For over two years now, I’ve been ordering figures and other miscellaneous goods through HobbyLink Japan. They’re usually reasonably priced, they package their goods really well, and the shipping is usually quite reasonable too. There’s one problem though: they are so fucking slow. I’m getting pretty sick of it. Pre tl;dr summary: The rest of this entry is composed of a rant about how slow HLJ are and a request for suggestions for other retailers to order through instead.
I don’t know if it’s their software sucking or something else, but they seem to take exorbitant amounts of time to get around to listing new items for preorder, and when they get stock they take ages to process it. Seems like they only ship on Fridays or something. Additionally they will often get stuff in, have it marked as ‘in stock’ or ‘low stock’ or sometimes even ‘backordered’ on the site, but it won’t be marked as ‘in processing’ on your account until days later. Also, because they only seem to actually process stuff one day a week, if you’re like me and deliberately have a card with a really low limit for buying online and they try and charge you and there’s not enough cash available, it will often be a week before they try again. Meanwhile you’ve fixed the issue within minutes of getting an email from them - often I’ve actually fixed the problem before getting an email, but even their fucking mail system is slow.
You know, I didn’t mind the slowness as much when I first started buying from HLJ. I think that since then they’ve gotten progressively slower and slower. And I’m really starting to get frustrated. It’s been weeks since they last processed an order, due to moving warehouses, and then they’re not processing anything at the moment either because it’s a fucking holiday. Additionally it’s been even longer since they got around to putting up new figures on their site for preorder. There’s a whole pile that I want to order, and because HLJ are so slow with this shit, I’m worried that if I miss out ordering with them because something’s popular (which happened with several figures before) then by that stage everyone else will have had things for ages and will also be sold out. It sucks.
Additionally, despite having been a regular customer for over two years, spending ~$200-300 every month with them, I’ve never seen a single special offer, coupon, or communication from them beyond shipping receipts. Compare this to Play-Asia for example, who seem to give out $5 off coupons at the drop of a hat. Do they actually want me to continue to shop with them?
Anyway, I’m thinking that I might move my business to somewhere else, and I’m looking for some suggestions. Requirements:
- not located in the US. I’m in Australia, so their prices usually include the amount they’ve paid to get it to the US to begin with, plus shipping takes a lot longer from the US than it does from Japan, and costs more.
- not slow as all buggery
- decent prices
- international shipping (obviously) without breaking the bank
- Site in english so I at least have a reasonable chance of being able to communicate in the event of a problem
- Preferably a decent website interface
- not J-list because their wapanese bullshit annoys me.
At the moment, I’m tossing up between Play-Asia and Hobby Search. The main issue that I see with Play-asia (who I know are a good company, I order games from them sometimes) is that they don’t seem to have the same variety that HLJ stock. Hobby Search have good prices and are pretty fast with their stuff, but I’ve never ordered from them before and I don’t know anyone who has. Though I do have the Shuraki Mishiro Akatsuki re-issue ordered with them (because HLJ took ages to list the re-issue and having missed out on every other Shuraki figure I didn’t want to miss out AGAIN).
I pretty much agree with everything you said about HLJ. They do nice product descriptions but their response time is sub-par. Also, most of the discounted figures that I ordered from them had at least one defect - silly me thinking they were overstocked.
Besides the two retailers you mentioned, I can only think of two more off the top of my head.
YesAsia are apparently decent but I haven’t ordered from them.
Tamarket have higher prices than direct yen-to-A$ conversion but when the lower cost of shipping is factored in it kinda works out, plus they’re located in Melbourne. (disclosure: I do some work for them at conventions)
I know about Tamarket. Their prices are way too high to justify, and they have nowhere near the stock that I need.
YesAsia utterly ream you for shipping and have inflated prices.
I’m thinking it’s going to end up being Hobby Search, but I’m hesitant to jump their way without having heard any feedback about them at all.
You might want to check out http://www.hobbystock.jp/ and http://www.1999.co.jp, whom seem to have an english version of thier page nowdays too. Hard to say about service level as I’ve only used them a few times myself, though.
As for HLJ, they’re apparently in the process of moving to a new warehouse, so yes, they’re “supposed” to be even slower than usual for some time (or did they finish it up already?).
They finished moving a week ago.
The only one I know of that I haven’t seen mentioned is http://benippon.com/, but I’ve never ordered from them. I only learned of it recently.
I’m late to the party but since I live in Australia too I figured I’d chip in my 2cents. Yesasia is decent for manga/artbooks and cds even if you factor in their inflated prices as they have free shipping for purchases over $25US - though I wouldn’t recommend buying figures there.
Hobbysearch is good and they process goods quickly - probably your best bet if you want things fast. I can’t comment on their points system. Personally I find EMS shipping a bit too pricey eg. got Maxfac Yuki from them on special for 2762yen and paid 2800yen shipping other than that good service.
CDJapan isn’t a bad option for miscellaneous goods - fast service and they give out coupons regularly and their point system accumulates quickly.
I’m still willing to stick HLJ slow shipping and all but thats because I’m a cheap bastard. But yeah its not like we have much to choose from.
I order most of my stuff through HobbySearch. They’re quick. Only drawback is they only have EMS, but if getting your stuff fast (and trackable) is the priority then you’d be doing EMS anyway. The points system isn’t bad. Takes a while to build up, but it’s nice getting enough points to get a figure.
Eventually the decision I came to was to order anything that might be super-popular and sell out (eg Shuraki figures) from HobbySearch, and anything else from HLJ.
lol i was searching eva 01 rebuild of eva edition and it is in stock, good price.
but the thing is that i am also looking for the mass produced (wing) 1997 movie edition
they have it “backordered” and dont know if they will actually get any more of them soon..