go for pre-orders. DHL shipping can be expensive but other retailers end up charging more their figures in comparison anyways so there's not that much difference by the end. Plus you get your stuff in a couple of days like Gwyn says. Otherwise, I will usually use Crunchyroll just because I have a membership which gives a small discount.
Thanks for this video, I was unsure about Amiami for a while but your video has definitely gotten me to try out the site with some good knowledge :) Also, TOM is pretty good (atleast for US), I got a few figures there at really good prices, sometimes cheaper than their retail price though this is on figures that have already been released previously. Their point system is really nice plus you can do their premium for a month free to get a few good deals as well, their shipping is pretty fast and nothing comes damaged. I have yet to do preorders but again if you take advantage of TOM's offers, its a pretty good deal.
toms point system changed over the years. you used to get 40x points back on certain times like christmas. they however charged way more compared to other retailers. now the prices seem more comparable to others but the points are generally less now.
This was really helpful! Especially with the Pre-Owned Items sections/sites, since there are a few figures I really want but were released a while ago. I’ve always been scared of ordering from Japan since you never know what might go wrong, but I might try it after watching this video!
Great video! I've been collecting for more or less a year or so, and in that time I've pretty much exclusively used Goodsmile US. Never was a fan of Amiami's layout but I took another look today. Definitely something to consider. Also ordered from Solaris Japan an hour ago and they always seem to have everything that is otherwise out of stock/scalped to hell and back.
thanks for this video, I decided to use DHL for my first time getting a figure from amiami and I have been worrying about how it worked or how bad it would be. I'm a little relieved now
I really enjoy your videos. These ones are very helpful. I stumbled on some of these sites on my own. Still very much a newbie. And great to hear advice from a fellow Canadian.
I’m brand new to getting statues & figures so it’s great you have a list of companies you buy from, I was searching for Nendroid’s and found the Big Bad Toy Store in the US, so I just bought a whole load of stuff from there over the last few days, 10 different Nendroid’s, two 1/8 scale King & Ban from Seven Deadly Sins statues, one 1/8 Rengoku Demon Slayer statue, 3 Pop Up Parade Demon Slayer figures, 3 Pop Up Parade Seven Deadly Sins figures. But I’m new to Pre-Orders, and all of these things have different release dates, I ordered all those stuff in like 6 different purchases & assumed they’d just ship in 6 shipments, but that’s not how it’s going to work, they’re going to ship as each one is ready. And I’ve already got 3 of them shipped at $32 for each one, so this is going to get expensive haha.
Some websites allow you to combine orders into one shipping. Not sure how exactly that works because I am new too. I assume they'd put aside your items when they're available in some kind of warehouse... I'm still trying to work this out. It's extremely easy for newbies to pay extra money on this rather expensive hobby. I bought my first nendoroid from a local store for a horribly inflated price. Not sure why they priced it so high because it's a legit partner store, not some random dude from Facebook market... But anyway. I just accept the fact that I hadn't done my research properly and had paid to learn that lesson. Still happy with the figure tho. Just couldn't stay mad while looking at a chibi cute face
I've only had bad experiences with DHL (mostly ordering Formula 1 merch from Europe). Living as a renter in rural Alberta made DHL a pain in the ass. While other couriers like FedEx, Purolator, and UPS tend to have drop-off locations in local drug stores, DHL only has a few in the province. My nearest DHL point was over 60 kms away, so unless I was able to be home at delivery time, it was the worst of all couriers to deal with (my building has no ability to remotely open the front door by phone). I guess the takeaway is that service will vary depending on your local situation.
The website has thousands of figures to choose from and u can do a little research on mandarake so you have an idea how much that figure is worth so u don’t overpay. It would help if u can read a little Japanese so u know the condition on some of the big ticket items.
Hi there. Stumbled upon your content only a couple of days ago, and I really enjoyed the myriad of figure-related subjects that you presented, as they are all relevant to the things I face myself when it comes to buying/collecting. I first started 15-odd years ago (on and off) and I was so clueless then - which ended up with me owning a few fakes! Your content also makes me feel that I am not alone in the attempt to not get overwhelmed with the number of new figures I like that are available for preorder on amiami/GS/TOM lol. Looking forward to more of your videos!
Just would like to add (wrt to DHL = customs charge / EMS = no customs charge) - for any of your viewers who are from the UK and are new to importing figures, UK buyers have to pay tax regardless of the courier method. JP Post transfers to UK's Parcelforce where the UK Customs have a presence at the central depot and anything over GBP18 / ¥2800-ish has VAT (goods tax). IF no one has said this yet - Chara-Ani is pronounced the English way as the katakana is kyara-ani / キャラアニ. Apologies if you already know this by now! :)
I love AmiAmi and order from them all the time, I’m in The UK and they have Air parcel (registered) which is amazing I use it a lot and so far have not have any issues, I personally wouldn’t use any shipping that isn’t tracked as I’d be to nervous 😅
Ik this was really long ago but I’m from the UK and just ordered a 1/8 scale love live figure today and choose air small packet registered do you know how much the shipping will cost ?
@@hanogami it does depend but usually a small air registered packet will cost around 2,000 yen so about £13 or so it can be less can be more just depends on the size of the figure and the box it’s in, hope this helps 🤗
I'm from the UK as well, I'm just getting into collecting and wondered how much is shipping from AmiAmi is do they do it on weight or size or both? I really want to get a few expensive big ones but don't want to be hit with a massive shipping cost at checkout!
I think that there's an annual fee for FedEx frequent shipper membership for customs brokerage&handling but they actively NOT advertise it. So for that brokerage fee, instead of paying for it, u can pay for that if u have a lot of items on the way. Depending on the situation if u frequently order online from international sites. The person on the counter when u pick it up will NOT tell you it's cheaper unless you ask for it.
I haven't found Solaris to be that much more expensive, i do appreciate that they lay out all the costs up front though. Postage can be frustrating sometimes, as they have 3 options - ship, plane and super fast plane? And sometime the only options are cheapest and most expensive, ship and super plane, i just want regular please ='D I also find unlike Amiami, figures hang around for a lot longer, there's many figures I'd like sold out on amiami right now that i could just order from solaris no problem. the pre-owned section is very robust and frequently has sales, some up to 40% off, it hasn't let me down yet. I also like that you can tell them to pretend the package is worth less, i live in the UK, so you get import taxes on delivers over a certain prices and you can use that tool to dupe the post office, i think my record is £220 statue with no import tax, i just said it was only worth £100 XD
You did not mention the quirk of checking what store the items that you want from Mandarake are located. Mandarake does not group orders from separate stores into a single shipment; therefore, it is important to try and order as much of what you want from a single store as possible.
I've heard a few people say solaris japan is more expensive. But I've just pre ordered a tokyo revengers nendroid and it was cheaper than amiami and nin nin. I do like that you have option to reduce invoice figure price too for customs tax purposes!
Very informative video! Thank you! Idk why it never occurred to me that Funimation also has a store haha I haven't bought anything from AmiAmi yet, but I do have a Slam Dunk figure pre-ordered from them releasing in June. And I'm very excited for that! So I'm hoping everything goes smoothly! :D
Hi. Spot on reviews. TOM WAS good when you could use your points all at once. I didn’t mind paying just a little more for a figure with them. every few purchases I would basically get a free figure using points. However now they limited the amount of points you can use per transaction. Making the monthly fees and overall price increase not worth it. Honestly its borderline scamming. I haven’t used TOM in quite a while now. Believe it or not my best purchases lately have been on ebay. People that collect these generally do an amazing job taking care of them. Many sellers have overly detailed descriptions that will let you know of the smallest defect. Great video for new collectors. I even learned something about the preowned market I didn’t know.
I recently got two figures from a collector and I have to agree that people are awesome to buy from. He kept the boxes and everything! I'm glad you were able to take something away from this video!
@@GwynCollects Oh yes definitely. So far everything you have put up has been well done. You are pointing out a lot of good aspects of the hobby besides just the figures themselves. Looking forward to more.
One thing I like about TOM is if you order is above 150 us dollar(which is the case for most figures today), you get free shipping, even if the item is in their japanese warehouse.
Go to buyee and clip on mercari, consolidate your packages cause they store them in a warehouse and choose lite plan which would make it cheaper and surface mail them for tracking and I bought a whole punch of stuff and sometimes they have coupons where u buy more than 3000 yen and they wave the service fee which I used , the point is u can use more than one coupon to ship your packages. I shipped a combined package as big as me and got almost free shipping averages like one dollar shipping for each figure. Check it out ,u gonna love it.
I have personal experience with some US figure stores that you may have checked out and if not you should are Big Bad Toy Store and Lunar toy store. BBTS was probably the best site to get limited japanese figures back in the day, but now more sites offer most figures. The only complaint I've heard is where orders were canceled because the figure didn't arrive to them, but they gave full refunds. It'll suck if you can't find that figure again but it's a risk no matter what (had it with cunchyroll before). Happened to me when they canceled angewomans figure to the US completely and had to wait for a reasonable price as a preowned. I used to order most of my figures from crunchyroll, but they've changed a lot and isn't what it used to be. They'd offer free shipping for certain preorders on their weekly deals and sometimes with a nice little sale price, so ordering smaller figures there was worth it. Now a days I use other sites with better shipping to order figures. Ukiyo Kumo and Sure thing toys are also US sites that have good prices and reasonable shipping prices. Fortunately, Sure thing toys has free shipping but they only ship within the US though.
You're right with AmiAmi's shipping. Solaris japan is wayy cheaper to buy from for me because of the shipping costs. I also hate that I have to email them and ask for a shipping estimate for a specific item, despite the fact that they have a shipping estimate box in the checkout, like what even is the point of having that if I'm just going to get "To Be Determined" each time
I can see that Azur Lane Jean figure i really want. I ordered from AmiAmi for the first time about a week ago and I went for DHL. Solaris Shipping price for me was ridiculous over AmiAmi
@@SpikeTheWolf I’d say AmiAmi. Solaris is still a good place to shop online. Only thing I don’t like about Solaris is the high shipping prices. They charged me twice for shipping ¥2,300 and ¥1,777. The figure I ordered was worth the price tag
I live in the UK so Mandarake is king above all for me, they provide a service on par with AmiAmi, prices lower than theirs and actual shipping prices that are presented to you before you request your order from them.
Good tips. I just bought a 1/4 scale Full metal panic bunnygirl from Amiami. 15,840y worked out the rough postage on weight at 3,000-4000y. Invoice arrived....6120y !! Crazy. BUT in the UK the figure is between £220-£300 and this cost me £155. So i still saved a bunch of money. Solaris is wierd at checkout couldn't work that out!
That is pretty high but that's still the cheapest DHL I've seen for a bunny! Amiami definitely overpacks their figures which might be why it was higher than you expected.
Hello. I am selling figures from Japan to overseas. I am glad to know well about famous figure sites in Japan. I watched your video and thought that the business I am running on a daily basis might be useful, so I am commenting. I sell 3000 figures every month to overseas via ebay, and I sometimes purchase from ami ami and mandarake. When shipping overseas, the price depends on the volume (height, width, depth), so if I send the package as it arrives from ami ami or mandarake, the shipping cost will be much higher, so I ship it in the proper cardboard size. For example, for a Nendoroid, if it is from ami ami or mandarake, it will probably cost 34 CAD by EMS or 50-60 CAD by DHL to ship it to Canada. Our company can reduce the volume by packing the figure to the proper size before shipping, reducing the shipping cost to 30 CAD by EMS and 35-4 CAD by DHL. For the US, the shipping cost is even lower and can be sent for 20-23USD by FedEx. In addition, since we visit Japanese figure websites every day, we can immediately purchase the figures that international figure collectors are looking for. Would figure collectors appreciate this kind of packing and shipping service?
My last interaction with AmiAmi back in 2020 was when they wanted 150$ for shipping a single 50$ model kit... (now obviously early covid era was a mess, but they also deleted my account since i refused paying 200$ on a model kit and never bothered with them since).
I always avoid buying from other countries. Tax, shipping, and customs can be expensive! Instead I stay tuned on ecommerce websites. Whenever there's discount, I will buy some. And only from big local stores... Last year, I saved up to USD100!
Correction: If you are a sentient being, do not order shipping with FedEx. They also tend to break your items if the handler didn’t package it properly and it’s heavier than 40lbs. Though this was an incident I had with an IBM Selectric typewriter I had ordered.
I can shed some light on the brokerage fee. That is the cost of for the customs broker that had to prepare an entry to clear your goods through CBSA. The US has a similar process with CBP. Commerical carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL) will usually file entries on goods being imported, whereas the mail system works a little differently. Value can play a role as does your countries particular legislation around imports.
Regarding the scrolling on Amiami pre-owned, grab the extension that auto loads the pages instead of having to load each page separately - chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/amiami-enhancement-suite/paiknlbgfeeikbhepfbjigmiagpolmfg Also thank you so much for going through customs for the different shipping methods.
I have the Mai Aniplex Bunny Girl (pre-ordered her as soon as she appeared). I HIGHLY recommend getter her by "almost" any means necessary as she is extremely high quality and her best figure... so far.
We still get EMS from amiami here in New Zealand, but they actually changed my latest package to DHL on their own lol bc it was cheaper at the time 😂 defs wasn’t complaining
Currently, Solaris Japan is cheaper overall because the price is usually same price or very competitive for the figures and it is cheaper for shipping than the other ones. Trust me I checked. This will vary on part of the world and specific figures
TOM has free shipping for things over 150 which is cool but they have this weird thing where u try to combine you order to equal 150 and it just doesnt put it in the same shipment, I had to switch out like 3 figures for it to work all in stock u.s. Ships free from Japan if its over 150 aswell
I ordered my first figure from Crunchyroll as well. Can’t say it’s more expensive for me though. I save at least $2 on nendoroids and maybe $10 for larger figures. Also, I get free shipping (USPS priority) for orders over $100. I don’t know if that applies to just premium subscribers though. You also get $15 to $25 off every 3 months depending on your subscription plan(haven’t tried it yet). I just don’t like how they have a smaller selection than GSC or AmiAmi. Yeah the prices are a bit higher, but I think customs and taxes are part of the price. I don’t have to guess how much to pay for customs or taxes. What I pay is what I pay.
For some pre-orders they only give you one option now for shipping and it’s DHL which is fine(because I can track my order) for me but pretty expensive sometimes depending on the order 😭
Hella expensive I ordered deep see miku with dhl just to see how much it actually is🙂 it was 232 just shipping and obviously I went with surface parcel 💀
I had a ‘bad’ experience with a used figure at AmiAmi which was in poorer condition as rated by their scale! After the complaint, they eventually corrected the matter by sending a new one and refunding me the import tax (Jin Lian). Yai. AA still hawe EMS shipping for EU, but the prices are higher for EU citizens as some EU retailers or even some Japanese stores (CDJAPAN...). Lucky you. I pay taxes and services for every shipment plus tax on shipping from whatever and whichever shop which is absurd. So I mainly buy from EU retailers, for not to go through pain in the but. SolarisJapan prices have been expensive lately, especially after the release of the figure. Their option of lowering the price for a lower import tax therefore no longer helps competition. Btw: lowering the price consequently has a direct impact on the value of the shipment insurance. ............ I could say more, but I won't because the video is intended primarily for North Americans. But I will say: you lucky ones who pay about 10% less for a figure, and significantly less for shipping , not to mention taxes (type fedex for a Canadian!). Smurf
I love that I found a Canadian collector ! It's so nice to hear things in our damn Canadian dollars lol
This video is gonna help me a LOT with collecting. ty 🤣
I'm glad! Happy collecting!
@@GwynCollects q
I can answer the question why Japanese website always look like they are still stuck in the 90s. Japanese culture as a whole does not like change very much, that is why communications within companies are still being done by fax machines instead of just emails. Dont get me wrong, everyone uses emails, but if you are sending something formal and want to be seen as professional, they will require you to fax it to them. The lack of want to change the old ways is also why Japanese people still uses stamps as a form of identification/signature. Following by that logic, website look like they are from the 90s simply because to the culture, that is just how professional website is suppose to look. If it aint broken, dont fix it.
Thanks for the insight!
It's just that faxes are included as a function in printers and copiers that are popular in Japan. Every workplace has printers and copiers, and as a result faxes are everywhere, but they are rarely used.
Isn't fax attached to copiers in other countries?
It’s ridiculous.
@@gbioabngd That's rude, It's just a part of their culture. I personally think that the website layout is quite charming
That doesn't really make any sense though...Sure, many parts of Japanese culture is slow to adapt, things like women's and LGBTQ rights, but how can you say technology? The fax thing is odd, but it's Japan. They were using mobile phones with internet connectivity years before the iphone took over the world. When I was living there in 2009 kids were watching TV on their mobile phones, while I had a shitty Nokia. Anyway, I googled the reason and someone suggested it was due to the writing system, while someone else said it was how Asians read websites..Who knows. Saying it's cos they're stuck in the past doesn't really compute with a society that adopt other tech so fast.
Solaris can be expensive but I find buying at the right time is important! I recently saw a figure that looked incredible for around €100 and when there was only 3 days left before she released, they discounted it and it dropped to around €85!
I think their second hand prices are a bit much and are more often than not the same or close brand new.
Also they have a preorder DISCOUNT that lasts usually about a month (depends on release date, so it could be longer) that CONSIDERABLY marks prices down. Eg: Ahri LOL Apex figure? On AmiAmi she's about 180. Solaris? She's below 160 thanks to the preorder discount. They have constant special offer sales too so once you do a lil homework on it Solaris can be a viable option!
Thanks so much! I was scared of ordering from amiami but now I have a better understanding of which shipping method to select.
Solaris is my go-to store for anime figures. There are some insane prices there sometimes, but I usually find the figures there for less money, the shipping packaging is great and they had some figures I couldn't find elsewhere (for example the Gintama figures, that either are sold out or insanely expensive on other sites).
Thanks so much for the video! It really helped me out. I changed one of my AmiAmi pre-orders from DHL to Air Small Packet because of you. I’ve seen those options there for a little bit now but I haven’t known if they were trustworthy again so I’d been suffering DHL prices on more orders than I probably needed to. My collecting journey has been kind of bumbling but I’ve learned a lot with the help of cool people online sharing. Love what you’re doing!
Thank you!
First time figure buyer here - thanks for the overview! I was so confused by all the shipping options on AmiAmi. Ended up going with Solaris for faster shipping and paying up front.
Thank you for the video! This helped me out a ton. I've been buying from only crunchyroll or at conventions, because I didn't even know about the other websites!
This video was really, really informative. Thank you so much! I've been collecting everything from1/3 scale statues to anime figures and action figures for a long while and I had no idea what the differences were with the different shipping companies other than generally how quick they are. Thank you for clearing all of that up, it makes so much sense now. Btw, if you ever get dinged with those ridiculous FedEx handling/brokerage fees again, push back. Every time that happens to me I just call them and ask them to give me a breakdown of what the fees are for. When they mention the handling fees I ask them what I'm actually paying for there, and when they can't really explain it, I ask them to waive them. So far they always have.
The shipping cost with Amiami is always a pain. I remember my first ever order casually choosing DHL for shipping. Payment Request coming in and the shipping cost was 13000 Yen meanwhile EMS was 6500 Yen. Funfact in my Country the shipping cost is added to the product price and then taxed all together :)
Just imagine paying taxes for 13000 Yen shipping
hers a tip (two years late) just ship items one at a time
package size is a MASSIVE factor in international shipping
still can be ludocrous but if you can get a pre owned figure or model at "small parcel air" shipping prices youre laughing as you save %40+ over usa gundam store or big bad toy store
For TOM in US, they show you the shipping cost at check out and from my experience it tends to be average $10 for the cheapest option. I haven't bought big scale figures so the shipping cost might change. Additionally, they have free shipping option for total cost $150+. You can combine In-stock and preorders to meet the free shipping. Also for preorders, they charge you upfront at the checkout.
TOM RECENTLY changed their shipping policy. In short: shipping charges per figure have increased rather dramatically. You can only combine for free shipping for over $150s together for products being released on the same month or buying instock figures totaling $150+. If you use your TOM points, your total after redeeming points should be above $150 to get free shipping. Additionally this new free shipping option is the slowest shipping option through seas parcels for figures coming from their Japan warehouse.
How long on average does the cheapest shipping option take?
@@pablolee2252 about 3 months from Japan
This is very late, but thank you for this information! My friend recently got the Annual TOM membership and he sent me screenshots of his orders but I was wondering how he was able to get free shipping. Meanwhile, I’m still using amiami
@@RenKohana I still buy some stuff from amiami and some from TOM depending on how higher up the price is on TOM and how quickly I want it. TOM tends to be Slower shipping than amiami shipping
Year later but I love TOM the free shipping is a god send for bigger scale figures placed on pre order, it pays for itself I feel especially with their points system. I rather buy small figures like Nendoroids, prize figures etc in US shipped websites like Entertainment Earth, Figurise, Crunchyroll etc but the bigger $100+ figures are so worth it on TOMs website
This was extremely helpful. Thanks. I ended up paying like 60 usd for a 100 usd figure and now I know why! 😬
Thanks for including Australia in your video! 💖 Hard to find good guides out there for Aus
Thanks for making this video Gwen. You are a wealth of information! My boyfriend and I have been after Pyrah Nikos for a while and now I know where to look!
This is the best in depth and practical tips for beginner collectors. I only figured out amiami's preowned system after a week since I started checking out that section everyday
DHL is fast with AmiAmi but if you order anime figures on Amazon Japan they will ship with DHL as well with global priority shipping for no more than 3055 yen. Its awesome!!! I get my figures in like 2 days!!
As an American I typically think Ami Ami is the way to go for pre-orders. DHL shipping can be expensive but other retailers end up charging more their figures in comparison anyways so there's not that much difference by the end. Plus you get your stuff in a couple of days like Gwyn says. Otherwise, I will usually use Crunchyroll just because I have a membership which gives a small discount.
Thanks for this video, I was unsure about Amiami for a while but your video has definitely gotten me to try out the site with some good knowledge :)
Also, TOM is pretty good (atleast for US), I got a few figures there at really good prices, sometimes cheaper than their retail price though this is on figures that have already been released previously. Their point system is really nice plus you can do their premium for a month free to get a few good deals as well, their shipping is pretty fast and nothing comes damaged. I have yet to do preorders but again if you take advantage of TOM's offers, its a pretty good deal.
toms point system changed over the years. you used to get 40x points back on certain times like christmas. they however charged way more compared to other retailers. now the prices seem more comparable to others but the points are generally less now.
Thanks for all of this information, It's really helpful for people planning to start anime figs collecting like me. 😊
This was really helpful! Especially with the Pre-Owned Items sections/sites, since there are a few figures I really want but were released a while ago.
I’ve always been scared of ordering from Japan since you never know what might go wrong, but I might try it after watching this video!
Wow, love this video, gave me all the information I needed so I can purchase anime characters, thank you so much !
Thank you so so much for this in-depth video! Especially that it’s super recent in regards to shipping delays :))
Thanks for making this. I just ordered my first figure from Amiami and this information helped a bunch!
Great video! I've been collecting for more or less a year or so, and in that time I've pretty much exclusively used Goodsmile US. Never was a fan of Amiami's layout but I took another look today. Definitely something to consider. Also ordered from Solaris Japan an hour ago and they always seem to have everything that is otherwise out of stock/scalped to hell and back.
Thank you so much I’ve been looking for solid info on figure websites for awhile now.
Solaris is crazily expensive! I'm with you 100%!!!
thanks for this video, I decided to use DHL for my first time getting a figure from amiami and I have been worrying about how it worked or how bad it would be. I'm a little relieved now
You are good, great explanations
I really enjoy your videos. These ones are very helpful. I stumbled on some of these sites on my own. Still very much a newbie. And great to hear advice from a fellow Canadian.
I would mention that mandrake, the shipping quote you can ask to change the shipping method provided there is alternative
I’m brand new to getting statues & figures so it’s great you have a list of companies you buy from, I was searching for Nendroid’s and found the Big Bad Toy Store in the US, so I just bought a whole load of stuff from there over the last few days, 10 different Nendroid’s, two 1/8 scale King & Ban from Seven Deadly Sins statues, one 1/8 Rengoku Demon Slayer statue, 3 Pop Up Parade Demon Slayer figures, 3 Pop Up Parade Seven Deadly Sins figures.
But I’m new to Pre-Orders, and all of these things have different release dates, I ordered all those stuff in like 6 different purchases & assumed they’d just ship in 6 shipments, but that’s not how it’s going to work, they’re going to ship as each one is ready. And I’ve already got 3 of them shipped at $32 for each one, so this is going to get expensive haha.
Some websites allow you to combine orders into one shipping. Not sure how exactly that works because I am new too. I assume they'd put aside your items when they're available in some kind of warehouse... I'm still trying to work this out.
It's extremely easy for newbies to pay extra money on this rather expensive hobby. I bought my first nendoroid from a local store for a horribly inflated price. Not sure why they priced it so high because it's a legit partner store, not some random dude from Facebook market... But anyway. I just accept the fact that I hadn't done my research properly and had paid to learn that lesson.
Still happy with the figure tho. Just couldn't stay mad while looking at a chibi cute face
Great video!! 😃
I've only had bad experiences with DHL (mostly ordering Formula 1 merch from Europe). Living as a renter in rural Alberta made DHL a pain in the ass. While other couriers like FedEx, Purolator, and UPS tend to have drop-off locations in local drug stores, DHL only has a few in the province. My nearest DHL point was over 60 kms away, so unless I was able to be home at delivery time, it was the worst of all couriers to deal with (my building has no ability to remotely open the front door by phone). I guess the takeaway is that service will vary depending on your local situation.
this video was soooo helpful. I swear every figure I like is hard to find 🤬 so, Solaris is great for me! thank you
This video was unbelievably helpful
I know it sounds weird but my focus was on your glasses the whole vid hhh... just so satisfyingly clean
Impressed with the stuff on Solaris, I find stuff that is sold out everywhere else. Just the prices are obscene 😅😂
Thanks for this, I recently got into repainting anime figures and trying to get them at a reasonable price here in the uk can be a real challenge
Another thing with Crunchyroll, is you can buy with Sezzle on preorders and in stock items. You get the item now and pay off over time. I love it.
This video reaaaaally helped me (even though I'm from Europe). Thank you so much Gwyn!
The website has thousands of figures to choose from and u can do a little research on mandarake so you have an idea how much that figure is worth so u don’t overpay. It would help if u can read a little Japanese so u know the condition on some of the big ticket items.
Hi there. Stumbled upon your content only a couple of days ago, and I really enjoyed the myriad of figure-related subjects that you presented, as they are all relevant to the things I face myself when it comes to buying/collecting. I first started 15-odd years ago (on and off) and I was so clueless then - which ended up with me owning a few fakes! Your content also makes me feel that I am not alone in the attempt to not get overwhelmed with the number of new figures I like that are available for preorder on amiami/GS/TOM lol. Looking forward to more of your videos!
Thank you! I know how overwhelming it can be!
Just would like to add (wrt to DHL = customs charge / EMS = no customs charge) - for any of your viewers who are from the UK and are new to importing figures, UK buyers have to pay tax regardless of the courier method. JP Post transfers to UK's Parcelforce where the UK Customs have a presence at the central depot and anything over GBP18 / ¥2800-ish has VAT (goods tax).
IF no one has said this yet - Chara-Ani is pronounced the English way as the katakana is kyara-ani / キャラアニ. Apologies if you already know this by now! :)
I love AmiAmi and order from them all the time, I’m in The UK and they have Air parcel (registered) which is amazing I use it a lot and so far have not have any issues, I personally wouldn’t use any shipping that isn’t tracked as I’d be to nervous 😅
Ik this was really long ago but I’m from the UK and just ordered a 1/8 scale love live figure today and choose air small packet registered do you know how much the shipping will cost ?
@@hanogami it does depend but usually a small air registered packet will cost around 2,000 yen so about £13 or so it can be less can be more just depends on the size of the figure and the box it’s in, hope this helps 🤗
@@sarahk246 thank you this did help I just
hope it’s not to much money 😭
I'm from the UK as well, I'm just getting into collecting and wondered how much is shipping from AmiAmi is do they do it on weight or size or both? I really want to get a few expensive big ones but don't want to be hit with a massive shipping cost at checkout!
100% accurate on that Fedex call from Koto. DO NOT ship via this method. I learned the hard way myself. The shipping was almost as much as the figure.
Thank yo uso much, amazing info!
14:03
This depends on if dimensional weight is applied, it's also called volumetric weight
I think that there's an annual fee for FedEx frequent shipper membership for customs brokerage&handling but they actively NOT advertise it. So for that brokerage fee, instead of paying for it, u can pay for that if u have a lot of items on the way. Depending on the situation if u frequently order online from international sites. The person on the counter when u pick it up will NOT tell you it's cheaper unless you ask for it.
✨ This helped me so much thank you!!! ✨
wow this is amazing content, as someone new to the hobby, thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Yeah 🤯🤯🤯
Thanks for the recommendation information! It was really informative. I was wondering if you'd ever do anime reviews?
I have definitely thought about branching out a little bit into more general anime content!
I love your videos! I hope you would get more subscribers in the future☺️
I haven't found Solaris to be that much more expensive, i do appreciate that they lay out all the costs up front though. Postage can be frustrating sometimes, as they have 3 options - ship, plane and super fast plane? And sometime the only options are cheapest and most expensive, ship and super plane, i just want regular please ='D
I also find unlike Amiami, figures hang around for a lot longer, there's many figures I'd like sold out on amiami right now that i could just order from solaris no problem. the pre-owned section is very robust and frequently has sales, some up to 40% off, it hasn't let me down yet.
I also like that you can tell them to pretend the package is worth less, i live in the UK, so you get import taxes on delivers over a certain prices and you can use that tool to dupe the post office, i think my record is £220 statue with no import tax, i just said it was only worth £100 XD
Mandarake will tell u the shipping at check out if it’s the sahra store because it’s at a warehouse and not in a physical store
You did not mention the quirk of checking what store the items that you want from Mandarake are located. Mandarake does not group orders from separate stores into a single shipment; therefore, it is important to try and order as much of what you want from a single store as possible.
Okay this helps a lot since I preorder Komi San scale 1/7 and Gawr Gura pop up parade they come in June 2023!!
Thank you for the information !!!
really great and informative video, ez sub
Thank you so much!
I've heard a few people say solaris japan is more expensive. But I've just pre ordered a tokyo revengers nendroid and it was cheaper than amiami and nin nin. I do like that you have option to reduce invoice figure price too for customs tax purposes!
NZ here I use AmiAmi also because I didn't know many other places to buy from got one figure this morning waiting for the other 4 uwu
Very informative video! Thank you!
Idk why it never occurred to me that Funimation also has a store haha
I haven't bought anything from AmiAmi yet, but I do have a Slam Dunk figure pre-ordered from them releasing in June. And I'm very excited for that! So I'm hoping everything goes smoothly! :D
Very informative, thank you very much
THANKS!! LOVE YOU!!
Hi. Spot on reviews. TOM WAS good when you could use your points all at once. I didn’t mind paying just a little more for a figure with them. every few purchases I would basically get a free figure using points. However now they limited the amount of points you can use per transaction. Making the monthly fees and overall price increase not worth it. Honestly its borderline scamming. I haven’t used TOM in quite a while now. Believe it or not my best purchases lately have been on ebay. People that collect these generally do an amazing job taking care of them. Many sellers have overly detailed descriptions that will let you know of the smallest defect. Great video for new collectors. I even learned something about the preowned market I didn’t know.
I recently got two figures from a collector and I have to agree that people are awesome to buy from. He kept the boxes and everything! I'm glad you were able to take something away from this video!
@@GwynCollects Oh yes definitely. So far everything you have put up has been well done. You are pointing out a lot of good aspects of the hobby besides just the figures themselves. Looking forward to more.
One thing I like about TOM is if you order is above 150 us dollar(which is the case for most figures today), you get free shipping, even if the item is in their japanese warehouse.
really? I went to buy an 166$ figure and the shipping was 100$
Go to buyee and clip on mercari, consolidate your packages cause they store them in a warehouse and choose lite plan which would make it cheaper and surface mail them for tracking and I bought a whole punch of stuff and sometimes they have coupons where u buy more than 3000 yen and they wave the service fee which I used , the point is u can use more than one coupon to ship your packages. I shipped a combined package as big as me and got almost free shipping averages like one dollar shipping for each figure. Check it out ,u gonna love it.
I have personal experience with some US figure stores that you may have checked out and if not you should are Big Bad Toy Store and Lunar toy store. BBTS was probably the best site to get limited japanese figures back in the day, but now more sites offer most figures. The only complaint I've heard is where orders were canceled because the figure didn't arrive to them, but they gave full refunds. It'll suck if you can't find that figure again but it's a risk no matter what (had it with cunchyroll before). Happened to me when they canceled angewomans figure to the US completely and had to wait for a reasonable price as a preowned. I used to order most of my figures from crunchyroll, but they've changed a lot and isn't what it used to be. They'd offer free shipping for certain preorders on their weekly deals and sometimes with a nice little sale price, so ordering smaller figures there was worth it. Now a days I use other sites with better shipping to order figures. Ukiyo Kumo and Sure thing toys are also US sites that have good prices and reasonable shipping prices. Fortunately, Sure thing toys has free shipping but they only ship within the US though.
You're right with AmiAmi's shipping. Solaris japan is wayy cheaper to buy from for me because of the shipping costs. I also hate that I have to email them and ask for a shipping estimate for a specific item, despite the fact that they have a shipping estimate box in the checkout, like what even is the point of having that if I'm just going to get "To Be Determined" each time
I can see that Azur Lane Jean figure i really want.
I ordered from AmiAmi for the first time about a week ago and I went for DHL.
Solaris Shipping price for me was ridiculous over AmiAmi
So which one better?
@@SpikeTheWolf I’d say AmiAmi. Solaris is still a good place to shop online. Only thing I don’t like about Solaris is the high shipping prices. They charged me twice for shipping ¥2,300 and ¥1,777. The figure I ordered was worth the price tag
I buy from ukiyokumo. They r pretty decent and shipping is free if you spend 100+
I live in the UK so Mandarake is king above all for me, they provide a service on par with AmiAmi, prices lower than theirs and actual shipping prices that are presented to you before you request your order from them.
I like Right stuff that you did not have and think is good. nice to see you in the future. God bless you from Puerto Rico
Good tips. I just bought a 1/4 scale Full metal panic bunnygirl from Amiami. 15,840y worked out the rough postage on weight at 3,000-4000y. Invoice arrived....6120y !! Crazy. BUT in the UK the figure is between £220-£300 and this cost me £155. So i still saved a bunch of money. Solaris is wierd at checkout couldn't work that out!
That is pretty high but that's still the cheapest DHL I've seen for a bunny! Amiami definitely overpacks their figures which might be why it was higher than you expected.
Hello.
I am selling figures from Japan to overseas.
I am glad to know well about famous figure sites in Japan.
I watched your video and thought that the business I am running on a daily basis might be useful, so I am commenting.
I sell 3000 figures every month to overseas via ebay, and I sometimes purchase from ami ami and mandarake.
When shipping overseas, the price depends on the volume (height, width, depth), so if I send the package as it arrives from ami ami or mandarake, the shipping cost will be much higher, so I ship it in the proper cardboard size.
For example, for a Nendoroid, if it is from ami ami or mandarake, it will probably cost 34 CAD by EMS or 50-60 CAD by DHL to ship it to Canada.
Our company can reduce the volume by packing the figure to the proper size before shipping, reducing the shipping cost to 30 CAD by EMS and 35-4 CAD by DHL.
For the US, the shipping cost is even lower and can be sent for 20-23USD by FedEx.
In addition, since we visit Japanese figure websites every day, we can immediately purchase the figures that international figure collectors are looking for.
Would figure collectors appreciate this kind of packing and shipping service?
Love your channel 👍👍👍
My last interaction with AmiAmi back in 2020 was when they wanted 150$ for shipping a single 50$ model kit... (now obviously early covid era was a mess, but they also deleted my account since i refused paying 200$ on a model kit and never bothered with them since).
I always avoid buying from other countries. Tax, shipping, and customs can be expensive! Instead I stay tuned on ecommerce websites. Whenever there's discount, I will buy some. And only from big local stores... Last year, I saved up to USD100!
Correction: If you are a sentient being, do not order shipping with FedEx. They also tend to break your items if the handler didn’t package it properly and it’s heavier than 40lbs. Though this was an incident I had with an IBM Selectric typewriter I had ordered.
For Brazil DHL can be cheaper than surface parcel because of incosistency in Taxes.
I can shed some light on the brokerage fee. That is the cost of for the customs broker that had to prepare an entry to clear your goods through CBSA. The US has a similar process with CBP. Commerical carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL) will usually file entries on goods being imported, whereas the mail system works a little differently. Value can play a role as does your countries particular legislation around imports.
You can buy anything from anywhere... Only things matter is money amd authentic source
Regarding the scrolling on Amiami pre-owned, grab the extension that auto loads the pages instead of having to load each page separately - chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/amiami-enhancement-suite/paiknlbgfeeikbhepfbjigmiagpolmfg Also thank you so much for going through customs for the different shipping methods.
This is really helpful! Does this extension delay the page loading speed tho?
I have the Mai Aniplex Bunny Girl (pre-ordered her as soon as she appeared). I HIGHLY recommend getter her by "almost" any means necessary as she is extremely high quality and her best figure... so far.
I love all the Mai figures, I'm dying to get one ahh
Thanks for all the advice, btw you are really freaking cute. It hit me half way through video
Your glasses are pretty cute :P
We still get EMS from amiami here in New Zealand, but they actually changed my latest package to DHL on their own lol bc it was cheaper at the time 😂 defs wasn’t complaining
Is shipping expensive on amiami I want to order stuff but I’m not sure how much they charge for shipping
UK post is called Royal Mail
Currently, Solaris Japan is cheaper overall because the price is usually same price or very competitive for the figures and it is cheaper for shipping than the other ones. Trust me I checked. This will vary on part of the world and specific figures
Thanks for this
play-asia has some free shipping options for orders over 100usd this month
Good video love your voice, canada figure collector >>
I have an addiction to collecting figures, I recently bought 5 lol and looking to buy more
TOM has free shipping for things over 150 which is cool but they have this weird thing where u try to combine you order to equal 150 and it just doesnt put it in the same shipment, I had to switch out like 3 figures for it to work all in stock u.s. Ships free from Japan if its over 150 aswell
what is the quality of the preowned figures?
I ordered my first figure from Crunchyroll as well. Can’t say it’s more expensive for me though. I save at least $2 on nendoroids and maybe $10 for larger figures. Also, I get free shipping (USPS priority) for orders over $100. I don’t know if that applies to just premium subscribers though.
You also get $15 to $25 off every 3 months depending on your subscription plan(haven’t tried it yet). I just don’t like how they have a smaller selection than GSC or AmiAmi. Yeah the prices are a bit higher, but I think customs and taxes are part of the price. I don’t have to guess how much to pay for customs or taxes. What I pay is what I pay.
Hmm so which is better? I just found out about AmiAmi and I’m wondering if I should buy my figure from crunchyroll or amiami
I think cansuk is gonna make a huge change in the new commonwealth
Slow boat is better than no boat.
Amiami has surface shipping. That is a huge plus. So does HLJ.
For some pre-orders they only give you one option now for shipping and it’s DHL which is fine(because I can track my order) for me but pretty expensive sometimes depending on the order 😭
Hella expensive I ordered deep see miku with dhl just to see how much it actually is🙂 it was 232 just shipping and obviously I went with surface parcel 💀
I had a ‘bad’ experience with a used figure at AmiAmi which was in poorer condition as rated by their scale! After the complaint, they eventually corrected the matter by sending a new one and refunding me the import tax (Jin Lian). Yai.
AA still hawe EMS shipping for EU, but the prices are higher for EU citizens as some EU retailers or even some Japanese stores (CDJAPAN...).
Lucky you. I pay taxes and services for every shipment plus tax on shipping from whatever and whichever shop which is absurd. So I mainly buy from EU retailers, for not to go through pain in the but.
SolarisJapan prices have been expensive lately, especially after the release of the figure. Their option of lowering the price for a lower import tax therefore no longer helps competition. Btw: lowering the price consequently has a direct impact on the value of the shipment insurance.
............
I could say more, but I won't because the video is intended primarily for North Americans.
But I will say: you lucky ones who pay about 10% less for a figure, and significantly less for shipping , not to mention taxes (type fedex for a Canadian!).
Smurf