Regarding HLJ's new shipping policies...

One of the reasons I chose to use HLJ as the primary source of modelings things from Japan was because it used UPS shipping at a reasonable cost and reasonable delivery time (often within two or three days of shipping notification) and provided tracking numbers so that I could be sure where my order was at all times.

Now that HLJ has been forced to switch to SAL and EMS, then they are no different from the other importers located in Japan like Rainbow Ten and Hobby Search. And Hobby Search, in general, has lower prices than HLJ.

HLJ still has the advantage of having a staff fluent in English, being founded by an American, and still have a very nice account checking system, and keep a big inventory of models compared to the other Japanese webstores. So will you still use HLJ in the future, or will you move on to other stores?

I have done business with HLJ since 1995 and have ordered from Rainbow Ten twice, Hobby Search once, MediaMix once.
I would like to see HLJ's prices get in line with Hobby Search, it seems HLJ have inched there prices up over the years. I will probably continue most of my ordering from HLJ due to the excellent service I've gotten, and some with the others considering they stock some unique items.

Seems like Hobby Search isn't getting the new releases in very quick, I wonder if those two big hobby distributors that bankrupted has put a kink in things over there. Of course their demise indicates an economic crunch, and has to trickle down to shops that retail the stuff.

I would like to see HLJ's prices get in line with Hobby Search, it seems HLJ have inched there prices up over the years. I will probably continue most of my ordering from HLJ due to the excellent service I've gotten, and some with the others considering they stock some unique items. I very much agree; I shall continue to buy from them.:smile:

I have ordered from HLJ for a year and a half, the main reason I began to order from HLJ was because of there great prices, selection, and shipping. I am sure I will place an order sooner or later, but first I would like to see how much more the shipping rate is going to be. Has anyone on this forum ever use EMS or SAL.:confused:

i like hlj, cause they package things so nicely!

I've ordered allways by sal or by airmail, and by sal you only have to see the price on the item window, if you order various items you should discount about 25% of the total shipping cost, but if you want it by sal.... first you must add a 100% of the shipping cost more or sal, I only use EMS in hobbysearch, cause they airmail prices are almost the same, very very expensive! :mad: in hlj I use both of them (air and sal) for example, the last order was an Aegis Gundam 1/100 and a Yamato 1/200, the battleship has a very high shipping (and price) cost, so I asked to be shipped by SAL, only took 17days to arrive, in some countries less, but in others more, If I order by airmail only takes 7~9 days.