Current shipping status (Ebay, Giantoy, KGHobby, etc)

I am so far only ordered from ebay.

The shipping time varies based upon carrier.

I had for example a chair ordered in March 07 and only get it May 10.

On the other hand the used full set of figure being ordered in Apr 28 is held by customs in May 08

Currently I have 5 1/6 related packages in progress. 3 of them is belonging to the suspicious gang 1 of the is going for refund to other are under solving with the seller.

I mentioned the used one above, And I have one ordered May 10. (STOCK it was in STOCK!) I will keep you informed regarding her! (update it was shipped on may 11)

The GianToy packaged just arrived, making it 7 days in total.

There were no customs charges, even though they didn't mark the label as 'Gift', but 'Other'. With the current rules anything that isn't a gift under a certain value is liable for tax, so I don't know what's going on there.

Royal Mail's label says 'Tracked 48', but they actually did it as a 24.

Also on that label, under Special Instructions, it reads: 'Giantoy Company', which is another red flag that this was a commercial parcel requiring VAT payment.

Above that there is a 'Return To' section, which is a UK PO Box in Reading.


It's like customs are somehow fooled by the GB suffix tracking number, though I can't believe that.

While it seems like GianToy parcels usually arrive with customers without charges, it feels a bit chancy.

I was under the impression that GianToy had some kind of 'special arrangement' when it came to shipping, but maybe I'm wrong....

skywalkersaga wrote:I was under the impression that GianToy had some kind of 'special arrangement' when it came to shipping, but maybe I'm wrong....

I thought I read something on their site the other day that mentioned that, but now I can't find it.

There was a statement that you have to pay extra for Expedited shipping (which I didn't), and that they won't use it if your country is liable to charge tax due to the local the requirements pertaining to  expedited deliveries, e.g. Germany.

They go on to explain that they won't use Expedited if it doesn't have huge advantages over the speed of free shipping, e.g. U.K., Australia, etc.


The more I read the more I get confused...because they said they sent mine by Expedited, and didn't charge anything.  

Unless they consider the 'free' method to the UK to be the equivalent of 'expedited'.    


I can't imagine there's any way they could get around customs, as the goods are clearly arriving from abroad and would have to pass checks before being released back into the wild.

Whatever it is, Giantoy clearly consider their customers and do their best to make things go as cheaply and smoothly as possible.

My packages usually being sent from "Netherlands" when I receive them . They spare a bunch of money for me.

Order placed with Giantoy for TBLeague M32 male body (in stock):

Ordered - 28 April
Shipped - 1 May
Depart China - 6 May
Arrive Canada (?) - 7 May
Depart Canada - 8 May
Arrive USA (Los Angeles) - 8 May
Depart USA (Los Angeles) - 12 May
Arrive USA (Salt Lake City) - 14 May
Delivered USA (Panguitch, Utah) -17 May

19 Days total delivery time

davidd wrote:Order placed with Giantoy for TBLeague M32 male body (in stock):

Ordered - 28 April
Shipped - 1 May
Depart China - 6 May
Arrive Canada (?) - 7 May
Depart Canada - 8 May
Arrive USA (Los Angeles) - 8 May
Depart USA (Los Angeles) - 12 May
Arrive USA (Salt Lake City) - 14 May
Delivered USA (Panguitch, Utah) -17 May

19 Days total delivery time

Still not too bad considering it seemed to traverse the globe.

My Master Team TLOU2 Ellie from OSK has been a fast one.

She went into the China Post system on 11th May, and is due for delivery today.

I noticed that China Post tracking shows the time of the flight departure, which is a more accurate indication of what's happening to a parcel than the usual 'Handed over', which Royal Mail records as 'Item leaving overseas' - which seems to really mean that it's just ready to leave.

The actual flight was 16 hours later than Royal Mail's indication.

Update.
My used Epoch cop. ( no box but like new condition)
Have just arrived on may 17.
It was ordered on apr 28 and actually on may 08 it was under customs.

The one I had bought on may 10 is being hold by the country post.

Having directly emailed 'Amelia' at GianToy to ask about how they ship their items to the UK so quickly, I'm still none the wiser. She was very cagey about it but insisted that they have no warehouses in the UK, so how they manage to get past UK customs with as little fuss as they seem to remains a mystery (she specifically said 'warehouses' though, so it may just have been a matter of semantics ). It also doesn't explain the UK return address in Reading (pronounced Redding, as in Otis or Noel).

I did actually once get a customs charge on a GianToy package as it happens, but it was back in 2017 before I think they had their enigmatic 'arrangement' with Royal Mail.

I've noticed that companies appear to use all kinds of interesting shipping routes to the UK, though - a Fed-Exed package from Monkey Depot (for example) travels a straight route from Arizona through Memphis and then straight on to the UK destination, but the same package sent by a (theoretically) cheaper but longer and riskier 'untracked' method goes the long way into Continental Europe (usually Germany or The Netherlands) before bouncing back to the UK.

Of course, Our Glorious Brexit has put paid to that 'cheaper' option now that VAT gets routinely slapped on goods from/passing through Europe.


BONUS MOAN: Speaking of Monkey Depot, I just had my first ever problem with them, with a missing item in a big bundle o'stuff. I'm waiting to hear back from them about it but I'm assuming I'll get a credit note or something if they don't still have the item.

GeeWillikers wrote:Having directly emailed 'Amelia' at GianToy to ask about how they ship their items to the UK so quickly, I'm still none the wiser. She was very cagey about it but insisted that they have no warehouses in the UK, so how they manage to get past UK customs with as little fuss as they seem to remains a mystery (she specifically said 'warehouses' though, so it may just have been a matter of semantics ). It also doesn't explain the UK return address in Reading (pronounced Redding, as in Otis or Noel).

I did actually once get a customs charge on a GianToy package as it happens, but it was back in 2017 before I think they had their enigmatic 'arrangement' with Royal Mail.

It is quite mysterious, and seems it'll remain so!

I wondered whether the Reading return address belonged to UBI Smart Parcel, but I couldn't find anything to indicate it.

GeeWillikers wrote:Of course, Our Glorious Brexit has put paid to that 'cheaper' option now that VAT gets routinely slapped on goods from/passing through Europe.

Brexit is an annoying barrier. I consider all of Europe cut off now, whereas before I would happily buy from Machinegun Figures or Kaustic Plastik. By coincidence I received an email from MG yesterday, saying I hadn't ordered in a while and should take a look at their new stock.

GeeWillikers wrote:BONUS MOAN: Speaking of Monkey Depot, I just had my first ever problem with them, with a missing item in a big bundle o'stuff. I'm waiting to hear back from them about it but I'm assuming I'll get a credit note or something if they don't still have the item.

I only ordered from them once - an odd assortment comprising a monkey from a Dragon military set, a DiD Spear of Destiny with its wooden case, and the HT Jack Sparrow voodoo doll - and they over-valued the parcel on the customs label compared to what I actually paid.

Can't remember for sure how that was resolved, but I think they admitted the error and refunded me.

Re: GianToy -- I mean, do we WANT Amelia giving away the secrets and then making it so we have to pay more for shipping and/or customs? Maybe it's better as a mystery...

Re: Brexit -- yes, a terrible barrier. I used to gladly order from European stores and ebay sellers as it was always cheaper shipping than from the US. Now shipping from EU is just as expensive as US, if not more...

The biggest problem Brexit has wrought for me personally is the knock-on effects on Ebay and Aliexpress - I have to second-guess every single overseas purchase now (at least Ebay have started to add the VAT before checkout now, but now 'Making An Offer' has turned into a mathematical nightmare because of it).

Monkey Depot are great, usually - in three years of buying regularly from them, this is the first problem I've ever had that was down to them rather than Fed-Ex.

As for GianToy, yes ignorance is probably bliss.

Heads up for those with Pre Orders for Leon Kennedy, it's in the states and shipping now. Got my confirmation from MD yesterday

I just received an e-mail. The Dragon knight figure which I ordered on may 10 will arrive on the next week. No customs!

My latest GianToy package is still "on its way to the RDC" after more than a week.

(moaning about this kind of thing in this thread usually provokes some progress, so fingers crossed )

So

I had one ordered on may 10, (Dragon knight) shipped on may 11 and finally arrived may 28. it means a full shipping time of 18 days including the day of order.

Another one is shipped may 27, the latest scan is for the Yanwen facility- Outbound on may 31.

GeeWillikers wrote:

(moaning about this kind of thing in this thread usually provokes some progress, so fingers crossed )

Huh, let's see if this works. My Royal Defender has departed from China on May 10th and still didn't get to my country. And my GK Spades J Greg has arrived in my country, released from customs without charges on May 20th... yet it's still stuck there for some odd reason...

Now lets see.

Cy girls Assassin (USA): ordered 04.06 shipped 04.06 arrived 05.03 w/o customs
Epoch cop used: ordered 04:28 shipped 05.06 arrived 05.17 with customs
Dragon knight ordered 05.10 shipped 05.11 arrived 05.31 w/o customs
Katherine (from France) Ordered 06.04 shipped 06.04 arrived 06.10 W/o customs
VCF 2036 Shipped 05.27 Arrived 06.09 w/o customs

It is actually interesting since I am unable to see any issue on the post offices end due to covid, I might be doing a comparison with orders to the previous years since it is in no way takes longer to ship than the years before Covid and I am actually suspect that it is shorter recently.

All of my packages that are coming to the USA from Asia, with the exception of those being carried by DHL, are absolutely crawling right now.  A lot of sites are starting to have pop-ups (based on my IP address) warning USA customers about mail delays both locally and with the United States Post Office.  I can’t say they didn’t warn me.   I just placed an order with KGHobby for $230 yesterday before reading through this thread today, so I hope I don’t have any issues there.

Remember when I posted that my Royal Defender left China on May 10th? Welp, today's June 20th and it still didn't arrive in my country. I guess they put her on a lifeboat, in hopes that someday it would come to the shores of Brazil.

Now, an order KGH sent me via DHL last month arrived fairly quick, around 3 weeks. I paid an invoice for the Barbarian Soul, also via DHL on KGH, on June 6th, but they still didn't ship it.

I guess I’d better expect the worst and hope for the best with KGH. Unfortunately, it does sound like they’re having financial problems of some sort. I wish I had read this thread yesterday before placing an order with them.

FreakinLobster wrote:Now, an order KGH sent me via DHL last month arrived fairly quick, around 3 weeks. I paid an invoice for the Barbarian Soul, also via DHL on KGH, on June 6th, but they still didn't ship it.

In the past KGH sometimes proved to be forgetful, or remiss. They may have just overlooked either sending it out, or emailing you the tracking?


Black Box Joi 2.0 shipped out from KGH on 10th June, which I think was the day after they received them into stock, since on the 10th they posted photos of the figure on their Facebook.

She was fully paid up at the time of pre-order because I had an 8% code to use, so there was nothing to pay. I received the 'Awaiting Shipment' email on the 9th, and the tracking the following day.

As for delivery, she's still on her way, so not one of the quick arrivals.

I got a tracking number right away from KGHobby for my order, but it hasn’t been handed off to Hong Kong Post yet. It’s only been a couple of days though. TBH, I’m not sure how much it would matter. I have two packages coming from Hong Kong (EMS and Registered Air Mail) and one from Japan (EMS) that are at a dead stop, one of them since the 12th.

One thing I just realized is that EMS wasn’t available again until just recently, and pretty much everything I’ve bought overseas since the pandemic began has been shipped DHL. So I may be experiencing these mail delays for the first time since this started.

Just a quick update.  Hong Kong Post now has my package from KGHobby, so that was a three to four business day turnaround which is perfectly acceptable.  That puts KGHobby on my “Nice” list instead of my “Naughty” list.

I just got my shipping update from KGH today as well. My Barbarian Soul is finally coming home. He's the figure on my PO list I was expecting the most. I really hope TBL makes more male fantasy warriors (outside the Egyptian mythology), maybe fully armored like the Royal Defender.

Speaking of Royal Defenders... mine's still on the limbo. I'm pretty sure she's swimming her way up to here.

My two packages from Hong Kong have not moved since initial processing by the Hong Kong Post Office.  One has been sitting idle since the 12th,  (First Class International Package), the other since the 24th (EMS).  If you plan on ordering or are waiting for an order from Hong Kong, you may be in for a long ride.

Ordered 3 small packages on Jun 11,

Two of them arrived at the same time Jun 23. (12 days in total) and actually suprised me.

The other scanned Jun 26. Still moving in China.

Interesting, to Hungary the shipping is actually faster than before. Small packages like that usually took one and a half month to arrive.

In my experience so far, YANWEN-DPD delivery has taken two to three weeks, Aliexpress-PostNL has taken weeks longer. Now it seems to have turned around: a parcel ordered on 06/02 from Aliexpress via the Netherlands delivered on 06/17, while a parcel ordered on 06/09 from Ebay has not yet been handed over to DPD by YANWEN, its status since 06/20 "International shipment release - Import". I'm afraid that it will already be under customs clearance with the new rules...