Mandarake Shipping questions...

I don't know what the weight is, but I've bought two dolls from them.

My VMF50 Nao was 4000 yen EMS shipping.

My Saber was 6800 yen EMS shipping.

A normal DD would likely be ~5000 yen EMS shipping.

They pack nicely so she should be in good shape getting to you.

 

I've never had anything held up in customs so far. Basically, if a package entering the US exceeds a certain value, they assess taxes on it and will hold it until you pay them. Unless the declared value is very high, they're not going to look twice at "toys" and assess fees.

I just ordered a DD from Mandarake recently, shipped to WA. The shipping fee was 4,700 yen. That included the doll and some small items that they just put into the doll's box with her.

 

Customs in San Francisco will sometimes hold EMS packages for inspection. They want to make sure you're not sneaking in anything illegal or taxable - dolls and most personal items aren't taxed. Usually it takes a day or two to leave customs, sometimes a week and sometimes only an hour. You can use http://www.track-trace.com/ and https://www.usps.com/ to check progress. After leaving customs you should receive your doll in the next day or two.

Mikuru was 5,100 yen. She had no box. I feel like that was a lot This was via DHL I believe. Half was insurance the other was shipping. I couldn't opt out of insurance.

 

This smaller order I had placed for Rise's glasses and an outfit came out to 1,800 yen.

Edited February 24, 2013 by Guest

I got a boxless DD shipped for 3200 yen.

And I got a MSD body shipped for 2400 I think.

 

I wonder why the price seems to vary a lot? Is Canada a different shipping region than the US for EMS?

  Yukamina said:

I got a boxless DD shipped for 3200 yen.

And I got a MSD body shipped for 2400 I think.

 

I wonder why the price seems to vary a lot? Is Canada a different shipping region than the US for EMS?

Same shipping region, but EMS rates are quite steep so just a box adds a bit.

Shipping rates usually don't just have to do with weight - it's size of the actual package too. Reason it's so much more expensive to ship a doll with box is entirely to do with the dimensions of the box.

  DJStarstryker said:

Shipping rates usually don't just have to do with weight - it's size of the actual package too. Reason it's so much more expensive to ship a doll with box is entirely to do with the dimensions of the box.

EMS is purely weight based. At least Japan Post's EMS. Can't say about USPS/other countries.

Hrm... My Lagla, who was in a DDI fullsize box was 2040 yen to ship, but that was last September.

 

I have been asked to remember to point out that DDI's are the size of a DDS.

My fullset Nanoha was 4500 JPY to ship DHL--cheaper than EMS, though a hair slower and tracking can get a bit vague when things hit stateside. Nanoha's one of the more complicated fullsets though so going with DHL saved be quite a bit.

 

Customs in this case is the federal department that oversees the importing of various goods. Here in the US it's not too big of a deal unless you're a) shipping enough stuff to get qualified as commercial, which I think occurs at somewhere around $10K worth of goods, or b) bringing stuff over after a trip. The US doesn't charge customs for hobby items thankfully, and we import a large enough volume that stuff doesn't get held for very long unless it gets flagged for close inspection. So basically, you don't really have to worry about it unless you go abroad and bring souvenirs home in your luggage, in which case you have to fill out some paperwork to declare it.

Wanted to add, I avoid DHL when I can. They like to leave my parcels with a random neighbor when I'm at work, and I don't like roaming around in the dark trying to figure out who accepted my giant naked plastic girl package. The neighbors think I'm weird enough as it is