[Talisman]

https://support.hlj.com/hc/en-us/art...ipping-Methods

Quote:

Dear Customer,

Due to recent changes in international shipping regulations for the United States, we will temporarily stop offering several shipping methods to the US. This includes services from FedEx, DHL, and some Japan Post options (Surface and Airmail), as well as our HLJ Quick Pack and HLJ Small Pack services. Only EMS shipping will remain available for shipments to the US.

These changes will start on Monday, April 21 at 12:00 p.m. (JST) / Sunday, April 20 at 11:00 p.m. (EST). If you wish to use any of the affected shipping methods, please submit your shipment request before this time. These services will still be available for other countries.

The EMS Shipping method offered by Japan Post will continue to be offered to the US. We will also offer EMS shipping at discounted rate starting from the 21st of April at 12:00 JST until May 9th. We highly recommend our US customers utilize this shipping method to ship during this period of suspension.

The recent tariff-based changes to US shipping are causing a number of problems for international retail, but given the current uncertainty regarding tariff amounts per region and how they will be applied by various shipping companies, there is a large potential for unnecessary additional expense to the customer, so we have decided to temporarily suspend these options.

We will also be altering our terms and conditions to further emphasize this existing point: 'The customer is solely responsible for all additional duties applied to packages as a result of international shipping regulations in the recipient's country. HLJ shall not be responsible for any additional duty or related charges imposed by these regulations.?

This is an unfortunate situation and we can understand that the suspension of these shipping methods will be disappointing for some customers in America. We hope that the situation surrounding US tariffs will improve and that we will be able to offer these options again in the near future and will resume these options for the US when it becomes possible. Until this time, we are happy to continue providing EMS shipping to America to fulfill your hobby needs.

We greatly appreciate your continued support during this time,

Kind regards,
HLJ Team

An expected change but an unpleasant and unwelcome one nonetheless. Now is a good time to clear out your private warehouses or cancel any forthcoming pre-orders, folks.

UPDATE 5/13/25:

Per HLJ's new page:

Quote:

Dear Customers,

Due to the ongoing changing of shipping regulations in the US, we are pleased to be able to resume a number of shipping methods to the US, following recent updates.



What is changing with US shipping methods?
Thanks to recent developments in how shipping companies are handling these regulations, we are now able to resume a variety of shipping options, including DHL and JP Post Airmail options.
Due to changes of US regulations on international shipping, we recently made the decision to temporarily suspend several US shipping options on HobbyLink Japan until further notice but after working with shipping providers and judging from our experiences with shipping during this period, we are now able to provide these shipping methods again.

Which shipping methods will resume?

Airmail Parcel
Airmail Small Packet
Airmail Registered
DHL

The above listed shipping methods will be resumed for the US from the 13th of May, 12:30 JST and become available for selection. Shipments to the US will also continue to be able to use the EMS (Express Mail Service) shipping methods. FedEx and a few other options will remain unavailable for now.

Will these shipping methods be subject to tariffs?

During the period of shipping method suspension, we observed 0 instances of tariffs being applied to customers who used EMS (provided by JP Post) as a shipping method. As a result, we have since confirmed that the other Airmail methods provided by JP Post will be safe for us to offer to our customers, carrying minimal risk.

We also know that DHL was a popular method amongst our US customers, and for a while, this service was completely suspended for US shipments. Now that the service is available, we are offering it again.

So far from our customers, we have only confirmed 2 instances of Tariffs being applied in total. In these instances, the value of the shipment with both goods and freight combined was over 800 USD (the 'de minimis' threshold amount that previously exempted goods from additional duty), and contained goods with an origin in China.

We cannot guarantee that tariffs will not be applied with the use of any method, but so far, the actual rate of tariff application that we have confirmed with our customers has been minimal.

How do Tariffs work?
As of yesterday, May 12th, 2025, the US and China in particular have reached a temporary agreement on 'reciprocal tariffs' applied on 'Made In China' goods. This was the biggest point of concern for us, as many of our popular products are manufactured in China. Currently, China origin goods will be subject to a tariff at 30% of the product cost if they are applied.

In the instance that tariffs are applied, the customer will be responsible for all additional costs. We cannot make any specific guarantees on if tariffs will or will not be applied, but we highly recommend that the customer assess the level of risk before making a shipment, as the situation is changing regularly.



Should I ship my Private Warehouse with these new methods?

Currently, we have also paused cancellations on US customers who exceed the 6 month storage limit on the Private Warehouse for this month, so you can remain at ease. This measure is currently just for the month of May, but we will assess the situation again in June to see if this requires an extension.



We are open to customer feedback on this topic, so if you've had experiences with US tariffs, we'd like to hear from you so we can give the best possible to experience to our customers.


Thank you for your continued support of HobbyLink Japan,


HLJ Team