He's also the one suffering a bit of shrinkage.
Hot Toys Star Wars Stormtrooper
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He's also the one suffering a bit of shrinkage.
Lordscum
Super Freak
Mine shipped today from Hong Kong! Should have it by the end o0f next week!
Pixelpiper
Super Freak
If you notice the SSC have a bit of a steroid issue. Big upper body, small peepee. 
Blends into the background even better!
K1NG J0RDAN
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Bmacattack
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So are some ebay sellers still shipping during Chinese new year? I'm really tempted to order a set but I don't know how to pick out a trustworthy seller.
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I'd probably wait at this point...I was told in a conversation with an HK seller that stuff is shipping until Thursday. If it doesn't make it out of the country before that it'll likely be stuck in limbo until Spring Festival is over, I imagine.
Or you can just wait till August like the rest of us 
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Or you can just wait till August like the rest of us
Depends where you live. It's cheaper and faster for a lot of freaks outside the US to order from HK?
Why not have it now, for the same price or less then waiting another 5-6 months?
Depends where you live. It's cheaper and faster for a lot of freaks outside the US to order from HK?
Why not have it now, for the same price or less then waiting another 5-6 months?
Were for the same price or less in hk pls?
anwe
Super Freak
It all depends if you live in a country that puts customs fee and/or sales tax on packages from other countries. I suspect any country in the EU will have a much greater risk of having added costs. If you can escape the extra costs, both HK and the US will be much cheaper than buying locally in the EU, if not please e-mail me the name of the EU based shop and I will get all my figures there from now on. 
Now that we established that we live in a country that routinely adds customs/sales tax and other fees to packages from countries outside the EU, do we order from the US where it is illegal (at least that's my understanding) to mark down the value of the package to try to defraud the customs of the other country (not necessarily to protect the other country but the laws to prevent mail fraud works in the other country's favor in this case) or HK where they don't care and set a value of $20 or something so even the most diligent customs person doesn't even bother checking the package contents?
If you buy Sideshow they probably have the lowest prices on their own products, but with added tax and shipping it will cost more when all is said and done. Hot Toys are cheaper already in HK and Asia, even if ebay prices often are a little higher but often times include shipping. But the much lower risk of getting caught by customs ordering from HK versus the almost certainty when ordering from the US makes me question who in their right mind orders from Sideshow?
Buying the 2-pack of Stormtroopers in Europe would cost me about €40 more than from HK providing that I don't get stung by customs. I used to be very sceptical, and the great majority of packages sent to me was caught by customs, so I ordered most of my figures from within Europe. But lately I have started to buy from HK and haven't got stung yet. Maybe the local customs people have decided it would be better time spent trying to find illegal narcotics and stuff instead of opening packages and checking the value of cd's on the internet to ascertain the amount of fees to be payed (this actually happened to me, crazy).
Now that we established that we live in a country that routinely adds customs/sales tax and other fees to packages from countries outside the EU, do we order from the US where it is illegal (at least that's my understanding) to mark down the value of the package to try to defraud the customs of the other country (not necessarily to protect the other country but the laws to prevent mail fraud works in the other country's favor in this case) or HK where they don't care and set a value of $20 or something so even the most diligent customs person doesn't even bother checking the package contents?
If you buy Sideshow they probably have the lowest prices on their own products, but with added tax and shipping it will cost more when all is said and done. Hot Toys are cheaper already in HK and Asia, even if ebay prices often are a little higher but often times include shipping. But the much lower risk of getting caught by customs ordering from HK versus the almost certainty when ordering from the US makes me question who in their right mind orders from Sideshow?
Buying the 2-pack of Stormtroopers in Europe would cost me about €40 more than from HK providing that I don't get stung by customs. I used to be very sceptical, and the great majority of packages sent to me was caught by customs, so I ordered most of my figures from within Europe. But lately I have started to buy from HK and haven't got stung yet. Maybe the local customs people have decided it would be better time spent trying to find illegal narcotics and stuff instead of opening packages and checking the value of cd's on the internet to ascertain the amount of fees to be payed (this actually happened to me, crazy).
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It all depends if you live in a country that puts customs fee and/or sales tax on packages from other countries. I suspect any country in the EU will have a much greater risk of having added costs. If you can escape the extra costs, both HK and the US will be much cheaper than buying locally in the EU, if not please e-mail me the name of the EU based shop and I will get all my figures there from now on.
Now that we established that we live in a country that routinely adds customs/sales tax and other fees to packages from countries outside the EU, do we order from the US where it is illegal (at least that's my understanding) to mark down the value of the package to try to defraud the customs of the other country (not necessarily to protect the other country but the laws to prevent mail fraud works in the other country's favor in this case) or HK where they don't care and set a value of $20 or something so even the most diligent customs person doesn't even bother checking the package contents?
If you buy Sideshow they probably have the lowest prices on their own products, but with added tax and shipping it will cost more when all is said and done. Hot Toys are cheaper already in HK and Asia, even if ebay prices often are a little higher but often times include shipping. But the much lower risk of getting caught by customs ordering from HK versus the almost certainty when ordering from the US makes me question who in their right mind orders from Sideshow?
Buying the 2-pack of Stormtroopers in Europe would cost me about €40 more than from HK providing that I don't get stung by customs. I used to be very sceptical, and the great majority of packages sent to me was caught by customs, so I ordered most of my figures from within Europe. But lately I have started to buy from HK and haven't got stung yet. Maybe the local customs people have decided it would be better time spent trying to find illegal narcotics and stuff instead of opening packages and checking the value of cd's on the internet to ascertain the amount of fees to be payed (this actually happened to me, crazy).
Exactly. Ordering from Sideshow is the MOST expensive way of getting a figure for me. Their shipping is expensive, but its the FEDex bill that arrives 3 weeks later for roughly 1/3 of the price again that is crazy. I'm not sure even how they come up with their numbers, seems completely random. That's a guaranteed extra cost.
Order from HK, and 19 times out of 20 you don't get customs fees. And the costs are pretty similar for most sets to begin with. So it's win win. Early figure for the same or slightly less cash than SS.
Not a small extra cost either. I just compared the stormtrooper 2-pack. I would save about 10$ ordering from Sideshow (with shipping) compared to a local dealer, but with a estimated VAT of 110 $ that would make it 100 $ + more if I ordered from sideshow.!
Pixelpiper
Super Freak
Clearly your local retailer's price is a steal then, because it already includes VAT. This is the situation at the moment in Canada for a lot of items due to the falling Canadian dollar - tax percentage is the same either way.
creasy
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I got into hot toys with the second release of the batman begins MMS 67 way back when it released, I think it was in 2008? Hot toys weren't as mainstream then as they are now. But I ordered that figure direct from Hong Kong as there wasn't anywhere else I could get it from here in the uk.
Iv since always ordered from the same seller, over 40 figures, have a great deal going with him. Always marks as low value $20 birthday gift, never been stopped by customs once and ems shipping means I get it in 5 days after release in Hong Kong.
Sideshow and forbidden planet are all more expensive and you have to wait like 6 months after initial release to get it.
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Pixelpiper
Super Freak
Gotta love sellers in HK shipping post and EMS. I do a lot of eBay purchases from HK, China, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. And even stuff that comes in with $100 value is usually customs free. The border guys here can't be bothered for small items.
Not so funny story, back in 1999 after a recent move I had UPS show up at my door wanting to collect $30 in customs processing fees for one issue of Star Wars Insider which had a cover price of only a few dollars and no customs value declared at all. See, the magazine was nice enough to courier out a replacement issue for me as the previous one had already been sent out to my old address before I updated them with the new one. But all good deeds... UPS thought it was another chance for a paycheck. Yeah, I refused it and the magazine sent out another one by postal mail which came with no fees attached.
I do a lot of eBay purchases from HK, China, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. And even stuff that comes in with $100 value is usually customs free. The border guys here can't be bothered for small items.Not so funny story, back in 1999 after a recent move I had UPS show up at my door wanting to collect $30 in customs processing fees for one issue of Star Wars Insider which had a cover price of only a few dollars and no customs value declared at all. See, the magazine was nice enough to courier out a replacement issue for me as the previous one had already been sent out to my old address before I updated them with the new one. But all good deeds... UPS thought it was another chance for a paycheck. Yeah, I refused it and the magazine sent out another one by postal mail which came with no fees attached.
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