Placed an order on the 26th of July and got it today with EMS shipping (most expensive) from Robotoybase. That FLEW through customs. A little less than 2 weeks from HK to NY. Awesome.
Only place to get a UW-EX Baldigus for under $280 and got a MMC Turben for $100. $380 all in ain't bad all things considering.

 

Which shipping method was it? By boat?

 

I have no idea.

 

Thats my fear with RBT as well in regards to shipping costs that would outweigh the entire point of avoiding high US costs. How much is his normal shipping rates? I can definitely wait if it is going to be cheaper, but if shipping costs a whole bunch, I might as well pay a premium here to get it sooner. Last I heard, he was only sending items by boat, if at all. Is this still the case? I'm just curious since I ordered an item in May and I'm not even confident he has my item in stock because I have heard a few people mention in these last few months (through several threads, reddit, and FB groups) that he was selling items he didn't even have. Other than that, the reputation seemed flawless, so I took the dive. Im probably just being a tad paranoid because I would hate to wait 4-5 months only to not be able to get items after having to pay a "hold" fee.

Its not a huge deal to me, but more and more people seem to come out and say they had issues with RBT. Not many, but enough to make me want to prepare for elsewhere. Anyway, good luck to everyone else!  

 

Wow. 5 months is fucked up. Good thing you were able to get a refund.

 

88 days, damn.. What is the tracking number did the entire time? Mine stopped updating the right after it was handed off to the shipper.

 

His shipping costs are apparently all over the map; I’m sure he has some sort of formula he is applying, but a cynical person might say that he is pricing his items extremely low, then adjusting the shipping accordingly. He also seemed pretty adamant with a lot of us that the only way to send stuff during the pandemic was by slowboat for really, really high prices. At the same time, many of us were also ordering from other people in his region and the shipping was reasonable, and the items actually arrived. I’m having a separate issue with TFSafari right now, but I will say that they shipped so fast it’s like they are down the road from me, and not an entire continent and ocean away. I don’t understand why RTB seems to be the only popular store that is having shipping issues to this extreme extent.

AS far as his inventory issues go, this was my experience: I got it in my head that I wanted Eupatorium earlier this year, after seeing that there was basically going to be no way that hasbro would be making an Elita-1 that I’d be happy with. RTB actually had her listed in stock, so I put my order in. Couple hours later, I was refunded with a message that he actually just sold out and had not adjusted the listing, but he would be looking into getting more. I was disappointed, and incredulous that he thought he’d get more of an item that had been out of circulation for years but sure enough, I did get a message only a few days later. He restocked the listing, I put in my order... and it was cancelled. He apparently sold out again. Whatever; I ended up paying way too much to a store in Italy, but I got my girl in about 12 days.

A couple weeks later, I had made some good eBay sales so I was playing catch-up on some older items for my collection. I decided I wanted Toyworld Crank, because I guess I am a masochist. Same deal; none on eBay for months, none on the sales forums... RTB has them in stock. I put my order in, no cancellation but shipping is going to be over half the price of the toy. So, I throw some other items and a birthday gift for my wife in to make it worthwhile.. He hands the box off to the cargo ship and tells me it could take as long as 65 days. 70 days later and there isn’t even a shipping update. They must be paddling their way across the Pacific.

Even if I get my money back, I am extremely bummed out because my wife’s birthday was ages ago and it’s not like I’m going to find Crank elsewhere..

 

this is my last update...haven't moved yet.

July 30, 2020, 10:13 pm
Processed Through Facility
ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS)
Your item has been processed through our facility in ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS) at 10:13 pm on July 30, 2020.

 

I'm not sure what this means. It sat for 19 days and now it's listed as returning? I'm bummed, this was my oversized ironhide.


My bonecrusher hasn't moved at all since the 30th

 

What's weird is that Baba sent me a different BIGGER package using cheaper mail, and it arrived 3 days ago, a week after being sent.

Insane.

 

This is what I see when I check the tracking number of my order from RTB. I'm giving it until the 15th before requesting a refund.

 

My Toyworld Old Green and X-transbots Curse shipped from Baba April 24th and have been stuck in New York since July 6th. Figures the largest amount I've ever spent in one order would be the one to get stuck in shipping.

 

same. If he hasn’t gotten back to me with new information, I gotta escalate. He really pushed me into paying to have my order put on a boat, I didn’t want to and I’m not prepared to lose $300+ over this.

 

Update #4

Order #s 3 & 5 showed up together back on the 27th, so I've had them in hand for a bit now. Yay. All that leaves from Uncle Billy is:

Order #6 - Still no update since 12 June in Shanghai, so approaching the two month mark. I'm not worried yet, just annoyed that the Snaptraps were shipped separately and now I get to wonder when the hell the other one will show up.

In the meantime, I did make a new order from Uncle Billy, partially because they had something I wanted that sold out at US retailers, partially out of curiosity to see how long it'd take to get here.

Order #7 - Uncle Billy via Yanwen Registered Mail(?) - Ordered on the 22nd, shipped on the 30th. The tracking number UB provided hasn't worked on USPS' site, but a different tracking number from Yanwen magically showed up not long after I got my shipping notice on Informed Delivery, and I haven't ordered anything else from China lately, so that is presumably my package. It cleared customs on the 8th and looks like it might be delivered by Monday. So a little over two weeks?

 

Where did you purchase the Ironhide from? (Movie version or Animated?)
I got one from TFDirect a couple months ago and it took around a month to get to me. Good luck!  

 

It's oversized black mamba from ali express. I've bought from the seller before. The way it reads, it looks like it's going back to the seller.

 

Ah okay! I apologize, I misread the OS being returned for the other item- I wonder if customs sent it back because it has batteries in it? That's the only thing I can think of in the realm of possibility. Well, I thought shipping batteries overseas wasn't permitted, but I can be wrong.

 

I'm glad I skipped RTB. I had a bad feeling so I went with ebay instead.

 

Yeah. Baba sends me Cang Toys predacons and it's 3-4 weeks for each (two weeks @ isc San francisco).

But Kronos was less than 2 wks

 

Same thing happened to me once, it was Daban KO of IDW Prime. I think it was also batteries. Though i received many figures with batteries before and since then.