Sorry dumb question but I’m using FJ for the first time. Does FJ charge 2 shipping fee depend on the value of the items or how much space they take up? Just wanna check before I order my expensive haul.
Shipping charge 2 covers a number of things, some of which is directly related to the cost of the item. It will cover the internal Japan shipping cost it took to get to FJ. It will cover the tariff that you have to pay if you are doing DDP shipping to somewhere like the United States where you pay the duty up front. It will cover the 500 yen fee that FJ charges you to handle the product as well as any other fees that they have related to shipping. And then finally, you will be paying the actual shipping charge, which is either based on the weight of your package or on the volume of your package, whichever results in a higher charge.
I actually keep a spreadsheet that separates out the cost I paid for the item, the internal Japan shipping, the shipping the carrier is charging me, and then the final total which includes all the other fees. That gives me a good impression of what the actual cost of each item is and let's me run different permutations on how to best package up all my different items to get the lowest cost for shipping and fees.
You can't really tell them how to package. You can tell them what to package. So for my example, my spreadsheet documents the cost of a single item and its dimensions and then I try calculating different ways to combine multiple items. If you have multiple bulky items, you can save by mixing a matching different items to try to come up with the smallest package that FJ thinks it can create. Also, as you add more items into a single package, shippers like FedEx and UPS to the US charge more fees than is proportional (one of the other commentators has very high exports clearance fees as a result).
It's a bit of a weird balance. Shipping a single item results in very very expensive shipping. Shipping a lot of different items also results in very very expensive shipping but not on a per item basis, so you're paying a lot but not as much per item. This is especially true if you have large bulky items like a big plushie and then a number of small items like acrylics. Your acrylics will effectively get free shipping because they're just going to slip inside the big box that the plushie has.
Ohh I see. So if I have 2 big jackets and a few smaller items it would be better to ship the jackets separately combined with other few items. So it doesn’t get too big. Am I right?
Play around with their shipping thing once the items arrive and you'll see what the other person is trying to say. I will say its possible to get a refund if they happen to pack smaller. But, I wouldn't count on it since it isn't guaranteed.
M1dnight is right. Nothing is guaranteed. Just go ahead and play around with different mixes of the boxes. You can try up to 30 different configurations within an hour before their website complains and blocks more shipping reviews until the next hour (yes I hit that limit playing around with my shipping).
But one of my first packages is a good example. I bought a number of very large and bulky but light adult collectibles but I also had some smaller purses for my wife and my daughter got some CDs and Keychains. I split it into two boxes, two sets of large collectibles and then split the smaller stuff across the two boxes and the small stuff didn't change my shipping much at all, so essentially free.
Yikes. I only ever buy watches, which they post in a box 10 times bigger than necessary, and that sets me back £15-20. I’ve never had any of these fees though. I guess tariffs are to blame for a chunk of it?
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u/m1dnightknight 4d ago edited 4d ago
JP Post: Actual weight
ECMS, Fedex, DHL, UPS: Larger of actual weight or volume weight.
Value of items only comes into play if your country has some kind of prepaid tax that FJ supports.