On where to order, my two favorites are amiami.com and nipponyasan.com
I like amiami's customer service but they dont underdeclare packages, so for orders under rm600 (including postage) i tend to order from them. Anything above RM500 has chances of getting taxed but usually you will be fine up to RM600. And from what I know Sabah's customs are a lot stricter than both KL and penang. My friend's RM450+ orders also kena tahan for no reason, but in the end they were not taxed.
NipponYasan i tend to order 18sx and expensive figures from them because they underdeclare your parcels. Low value will attract less attention from kastam.

Yea, that Sakuya is for sale cuz i wanna clear up some space. That is a huge 32cm tall figure. Im from Penang, so i wont be in KL area anytime soon lol

And on the Saber Alter Huke version you were showed, that one is 21,800yen + 2,000yen flat rate shipping from GSC online, a limited/exclusive product. 23,800yen = RM900 approx at current exchange and bank rates. And the  if you get taxed that's RM900 x 116% (10% import duty and 6% GST) + RM36 (customs release form) = RM1080 approx.
Well, 24k yen used to be under 1000 even with tax, it's our weak currency + strong yen being the reason at the moment. Most anime figures fall between RM350-600 price range, this one is just exceptionally expensive because of limited edition as well as a higher level of craftsmanship.

I usually use EMS because im impatient, but EMS is also safer in case anything unexpected happens.
Shipping price by EMS is easy to guess or predict. Look at the figure you ordered and you will have the clues. It is not necessarily dependent on scale because sometimes large scales do not necessarily mean a big box.
- height and scale of figure (duh)
- Sitting/kneeling pose = small box
- standing but simple pose = small to average size box
- Very dynamic pose or a complex design figure = big box

- These features will also indicate a big box: figures with wings; figures with very long twintail hairs that swings wide; huge weapons or accessories or a big diorama-style base; lots of spare/optional parts

Usually for EMS, small boxes are under 2300yen in shipping costs, sometimes it can go as low as 1800yen; for average size boxes it's between 2000 to 2700yen. Big boxes often 2800-3600yen, and really really huge ones can exceed 4000yen but very few figures are that huge. For registered SAL, the rates are cheaper than EMS by an average 300-800yen for the small and average box size category (SAL small packet), but for large sizes (SAL Parcel) the prices are so close to EMS that choosing EMS is the wiser move. Shipping speeds aside (EMS = 4-5 days average, SAL = 2 weeks), the advantage of EMS is insurance of up to 20,000yen. SAL is insured up to 6000yen only.'

The above price estimations I gave are for the shipment of one single item/figure. If combine ship the rates would be different.
As for paying tax VS paying shipping, in the end the difference isnt much, so i prefer to pay shipping actually because it is a hassel to drive to customs and do the procedures. Hence, i rarely combine ship multiple items, unless it's NipponYasan (they underdeclare).

Avoid those two, i had bad experience with the first one. I never trusted Kotobukiya (the company behind those) as a figure manufacturer.
It was an extremely heavy figure standing on only one leg, and Kotobukiya did not even bother to insert metal rod and screws into her foot. Her foot was simply glued to the base. The whole figure would be shaking and wobbling with the slightest shake and you have no idea if the leg would break some day. Good Smile Company and Alter never do this kind of nonsense, only Kotobukiya would do something this stupid as ignoring the stability of a figure in order to cut costs in manufacturing.  And her box is huge, bloody huge. To ship her from Japan the costs easily surpass 4000yen.

Regarding shipping costs, if you think shipping from Japan to Malaysia is expensive, wait till you shop from Amazon USA, or from the western markets in general. I once shipped a huge parcel from USA before, and the shipping costs alone was USD$65 (RM260). The other way is also true  - shipping registered SAL from Malaysia to USA, the first kg is RM120, and every additional 500g = RM20. This is just SAL, mind you. EMS from Malaysia to USA starts at RM320. I've sold and shipped rare figures to Americans for huge profits, that's why i know. If my buyers are willing to pay then Im willing to ship it regardless of the costs.

red olivia is still available at toypanic... and you can find white olivia over at nippon yasan. my personal preference is the white olivia... although with prices breaching the ¥20k mark now, it's a bit of an indulgence. the colours and detailing is pretty impressive... but then again, i'm easily impressed 

Well, RM 1k for a Kotobukiya figure is not really worth it. Good decision there.
I got my Olivia for only RM500 last time including postage. Sold it about 6 months later. I miss the days where yen was low and RM was strong 

I ordered it via a friend who did figure business - back then before release Olivia was priced at 13,800yen, and at an exchange rate of 0.031 only in the past that is equal to RM428. And then there are miscellanous costs and postage i only had to pay RM500 including postage for a huge box like that.

Figure prices go up and down depending on rarity and demand/supply. Just over a month ago, I bought Gift's 1/4 Kashiwazaki Sena, which was on sale, RM525 > down to RM368. Oddly a highly sought after figure is unwanted here and went on sale. 3 weeks later I sold her to an american for RM1000, and that's not including postage. I know which figure has value in the international market, and that's why I dun wan to sell rare or high value figures to Malaysians. No one will pay for it.

if we're still discussing warrior girls these are pretty good..

.

I notice you seem to jump at the first chance to purchase any good-looking figure you come across.

It's good assuming you have the money! But do consider that it all really adds up and you might end up having to do major budgeting before your next paycheck. Use this guide courtesy of buyfag:

If you don't mind GK stuff: http://www.e2046.com/gathering.php

the problem with dark general to me is how her head appears detached and seemingly floats above her body. otherwise she does have a nice dynamic pose and impressively detailed armour/weapon.

You say that as if that's a problem.

Garage Kits, which is kinda DIY figurines. The link I posted is for the prepainted section (most of their product were actually unpainted). The company (the owner of the site) basically recast(occasionally there are some original designs) garage kits (from event such as Wonderfest etc) and sell it. You could find some figures that never made it to mass production.

Erm if you see the price is cheaper, most probably is the unpainted version. You need to see whether it stated "prepainted" there or not. The prepainted version easily costed more than original. Anyway the point I posted the website is for you to check more on the figure that were not available as normal/limited prepainted figurines. Support original la bro
Saves for those in the link I posted. Basically figurines under Gathering section of the site is painted GK (the other prepainted section is the PVC); the rest of their product are unpainted.

Most of them are uncoloured. You have to colour them yourself.

This is the first time this is happening to me. The update went from "customs inspection" directly to "out for delivery".



The parcel value is 11,000 yen plus about 6,000 yen shipping. Figure inside can be interpreted as NSFW. Am I in trouble?

for released figures, yes...but their prices are pretty competitive with regard to pre orders. and they carry native products, something that amiami doesn't 

I usually PO exclusive stuff from Nippon-Yasa, or stuff that were priced more than RM 500 since you can request them to underdeclare (Amiami cannot do this). My most recent preorder with them is this (nsfw): https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/17065-...a-kisaragi.html Same figure at Amiami is more expensive: http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=LTD-FIG-00284 and almost definitely cannot pass Kastam due to price (since cannot underdeclare). Plus Amiami put too much padding for international shipment The only downside of Nippon-Yasan is you need to pay for the product about 1 week before it release, while Amiami allow you to pay within 1 week after release(convenient for stuff that release on the last week of the month).

For preorder most item has option to Pay Later (and can choose CC too). Release last week of the month Amiami can delay till gaji masuk leh

no, meaning if release in last week, gotto pay by third week... gaji belum masuk 

From Yahoo auction forwarded by Tenso. It's this figure: http://myfigurecollection.net/item/4358.

I called Pos Malaysia and they confirmed my suspicion about it being seized because  of "prohibited item". Should I call customs to argue my case, or just let it go?

bro... paypal/cc not immediate pay what. still got grace period to settle ma