Can’t freaking breathe on LTTF without the topic derailing, for motherfreaking fuck’s sake.
Bit of a long shot, not sure if anyone here’s weeb enough.
Question for all the weebs out there.
Specifically, weebs that have bought official merch or such n’ such from Japan.
Context
I’m interested in purchasing some merch from NijigenCOSPA. The problem is, they don’t do international shipping, and – as an alternative – suggest using a third-party forwarding service for international buyers.
Also open to alternatives to NijigenCOSPA that ship to the U.S. For the nitty-gritty details, I’m looking at ゆるキャン△ / Yuru Camp △ / Laid-Back Camp merch:
I’m aware that some of the items are on back-order.
Edit: Did a bit of digging around, and Goods Republic seems to carry said items in-stock, and they ship worldwide. Probably going to go with them, unless someone voices a strong objection.
Main Question
Internet has suggested the following forwarding services:
Tenso
Big in Japan
Baggage Forward
This is probably the only instance where I don’t particularly care how much shipping costs are between competitors. So long as nothing’s missing, and all the items arrive in tip-top condition, I’ll be satisfied.
Which third-party forwarding service(s) have you used, and how was your experience with them? Say:
The wait time between placing the order and receiving the package.
Any nuances with payments – paying in USD or Yen, conversion rates, import duties, additional customs fees.
Whether a tracking number was included, and if said tracking was on-point. Or if the tracking abruptly changed / stopped for any reason (e.g. switching carriers in the U.S.).
Whether there’s any limit to how much or how heavy the order should be.
If the package was lost or damaged, was there any form of buyer protection or reimbursement?
Tenso runs Buyee, a service I use quite often to order packages from Yahoo Auctions and Mercari in Japan. And while I can’t specifically comment for how the Tenso site works, I can comment that they ship shit out really fast and they make sure to ship it out with a sufficient amount of packaging so that stuff doesn’t get damaged during transit. I’ll comment my experience with Buyee if it happens to be relevant to the Tenso site itself.
When it came to Buyee, between placing the order and receiving the package, it’d take about 2-3 days to go from the order processing to the order actually shipping out. From there, they use various shipping services - although having paid for some slightly pricier shipping from Buyee (FedEx, DHL and EMS from Japan Post to the USPS) it would take 3 or so days to go from Japan to where I’m at. Your mileage may vary depending on how close you are to where they process international packages for you.
You pay in USD through Buyee, so I’m assuming it’s very similar with Tenso. Buyee shows what the yen figure would convert to in USD (or whatever relevant currency for anyone here not in the US); I don’t believe I had to pay any import fees, although Tenso and Buyee do charge their own fees for processing, consolidation and the like.
You do get a tracking number. FedEx and DHL packages can be tracked just fine through any of its international sites, but I believe Japan Post tracking will stop updating its own tracking after it parses through a USPS facility in the US; from there you just input the tracking number into the USPS site and you’ll be able to keep track of it.
I don’t doubt there’s a limit, but unless you’re trying to transport an entire car, I doubt you’re gonna run into that issue - it’s just gonna get pricier to ship.
Never ran into that issue personally with Buyee, although I suspect you could claim shit with them if that becomes a problem.
