Hobby link Japan

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
1

I am wanting to pre-order Trumpter’s 1/200 Enterprise. Freetime has it for like $379ish bit Hobby Link had it for just over $200. Why the big difference in price? What am I missing here? Help/advice. thanks

2

FreeTime is in the U.S HLJ is in Japan

3

HLJ is in Japan, and you will see good prices from AsiaPac companies like Trumpeter.

Other kits from say ICM or Eduard are not priced as well.

What you have to weigh is the shipping cost. I have three kits waiting in my Private Warehouse. And right now they are only offering FedEx and DHL shipping. These are the most expensive, but, you get the kit quickly. After adding the shipping for these three kits, I may as well have purchased them here in the states. Granted once COVID dies down, they may offer some less expensive shipping services again.

IMHO, overall, they are a really good company, and they do a great job of packing the kits for shipping.

4

I don’t know how it works in the US, but you may also have to factor in customs charges. Almost every kit i have bought from japan, Hobby Link and Hobby Plaza, have had customs charges slapped on them. Its not to much, usually about £3 for kits worth about 40.

5

Hobby Link Japan is in Japan and run by an American (Scott Hards). He specializes in getting Japanese kits to American modelers at a reasonable price.

For instance, when Fine Molds first got the license to produce new Star Wars kits, he was able to get us these kits for around $15-20 a piece. But if you ordered from an American company, the kits were $30-50 a piece.

When the X-Wing came out, I got two of them from HLJ at less than one would have cost in the US, and it only took about 2 weeks.

6

Thanks guys. I’ll give them a try.

7

Rob and Bish are right, I’ve ordered a lot of stuff from them.

But pay heed to what Bruce said too- most shipping firms charge by the size of the box. And a giant kit like your 1/200th scale Enterprise isn’t going to be cheap. I ordered a 1/32nd Zoukei-Maru Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu in big box a few months ago and was charged over a hundred bucks S&H.

8

It is quite a high limit before Americans have to pay customs duty on foreign shipments. I have never paid customs on anything I’ve ordered from overseas.

Mike

9

I’ve never had to pay customs when I’ve order from overseas.

Shipping and handling from Japan was comparable to ordering from somewhere within the USA. In other words, having something shipped from Japan wasn’t any more expensive than shipping from California.

Of course, I have not ordered anything larger than a regular 1/35 armor kit. I would assume some of the very large model kits would get an upcharge due to size of the box.