Anime-Export are a trustworthy Japan based online retailer. Everything else is conjecture. It doesn't matter where you order from, you're figure is going to have to come via TT or Hasbro Asia. Therefore Japan/China. The impacts of Covid-19 on this are as yet unclear but I'm fully expecting delays at the very least. As to why AJ have stopped shipping to the US... I haven't the foggiest but maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions?
China went to a hardcore lockdown to get to where they are right now. I can assure you, without such measures, China has a population to support Covid-19 for a much longer period. The US, at the moment, is not on track to follow their example. People are still partying in Miami in large groups for spring break. I wouldn't take "per capita" infection rate as a thing. The US is a physically large country, quite spread out. infection rate isn't something that neccessarily scales with population. The total amount of people who will get it without some hard from of preventative measure is what the population size is going to affect more than anything. It's the ceiling, not the rate. Don't let your personal feelings on the media affect your judgement, this is a very serious virus and a serious event. It might be some time before things go back to normal. I have no idea what that will mean regarding this release, but I am certain they'll release it worldwide eventually, though a delay wouldn't surprise me.
Well based on what others have said we shouldn't jump to conclusions. There were several examples on the previous page where AJ had stopped shipping certain items to the USA for seemingly no reason. There was not any crisis at those times. Would anime export stand behind any sort of quality issue and send a new figure if needed?
There's mixed reports on this. I have had a positive experience with AE over returning a broken figure (not a Transformer). I notified them of the breakage and asked if I could get a replacement or refund. They acknowledged it was a know issue and offered to replace the figure provided I sent the damaged figure back and covered the cost of shipping. They sent out the replacement once they had received the it and I was pretty happy with that despite having to cover the shipping. However not everyone has had such positive experiences... I imagine it also comes down to the returns policy of individual manufacturers in regards to the retailers, ymmv depending on what you want to return and why. If AE know they can get a refund from the manufacturer they are more likely to help you out I imagine.
Japan will obviously continue to ship stuff to North America. No matter what kind of virus attacks the planet.
Anyone out there cheaper than anime export for mp-50 at this point? Hard to believe it'll ever go below the $167 they're offering it for. Gotta see how much shipping ups that steal of a price though.
If AJ aren't shipping to the US, and you are in the US, then I guess not. Maybe ShowZ seeing as their shipping is free? I have no idea how much US shipping is from AE.
I have another question on anime export. I see they don't charge shipping right away. They calculate shipping and send another bill? How's that gonna work when they don't know the dimensions or weight of mp-50? What have you guys experienced in the past when pre-ordering from them? Am I gonna pay the preorder price and I'm 4 months right before shipping get another bill from them? I also thought I saw mention in this thread about their shipping prices being high. Can anyone speak to this?
Not to be too doom and gloom, but I’m genuinely baffled how flippant many are on this site ... in ‘Murica at least, esp CA, I can definitely see this thing getting waaay out of hand ... many local police are waiting to quit en masse a la Katrina and the National Guard won’t be patrolling places like East Oak or Hunters Point in the Bay, which have effective ‘no-go zones’ already ... imo ppl here truly underestimate the extent of ‘American exceptionalism’ ...
... See 3 posts above. Anyone have info on how shipping cost calculation and billing works when ordering from anime export?
if you say so ... I doubt Tigatron will be arriving Stateside this fall, let’s just put it that way ...
They will know the dimensions and weight of the box, that's exactly why they don't charge you for postage until it's in stock. Once they have it they will alert you its in stock, they you go in an select what you want shipped (you might have ordered a number of things that you'd like sending together for example) they the calculate the shipping for both SAL and EMS and let you decided which you want. Shipping can be expensive but I wouldn't say insanely so, SAL is usually a fair bit cheaper than EMS. For example MP Blackarachnia came in at 2800 for EMS and 1290 SAL for me (shipping to the UK).