no. Sal. And before you say it, Sal is usually fast, rarely taking longer than a week so I dunno what is going on here.

SAL is supposed to be slow, though. The site says it takes between two weeks and two MONTHS.

DHL and EMS are the fast ones.

I know all this but I've never had a slow Sal parcel in my life. Not like this.

It's frustrating when it happens, trust me I've been there. Average of SAL for me is around 10 days but when I bought Shinken Gold it took 5 weeks to arrive. I was a bit concerned at that point too.

At least I know I'm not alone, I'll try not to worry for a few more weeks then!

Why do a lot of people order directly from overseas? Why not order from an online us retailer?

Cheaper in many cases. :P

Because unless it's something offered by US suppliers themselves such as Bluefin, in most cases it's much cheaper to import. Especially if you don't live in the US.

because most US retailers, unlike Bluefin sponsored (Amazon, ToysRUs), most any other ones jack the price up. Even with toylines with stuff that isnt worth the price (GoBusters, Fourze), whereas Japanese online stores normally has that kind of stuff for CHEAP, cheap than SAL shipping even.

Sites like BBTS have massive markups on prices. Though they might be slightly easier to deal with because they're in the US, their prices reflect shipping and customs charges they've paid and by the time all is said and done US distributors are considerably more expensive to order from. It's easier and cheaper to go to the source.

Yeah, that makes sense. I plan on buying a rg gundam real soon, and I was looking at HLJ but with shipping it makes more sense to buy locally.

www.Gundamstoreandmore.com is where I get all my Gundams from they have pretty good prices and theyre in the US

If you ever feel like buying Gundam models in bulk, try HobbyWave. They're based in Canada, but they charge a flat rate $12 shipping. Buy one, buy many. Still $12.

That site is awesome but want I want isn't in stock :/ I plan on getting a RG rx78 with water slides.

Their flat rate shipping is neat. Thanks for the heads up!!

I think that one's usually fairly inexpensive on Mandarake. That's where I bought mine.

http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en...s-1155142.html

Huh, Mandarake still hasn't gotten back to me with an invoice.

On your order from early last week? that's odd. I got mine I think 3 days later, paid as soon as I got it, and it shipped within like 8 hours.

Oh, well I think I may ordered on the weekend, so that may not count. (I can't remember if Japan is a day ahead or behind) Because my first order sold out, but I found the items at the exact same price in a different store.

Theyre a day ahead.

So it was probably the weekend for them.

Huh, STILL no invoice.

It took five days for Umeda to get back to me about an order this past week, so I think there is probably just a delay right now.

Oh, cool. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't just me.

Maybe there's an influx of orders in preperation for the holidays maybe?

See I've been getting quick responses like clockwork on orders. No issues on my end :confused:

If anyone is looking for a White Mage, Mandarake has one, if a bit pricey. I'd snag it, but I've hit my buying limit this payday. :D

White Mage - ¥5000 @ Mandarake

I am ordering from the Complex Akirhabablomax-whatever store. Maybe it's slower compared to others?

I ordered from Sapporo yesterday afternoon, and had a confirmation by 2am, responded asking to change the shipping DHL, and by morning when I woke up had a new invoice.

I don't think any one store is necessarily lots faster than another, but they all may be experiencing different workloads at different times. The previous order, don't remember what store and can't be bothered to look, took two-three days to get an invoice.

But, if I were you, I would reply to your original confirmation and ask them why you haven't gotten an invoice or cancellation notice yet.

As long as you're sure it's not hiding in a junk mail folder.

Guess I'll email them later. Not in my junk, not anywhere.

Egads! Jungle's new storefront is absolutely awful.

Yes it is :mad I saw it last night. Confusing as hell! Might quit using them, but tgey have good deals so Ill deal with it. :lo

Remailed Mandarake yesterday, still no reply. FFFFFFFFF-

Ugh. Indeed. It used to be so easy to look thru and now it feels like a pain to try and search thru the new stuff there.

Has anyone used Rakuten before? They have a "free international shipping" event going on and I am interested in getting some things from there but not sure how good they are. It appears to combine items from various online stores in Japan so that much I get. Kind of similar to Mandarake, except that the item descriptions don't tell me whether or not they are opened or not since they appear to be crude translations from original Japanese pages.

Last I checked he was but I haven't talked to him in a few months.

If you can get in contact with him, please do. There are some items on his main web store that I'd like to buy from him and I know they were still in stock before he stopped selling through eBay. All the items I want are still in stock on his site, and I just want to make sure I can still buy them.

Anyone needing a minipla Bragigas? PM me.

EDIT- taken.

I found Toy Arena, which isn't too far from my house and they have a decent price, so I'll be getting the rg from them. Thanks for the help!!

Just to confirm, CSToys don't do preorders, do they? Do they have listings up of toys before their usual Sunday update?