I like Mr Ripley are more than aware of the shipping costs when using any of the Japanese proxy sites. One question I would ask though is was that just the shipping cost or the total 'charge 2' cost?
One thing 'From Japan' do that is different to Jauce for example is that they only charge you the auction price + system usage fees at the time you win the auction. It is when it comes to shipping you get the shipping cost, local shipping costs, bank transfer fees and system fee for the whole caboodle. Often the local shipping costs, bank fees, etc... can be almost as much as the shipping fee.
The other thing with From Japan is you do at least get to choose the shipping option AFTER it has all been packed, sized and weighed. Basically you setup a shipment, they then pack it, and then send you a notification it is ready to go telling you how big/heavy it is and offering options including EMS, SAL, FedEx etc... On one occasion I picked FedEx purely because it was way cheaper for some reason, normally EMS and FedEx are pretty much on a par.
One other underlooked item with From Japan is that you get the chance to change the price of the items in the shipment for customs declaration purposes, bit naughty, but if you do this (sensibly of course - in other words don't put 100 yen for something worth 10,000 yen) it can save you quite a bit in customs duty which offsets some of the shipping cost.
The resaon for this issue may just be that Mr Ripley has crossed a postal threshold, I think things are priced at say up to 1kg - nn, 1-2kg nnn, etc... so if you just a few grams over the threshold you fall into a much more expensive band. But I speculate it could just be one of those things, have you mailed them Mr Ripley asking why it was the price it was?
One thing 'From Japan' do that is different to Jauce for example is that they only charge you the auction price + system usage fees at the time you win the auction. It is when it comes to shipping you get the shipping cost, local shipping costs, bank transfer fees and system fee for the whole caboodle. Often the local shipping costs, bank fees, etc... can be almost as much as the shipping fee.
The other thing with From Japan is you do at least get to choose the shipping option AFTER it has all been packed, sized and weighed. Basically you setup a shipment, they then pack it, and then send you a notification it is ready to go telling you how big/heavy it is and offering options including EMS, SAL, FedEx etc... On one occasion I picked FedEx purely because it was way cheaper for some reason, normally EMS and FedEx are pretty much on a par.
One other underlooked item with From Japan is that you get the chance to change the price of the items in the shipment for customs declaration purposes, bit naughty, but if you do this (sensibly of course - in other words don't put 100 yen for something worth 10,000 yen) it can save you quite a bit in customs duty which offsets some of the shipping cost.
The resaon for this issue may just be that Mr Ripley has crossed a postal threshold, I think things are priced at say up to 1kg - nn, 1-2kg nnn, etc... so if you just a few grams over the threshold you fall into a much more expensive band. But I speculate it could just be one of those things, have you mailed them Mr Ripley asking why it was the price it was?
Happily collecting things all my life... 