I have bought many things from Tokyo Hobby and have not been disappointed but if I remember if you buy one or two of the trains in their elongated box they, like so many other Asian Sellers, just wrap them with a couple layers of bubble wrap and then just wrap that with a dark greenish shipping paper. What I dislike about Tokyo Hobby is that they don't give you a Tracking number which I find weird since all international packages can be tracked by the Customs number. This may be due to exactly what happens here when shipping Internationally. You can request Tracking but its outrageous because once it leaves the country they can't guarantee the tracking. The Customs number is trackable though. I have contacted Tokyo Hobby many times to combine shipping and ship EMS which does come with a number.
I have bought some items from only Japan Sellers at Amazon but only from ones I am familiar with or have 100% Feedback or if not the bad Feedback is unwarranted from newbees who expect the package to arrive in days. What I understand is that the shipping some of the Sellers use is actually a slow boat from China...literally. The shipping is so cheap because packages are thrown into a large hopper (where the damage comes from) and that hopper can sit for weeks because it won't move until its full. It is then transported to shipping containers and placed on a ship. This absolute cheapest way can take up to months. I have got into the habit of only buying from Sellers on Amazon that offer shipping upgrades at reasonable rates. Some are absolutely ridiculous high rates for this and that tells me what kind of a seller they are and avoid them. The biggest bonus about buying through Amazon is I believe they require all their Marketplace Sellers to provide tracking numbers so they can see that a package doesn't arrive and they give you a total refund immediately. Me, I can't stand waiting for packages so I mostly always pay for the convenience of speed with less chance of damage. I have also noticed that Ebay is now competing with Amazon closely for deals on our trains.
I have bought some items from only Japan Sellers at Amazon but only from ones I am familiar with or have 100% Feedback or if not the bad Feedback is unwarranted from newbees who expect the package to arrive in days. What I understand is that the shipping some of the Sellers use is actually a slow boat from China...literally. The shipping is so cheap because packages are thrown into a large hopper (where the damage comes from) and that hopper can sit for weeks because it won't move until its full. It is then transported to shipping containers and placed on a ship. This absolute cheapest way can take up to months. I have got into the habit of only buying from Sellers on Amazon that offer shipping upgrades at reasonable rates. Some are absolutely ridiculous high rates for this and that tells me what kind of a seller they are and avoid them. The biggest bonus about buying through Amazon is I believe they require all their Marketplace Sellers to provide tracking numbers so they can see that a package doesn't arrive and they give you a total refund immediately. Me, I can't stand waiting for packages so I mostly always pay for the convenience of speed with less chance of damage. I have also noticed that Ebay is now competing with Amazon closely for deals on our trains.
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