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).

These two are very nice...



But its scary these kinda things also got fakes... and pretty good quality fakes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JadBCZ6QqO4

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.

yup, it is pricey but i believe it worth that price. And i believe it value got potential to increase in the future. 

I bought the play art kai quiet and now the price increase like crazy.



PS: the girl in the picture look like quiet!!

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.

Actually I'm a regular buyer at Amazon/eBay. The biggest stuff I shipped from Amazon US to Msia is a Honeywell HP300, thats an airpurifier... 22 pounds weigth wise.. you dont want to know the box dimension 

But trhese days Amazon is very doable for me cause I drop by US regularly for business, so I will get everything sent to my hotel and just pick it up when I arrive.. zero shipping cost. That's how I get all my survival/military gears those bags ropes knives... alot alot of knives..

Its a good tip on the stability issue of the figures, mind you I only see "Ooo.. nice figure", but my display case doesnt move (unless its an earthquake la), so that's a plus I suppose. Hmm... U wanna sell you Dark Angel perhaps?

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 

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 

Welp I just paid for the Sangokushi Rumble - Kan'u and shipment came ot 2700Y, so the olivia at 20k would be close to RM1000.... abit pricey for my taste.. I can gte myself another very nice machete or flipknife for that kinda money 

Koto did almost everything right with Olivia in terms of paint, sculpt and quality control
it's the fact that the figure is not stable that annoyed me

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 

Wow... Rm500... i would so buy that if I can get for that price... 

Wow... Rm500... i would so buy that if I can get for that price... 

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.

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..

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