HLJ postage costs

[Seiiki]

I don't deal with HLJ that often. While I fully understand why business would fully declaring the item costs for customs and not breaking laws. Some private sellers might be able to cater to your request to slightly lower the shipping charges and extra fees by declaring a small percentage of the value. If they have to increase the shipping, there must be reasons why. Even Hong Kong Post is no longer cheap either if anyone had ordered recently with their online services.

One of the issues that I have with the Japanese online stores are that they simply will not sent a simple bubble wrap envelope for small and light items. I had a couple of small decal sheets ordered from HLJ and much to my surprise. They put them in the smallest box available instead. Other retailers are exactly the same.

A lot of time, how fast you wanted depended on how much you wanted to pay. So all modelers are different in that regard. Some wanted to start their kits right away. Others, not so much.

[Seiiki]

It looks like the cost of small package postage from Hong Kong (HobbyEasy) has at least doubled as well but oddly larger packages - over 0.5 kg - haven't increased as much.

HobbyEasy's price increases were pretty significant even as of 2 years ago. They were saying that Hong Kong Post shipping had been going up so they had to charge more to reflect that much.

Once again, it depends on how quickly you want your items and started to use them. If you are not in a hurry and wait a little, it might be worth it in the end. Often I consider the total costs including shipping to weighing my options. It really depends on how badly you craved for those 'must have' or hunting that item which might be limited. Everyone is different.

[SBEST]

Yes, I noticed the price increase. At this time I probably going to look at the secondary market (forums/Ebay) or wait until the LHS can get it in.






Steve