1999 Reviews 40

I placed several orders for large items. In both cases, the shipping fees were about 3,000–4,000 yen higher than on competing websites. The differences are significant and quite puzzling, as if they’re trying to profit from the shipping costs.

Product in excellent condition. Parcel came from Japan and, with tax having been paid, didn't stop in the Portuguese customs. Delivery prior to expected date. Excellent service.

Terrible rules for costumers.
My package arrived after two months of pre order and then returned by itself without a reason to the seller.
After spending a lot on a figure i expected them to sent it to le again but they wanted me to pay it all over again.
They did refund me in the end but it went on for some time.
Don’t buy from there if you have other options available.

I sent a package back and they will not refund me despite them confirming they got my returned order. They stole $50 from me and their customer service is absolutely horrible, they ignore emails and stop responding. It has been two months, and they haven't returned my money, this company will literally rob you. I do not recommend.

I've purchased several figures from this website, it was doing well until this one specific order they failed to deliver and charged me twice the amount for the shipment. It is their responsibility to begin with to ensure orders aren't mistakenly overlooked yet this one order has failed my trust for this website.

One mistake is all it takes; I won't ever use this website again after that miserable mishap. They really had the audacity to charge me twice for something they caused. I will be using amiami as of now.

I used to order from this webshop without major issues, and I have made orders as far back as 2009. My misplaced trust however cost me dearly as I placed a pre-order in Nov 2023, and was charged in Dec 2024 a whopping 63,883 JPY in shipping alone for a figurine that cost 31,600 JPY.

When I placed my pre-order, there was a new payment option as well as a new shipping option: “Paypal Pre-approved payment” and “DHL” respectively. These were the new default options if you didn’t pick a different one, and Hobby Search explicitly recommended the former despite that they do not tell you the shipping cost on pre-orders.

I used these default options without thinking about the implications as my experience with them had generally been positive, and as the figurine came in-stock, was charged automatically without ever notifying me of the extraordinary shipping cost. Any of the other shipping methods would have cost me about 10k JPY or less.

I contacted Hobby Search and all they told me was “DHL tend to take more and for that they provide quality service. We will greatly appreciate your understanding”.

This complete disregard of the burden they put on the customer and that no sensible person would be happy being charged such absurd amount without their knowledge, leaves me with no choice but to give a big fat 1-star.

I pre-paid the VAT for a package, but it still ended up in customs and I was required to pay VAT a second time, when collecting it fomr customs. I contacted Customer Service about the issue and they were very accomodating and I quickly received a refund for the VAT I paid twice.

Great Customer Service!

Their customer service is horrible. Instead of being helpful, they would immediately send automated messages instead of handling the problem directly. Once I managed to get someone to see my message, they replied passively and aggressively towards my claim and made no effort in resolving the issue I had with the item. I just wasted my time.

My experience so far with 1999 is great coz I've ordered an asuka langley figure and I received it not damaged. The box has enough space on the figure and they shipped it very fast via ems. I ordered again last December on their sale and I decided I no longer wanted the figure and I then canceled after the day of ordering. They don't allow to cancel figures but they still canceled my order which is great. I just hope they give either more points in heir reward system or they have lower prices in some figures but their sales are great. I hope I get atleast 3% points back rather than a dollar for a 200 worth figure.

Takes forever to reply to emails. Prices are more expensive than rival services, especially shipping. Whenever manufacturer delays product, their system don't allow combine shipping with next month's shipment, so have to pay for more shipping. Worst of all, packages tends to arrive with damaged boxes due tot insufficient packing.

I ordered a model from Hobbysearch japan for €107,00 and had to pay €541,00. Hobbysearch sends the invoice if the package is already at the door: no more cancellation possible. Money was transferred by PayPal immediately. No protection against rogue companies as PayPal claims! We do not recommend that you ever buy anything from Hobbysearch. PayPal warranty is worth nothing.

the worst customer service and useless support i ever got. don't buy from them. there are a lot more store with better pricing and a lot more better customer services. waste so much time back and forth with the support but end up nothing. i will never buy from them again

Pathetic experience. They didn't responded to the emails in time and expect the customers to bare the losses caused to their fault. They are highly unprofessional. Do not do business with them

Terrible experience, after having two of my orders not showing up despite the tracking info saying they had been succesfuly sent I decided to look into the issue myself turns out that hobby search has provided the shipping company with the wrong address after contacting them they did not offer to refund me so I opened a dispute with paypal to which hobbysearch blocked my account and put my email on a blacklist.

Terrible service
Terrible service. I didn’t receive the package, waited over 6 months. I asked for help several times with tracking and they didn't help me. Because of waiting time the bank couldn't help me either (after 2 months it's impossible to get money back from credit card) The money was not returned to me. I have order Tamiya Phantom over six months ago and lost over 100 USD.
Worst model store experience ever !!

Ordered In-stock items for cheap and received everything in a timely manner. Well packaged too!

I have known about 1999 / Hobby Search for a few years but only had 2 purchases from them.
As such, my experience has literally been, 50/50.
The positive experience:
My package was well packaged, and shipped fast. Tracking was up to date and arrived earlier than predicted. Simple, fast, smooth, hassle free.
How it should be.

This review will focus on the negative experience.
I pre-ordered a figurine that became available during the Covid pandemic.
They advised me that due to no flights leaving Japan they could not send packages.
That's fine, thanks for letting me know.
They contacted me again when my item was instock what I wanted to do.
They gave me the option of SAL (sea mail) or to contact them.
So I did sent them an email stating that I wanted my item shipped with another item I had on preorder coming out that month, and if they could send both together once EMS was available.
I guess they never bothered to check their emails because they sent my package by SAL (the option must have defaulted after a certain time passed).
This meant no tracking, no insurance.

I emailed them back a few times over the weeks and got no responses.
My second package arrived by EMS 3 weeks after they posted my first item.
I waited for months and no package.
My wife quit her job and was at home the whole of 2021 and she received all her parcels but mine never came.

So at the end of July I emailed them and they actually replied.
All they said was "You chose SAL and there is no tracking so please continue to wait and we're sure it'll arrive. Thank you."
By this time it's been 3.5 months since it was sent and I know SAL doesn't take that long because I've sent 10kg packages SAL from Japan (I finished working in Japan and was sending my things home) and they arrived in less than 2 months, all 4 boxes.
So to think a small less than 1kg box would take 6 months (September 2021 at time of writing) is ridiculous.
I emailed them again what my options were and again they just said "Check your post office and please continue to wait."
I asked about a refund or a replacement and they said they won't do either for SAL.

So I've initiated a dispute with my bank.

My issues with Hobby Search are the lack of communication.
I understand being an international store they must have thousands of emails to get through.
BUT when you advise customers to contact you and then don't act / acknowledge their responses, there's a problem.
I would have gladly waited for my item to ship with my second item and then combine the shipping.
In fact, I'm pretty sure I specified this to them in both my account and in email.
Both were ignored.

Also, I was not offered a credit or a refund from them changing my shipping method. I was charged EMS and received SAL.

My friend buys regularly and although he's never lost a package, he even gets frustrated with their lack of service and communication especially when he pre-ordered items that aren't out yet and then finds the item sold-out and his pre-order booking 'never existed'.

So, there's my review. 50/50
1 good experience was good.
1 bad experience that is VERY bad.

I've never had a problem with them until something weird happen to their website and I can no longer login to my account or make a new account I have sent them multiple E-Mails asking them for help but no response :/
Anyone else have this problem?

For objective reasons, I could not pay for my pre-order in this company. As a result, the company's employees blocked my account. After my request to unblock the account, the employees of the company in an offensive form demanded from me an amount that significantly exceeded the amount of my order !!! The company's rules state that the penalty is 10% of the order amount. In this company, blackmail and extortion from employees is rampant! Be careful!!!

Terrible service. I didn’t receive the package. The money was not returned to me.