UPDATE: Anyone have problems with Japanese Amazon vendors

UPDATE- One of the missing items arrived! The C58 is still lost, however.

I may be jumping the gun here a bit but I'm getting a bit concerned. Over the past year, I've bought a number of Plarail engines from retailers in Japan selling through Amazon. Up until now, items I've purchased within 2-3 weeks; nearly always before the estimated arrival time. Shortly after New Years, I purchased two more engines from different vendors. One, a D51-200, came right away while the other, a C58-1, never arrived. After going through the step of contacting the seller and getting a "we'll check with Japan Post" response followed by no further reply, I contacted Amazon and received a refund. (I found another one on Hobby Search but paid more with EMS. However, I got that one!)

Now, another purchase from another seller is starting to run a little late. Given that I just had to deal with an item not showing up, I'm starting to wonder what's up. Is anyone else here having deals with Japanese Amazon sellers fall through? I remember that Ripley802 also had a problem with the same dealer with whom I had my C58 issue. Am I just unlucky or is there a bigger problem going on?

[ripley802]

Yeah I had a similar issue as you mentioned, and while I did end up getting the items they were damaged due to no packing. It may be that the Amazon sellers go for the cheaper SAL shipping which seems to take longer but anything past 4 weeks and I would be concerned. That said I have had some things take longer and show up fine.

I have had good luck with eBay and in particular (tokyo-hobby). There are others but this seller seems to always have items in stock and great prices

Yeah I had a similar issue as you mentioned, and while I did end up getting the items they were damaged due to no packing. It may be that the Amazon sellers go for the cheaper SAL shipping which seems to take longer but anything past 4 weeks and I would be concerned. That said I have had some things take longer and show up fine.

I have had good luck with eBay and in particular (tokyo-hobby). There are others but this seller seems to always have items in stock and great prices

Thanks for the good word on that eBay seller! I've wondered if these folks basically just wrapping stuff in kraft paper as the only packaging is some of the issue. Not exactly the sturdiest way to travel, although I've been lucky with getting things delivered intact in the past.

[Super]

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.