Just received a shipment notice from Amiami for the item I ordered. The long wait for my package to arrive starts now. Amiami is one of the Japanese based online hobby shops I’ve been lusting to start selling overseas because of the large inventory that they have, and most importantly, the low prices they offer.

Update 12/04/2009: Package shots of my second shipment from HWJapan can be found here here.

Update 11/26/2009: My order arrived today from HWJapan, pictures of the box and review of the packaging can be found here.

Just posted an order at HWJapan a few days ago and am now waiting for my order to arrive. Great timing too on my part as most of the Gundam model kits were on a 10~30% discounted price scheme.

Unlike most online sellers in Japan that cater to international customers, HWJapan is actually a subsidiary of an actual model kit company, and this is Aoshima. Aoshima has been building model kits since 1961. They are located in Shizuoka Prefecture, the mecca of model kit manufacturers.

Update 11/19/2009:Spoke too soon. Turns out that there is a problem with Hobby Search and Paypal, so they had to cancel all orders that were to be paid via paypal. Of course, since I was in one of the banned countries that Hobby Search will only allow to pay via paypal, shopping is officially stopped for me till their troubles are fixed.

Update 11/18/2009: Hobby Search announced that they are lifting the ban on shipment to certain countries due to the implementation of their Paypal payment system. Just sent in my order and will post an updated review once my order gets through.

Was planning to conduct a review of Hobby Search of Japan by purchasing an item off of their online store but was stopped short at user registration. Turns out that they do not ship to my country… hahaha… good thing I didn’t fill up my cart yet, that would have been a good waste of time.

I fired off an email to ask them about it and after a minutes I got a reply from them, they said that the reason they weren’t selling items to my country was because of past instances of “credit card trouble”. Ok that answers that, its sad that a few schmucks in your country commit credit card fraud putting the rest of you honest citizens in bad light. Not to mention I’m totally embarrassed as a citizen of my country.

Finally had the time to write my review of Hobby Link Japan. An export company started by American Scott Hards in 1995 to cater to Japanese toy aficionados and hobbyists. They’ve been around for quite a long time and first impression of their online shop is that its convenient because its in English and because they carry a lot of inventory that could help save you some serious money in shipping charges.

A few months back I had ordered during Hobby Link Japan’s sale a Yamato 1/60 Super & Strike pack and some Revoltech Getter toys. Items were requested to be sent by SAL. You have an option to have your items shipped by SAL but in the case of very huge or expensive items, it has to be sent by trackable EMS. If your shipping is by SAL be prepared to wait, mine took more than a month to get to me since I live in SE Asia and I tell you the mail is so slow, you’d think we’re still using steam ships. For payment, you have the option to pay by credit card, paypal or money order.

Last week I successfully completed my transaction with over-drive-inc. I have to say that I was satisfied with the quick processing of my order and the next day shipping.

It took only two days for them to process my order then send it out. Along the way I would get updates via email as to the status of my order: “processing to shipped”. Two weeks later the order arrived for me to pick up at the post office.

Update (10/20/2009): Just got my order last week from them. Box packaging was fashioned out of used boxes, generously taped together. This resulted in a non descript packaging, which is the way that I like my packages to arrive. Inside, the package was covered in bubble pack. I could say that I was satisfied with my purchase from them. My only minor complaint was that they didn’t reply to me when I asked for a status update on my order. Like talking to a black hole after they got my money from me. Its a minor issue, but in the cut throat world of online sellers, it could mean a lot. Plus of course the thing with the “couldn’t tell if it was shipped as SAL or EMS” episode.

Literal Box shots can be seen below: