the 'Business' page
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Browse through the 'Japanese Model Supplies' pages to see what has been produced and which items you are interested in.
You can also download price lists from this site to see how much each item costs. However due to exchange rate variations, prices do change, so please ask when you email what the current price is.
Send email to 'orders@Japanese-Trains.com' with a list of the manufacturer, catalogue numbers and the description. If you wish, you can also send inquires or orders by fax on :- +612 9837 2668 (Intl) or 02 9837 2668 (Aust).
We will check on the availability of the items and try to let you know within 1-2 days.
State which items you wish to order, what payment method (see below) you wish to use, and where you are, so we can calculate shipping.
We will send to you the total amount to pay. Please send this as soon as you can, because we cannot order the goods from our suppliers until we receive the payment.
We will confirm when your payment is received, and give you an idea of how long it will take for your goods to arrive.
Please note that unless items arrive that are damaged (see 'shipping' section below) or not working, returns cannot be made (if for example, you change your mind about wanting a certain item, or you chose the wrong item yourself). Because we are not a retailer, we have ordered the item especially for you from Japan, and cannot put any returned items back into stock, and also cannot return them to the supplier. Unless you ask for specific advice, we cannot be responsible for the suitability or otherwise of the items you order.
We cannot accept the following ...
Foreign or personal cheques
Foreign postal or money orders
Direct payments by credit card
For Australian customers, we can accept options 3, 4, 5 or 6 below ...
For customer outside Australia, we can accept options 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 below ...
Paypal - as an
ordinary 'person',
we cannot take a Credit Card payment directly, so if you want to pay with a Credit Card, this is the best method.
It is also the fastest method. If you are not already a member of Paypal, you do
not have to join them just to make a payment. When the total of your order, including shipping, has been finalised,
we will let you know the amount to send. If you do not wish to pay in A$,
do not try to calculate the exchange rate yourself, as
Paypal have their own system. Use the address
'accounts@Japanese-Trains.com' to send your payment.
We do not withdraw your money until we have definitely placed the order and been assured that stock is
available. If you want
to use Paypal - see the conditions page.
Western Union -
this is also a fast way to pay, particularly if you do not have a Credit Card. You can specify the amount you
wish to pay in A$, and they will calculate how much it will cost you in your local currency. Please let us know
the full name & address details that you give them, along with the Money Transfer Control Number.
Bank account deposit - if your bank has the facilities to process the transaction,
you can deposit the money directly into our account. If you wish to do this, we will let you know the account details
that you will need to specify, and how much to pay. There are a number of ways
to transfer funds internationally; however we would generally recommend a
bank draft or Telegraphic Transfer. While a Telegraphic Transfer will cost
a little more than a draft, it will be deposited as cleared funds within
72 hours of purchase. The price of these transfers will vary depending on
the bank they are purchased from. A draft can take six or more weeks to
become cleared funds, although the funds are generally available sooner.
We recommend you contact the bank you will be transferring funds from for
advice on other transfer methods that may be available. When you send
funds via Telegraphic Transfer or draft you may be asked for a SWIFT code,
which is WPACAU2S for the Westpac Bank that we use. The costs associated
with depositing funds to a Westpac account will vary depending on how the
funds are received. The deposit of a Telegraphic Transfer will incur an
A$8 fee and a bank draft a A$15 fee.
Bank Cheque or International Money Order - we cannot take personal cheques from
outside Australia, but can accept a bank cheque, as long as it is made out in A$ and drawn on an Australian bank
(the main ones are Westpac, Commonwealth, ANZ or National). Please have any cheques made out to 'Doug Coster' - do
not use 'Japanese Model Supplies' as we do not have a bank account in that name, and the cheque will have to be
returned to you, thus delaying your order.
If you wish to send cash, make sure it is wrapped securely and sent by Registered
mail.
Within Australia only, we are happy to accept a bank or personal cheque or a Money Order from the Post Office. Please understand that we will need to allow some time for your cheque to clear, and please have any cheques made out to 'Doug Coster' - do not use 'Japanese Model Supplies' as we do not have a bank account in that name, and the cheque will have to be returned to you, thus delaying your order.
If you wish to write or post an order or payment, please use this address :
Japanese Model Supplies
PO Box 24
Northmead 2152
Australia
When you are dealing with international currency exchange, most of these payments methods will involve fees to you except for PayPal - if there are fees that we also have to pay, this will be reflected in the prices quoted. Sometimes banks etc. charge a fee to exchange cash, and other times the fees are hidden in the exchange rate given to you.
Please be aware that we cannot secure inventory or begin processing your order until we receive your payment and the funds have cleared. Because we do not keep stocks of any items, the faster your payment reaches us, the less chance of the goods being out of stock with the supplier. Unfortunately, we cannot ask our suppliers to 'hold' stock while waiting for your payment to be processed, therefore payment methods 4 or 5 entail a risk of the goods not being available by the time your payment reaches us. If by the time your payment reaches us the supplier does not have stock any more, you can either put the item on backorder for when it is available again, use the payment to purchase other items, or get a refund. If you have paid using Paypal, it is just a matter of cancelling your payment, and the amount you paid will be refunded in full. If you have used any other sort of payment, then we will organise the best way to send you back the money. We will refund the same amount in A$ that we received, however please be aware that due to exchange rates etc, you may not receive the exact same amount that you originally paid, and unfortunately we have no control over this. You may actually be lucky enough to receive more than you paid !!!
Cost
Orders are sent by Australia Post Airmail overseas, or Australia Post Parcel Post in Australia. You will be charged the actual shipping cost only - we do not charge any mysterious 'handling' or 'packaging' fees. We will charge you as close as possible to cost for your shipping - we don't try to make a profit from it, unlike some other companies !!! We know of one major US wholesaler/retailer who will happily charge you 20% of your order value for foreign shipping - which is a RIPOFF, because your high value item is possibly very small and has insignificant weight, which is the basis of what every person is the world is charged for postage, and shipping SHOULD be passed on, not used to make more profit !!!!! The only time you are charged on the VALUE of the item, is when insurance is involved ....
We also do not charge you a 'Handling' fee - that mysterious item that appears on many company's invoices, and that they cannot explain what it is for (except to take more money from the poor customer) !!!
If you wish to get a rough idea of the cost, a 6-7 car bookcase set weighs around 700-800g, an individual car around 100-120g and a loco or powered car around 170-200g. Don't forget the weight of the box and protective packaging material - 300-500g. Airmail to the USA costs A$8.25 for the first 250g and A$5.25 for every additional 250g, and to the UK and Europe is A$9.75 for the first 250g and A$6.75 for every additional 250g.
Unfortunately Australia Post in their infinite wisdom recently (late 2006) stopped the 'Ecomony Airmail' category that I mainly used to use to try and save you money. They claimed not enough customer used it !!! So now all parcels have to be sent by 'normal' Airmail which is more expensive, but also faster.
Timing
When an order is placed, it will not be sent immediately from Japan, as we consolidate many people's orders, and have a shipment sent every 1-2 weeks. It usually takes around 1-2 weeks for the goods to be shipped from our suppliers in Japan to here, and then also about 1 week by airmail to most parts of the world. If you wish to get your goods sooner, you can pay extra and have them shipped by EMS, which is also traceable and insurable. Unfortunately due to recent world events, security on international postage is a lot tighter than before, and there have been some delays over and above the times quoted above.
If you are an overseas customer, your parcel may be subject to customs duties when it arrives in your country. Unfortunately, we have no way of predicting if this will happen or not, and what these charges might be, as they differ from country to country. These charges are a matter between you and your government, and you are responsible for them, since you are a citizen of your country, and are importing the goods yourself. Further information on this matter may be attained from your local customs office. However we can happily report that as out of the hundred's of shipments we have made, only one in Canada and one in the UK have had to pay any customs on shipments from us. Possibly this is because any source information regarding the package shows my personal name and address, not a business name and address, which would be more likely to be seen as a commercial shipment.
There has also been the very rare times when we have to pay Australian customs if the goods are intercepted when arriving from Japan. This does not happen very often at all, usually only with larger/heavier/more expensive looking parcels, or when the customer has requested faster delivery by EMS and there is paperwork stuck to the outside of the parcel (giving the value of the items). In the last two years since the laws were changed, we have only had to pay six times out of hundreds of deliveries. Unfortunately when this happens, the customer will have to pay the extra charges so that we can collect the goods. It is always a gamble both when we collect items from Japan and also for the customer in their own country, as to whether any of this will happen, and we do not figure these costs into our pricing, to enable us to keep prices down as low as possible.
You should also be aware that some local customs offices may charge a "handling fee" in addition to the duties. Any postage price you pay us covers the full cost of the shipping only on the goods. However, if there are customs problems, we have heard of cases in which handling fees are assessed, and then billed to the customer. Again, we have no control over these.
Insurance
If you wish, you may also include insurance with the payment for your goods. Please be aware that we cannot accept responsibility for items lost in the mail, either between Japan and Australia or between Australia and you. Fortunately, in the last 5 years we have only had 2 parcels within Australia and 1 parcel to New Zealand and 1 to Ireland not turn up. The maximum compensation that Australia Post will pay for lost uninsured articles is A$50, and that will not apply for losses on the way from Japan. Within Australia, registered mail & insurance costs A$2.35 for the first A$100 + A$1.10 per each A$100 of the value of the goods; overseas, insurance costs A$7.50 for the first A$100 + A$2 per each A$100 of the value of the goods. It is your choice ...
If items arrive damaged in the post, please let us know as soon as possible, and make a claim to your local postal authority. If damaged items arrive from Japan, we will deal with the matter direct with the supplier, but your order may be delayed until replacement stocks can be sent (if available).
the Japanese Production System
Why is it that so many of the things you enquire about are always "out-of-stock"?
When you think about how injection moulded items are manufactured, there is a lengthy design and tooling phase, but once the machinery is set up, thousands of models can be manufactured in just a few days. Then the tooling is put away and the machinery set up for the next model. For this reason, manufacturers usually only produce a given item every couple of years, depending on its popularity. Also this process could well be performed by another company, and they have to fit into a very tight production schedule with many other manufacturers. That's why when the wholesalers, and consequently the retailers, run out of stock of something, it may take months or years to get more, even though the item is not "out-of-production." If you understand how this works, and are willing to be patient, you can get yourself virtually any Japanese model that is still manufactured.
Due to the size of many Japanese manufacturer's ranges and the cost of warehouse storage in Japan, it is not possible for them to produce or maintain stock of all models constantly. Except for Tamiya, who has the financial strength to afford to hold large quantities of stock of their own products, most of the Japanese hobby companies (not only trains) operate a batch production system whereby each model is produced in a rotation system, and after the production run is done, will be put in the cycle in another 2-3 years time. MicroAce never used to do re-runs, but have started to do some more recently. The batch will also normally fill pre-ordered stock only (with a small margin of extras) from the wholesalers, which in turn are made up of orders from their retailers. Popular models (particularly new releases) may be re-run again if the first release sells out, but you cannot guarantee this. As a result we may only be able to obtain new models for a short period after the initial release date, and popular items can sell out very quickly.
Therefore, as soon as news of a new model or a re-run of a previous model is announced, we would strongly recommend that you place your order immediately. Also if you are wanting to get a 'full' train and only buy the main set now and expect to buy the extra cars later on, you will probably be disappointed. It is best to make the extra effort to get the 'full' set at the time of release. It has taken me 3-4 years to complete some of my trains, because I did not know these facts originally, or the importer at the time did not bring in all the cars to make the full train !!!
Of course once the manufacturers have run out of stock, and the wholesalers have sold all their stock to the retailers, there are still little out-of-the-way shops that may have these items on the shelves for years. How many times have you gone into a hobby shop, and in a dusty corner of a back shelf seen an item than you had not seen before for a long time? Because we have the contacts to access the local hobby shops throughout Japan, we can often get items that have been out of stock everywhere else for a long time !!!
For the latest news and availability of releases straight from the manufacturers in Japan (usually only a day or so after the announcements to dealers there, thanks to our contacts in Japan), consider reading Japanese Model Train News-letter, where topics, in English, regarding all aspects of modelling Japanese railways are discussed. We have members ranging from beginners to veterans, in many countries (including Japan) all over the world. This is also where the release schedules are published, and there is also access to a web page where pictures of the new models are published, often long before their release date.
Another reason we have chosen to list all the items that have been produced is that
this way, our web site can also serve as a useful reference for the modeller as to what
items have been produced in the past, even if we cannot
supply them at the moment. That way, you can plan ahead for when the item may be rerun in the future ...
All items produced from Japanese model train manufacturers (even if they are actually made in China) are of a very high quality, and have a very small failure rate. Over the years, from thousands of orders we have had to return only about half a dozen items due to faults that were not cause by rough shipping or customer usage.
However there is always that chance that you may the next unlucky person who receives an item that is faulty, and unfortunately these companies history of product recalls is getting worse not better in the last few years :-(
The bad news is that whilst Japanese manufacturers do provide guarantees on the items the sell, these are not valid if the item is sold OUTSIDE OF JAPAN, and as such, even though they will service the item free of charge, they will NOT cover the postage to get the item back to the manufacturer (typically the cost of us (once you have returned the item to us) sending the item to our supplier in Japan, for them to forward to the manufacturer. This means that you as the customer is responsible for the cost of the postage from Australia to Japan when it is returned for repairs. For a typical power car, this would be around $11-15, depending on the weight of the parcel.
If you wish to deal with the manufacturers directly, that is fine by us - we can give you their address details.
Thank you for your understanding :-)
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Page Copyright Japanese model Supplies 2007 - Details current as at 07/03/2007 - E&OE.