From reading the comments it has come to our attention that buying our dear toys online is not the simplest endeavour, especially when the price range can be so wide along with all the differences between each online vendor. With Masterpiece toys, there is also the issue of having it imported for you or importing it yourself. Added to that, with a Masterpiece Megatron toy, you also have to deal with it turning into a gun and what that
might entail. So here is a rundown of a range of online vendors (not an exhaustive list, I just picked those of which I know best) showing you what your options are, how you can get him for much cheaper than it seemed at first, but also what you are giving up with the cheaper price. I hope this helps.
Importing from JapanWe will now be looking at 4 Japanese sites where you can import the figure yourself. This means that you are to deal with possible customs fees (applicable to Canadians, Europeans, ect) and will be paying a hefty fee to ship the product from Japan. However, these sites get their products from Takara and thus will have the best prices online. None of these Japanese vendors will be opening the package to insert an orange plug into the barrel.
Nippon Yassan: We are starting with them because unlike every other Japanese vendor, they actually give you an estimate on the shipping, which you must pay up front. This gives us our best idea at what other places will charge for shipping. Here are the shipping quotes given for Masterpiece Megatron to ship to North America (or a similar distance from Japan).
Keep in mind, these are all estimates and they may fluctuate depending on vendor and the conversion rate. We can see that for 2-3 week shipping without a tracking number, it is 24.90 Yen ($22.82 USD), with 3$ more for tracking, and the 3-4 days shipping, called EMS, is 4500 Yen ($41.24). These estimated shipping prices will be used for the other sites as we go through the list.
The price of their Megatron is 16580 Yen ($151.94 USD). They have both a pay up front option (where you pay for both the figure and estimated shipping up front) and a pay later option. I have only ever used the pay upfront option (in fear that the yen would rise).
Here is a quote from them regarding this payment option:
"You will receive a notification for the deadline of the payment few weeks or few days before the release of the product, if it reaches the deadline without the payment, this pre-order will be automatically cancelled."
Since they do not have the item in hand to weigh, it can be that their shipping estimate is wrong and they are at liberty to ask you to pay more for shipping if it's more than expected. However, this rarely happens and is more an exception. For instance, it happened with Fortress Maximus, who is very in his own league. You cannot cancel an order with them. They will mark a low amount in the customs form to help the package get through customs quicker and avoid the buyer to pay extra duty upon arrival. I suggest you write to them to confirm you want them to do that. This comes in very handy for people living in countries that have strict duty laws and a heavy taxation.
Price Range of total from 2-3 week shipping to 3-4 day shipping: 19070 - 21080 Yen ($174.75 - $199.77 USD)
Anime Export: Their offer
expires November 28th 2016. After that, you will not be able to get this toy for 16100 Yen ($147.54 USD). The reason it is lower than other Japanese sites is because they require you to pay up front. And as anyone who took a finance course might know, cash today is always worth more than cash tomorrow and since they can keep a healthy cash flow (and require less credit from their supplier), they can pass their savings onto you.You will only be charged for the figure and you will be charged for shipping later when the figure is in stock. You cannot cancel an order with them. Also, like Nippon Yassan, they will help you with customs but
you must write to them to let them know you would like a lower amount written in the customs form for the product's worth.
Price Range of total from 2-3 week shipping to 3-4 day shipping: 18840- 2060 Yen ($172.65 - $188.77 USD)
Amiami: They are an in between as you will see. Their price is a bit higher, at 17280 Yen ($158.43 USD) but you do not need to pay right away. You are only required to pay when the item is in stock. Cancelling an order is ill seen for this company. If you really can't pay by the time an item is in stock, they can relinquish your order but you may not be welcome to buy from them again. They will write the full amount of the toy's worth on the customs form.
Price Range of total from 2-3 week shipping to 3-4 day shipping: 20020- 21780 Yen ($183.46 - $199.59 USD)
HLJ: They are pricier than others, at 18400 Yen ($168.61 USD) and that is because they offer the most perks. Like stateside vendors, you do not need to pay ahead of time and you can cancel your order at any time before it is in stock. They are used to catering to western consumers and are thus currently looking into whether or not an orange plug will be attached to the barrel:
"Specifics of its packaging are still in the planning stage. When more information is available in the New Year, we’ll determine how best to get this item safely to our customers worldwide. If it turns out to require modification, affected customers will be contacted."
They will write out the full amount of the product's worth on the customs form and since this product is above a price treshold, they will only use the pricier (and faster) shipping option.
EDIT: This policy of theirs seems to have changed and thus a cheaper shipping option may be available.
Price of total for 3-4 day shipping: 22900 Yen ($209.85 USD)
Buying from ImportersAs you may notice from all that is above, importing from Japan is not the most sraightforward or streamlined way to get your toys, especially if you have to figure out local laws (like taxation or gun replicas). If you don't want the trouble of importing a product yourself, country specific importers can do it all for you, at a cost. That means they will be paying the high shipping fee you saw above and will thus raise their price to pass the cost onto the buyers. Also, since Takara is contractually not allowed to deal with vendors outside Japan, importers usually deal with an extra middleman which also increases their cost and yours. Their price should not be seen as just the worth of the toy but also the fee for their service of importing it. Many countries or areas have their own importers. Canada has
Ages 3 and Up, the UK has Kapow, Australia has
Premium Collectables, China has
Robot Kingdom, ect.
There are quite a few of these importers dedicated for US customers, like
BBTS,
TFSource,
AJ's Toy Chest,
Chosen Prime,
VNC Toys and others. All these US vendors are currently selling Megatron for $230 USD, and some offer free shipping. They typically allow you to cancel any preorder that isn't in stock yet and you do not have to pay in advance. To conform to the US law, since they are US vendors, they will be adding an orange plug. It is unknown at this time if it will be glued or not.
While some do ship internationally, they write out the full worth of the toy on the customs form, to conform with US law.
Extra notes:
If you buy from Japan,
make sure to pay in YEN. A few sites have their own currency conversion which is always less favourable than either Paypal or your own credit card exchange (I personally use an Amazon Visa card for these purchases since it charges no fees for conversion).
Australia has very strict laws and thus I would advise any Australians to look into their own country specific options for this toy (Premium Collectibles seems to be the best place for the least hassle, so
head over there for more info. Griffin of OzFormers has put together a
handy resource detailing the different laws around Australia and how it affects replica firearm Transformers.
USA customers are not charged duty and thus it does not matter if the price stated on the customs form is high. It would actually be advantageous for it to be as close to the worth of the toy so that it is properly insured.
All prices in this article including shipping are estimates
)
And it resulted in a great response from you (and Agamemnon) which I am thankful for. All good stuff here. I think that "free" shipping for a treshold is smart. I dont know if there is any behavioural rreearch done in marketting where its proven that having one gives more sales than not having one but the logic makes sense with people wanting to buy a bit more to get that free shipping.
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