Oh don’t worry, I’m a bit of a scale nut. I looked at a bunch of figures from MFT, MS and NA, wrote down the ones I liked the looks of best, and then researched the heights of each. Wrote them all done and then tried to mix and match to see what would work. Ended up with a pretty easy choice.

MFT designs are a little too variable for me. Some are great and some are really rough. Scale seems a bit off as well but that may just be me.

MST have some great stuff but the smaller bots scale a little big for me (the figures are a lot closer together in height). Also, it kind of bugs me that hardly any of them have painted wheels. The black wheels with the silver flat pin in the middle scream “toy” to me. Probably an easy fix but just annoying.

New Age are really nailing it. I love all their figures, all their heights and their prices are reasonable. Release seems prettty quick and consistent.

End of the day, New Age was an easy choice for me and best of all, I can squeeze the odd MST figure in their as well - MS Prime works perfect and their Soundwave looks amazing. I’m hopeful their Reflector isn’t too tall either. Looks like he may work, though he’s probably taller than NA bugs.

 

dalianjj replied quickly and it will be a wait for 4-6 weeks.

For my last two Taobao haul, Fedex changes to Fedex Home after hitting US although the original method is SmartPost. That's why I usually get it a couple of days after arriving at US.

 

The best thing about Legends scale is that you don't really need to preorder them on taobao, there's abundant stock on release.  

 

Cool.

You're in California right? I know that is usually the state port of entry for Taobao orders entering the USA. That's where my orders hit US soil.
Also, I'm guessing the reason it your haul switches to FedEx home is because your shipment weighs more than 4 or 5kg.

 

Yes, especially when they are too small/light to meet the minimum 1 kg weight by themselves.

 

Posting my first TF purchase from Taobao...just cuz.  
(Mods, please delete if inappropriate)



Bought from a TMall store, before the 11.11 sale, shipped via Direct Shipping (just to try out the speed), arrived in 7 days from Nanjing to Singapore.


Goes with my KO MFT Megotroun.

 

All good man. Glad to have helped. Thanks for the advice regarding that seller, I hadn't gone as far as adding one to cart yet so hadn't realised. I'll grab one off New Toys Professional too.

 

Direct and consolidated shipping take the same time, just one tries to make it 'one-click'.

I made a total of 8 orders around 11.11 and saved a grand total of 40 yuan (US$5.70), as only two orders have 11.11 promo. So, I got the worst of both worlds -- no promo but yet affected by shipping volume.

Let's see how long before they reach me.  

(I have a hunch shipping will be near-normal this year.  )

 

My G2 Deathwish from Taobao seller Little Bee Prince just reached the warehouse. Weight came to 0.68kg. I'm going to ship it out with DX9 Capone once it drops.

 

FansToys FT-16M is now readily available on TaoBao. 850 yuan (US$122) minus additional discount if you pre-ordered, else the cheapest seems to be 1050 yuan (US$150). Unlike regular releases, there seems to be no embargo period.

I suspect it would be available for quite a while at 1050 yuan, just like FT-29T.

 

That’s not including shipping right? Given the weight and dimensions of the box, do you know how much more roughly it would cost to ship to the US, assuming it was the only item in the shipment? Thanks.

 

No. Since it is supposed to be heavy, let's assume it weighs 2 kg. If so, it would cost 127 yuan (~US$18) to ship.

(You'll pay 3% more due to AliPay and any foreign exchange charge by your bank.)

 

Unfortunately, a quick napkin calculation tells me that buying from Taobao is much less attractive at least for me now that they’ve begun collecting sales taxes on purchases for people in my state. Perhaps if I really bought in bulk it might make sense. Or if the new perfect edition constructor starts showing up at attractive prices...

 

It may not be that bad at all compared to NA retailers/sellers, even with tax included. Besides, nearly all, if not all, other NA sellers who had at at normal retail $180 shipped are sold out. Taobao would be the next best option.

 

Yeah, I realised that when my direct order is also sent to the Taobao warehouse in Dongguan first, before shipping out of China. So during 11.11, I tried to buy mainly from sellers based Guangdong, in case the shipping is faster due to the close proximity.  

I saved 80 yuan, for 9 items (not all of them TFs). Half my items were from sellers in Guangdong, other half from Eastern China.

So far, 7 out of 9 items have arrived in the Dongguan warehouse, including all from Guangdong.

1 item from Ningbo in Eastern China is almost reaching the warehouse.

And the last item is last marked travelling from Shanghai to Dongguan since Wednesday. Bit worried about that one. Perhaps Shanghai will take the longest time to deliver because it's the most populated city in China, and their volume is the highest cos of 11.11?

Why do you say that?


Btw, I noticed that 2 items in my consolidated air shipping list get charged extra for shipping, even though they are considered small packages. When I add up the rest, the rates are standard. It's only those 2 particular items, and I don't know why. Here's an example:

When I add up these 2 items, the shipping rate is normal: ¥71 for 2.6kg.
(Singapore rate of ¥29 for first kg, and ¥10.50 for subsequent 0.5kg)




But when I add this particular item at the top of the page, the shipping total jumped to ¥173.50 for 6.89kg, when it should have been ¥155. So there is an extra of ¥18.50.




It always happens when I add that particular item, and another item not shown here. When I add up my other 5 current item (minus those 2 items), I get the standard rate.

Did anyone come across this before?

I've already asked Taobao customer service, they said they will recalculate the weight again, which will take 24 hours. But there's nothing wrong with the weight, it's the pricing that's off.

 

It cannot be combined, hence you are charged the first kg again.

 

Because the volume is too big?


One of the items (let's call it item X) is 27.5cm x 27.5cm x 9.55cm and weighes 0.49 kg. Even that will increase the shipping price.

For example, when I add just item X and Item A together, the price is extra, cos item X is added.

But if I take out item X, and add an even bigger and heavier item (49cm x 31cm x 7cm, 0.89kg) with Item A, the price goes back down to normal, i.e. cheaper. Even though I replaces a smaller, lighter item with a bigger, heavier item.

I don't understand why.

 

Did you get this measurement from the warehouse?

I believe not. They have probably measured it wrongly such that it is extremely long in one dimension. As such, it cannot be combined with other items.

In the past, I wasted a bit of time trying to convince the warehouse they measured wrongly, but they insisted they were correct. So I shipped it anyway.

 

Yeah, availability would be a big factor in favor of Taobao. Plus, I’m not a “gotta have it right when it comes out” kinda guy, so I don’t necessarily mind waiting if it costs less. I just need the right purchase to dip my toe and test the waters I suppose.

 

Hope they will re-measure and get back to me. I asked them if this was a common problem, and they said it happens a lot when there are too many packages to process.

Doesn't sound promising. I'm still waiting for 2 more items to consolidate, but the current shipping rate is slowly creeping up to the same price if I were to ship direct, because of the mystery extra shipping charges.