Otaku’s Hideout

The second post for my figure stores review will focus on overseas stores. Overseas in this context refers to stores outside Malaysia. Initial plan was to make it a per-store review, but I do not want to drag things too long, so just settle it in one post. So far I have dealt with stores from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the US.

This review will deal with the figure-selling aspect of the stores only. Some of the stores sell other items but I shall not touch much on it since I buy mainly figures from them.

Disclaimer: This review only contains my personal opinions and experience. No personal attack nor unhealthy bias and promotions included.

1. HobbyLink Japan - Japan

Overview:
HLJ is an Internet mail-order business based in Japan which ships Japanese hobby products, toys and publications to customers all over the world. HLJ was started by and is currently headed by Scott T. Hards. An American who became involved in the hobby industry while living in Japan (writing for Model Graphix magazine, in charge of the Aero Detail series of books on WWII aircraft, and doing other translations and international projects), Scott got tired of people outside of Japan asking him to send kits because they were not available overseas, or priced at absurd levels. So in 1995, he started a business to do just that. (Taken from their website)

Shipping and Packing:
HLJ offers two types of shipping, namely EMS and SAL. EMS is essentially a courier service offered by national courier companies. Shipping generally will take a few days to a week’s time, depending on destination. EMS is always trackable and insured. SAL on the other hand, is a economical shipping alternative. In SAL, the item will be transported to an airport, where it will be flown to the destination country, and then further transported by land (hence the name Surface-Air-Lift). SAL does not have any insurance and is not trackable. In the event of missing/lost items, HLJ will not give any reimbursement. SAL is also always associated with rougher handling. After reading their FAQ, I had the impression that buyers may actually request for sea/surface mail. I never tried it but I will strongly go against it, due to the amount of time it may take a long time to arrive and damage rate may be high. For items higher than 15000yen value or packages with boxes larger than 60cm in length, or with a total size (length + width + height) larger than 90cm will be shipped by EMS. Shipping buffer time can take a few days depending on how much orders they have. I still remember the time when they had to move in to a bigger warehouse. All their orders were put on hold and after they were back online, their backlog was so much that my order took more than two weeks before it could be shipped. But after that, things were back to normal.
Packing is generally good for HLJ. Items will be shrink wrapped with air bags before placed into hard shipping boxes. This can be good for reducing the cost since air is weightless but the air bags may break easily. I had seen cases where the shipping box from HLJ is so badly crushed that even the item box inside is affected. However, so far all my EMS and SAL packages from HLJ arrived in excellent condition.

Price:
Pricing in HLJ always follow the full market price. But there is a “early bird” price with 5% discount whenever any item is opened for pre-order. After the “early bird” special only will HLJ open up the regular pre-order.

Availability and Variety:
This is one part of HLJ which is extremely annoying. Normally if you manage to place an order in HLJ does not guarantee that you may get the item. Let me give an example on this. Imagine I pre-ordered item A, which releases in Jan and item B, which releases in Feb. Both are in the same order to save on shipping. After item A is available, HLJ will not immediately ship it out, but instead wait until after item B is out then they will be shipped together. This is ok for me, IF item A is reserved for you. In fact, item A may get sold out even if you had it in your order list (while you are waiting for item B to get released!). The catch here is that items in HLJ are sold at first come first serve basis. They will only ship out an order after all the items inside is available or you request for partial shipment. This has both pros and cons. Pros is that even if I place the order later than everybody else, I may still get the item if all of them did not request for shipping and I did. Cons is that, if you happen to forget to request for shipping, and your existing order contains some other things which is not immediately available, then you are doomed. Also, HLJ will tend to combine all available items in all orders that you have to be shipped together. This may potentially result in one super large shipment.
Variety wise, HLJ is excellent. They have got almost anything. PVCs, Revoltechs, Gundams, Macross, 12″ figures, magazines, books, models, etc. i would call them a one stop Hobby Center.

Payment methods:
For payment methods, HLJ accepts credit cards through their own payment gateway or Paypal and money orders. I do find one potential flaw though. In their system, if you happen to select payment methods by Paypal or money order, they will actually prepare the items for shipment and then requests you to pay them the exact amount. This means that they pack up the items to get ready for shipment even before you have paid! After that you will have 14 days to complete payment, failure to do so will result in cancellation of the order and all other open orders.

Website design
HLJ’s website is very nice and user friendly. Layout is clean and navigation is easy. Almost everything is self-explanatory. I have never seen their website lag or down so this is a very big plus. You will be automatically get a new account the first time you place any orders with them. If there’s any issue, it will be their ordering system. Orders are not placed in real time, meaning HLJ staffs will still need to enter you orders manually. The same goes for any modifications and cancellations. Typically they update the orders at around 10am-12pm on each working day.

Communications:
Communication is usually through emails. However, the speed of their reply can be horrendous! I had had my email replied by them only after 1 week! And sometimes, replies come in the form of templates, which is quite general (You can actually differentiate that with a real reply).

Overall rating:
HLJ used to be my favourite online figure store. But now it had dropped many places, losing to HobbySearch, Play-Asia and even my local figure stores! Anyway, they are still still a very good place to shop for figures with good services. (Figures mostly come from Japan and to shop from a figure store based in Japan can never go wrong).

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2. Hobby Search - Japan

Overview:
HOBBY SEARCH (HS) was established in 1999 and has since been operating as an online retailer in Tokyo, Japan. We provide a wide variety of Japanese toys at prices much lower than those you can find in your country. Also we believe most of them are hard to come by in your own country. (Taken from their website)

Shipping and Packing:
Packing is excellent at HS. Usually the shipping box they choose will be much bigger than the item box. The extra space in between will be padded using papers. This does add more weight to your package but it does ensure item safety. I had had one shipment quite badly crushed. But surprisingly, the item box inside is totally intact. Talk about packing effectiveness! You can see it here: March 2008 - Haul 1
For shipping part, it’s great too. Under normal circumstances, it takes around 2-3days after your payment is confirmed before the item(s) is shipped. They use only EMS service from Japanese Post. Due to this, it can be quite costly for shipping if you intend to ship just one figure out each time. That’s where the combined shipping comes in. HS allows you to combine items in stock or pre-orders that are scheduled to be released in the same month. If one of your pre-ordered item gets delayed, then the released item will get shipped out anyway, unless you recombine it with something else. Generally, once you item entered the preparing stage, any cancellation to the order will be imposed with a 20% penalty fee.

Price:
Price-wise, I must say HS is a winner. They offer all their figures/items at 5% less than retail price! There are no hanky panky or hidden terms or conditions. Also, everything you buy shall get store points which you can use in your future purchase. Each point is equivalent to 1 yen. So meaning if you can get more than 6k yen, you can get a figure free already.

Availability and Variety:
At HS, you what get you order. Once your order is confirmed, item is reserved for you. In rare cases only will HS cancel any order due to reasons like insufficient stock? There is one recent case with a friend’s shipment. You can read about it here:

Click me!

However, I tend to notice that the items in HS will get sold-out faster than other Japanese stores. I wonder whether they have more customers shopping with them or their stock is limited.
Variety wise, HS carries figures, action figures, anime merchandise, books, garage kits, robots, etc. It’s not as much as HLJ as certain Gundams or Macross series toys and model kits are no where to be found there.

Payment methods:
HS accepts only credit cards through their payment gateway. There is one thing that surprises me about their credit card payment system, which is they do not require you to enter your 3-digit verification number at the back of your card. However, the card owner’s name must be the same as the receiver’s so I guess they placed the security here? Also, your credit card is only charged when items are ready to be dispatched.

Website design
HS’s website has clear and good layout. First-timers may have some difficulties finding the links that they want as the navigation part does not really stand out. But once you get used to it, everything is as easy as a piece of cake. HS has both Japanese and English page. I do see some broken English here and there, especially in the items page, which suggest the English site is a direct translation from the Japanese counterpart ^^ Their site can get very lagging sometimes, especially when some hot item is out for pre-order. Anybody remembers when Shuraki was first available for pre-order? I can’t get into their site at all.
Orders are generally placed in real time. So is order modification. They started the order recombination thingy not long ago and I must say it is a system that greatly benefits everyone. This system allows you to combine items from different orders into a new one. This is great if you know that you have one item in an order that will be delayed. Also, they also allows you to change your details, such as address, credit card number, etc once you placed the order. However, order cancellation is still manual and you must email them for you order/item to be cancelled.

Communications:
As with all other overseas stores, communication is done through emails. Speed of reply varies as sometimes it is done in the same day, but at other times, it can take days. But usually, you get what you want in 1-2 days time.

Overall rating:
I rate HS very strongly. Not only is their price already cheaper than retail, but the existence of points system further add values to your purchase. Combined with excellent packing and shipping, it comes to no surprise that they are the favourite figure shopping place for Prim3. Kudos HS!

PRIM3 RECOMMENDED!

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3. Play-Asia - Hong Kong

Overview:
Play-Asia.com (PA) was established in 2002 and is a leading online retailer providing video games, DVDs, music CDs, gadgets and toys. Play-Asia.com is committed to be the leading Hong Kong online retailer of entertainment products. Our professional staff will work together to build a progressive and successful commercial corporation through a commitment to high levels of customer satisfaction. (Taken from their website)

Shipping and Packing:
PA has a wide variety of shipping options. For Malaysia, they offer free airmail shipping for items below USD100. Meaning for this, if you have multiple items ready for shipping, you can actually split them all up and still qualify for free shipping. Other than that, they have EMS from HK Post, Fedex and UPS. The three of these are more expensive but you do get expedited shipment time and better handling.
Packing is one heck of a nightmare for PA. They tend to put your items in shipment boxes that are either small size and a little bigger than the item box. In between the spaces, they put in something I call “snow flakes”. The shipment box is somehow quite soft. I dare say almost all of my items come with little or moderate damage to item box. And there was once where my item box was so badly crushed that I almost wanted to throw it straight to the dust bin to save my eyes from the sores. I did email to them about this but all they say is that anything out from their warehouse is not controllable by them. I was using free shipping at that time. Although I understand that my local post office people may be the ones to be blamed but at least they can pack it better with bigger, stronger box and better padding. There was one EMS package that went through my local post office too and it also get badly crushed but the items inside is safe. So you can see how important it is for good packing and handling.
Comparison can be seen here:
Feb 2008 - Haul 2
March 2008 - Haul 1
Recently I started buying things from PA using Fedex as shipper and I am very impressed. My figure was sent out on Monday and by Wednesday I had already received it. Item condition is perfect! So I guess, Fedex shall be my new courier of choice from PA (Fedex is cheaper than UPS) unless I buy stuffs like books, etc.

Price:
Price is the strong point of PA. Most of the items are cheaper than buying from Japanese stores. Coupled with free shipping, you can actually get very attractive prices. For each purchase, PA will give a discount coupon, in either USD5 off USD50 or USD10 off USD100 forms. For certain Kotobukiya figures, they do get very low prices. Also, they have an affiliation program which rewards you with payments for each item that is bought using your affiliation link. The funds can then be paid through Paypal or used for the next purchase.

Availability and Variety:
For availability, although PA is located in Hong Kong, they do follow the figure release dates in Japan. I need to point out that for Kotobukiya figures, they tend to release and ship them much earlier than their Japanese counterparts. But I do notice that PA seems to face problems in getting more popular figures. Evidence can be seen from the most recent example: Feena Fam Earthlight and Bridget from Max Factory. They are still yet to be released at PA. These two figures are extremely popular and sold out very fast in other stores. What happened at PA? I do not know.
Variety-wise, PA sells lots of things. You can get many different kinds of things here, from figures to action figures, from books to posters, from movies to music CD/DVDs, and even games.

Payment methods:
So far, PA accepts credit cards using their payment gateway or Paypal and any manual bank transfers (including Western Union). Any funds earned from their affiliation program can be used here as well, which will have a 5% extra bonus for store-wide purchases.

Website design
I can say PA has got a good website. Layout is clean; navigation is simple and is very user friendly. Thus far, I had had the best shopping experience here since everything is done in real-time, from order placement to modification to cancellation. No wait time is required. However, there are times when the website gets lagging and I am not sure why.

Communications:
Communication is also through emails. So far, they always reply me on the next or two business days. As a matter of fact, all your emails with them will be kept inside your account page as well. I sometimes email them to ask them to put in better packing for my items and they will always reply and assure me that they will do so. Not bad for customer service.

Overall rating:
I really liked PA at one point due to their excellent pricing and free shipping. But ever since my item boxes start to have dented areas, I kind of switched to other stores, especially HS. From the link above, my Mai box was perhaps one nightmare I can never forget. Nowadays I buy from them if the total cost inclusive Fedex is cheaper than the price of buying from Japan as Fedex guarantees a peace of mind ^^

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4. Toyntoys - Singapore

Overview:
We are toys wholesaler from Singapore mainly focusing on collectible toys ranging from Japanese animations, Robots, Mini Figures. Also not to forget Palisades Toys, Mcfarlane, Sota Toys, and many more different range of US toys. (Taken from their website)

Toyntoys (TT) is a figure store based in Singapore. They do have a physical store in Jurong Port Road Singapore. They are also the authorized distributor for Alter/Good Smile Company/Max Factory products in Singapore.

Shipping and Packing:
I bought from them once and I can say that they packed the items very nicely. Even the outer shipment box is shrink-wrapped. Inside, adequate padding ensure item boxes are not damaged during shipment.
For shipping part, they will ship out the items the next business day after they received full payment (for my case). Generally they will Priority Shipping from Singapore Post. It’s not EMS by the way. Priority shipping is only faster than airmail but still slower than EMS

Price:
TT’s figure price is good during the pre-order phase. They will usually give “early-bird” discounts to those who pre-ordered. This must be done before a specific dateline though. Pre-orders need a SGD20 deposit which is needed to secure your order. After the pre-order, the sale price will be not be that attractive anymore.

Availability and Variety:
TT does have many other things other than PVC figures. Example is the Iron Man figure, Macross, Voltron, Transformers, Brave Gohkin series, 12” action figures, etc. However, it’s not as comprehensive as PA, HLJ or HS.
From my experience with them, they get what they have ordered. Perhaps that’s the advantage with being an authorized dealer, you always get stock. In fact, I saw in their website about Shuraki 1’s reissue even before it was officially announced by Good Smile Company!

Payment methods:
For overseas buyers, Paypal is the only accepted method. In fact they didn’t mention about Paypal in the checkout page. I believed I had to ask them manually or they told me I can pay by Paypal after they sent me a confirmation email, which I cannot remember already.

Website design
From the looks of it, I am sure they are using Mambo or Joomla CMS. Navigation is quite straightforward. Layout is simple. But the website does not look very professional to me. xP In order words, it’s not a pretty website, aka plain. In the product category page, there a quite a few empty categories, which is redundant if you ask me.
Typically once you placed your order, the sales staffs will send a confirmation email and to ask for payment/deposit.

Communications:
Email communication takes around 1-2 business days before you get any reply. So far so good. The staffs are rather friendly too and are willing to help when I faced problems.

Overall rating:
TT is a good place to shop which promises good deals. However, the deal is only good during the pre-order phase. Once pre-order dateline is out, it’s pretty normal price. And you will need to consider the shipping from Singapore to your country also so it might be a better idea to get from a local store instead.

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5. Hobbyfan - US

Overview:
HobbyFan (HF) is a online hobby store based in the US. They specialized in PVC figures and resin kits. You can find all types of resin kits and some is not even available elsewhere.

Shipping and Packing:
Packing is not that good in my opinion. I bought a Shii figure from them and the item box was moderately dented. This is probably attributed to the shipping box which is almost the same size as the item box. Also, I used USPS Priority Mail and most of my packages using this service come dented.
For shipping, HS takes around 3-4 days after payment completed to ship out the item. They had a choice of USPS EMS, USPS Priority Mail and USPS First Class International Airmail. I can only say, all these alternatives are expensive! The price can range from USD20 and above depending on size and weight to my country. (Figures are shipped across half the globe, from US to Malaysia).

Price:
Price may not be that attractive. But let’s face it. Figures come from Japan mostly. So any stores outside Japan will surely have prices that are more expensive. I feel that HobbyFan’s prices are rather standard and a tad more expensive than Japanese retail prices.

Availability and Variety:
HF only sells PVCs, 12” action figures and garage kits as far as I know. However, they have all kinds of resin kits, some even very rare ones. I did hear from several forums that some of the resin kits they sell are actually bootlegs. I cannot confirm this due to I don’t buy them.

Payment methods:
HF accepts payment through credit card using their payment gateway and money order only. Not that impressive since for first timers, they may be compelled enough to place their credit card details on HF site and cancel their thoughts of buying from them.

Website design
Website design is good as usual. I think almost all overseas stores I review today have got good layout, simple navigation and user friendly. So is HF’s website. However, there is one issue I face when browsing around their website, which is whenever I open many item’s page in individual tabs/windows, the page that comes up will always be the last item I right-clicked and chose “Open in new windows/tabs” Perhaps this is something to do with sessions/cookies or they only allow one item to be viewed each time?

Communications:
I cannot remember already how long it took them to reply me. Usually I will always email to ask a certain things the first time I bought something from a foreign store. If memory serves me right, it should be only a few days (less than a week).

Overall rating:
HF is another alternative to purchase a figure when everywhere else has got no stock for a certain figure. However, the high price of shipping from the US can be a great minus (except for those in the US of course). Do be careful though on any purchase from this store. As they carry bootleg garage kits, one can never be too sure whether they carry bootleg PVCs or not.

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6. Ebay - Worldwide

Overview:
Ebay is not actually an online store, but an online auction side. Ebay has got localized sites in many countries, including (but not limited to) Malaysia, Singapore, UK, Hong Kong, etc. Since Ebay has become one of the most popular and successful auction sites in the world, it has come to no surprise many people actually put up figures for auction/sales at Ebay.

Shipping and Packing:
Shipping and packing depends on which seller you deal with in Ebay. So far, I have only bought from US sellers. The favourite shipping method for US sellers is through USPS Priority mails. I bought a few and almost all arrived little or moderately dented. They seem to like using those boxed bought from USPS and it is very soft! You can imagine how those post office people throw the boxes around and how those soft pieces of card board can withstand all those pressure. And the sellers like to charge for shipping on a flat rate, no matter where you live in and it is usually very expensive. For example, Asian countries will have the same price of USD20. But all the sellers I dealt with shipped their figures fast.

Price:
Price on Ebay is usually very expensive. Also, there is a risk of getting bootleg figure since you are not sure how creditable the seller is. It is therefore a necessity to check the reputation of the seller before making any purchase. I only buy in Ebay when I have absolutely no other place to get the figures I want. Else, I will stick to those stores I know.

Availability and Variety:
Ebay is the king for variety. I am sure nobody can dispute me on this. Almost anything can be obtain from Ebay. Some people even started auctions to sell his life! Also, even the rarest figures can be obtained here, including the Shuraki 3. (but at a price of USD100!) But again, I must stress that bootlegs are rampant in Ebay. Anyone wanting to shop here has to be careful and I mean extremely careful with whom they are dealing with!

Payment methods:
Most sellers in Ebay accepts Paypal and money order. Paypal should be the safest bet on Ebay, since if there is any dispute, the buyer can report to Paypal and get a refund. This has to be done in 45 days and security of the deal is guaranteed.

Website design
Shopping at Ebay is really very simple and satisfying. Just open up the site, type in the item that you want, bid/purchase and pay and receive your items. Everything is self explanatory and easy to follow.

Communications:
Some sellers rarely reply me and some replied in a few hours time. So I can only say it depends on which seller you’re dealing with actually. Messaging is done using Ebay’s system and this avoids your emails being exposed to the seller. Not bad actually. But I hate to login to their site just to check a message. Emails can be better.

Overall rating:
As with HF, I can say Ebay should be a last resort for anyone to purchase a PVC figure. Since there are lots of bootlegs running around here, it is better to be careful than sorry later. Always deal with reputable sellers and check their feedbacks. For the higher price and expensive shipping usually and possibility of bootlegs, I can’t recommend Ebay to anyone.

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