It is a bit higher now… last shipments here cost 970 yen
Ahah, absolutely, you will be welcomed! 30 euros is crazy. I’ve noticed postage costs in Germany are very high, but is it like that also if you use Deutsche Post? DHL has always been expensive, never less than 15/20 euros…
Once I bought a 925 35 09 one of those nice black ones and received a hair pin… but not getting a Technomatic is defn’ly worse 
sorry to hear that
I have no control over the shipping company - it always starts with Japan Post, and then either gets handed over to Fedex or DHL. I’ve emailed Buyee before, asking if i could choose the carrier, and their response was basically ‘nah, dude’.
Oh I see — there’s no escape…
edit:
@Stu
That really sucks because Deutsche Post has reasonable prices if you don’t need “express” deliveries. If you’re outside Germany and you want to buy a Kaweco e.g., there’s not many sites using DP, you can find cheaper deals in Belgium or Holland. But here’s a fine example of an online store in Germany that uses DP primarily and even offers you a summer discount!
from fountainfeder.de … I’m not getting that one, though, I’m getting a Liliput EF in black. I have a Supra and it’s just a wonderful pen. The Liliput has a #5 nib so probably a EF will be a great match (since the F nib from Kaweco is very generous, almost an M).
Wow… only ¥970 from Japan to Portugal? Is this a high commerce route? Because distance wise (10,927 km), not much different from Japan to USA (10,138 km). But then, perhaps traveling across an ocean as airmail cargo might have higher costs…
Of course, one must also understand the package. Is this for 1 writing instrument, or a collection of them? What’s the total weight of that package?
Package is 70g. This price should be the same for weights up to 99g. I don’t think it’s any special route… it’s more or less the price here, I ship worlwide w/ tracking up to 100g for 6€ and it is Expedited Mail (8-12 days). I suppose partly is due to the fact that TAP (national airliner) flies regularly to every continent and CTT benefits from it.
Wow… that’s a great price for up to 99g. You could easily tuck in a handful of pencils/pens for that package. How do the next cost tiers work? Curious how high it goes as you bump up into higher weight brackets.
FWIW, from Japan to USA isn’t terribly higher under 99g:
Here’s up to 299g:
And 499g:
And 999g:
I’m not sure, but i think it’s pretty doable until 500g (you pay like 8€-10€). I usually don’t sell or ship in bulk so my knowledge is only approx… If they ask you for €15 at the post office than you can consider using Express services (DHL starts at 15€).
For example there is a low-cost Express service within the EU where you can ship up to 2kg (3-5 days delivery) for practically naught, like a flat fee around 15€, which is very popular with parents sending emergency goods to uni students around Europe.
A couple of months ago I was able to ship worldwide for 5,25€. Now it’s 6€ minimum. They say it’s the war on Ukraine etc. Things change all the time, but for now it’s pretty okay to ship/receive goods from abroad here.
Thing is it was even better before. Most of my high price collection items were bought before there was a limit on imports. That’s when people could sell great pencils for 100usd. I sold a QX for 250 usd once — I got a 20 usd margin. didn’t matter, it was easy to import. Your margins were low but you were selling a lot so it was okay.
Then suddenly EU revises imports procedures and destroys all the little commerce (that was paying goods btw). Now it takes months to sell a pencil on Ebay bc Ebay and all its intermediates (who do nothing at all) decided to take a bite.
So I chose the cheapest shipping type, Registered Small Package(AIR).
If i were to ship all 6 packages individually it would total at 44 dollars. Consolidated in a single package (420 grams) its 12 dollars. Definitely worth to use the package consolidation service.
Glad to hear that! I was considering costs would rise exponentially after the first 100grams but it is seems Buyee’s Registered Small Package is similar to the Expedited Mail I use here (via national post + national airliners). Well done!
Is there any way to track the package other than the link buyee shares with you after the shipping is completed from their end? I recently ordered something but on Japan post tracking(ems) I am unable see updates after 1st October.
As posted above, I use Registered Small Package(AIR), so it might be different from EMS.
In my case the same tracking number works in my national post system. Once the Japan post site shows the package as arrived in country, I track it trough the local post website. JP site will also keep updating its status until delivery, but there is a 1-2 days delay compared to the local post website.
There is a roughly 4-5 day period with no updates ( while it is processed at both airports and in flight). For me it takes around two weeks from buyee warehouse to the local post office in my city in Romania.
Thanks, for me it should be about the same then in the UK.
I’ve had two packages come this year from buyee air. They use either FedEx or UPS as the carrier with this option. With both I’ve received customs paperwork to fill out that I never received before. With FedEx it was a surprise so I was delayed 2 days but with UPS I was ready and I received and sent the forms back quickly and received my package as scheduled. Be aware at least in the United States that you may receive release forms to fill out. With FedEx it was a form in addition to the ink release form.
which option did you choose when you selected shipping?
The one (and only) time I selected an “air” option, FedEx was assigned as the carrier, and that ended up with a customs fee of $80 and a week or so delay while I filled out and returned the TSCA form to declare what chemicals were in my package. Unknown to me, the seller listed my pencil as a ballpoint pen on the manifest. I was told by the lady at FedEx customs that sometimes, certain “words” on a manifest (she wouldn’t say which) can trigger a TSCA claim. (sounds like it is situational and maybe up to the discretion of the agent?)
Lessons learned: I edit the shipping form before I finalize - anything that says “ink” or “pen”, “ballpoint”, etc. I change to “stationary” or “writing Instruments”. That and I ONLY select EMS.
It gets delivered here by DHL. My last 3 boxes from them, I have literally finalized a package with Buyee on a Friday, and am holding my pencils Tuesday night.
If you look at the invoice from that delivery you will see that in the buyee system it calls them all “writing instruments “ but the invoice on FedEx side says ballpoint. At least that is the way my invoice appeared. It’s out of my control it seems whether or not ballpoint is in the background somewhere. I didn’t have any additional fees. Maybe you had crossed a monetary threshold.
That is probably the case, but I have exceeded that threshold a few times (2) and DHL didn’t seem to bother with it.
I chose EMS one time and it took over a week to get to me after it took almost 4 days for them to actually ship it.
My experience seems the opposite in that I only choose air now. If they send UPS it gets to me 2 days after they ship it. If they choose FedEx it takes about 4.
I prefer UPS regardless but this time even they had customs paperwork. Still no fees though
has anyone ever determined what the magic number ($) is (to avoid customs fees)?
I usually pick AVIA small package. At least on Zen Market, it tends to be the cheapest. Sometimes ZenExpress is cheaper, if the quantity of items is small.
I’ll not pick UPS or FedEx ever again, when getting overseas packages. I’ve had to either fill out forms or in some cases pay a fee. UPS in particular had some nasty charges that made no real sense.
I should point out that the delivery time has improved immensely. ZenMarket hasn’t updated their estimated delivery times yet. For the small package service, they say 2 to 3 weeks. I’m finding packages are often arriving in less than 2 weeks, sometimes just 10 days.
