HobbyLink Japan

i dont get it from hlj it doesnt tell me how much shipping is.how do you guys work things in hlj.:biggrin:

There is a shipping estimate along with size measures for each product

you are looking at about 20% to 40% off the total shipping charge if you order 2 or more items.

When everything you order is in stock they will process with payments and work out a shipping charge till then.

Make a note that unless they got every single item on your list or it has been too long a wait (over 2 months) they will not ship,

but of cuz you could always ask for a partial shipment

just my experience with them

PS: they pack REALLY GOOD, everything arrived undamaged at all and it probably took me more time to unpack than for them to pack.

when i put my street adress AND EVRYTHING IT SAYS THIS........


We've got your order! Thank you very much!

Be sure to watch your mailbox for important e-mail from us.

Please note that this order will not be entered into our accounting systems and online order status system until June 13. At that time, we will send you an order confirmation message with your order number and other information.




do i have to wait for them to send me something?then i could buy the item?

They will send another E-mail stating that your order has been shipped,they will also give you a tracking number. It will show the cost of item and shipping in Yen.

so they will ship it first then ill have to pay:bloated: cuz i ont think it will work like that.they dont even give ma adress so i could send the money.

ops sorry my bad just checked my email.it told me evrything i needed to know

it can be confusing for the first time
At least it confused me

"send money"?
are you mailing a check or money order to Japan?
This process takes longer tho

Why not use credit card?
If not, Paypal is also a good choice.

I find the HLJ FAQ section is pretty comprehensive. If not they will be happy to entertain your questions.

yes, they take their time to tell you the final shipping price, but at least... you can see the shipping cost of each item by ups or sal, an if you want airmail instead of SAL, you must add a 20% (i think) and by EMS another %, aI dont remember, after this... if there are various items, you get a total discount of 20 or 30% more or less, this way... you have an idea of the shipping cost, hobbysearch is diferent, like they dont say any shipping cost.... for a decal clear of 5 sheets for printer, a polyester putty 120grs, tamiya putty 40grs, and a F-1 jordan 191 I've been charged 3700 yens!!! wich are....more or less... 31.5$ of shipping!!!!, I've never thought of such a expensive shipping, eventhough its trhough EMS, cause they say that SAL or Airmail takes about 1 or 2 months... and.... airmail from japan takes only a week to my house in spain, and sal only 17days exactly, so... 1 or 2 months.. makes me think about surface instead sal or airmail, and like surface is the worst... I have to select EMS, so.... eventhough they have better prices than hlj.... hlj is better since you can select airmail or sal, get the item in a reasonable time... and with good shipping costs. that's all folks :biggrin:

Umm....Ya, shipping can be a bitch on top of the nicely priced items.

I got my package about 9 days after I received my shipping notice from HLJ, and that was done with SAL. (ships do move fast lol )

Only con is that it is untrackable, (possibily uninsured??)

Originally posted by exhaust smoke
I find the HLJ FAQ section is pretty comprehensive. If not they will be happy to entertain your questions.

True - the FAQ is comprehensive to a point. But, as far as them entertaining any questions - I wouldn't depend on that. They took quite some time to get back to me on a shipping quote (cos I wanted to make sure I was pricing the order correctly) and the reply did not specify a shipping estimate as I queried.

hey i m in canada and is wondering how much they charge for custom tax (or do they not charge at all)??

I've never readed anything about taxes in the faq, but i my country there is no taxes charges, so... I cannot say it 100% sure, about shipping costs... I know, ebay sellers allways can say a shipping costs, sometimes a bit higher, but at least... you know exactly what are you gonna pay for the s&h, not in hobbylink or hobbysearch, as I said.... the last order to hobbysearch only for a 1/20 f1, a 120grs polyester putty and a 40grs tamiya putty, and 5 sheets of clear decal papers... they charged me about 36$!!!!!, pfffffff too much, but they almost charge you the same for EMS than for airmail or sal, so.... I only order here thinks that I dont found anywhere else, the first order was before knowing ebay, and this one for the reason told before, I didnt found the decals anywhere:frown:

I am also in Canada.

I was charged the GST and PST, and $5 handling fee,
total would have been about 20% of the total purchase.

After doing the math, it was still cheaper to get it from HLJ.


hope this helps

Hi Guys,

You all seem to be a little confused as to how to work out your shipping costs from HLJ or Hobby Search. Well firstly I would like to say I have only ordered from HLJ and found them exceptional.

Here is how it works, firstly when you place an order with them they will forward a copy of the order to you, this will not include the shipping costs simply because no has started packing your order. When they have physically packed and shipped your order they will send you another email to inform you so its from this date that you can expect your order and also they will tell you the cost of the shipping.

Now how they work out the shipping is this and I am open to correction on this. For an SAL package if the weight (inclusive of packaging, normally around 400g) is under 2KG and the Height + Length + Width is less then 90 cm then the most you will pay is 1080yen. So in HLJ they give you the weight and dimensions (Were applicable) of each item. Sal is perfectly fine even though they say it can take upto 2 months my last order arrived in two weeks to Ireland and it was in perfect condition.

HLj will also put items into the kit box to save on space and are even considerate enough to put a post-it on the kit box to tell you this. My last order was a 98 Monte Carlo Impreza, TS-50 spray paint, 1200 grit Sand paper and Modelers Decal fit. The Shipping came to 1080yen. Which Im sure you will agree is pretty reasonable. The whole lot including shipping was about €30, €5 less the average cost of a kit in the only decent hobby shop in Dublin.

So when you order from either of these companies use HLJ as a guide as to what the weights and dimensions are. A rough guide though is 2 kits and a couple of extras like rubbing compound sand paper and the like can fit in a SAL pack for about 1080 yen.

Ciaran

PS hope that helps a little and like I said I am open to correction

You're totally right with hlj, with them is quite easy to know your shipping costs, and an item sent by sal only takes to weeks to arrive to spain and in 10 condition, the problems comes with hobbysearch, cause there is no shipping costs to have an idea, you have to see them in hlj, but for the items like the decal sheet that hlj dont have, at least I havent seen it, you cannot know the total until you recieve the charge in your bank! pffff, is a really bad thing cause also as I said their sal and airmail chart prices ar almost the same as the EMS ones, but yes, with hlj you can know by a 90-95% the shipping cost, airmail.. add 20% to the sal price, if various items... discount a 25% of the total amount, and you get you shipping costs, and usually... they're lower than you had expected, no alike hobbysearch, I've asked them several times to say at least the weight of the item but the only thing that they do is in the faq, say that a 1/24 car, weight about 400grs, and its a half true, some boxes weight 380, others 460... and this over and over again... gives you an 100% unknow shipping cost.

Ah ok I understand what you mean. But surely you can get an idea of the weight and size of a set of decals from the HLJ website, maybe they wont be the ones you want to order but you would at least get some impression from them how much its going to cost. Im actually being put off from Hobby search hearing this. I know they have a greater selection of instock models but at least with HLJ you have an idea of what the whole thing will cost.

Ciaran

The problem is that it wasnt a decal sheet of studio 27 or something like that, it was a set of 5 sheet plus spray can to make my own decals, and.... no idea of the weight, but 1,3kgs for this, a jordan 1/20, 120grs of polyester putty, and 40grs of tamiya putty.... I found it really expensive, but they say that is correct, so... the decals must weight a lot, I rather like hlj, but as I said and you've just said, hobbysearch stock is very huge, they take a week more or less to ship, but.... they have a huge one, but I rather like to wait for hlj after this experience :frown:

Ah I understand now. I think if I was to just order kits from Hobby Search I would be safe enough. The other thing I like about HLJ is the fact I can get Tamiya spray paints. I dont believe there is anywhere in Ireland that sells Tamiya paints which is a real bummer. Cause I just tried TS-50 on the Impreza I got and its brilliant, bummer is I ran out of the paint and Im not finished painting the bloody thing.

Have you tried Rainbow Ten, I believe they have a good selection like Hobby Search but at HLJ prices and I think they will give you an estimate of how much the shipping will be.

Ciaran

I didnt know this site, I'm checking it out right now, a bit confusing to navigate though. For paints... I use somes ts from tamiya, here is a local shop that still has some, but... very few, and are not gonna stock again, so I'll have to order to an online shop also from spain cause I have to order also paints, and hlj doesn have paints, they say that due to airmail restricition burning items cannot be shipped, but... they do with the spray :confused: and they're more more dangerous than a bottle of paint, the spray has the paint, but also have gas!, I dont understand it, anyway, as I said I have to order paints, so I'll also order a few ts's, but I'm gonna check the ts price at hlj, the shipping.... so I'll see if for nex sprays I'll order them from hlj, btw I use duplicolor ones, they have more paint than tamiya ones, and are cheaper, not as good as tamiya, and need primer, if not..... your plastic screws up :biggrin2:

Well I just looked and Ifigure a dozen cans of TS paint by SAL would be about €50 (Its so cool we talk about the same currency). Which isnt to bad in my books considering I cant get it here. Where in spain would you order from I would just be curious would it be any cheaper for me to order from mainland Europe. I agree its very strange about there decision not to sell the acrylic paints. I wouldnt have thought they would be flammable anyway, well certianly not as much as TS paints.

The Rainbow Ten site is confusing but the list of products is what they have in stock at the moment so as you can see its quite large. You can send them an inquiry email about certian items with the item details and they will just email you back giving you an idea of how much it will cost including shiping.

I was turned off Dupli-colour after trying their White primer, I shook the can well and all that came out was lacquer. Very Strange.


Ciaran

The site is www.misterhobby.com , I've still not checked if with hobbylink should be cheaper, the cans in this shop retails for 8€, a bit expensive, the local shop has them for 7€, but as I said, they're running out of stockk and arent gonna bring more. The cans are in the tamiya section on the left menu at the bottom, accesorio pintura espray esmalte is what you must click to see the sprays, but I think that the international shipping is a bit expensive, but check it by yourself :wink:

About the duplicolor... yes, the primer is the worst thing I've ever seen, is lacquer!!!, so.... it screws up the plastic like the normal colour, I had to return one to the shop, eventhough they said that I've already used it, how can I test something without using it???!!! :confused: so.... I asked for the manager, and he told me that the agent of duplicolor would phone me, and he did it, and he gives me the reason, duplicolor primer doesnt fits tamiya plastic models!! :thefinger so... the shop had to return me the 12€! :biggrin: but I still use duplicolor paints, but bought in another shop :biggrin: I use tamiya J.A Grey as primer with my airbrush, and works perfectly :wink: . But returning to the shop... they should return me the 12€ to keep a good brand image, this way they had to return me the money, but... I'll never buy anything there again you know.

yea Shipping is quite easy to figure out.. I was expecting about 18-20$CND for my order, and finally cost 20.15$CND for 2 kit + 2 spraycan of Primer. but i'm still waiting for it.. been shipped 10 days ago

If you asked to be shipped by sal... its normal 10 days, some countries gets the order sonner, but for example to spain takes 17days, so dont worry

i know.. I expect it around 20 day.. after this I will start to scream :icon16:

I just sent a question to HLJ... maybe you guys can answer it as I'm a little anxious about it and it's probably about 2am over in Japan...

When I first placed this order, the C-west RX-7 was in stock, but the Tamiya compound was on backorder. Now, the C-west is listed as backorder as well. Has one of these kits been reserved for me?


Thanks guys.

PS... didn't want to make a new thread for something as useless to others as this....

Originally posted by DSM-Mark
I just sent a question to HLJ... maybe you guys can answer it as I'm a little anxious about it and it's probably about 2am over in Japan...



Thanks guys.

PS... didn't want to make a new thread for something as useless to others as this....

look in there system.. you will see if it's in Low quantity or back order..

the C-West RX7 turn to back order as soon they ship mine.. look like i got the last one :thefinger

Originally posted by Vric


look in there system.. you will see if it's in Low quantity or back order..

the C-West RX7 turn to back order as soon they ship mine.. look like i got the last one :thefinger

Hmmmmmm, I hope not......... I'm hoping that when they input my order into their system, it takes the quantity available and subtracts one... even though that one hasn't been shipped yet, it has been "claimed". That better be the case, or I'll be pissed!!!! The only reason they didn't ship mine right away was because I want Tamiya Compound as well, and it's out of stock!!! :comprage1

Originally posted by DSM-Mark


Hmmmmmm, I hope not......... I'm hoping that when they input my order into their system, it takes the quantity available and subtracts one... even though that one hasn't been shipped yet, it has been "claimed". That better be the case, or I'll be pissed!!!! The only reason they didn't ship mine right away was because I want Tamiya Compound as well, and it's out of stock!!! :comprage1

when I made my order, the tamiya paint TS-51 wasn't in stock.. so I just cancelled it since I can find it here for 2$ more..

if you want your order fast, you sall cancell what is not in stock, but it's too late :biggrin:

Sorry to say that the RX-7 probably was not reserved for you

sometimes HLJ ship items in the order they receive the orders.

But if your order contains some "backordered" items they ship the first available items to whomever with a complete "in stock" list of items.

That way they do not have so many "pending" orders lying around.

Originally posted by Vric


when I made my order, the tamiya paint TS-51 wasn't in stock.. so I just cancelled it since I can find it here for 2$ more..

if you want your order fast, you sall cancell what is not in stock, but it's too late :biggrin:

Ya, I knew it would take a little longer, but compound is pretty common and regularly made, so I'm sure HLJ will get more in stock pretty quick.

I just hope they reserved a C-west for me!!!

Originally posted by Tea
Sorry to say that the RX-7 probably was not reserved for you

sometimes HLJ ship items in the order they receive the orders.

But if your order contains some "backordered" items they ship the first available items to whomever with a complete "in stock" list of items.

That way they do not have so many "pending" orders lying around.

Arrrrghhh...... you're not making me happy. rotten Japan clock being 16 hours ahead of me and all those guys contently sleeping in their beds (or futons...) I want an answer now!!!

:thefinger

HLJ is really good! Their model kit maybe a bit more expensive than some other website but their shipping is MUCH CHEAPER compare to most others and fast! Usually takes less than two weeks from order to the parcel appears on my desk! And they always reply my email withihn 1-2 days. I've ordered a Mercedes Benz A-Class model recently and for some reason i received a EvoVI kit instead. I wrote them an email telling them about this and guess what? they reply to me applogise and sent the correct one to me on the same day (no charge of course) and "Please keep the mistaken Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI kit, with our compliments."!!!! Awesome customer service. (Rather than being silly and ask me to send it back to them and they pay for the shipping) I'm really impressed!!!:bigthumb:

Thanks for that doraemon....we might have the same currency now but unfortunately I still cant speak spanish...LOL but I think it would be still cheaper for me to go through HLJ.

As for the primers and duplicolor I might try them again but I need to find out if PlastiKote plastic pimer would be alright to use under Dupli-Color lacquer my guess is no. I Know there is a PlastiKote Metal primer but Im sure that would just melt the palstic aswell.

Anyway thanks for that info again.

Ciaran

not at all dublinguy :wink: , and as I said, for primer you can use tamiya acrilic paint, works really well, I've used it with my last project, honda nsx castrol. Dont worry about spanish, at least... I can speak in english, more or less :biggrin: And yes, is better for you to order to hlj, for me this time isnt, cause as I said, I'll order too tamiya acrilic paint that hlj doesnt have :confused: and they have more in stock than hlj, I dont understand the low stock that they have, in models... maybe, but also with the ts's :confused:

Yellow15, I had the same "problem" with hlj, ordered a gundam 1/100, and they send 1/144, I told him, and said the same to me, keep the mistaken item with our compliments, and the sent me the correct item the same day, eventhough they was out of stock at this moment :biggrin: so.... I hope that they make all the mistakes that they can!!!!! :bigthumb: