Volks JP at Magical Mirai 2013 Hatsune Miku Event

Does anyone have updates on the special hands and bodysuit? ??

These will be sold as part of the DD Gathering 2014 / October Outfit Collection, on 11 Oct. Presumably they will be part of the clickwar.

 

 

Thank you! I'll try my luck

Soooo… USA customers pay in full or close to full from the beginning, and they get their shipping schedule bumped to last priority? I would have thought the customers who pay up in full would be Volks' first priority since…THEY PAID IN FULL!!! (or at least a down payment)

 

Not really giving customers much incentive to go thru the USA site anymore imho. Although now that they do not offer any limited products anymore, I guess thats not an issue going forward?

 

Thats too bad, but I hope everyone gets their dolls in a somewhat timely schedule.

 

P.S. Good luck to all those looking to secure Miku hands for their incoming girls!

Not really giving customers much incentive to go thru the USA site anymore imho.

 

Seriously! There are no more lottery dolls via VolksUSA, so that's gone entirely. Last I heard, their cart system was still broken, so click wars for the outfits are still too frustrating to be worth it. And now the US pre-order dolls are bumped to the very back of the priority list? Is there ANY reason for me to buy from VolksUSA in the future?

 

It sounds like this is more than a shipping issue -- it sounds like ALL VolksUSA orders got bumped into the second (or third?) batch of Mikus. My company gets slow-boat shipments all the time from Asia, and it definitely does not take four months.

 

I'm really pretty aggravated about the whole Miku situation. I was joking that I would be happy if she showed up by January, imagining she could never possibly take that long. But now February for invoices! And knowing VolksUSA, it may be March -- or April -- or later -- before she actually delivers.

My Miku was paid in full, so I'm pretty disappointed. Oh well, guess I'll dedicate my time to working on my knitting until then...

I really do hate hearing about all these delays for the US buyers. But this goes right along with what I've been saying for a few years now....

 

Volks does NOT see the US/North American market as a market at all. They deem us as only fit for their leftovers. Ever since the click wars escalated to utter failures and fruitless attempts to grab even ONE outfit, I've pretty much given up hope that Volks Japan would give two shi-s about the NA customers.

 

The Saber delays were bad enuff with people waiting up to a year for theirs but this Miku business has gotten WAY out of hand. By them making Miku in the first place, it gave them a free license to print money ie. you give people a Miku DD and they will throw money at you hand over fist, as we've already seen. Volks KNEW they would have an insane amount of them ordered so why are they pulling this crap? Ramp up production dammit! Hire some part timers or run the vinyl presses 24-7 for a few months... ANYTHING to show you actually care about getting the product to the customers who already paid for it!

 

Making people who paid up front wait longer is insane in the real business world. Volks business model makes no sense anywhere but in Japan and even then, it still doesn't hold up well. Yes, they like exclusives and limited things. Yes, they love waiting in lines. Yes, they don't mind paying thru the nose for anything with Miku on it. But why treat ANY customer like this? By making people wait, they're basically pissing away any and all future customers. Why would anyone pay for something up front, get told they have to wait a year and a half for the product and then return to the company in hopes of a different future experience?

 

New blood is what keeps a hobby alive and Volks seems hell bent on driving away as many new people as they possibly can.

 

Volks, I love you guys but I also want to slap the sh-t out of you and choke your ass out a few times.

 

 

 

Billy

 

Volks does NOT see the US/North American market as a market at all. They deem us as only fit for their leftovers. Ever since the click wars escalated to utter failures and fruitless attempts to grab even ONE outfit, I've pretty much given up hope that Volks Japan would give two shi-s about the NA customers.

 

Billy

 

NA had 1 more lottery ticket for many past rare items and don't have to pay both japan tax and home tax for Miku.

In France, we have to pay Japan tax + 20 % (TVA) + custom.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Volks does NOT see the US/North American market as a market at all. They deem us as only fit for their leftovers. Ever since the click wars escalated to utter failures and fruitless attempts to grab even ONE outfit, I've pretty much given up hope that Volks Japan would give two shi-s about the NA customers.

 

Billy

 

NA had 1 more lottery ticket for many past rare items and don't have to pay both japan tax and home tax for Miku.

In France, we have to pay Japan tax + 20 % (TVA) + custom.

 

Just sayin'.

You have a point about the extra entry, but the taxes have nothing to do with Volks. We don't pay taxes in NA whether we buy from VolksUSA or Volks International.

Volks, I love you guys but I also want to slap the sh-t out of you and choke your ass out a few times.

 

 

 

Billy

 

Haha, so true!

 

In my case, Volks Designers: Keep doin' what you're doin'. Your work is the best part of the company.

 

Volks Marekting/Business execs: I would like to hand you over to Weeping Angels and let them send you many centuries away from my hobby.

 

And thank you for the righteous sympathetic rage. For some reason, it resonates more with me personally than the more mild condolences. I think I'm sick in the head.

For those that decided to order through Volks USA, why did you? When I was deciding to place my order (which I entered the hobby with), ordering through Volks USA didn't seem like a useful thing to do. You had to pay upfront in USD, shipment was going to be delayed 1 or 2 months, and I wouldn't be able to cancel before the pre-order period closes if I wanted to change my mind. On top of that, there was the question of what the exchange rate would be like a year from then (I hedged my bets and bought a substantial amount of Japanese cash, which is a better investment than letting Volks hold it for a year). So I went with Volks JP.

 

Edit: this question sounds a little mean but I'm curious (･･')

...some horribly misguided attempt to support VolksUSA, which I now deeply regret.

For those that decided to order through Volks USA, why did you? When I was deciding to place my order (which I entered the hobby with), ordering through Volks USA didn't seem like a useful thing to do. You had to pay upfront in USD, shipment was going to be delayed 1 or 2 months, and I wouldn't be able to cancel before the pre-order period closes if I wanted to change my mind. On top of that, there was the question of what the exchange rate would be like a year from then (I hedged my bets and bought a substantial amount of Japanese cash, which is a better investment than letting Volks hold it for a year). So I went with Volks JP.

 

Edit: this question sounds a little mean but I'm curious (･･')

 

Paying up front was exactly why I did it, actually. My job situation had changed from regular employee to contractor, so I (rightfully) didn't trust it to hold true for an entire year more. I also didn't really want to spend a year chewing my nails over what the exchange rate would or wouldn't do, but that was a more minor concern. Having her completely secure regardless of my employment/living situation was worth two months extra wait, I thought at the time; I also had no idea that the wait would get doubled.

 

However, I later found out that if you used a proxy that could go into a Japanese store, there they could pay in full and have her shipped to you on the Japanese schedule. Kind of wishing I'd gone that route. . .

For those that decided to order through Volks USA, why did you?

 

For me it was just around the time when I first started out and in hindsight I should obviously have gone the international route but back then I didn't even know there was a major difference and I didn't do my research before making the decision. Live and learn!

I actually did try to order through Volks JP at first but the site kept failing to load properly. Kind of funny since USA is usually the glitchy one. :/ I should have just waited to try again a few days later but I wanted to get the order placed. Paying upfront was an added bonus.

I really don't see how they could've released them sooner in the states without sending via a more expensive shipping method? The Miku's were mass produced and as soon as they were ready they started sending them out starting in Fall as promised. Even if they did ship the US batch at the end of Oct you'd still be looking at a Jan/Feb release for US customers as it takes 2-3 months to ship and Christmas is coming so shipping tends to take even longer. I agree the delay really sucks but I don't think Volks are to blame here. Did they say a Fall release for Miku's ordered on the Volks USA site? If so I'd probably blame Volks USA for that one as pretty much everything is usually released 2-3 months behind the Japanese site and they should've known better. As far as I know the Fall release date was only really intended as the release date for the Japanese/international site. And Volks haven't really shafted their international customers as ours were sent out at the same time as the Japanese. If you lived in the US you had the option of getting your Miku from the international site as well. Not trying to be mean here but I just really don't think Volks are too much at fault with this.

A cargo ship should take 2-3 weeks to get to the US, not 2-3 months. VolksUSA has always had a large delay but I was never really sure why. Even if they had to wait for the next bulk ship to come across it should take 2 months at maximum, not minimum.

Honestly, ocean freight shouldn't take more than 30-40 days. I work for a company that gets gets shipments (ocean freight) from China 2-3 times a year, and we are sending our stuff the slowest / cheapest method possible. It's exceptionally rare for anything to take more than 45 days. Often we're surprised by our shipments arriving earlier than we expected. And while Christmas might make things slow down for individual packages, it really doesn't impact freight all that much. Most of the "Christmas" freight is delivered in October or November (or even earlier!), so stores have time to put it on the shelves and sell it.

 

If VolksUSA is not expecting to invoice for unpaid Mikus until February, it's because they're not shipping them until December. Which means they shoved all US pre-orders into the second (or third?) batch of Miku shipments.

 

And VolksUSA did indicate a fall delivery date: "This item is expected to be delivered some time in Autumn 2014" was written twice on every pre-order page.

 

I can't speak for everyone, but my problem is with VolksUSA itself, not with Volks (as a whole). I keep trying to support VolksUSA, and it keeps biting me in the ass. So I'm giving up. No more trying to support VolksUSA. Just do everything through the international website and call it a day. Obviously VolksInt gives US customers better customer service than VolksUSA does.

Honestly, this is the reason why I bought from International. We'd already seen this with the Sabers. And Miku is probably even more popular. At least in our local group, I think we'll have more Mikus than Saber Alter and Saber Extra. So, it stands to reason that the delay would be even longer.

 

I think Caludroness is right when she says that "they shoved all US pre-orders into the second (or third?) batch of Miku shipments.". From a business standpoint, selling a Miku to a US customer vs. a Japan customer costs them the freight across the Pacific. So, they'd want to minimize the effective loss by making a single large shipment rather than 3 smaller ones.

 

This isn't to say that I don't think Volks needs to make changes. I just had to wait 3+ months for a basic MDDIII body to come into stock, the click wars are ridiculous, etc. I'm just saying that in this case, this isn't exactly a surprising turn of events.

I guess I am just saying that in any other business, if you pay in advance you are their first priority to please. This just reeks of disorganization as usual, and I'm not surprised.

 

What should have happened is at the beginning of September, USA invoices should have been sent out with a 2 week window. Everyone pays up, they pack the dolls and ship them freight. They still would have got all the USA dolls on one shipment and kept the schedule of a fall delivery happening. Even if the USA staff is snail slow in checking them and packing them, the dolls realistically would have been heading to owner homes end of November beginning of December.

 

Now we are talking Winter 2014-2015 to possibly Spring 2015 for the dolls to make it to owners. If they knew they were going to bump the USA dolls into the last shipment, they should have given an option not to pay anything until they are ready to ship like international.

 

Don't say your going to have a fall delivery and then bump it all the way into next year. Thats fine for those who are patient and don't care, but crap for those who paid in full and were expecting a 2014 delivery. And everyone here was realistic in thinking they would be a little late, and maybe the dolls would not arrive till the end of the year, but Feb2015-??? Come on!

 

As far as continued support for Volks USA goes, I no longer see the point, as they do not provide services/products that fit my needs. As others have said, don't run a shoddy, half baked business and expect us to just be grateful your doing it. As customers in an expensive hobby, we have the right to question and in some cases demand you do better.

 

Although this shipping schedule problem is Volks International's, their customer service on the other hand, seems to be getting better. I will throw some of my money at them instead, and hope some other companies begin offering similar products. More options would be really nice.

I think the reason why US isn't priority is, as Billy said, Volks doesn't see the US as a worthy market. At least the DD one, because I think, as much as resin is concerned, they'd doing backflips to try and please that side of the hobby. They're doing online FCS and all that. And I think the fact that US gets to have second tries at outfits and all that is awsome (I don't know if it's still going to be like that though? But I know for sure I've seen at least 6-7 outfits on the US site I want that are not on the international anymore). So, really, even if I was last to get Miku, I wouldn't care. I'd be grateful to have a EU store, even if they included custom fees in the prices ^_^

 

Also, perhaps a reason why you need to pay upfront is so that they need to be SURE how many they need to ship, so they can't allow orders to be cancelled, while with international / japanese orders, they won't have paid shipping for an order that might get cancelled.

Other than getting outfits that are sold out on the International site, there's no reason to even buy from VolksUSA. Well, for DD related things anyway as there is that FCS system for resin dolls. There are a couple of outfits that VolksUSA has that I've wanted for some time, but I don't want to pay their ridiculous shipping prices.

 

My incoming Makoto from Volks International has a shipping charge of 3,200 yen, around (using Google to get my numbers) $32 Canadian.

Miku, who will be shipping from VolksUSA, has a shipping cost of $57.85 USD, which is $64.52 Canadian.

That's ridiculous! Paying more, plus this long delay, has really made me regret ordering from VolksUSA and I have no plans to ever purchase from them again. There's no reason to, when the international site can get their orders out in time and offer cheaper and faster shipping.

Just popping in to say that, like Shai said, I don't think I'd complain either, whether we got what we paid for first or last. If that was possible we wouldn't have to always race against the entire world just for a single try at an item only to have so many more opportunities of failing.

 

Besides; it's only normal that Japan would fill their own orders first. The international and Japanese sites are one and the same and they send to America all the preorders at once (or in a few batches, the same way they send dolls to the rest of the world). I've seen this happen before with ball jointed companies as well, for example Fairyland used to ship to Denver Doll Emporium in America in bulk as well and orders placed through DDE would take a month to two months longer than order filed directly with the company.

Also, perhaps a reason why you need to pay upfront is so that they need to be SURE how many they need to ship, so they can't allow orders to be cancelled, while with international / japanese orders, they won't have paid shipping for an order that might get cancelled.

That's probably a good point. I don't know what happened with Momo, but I know they got burned with the Sabers. They had extras of those guys sitting around for quite some time, and financially that makes no sense for them.

This isn't to say that I don't think Volks needs to make changes. I just had to wait 3+ months for a basic MDDIII body to come into stock

From experience, I'm gonna have to call foul on the sentiment of restock speed here. Not necessarily this one complaint from you in particular, but rather the same complaint from the community in general. It's stale, because timeliness is demonstrably something the community doesn't value.

 

I used to offer to pick up standard items like body parts from stores in Japan for a small commission for the trouble, as a side offering to the major outfit collection releases. I figured people might enjoy being able to get replacement parts whenever they needed them, without regard to the online stores - I'd even take trips to the local store at any time without needing to wait for the next monthly release, if asked. Know how many people ever took me up on getting busts, hands, legs, and the like? Very few. No matter the stock status of VolksUSA or Volks International on a given week, there wasn't often interest in these standard DD items.

 

On the one hand, I didn't blame folks for the lack of interest, since you'd have to pay $5 to $10 over retail depending on what was being bought. After all, standard items can definitely be had at retail price online -- eventually. But on the other hand, I was surprised to find out that, despite all the loud QQing online, getting parts in a timely manner wasn't even worth $5 to most people.

 

Demonstrably, therefore, the community places no actual value on timely restocking, no matter how loud the complaints get. I think at that point the community has lost its right to complain about Volks restock speed. Even when offered a solution for standard DD items, a solution wasn't wanted.

 

I found this interesting to learn.

SakuraSylph You had the service so I'm sure you know better, but I don't think it's entirelly that the community doesn't want a solution. A lot of people would, as you said, prefer to wait to get it at retail because they know that they will stock up someday and they're willing to wait for it -perhaps while saving up for it too. And there's also the fact that a lot of people instead make splits to get bodies at a cheaper price so people know there is that solution to the problem also.

Also, I might be wrong, but it looks to me like, at least the US / EU market is coming to a...what's the word...standstill? Like, almost everyone follows the "new girl" hype, but that's all. There are not many people interested anymore, or so it looks like to me. I don't see older girls selling much, if at all, except if you underprice them (like when on YJA a girl would sell for $1200, no one will buy it for even $1000 on the market here).

There are also people who are saving up to use your service very slowly because they're buying all other kinds of things in the meantime, like me =D

Other than getting outfits that are sold out on the International site, there's no reason to even buy from VolksUSA. Well, for DD related things anyway as there is that FCS system for resin dolls. There are a couple of outfits that VolksUSA has that I've wanted for some time, but I don't want to pay their ridiculous shipping prices.

 

My incoming Makoto from Volks International has a shipping charge of 3,200 yen, around (using Google to get my numbers) $32 Canadian.

Miku, who will be shipping from VolksUSA, has a shipping cost of $57.85 USD, which is $64.52 Canadian.

That's ridiculous! Paying more, plus this long delay, has really made me regret ordering from VolksUSA and I have no plans to ever purchase from them again. There's no reason to, when the international site can get their orders out in time and offer cheaper and faster shipping.

Very true... Volks USA has some outfits I want, but they insist on charging a minimum of $35 USD for any small thing I want to order. The only time I ordered from Volks USA, I was buying doll bodies/heads--but when they arrived I had to pay a $100 brokerage fee Needless to say, I'm not too keen on ordering from Volks USA.

 

I think Miku has a bigger box, shipping from Japan cost 5400 yen for me (I live in Canada too), which is more than the last time I bought a DD from VolksInt. Nonetheless, there just seems to be no benefit for Canadians to buy from Volks USA

 

Also, I might be wrong, but it looks to me like, at least the US / EU market is coming to a...what's the word...standstill? Like, almost everyone follows the "new girl" hype, but that's all. There are not many people interested anymore, or so it looks like to me.

I feel that's the case as well. I know I'm full up on DDs so to speak--I have about as many as I want now. I enjoy following releases and seeing other peoples DDs, but I can't add any more to my collection. All I want now is Miku and maybe another MDD. I just hope Volks doesn't release a "must have" for me, I'll be in trouble >_<