nippon yasan is pretty quick. a week perhaps... two at most. if it's held by customs, that's a different story altogether though.

I once had an order stuck in the "preparation in progress" for two weeks before NY shipped it out. Is your order in stock item or preorder item?

Just as I expected, my order was also an in-stock item. But not to worry much, hopefully they will ship your order out by next week.

Hobby Search put her on bargain today lol http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10438261

play art kai nice meh? 

First time posting here just want to add a little something to the kastam discussion.

2 weeks ago bought (https://myfigurecollection.net/item/195473) for 15,100 (incl. 3000 shipping) from Mandarake via DHL labeled as gift. Had no problems whatsoever.

Last week I bought Cattleya from Mandarake again (https://myfigurecollection.net/item/161266 for 13100(2100 EMS shipping) labelled as gift and had no problems too.

3 days ago I ordered the lechery shamsiel from mandarake (https://myfigurecollection.net/item/287536) @ 17100 (incl. 3100 shipping) and got a call from DHL which I didn't pick up because I was sleeping. My tracking status was stuck at clearance event stating that they need more information from the package and they'll contact the seller. When I woke up I called DHL but the support guy couldn't find out why they called me. So I was panicking like crazy after reading all the horror shit show in this and the previous thread considering the figure is quite risque and I was praying to the kastams god not to forsaken this broken man. However, 2 hours ago my clearance status got updated and it became "Shipment has been given a release by Customs, Unless there is an adhoc exam or a stop by another regulatory authority the shipment will proceed to delivery"

Not sure if they'll tax me or what because my previous 2 orders were past RM500 and nothing happened. Not sure if this is random or what but thank the kastams god my shit didn't get confiscated. The only thing I could think of why my package got targeted is either because I exceeded 16000 yen maybe? or just bad luck. Can't be the packaging size as my cattleya 1/5 figure came in a box almost x1.5 bigger than the actual figure.

Well, a good thing about AliExpress is that the buyers are allowed to leave feedback on their purchases and include pictures (up to 150 days after purchase in fact), and from there I can get a rough idea on what to expect from a bootleg compared to the official photos. Plus you can open disputes with AliExpress to get a refund or return, and often the seller would acquiesce to avoid a negative rating.

Eg:

I have no idea if the original product looks the same.