Go look at the original AJ thread here, not the hybrid mish mash one that's around now, anytime someone would raise a question about shipping to the US they would turn off shipping.
Sometimes ami ami might re-list the preorder, but they've usually done that a short time after the initial preorders (usually within 24 hours). At this time, I'd have to say....NY is your cheapest bet
You can wait from now til release date , can see if any of the stores will reopen or have any extra stock . You will need to check those sites and check these boards so when someone post a link with availability, you will then be able to stop whatever you are doing and buy it . This can happen anytime on any date . It’s either that or pay the 27000 yen from N-Y which is around $250. Which is worth more to you ? your time or the extra money.
Watch out when placing pre-order on TAOBAO! Some of the sellers have really really bad reputation. Those silver/gold crowns don't mean anything. It's very easy for them to get that scaled up. Short version: suppose I am someone who used to sell books or stationary or whatever, some small stuff to make enough transactions. I get two diamonds/crown, and now I switch my store to focus on toys or whatever, but in fact, I've not sold any toys and shit. Or another scenario, someone who has been on there selling books and wants to quit, and then I buy his ID and open up my own store (you can change your store name) and retain the reputation that ID has accumulated. Again, I start selling toys, and again, I've sold no toys so far whatsoever. How they scam pre-order (especially potentially hot items) : let's say the item will be released at 200 bucks, and they open up pre-order for a deposit of 10 or 20 bucks. Later when the item is released, they are supposed to put up a link on the item page to collect the rest of the payment 190 or 180 bucks, or they send the buy the link via DM on TAOBAO. The fact is, if it's a hot item, after the release the price rises up and those sellers postpone to collect the rest of the payment from you. (They will sell the item for 300 or 400 bucks) You are likely to end up getting your item months and months later. The worse part is, some of those aforementioned sellers cut your order, either refunding you the pre-order deposit or not. You have to go through customer service to get the money back, and it's a pain (just as going through most of the CS). Some people just end up letting it go and this is what those sellers want to see. The worst case: the seller gathers a large pile of pre-order deposit and disappears. I don't want scare people away from pre-ordering stuff, but just want to throw some information I know so that you can take them (the sellers) with a grain of salt. Also the store Ingleen has a very bad rep in Saint Seiya Myth Cloth. They postpone the pre-orders all the time when they can sell the items at a higher price at release. I can't say the same for DX or other items such as TF in their store, but again, just watch out.
Ya know, the lady that runs taobaoring basically told me what you just posted. That there are a lot of sellers on taobao that "try to cheat." Her words, not mine. Of course that was a convo I had with her around 2015...so I don't know if things have improved or not. Take what I just said with a grain of salt.
Oh crap! Everyone please stop contacting them and bringing more attention to this! It may be too late but...
To be fair, it’s not just this. They’re charging ~$40 shipping for the MP-13 reissue instead of the normal $11. Something is up in general and seems to be reflective in the response “reevaluating”.
Bigger stuff used to be $40, but the listing is kind of weird it's not a PO, but more like we'll have more stock mm/dd/yyyy.
They've also done it at random months later and the week and day of release(seen this with HI METAL R, DX VF-1J and DX VF-31C/F) It's good to bookmark them and check every now and then, I've seen stuff come in stock there. HLJ too but usually on day of release.
Doesn't surprise me really, Big West has been trying since 2017 FWIW I was one of the ones that missed out but @Sup3hobo reminded me and I ended up scoring what I wanted. I even got the YF-19 at preorder price the day of release after missing out on preorder night.
