Volks News #98

I'd love an Icon, but think I'll wait until next year. Hopefully they release ones I like ^_^

Oh no... the icons are gorgeous!
They have finally matched the joints to the skin tone and now they are Japan only? Time to ready that proxy because I am definitely entering for Terra and Aisha!

4 hours ago, Wasabi said:

Oh no... the icons are gorgeous!
They have finally matched the joints to the skin tone and now they are Japan only?

They had a US release a few months ago. They will probably be released again by Volks USA next year around August / September. 

I just wish there would be a chance for EU people at least once, as well. We're often forgotten about sadly. We need to rely on the Japanese/international site for a lot of things, and when they decide to not ship out of Japan for certain events (as is completely their right of course) there's no chance for us. Like sure we can work with a proxy of course, but that is again added extra costs, stress and effort that could be avoided. Volks USA also doesn't ship outside of the US either.

I know we do have some friend shops, but they only get items in (which are often so much higher priced due to taxes and them still needing to make a living out of it that it's most times still cheaper to buy directly from the Japanese site) and don't get events like that.

Volks EU when?!?! One can only dream! 

17 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

They had a US release a few months ago. They will probably be released again by Volks USA next year around August / September. 

Sadly I am in Europe.

As Roxanne mentions above, that often means we miss the boat. Even if Volks USA does them too at a later point, I'd still need a proxy. I rely on the Japanese website for most of my orders, because at the very least they ship most items internationally.

Doesn't help that the only official European reseller I know of is located in the UK. Which means that I still get hit by massive customs charges thanks to Brexit. 

 

Either way: I'll find a way to obtain them somehow.

4 hours ago, Wasabi said:

Doesn't help that the only official European reseller I know of is located in the UK.

I thought there was a friend shop in France?

https://papattescompany.com/en/372-dollfie-dream-standard-model-limites-

9 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I thought there was a friend shop in France?

https://papattescompany.com/en/372-dollfie-dream-standard-model-limites-

Yes, but the frustrating part is that even though we have these, most of the time it isn't even interesting to really buy much from due to the big difference in price. It's good if all you're interested in is just one item or an outfit or something similar, for that it's ideal. But when it comes to actual dolls and bodies I think you're probably still better off buying directly from the international site and facing the added taxes. Especially if you add a few more items to your order you're sure to be a lot cheaper off. 

There's also Dolls.moe in Spain. They don't carry nearly as much as papattes (it's basically just bodies, a couple of hands and heads and the occasional full doll) but the bodies there do are quite a bit cheaper than they are at papattes (while papattes in return has cheaper heads).

But as I mentioned before, while we do have these shops they do not get actual events, so things like the Icons are sadly still off-limits for us (unless we work with a proxy). 

9 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

But as I mentioned before, while we do have these shops they do not get actual events, so things like the Icons are sadly still off-limits for us (unless we work with a proxy). 

Yeah, unfortunately the Icons have always been a bit UScentric. They were designed collaboratively by Volks Japan and Volks USA, and they were announced at themUS Dolpa, and the first released at the US Dolpa in 2019. Japan hasn't even always gotten the Icons, although it seems possible that last year was just them running out of DDIII parts. 

The thing is, even if there was a Volks EU, they wouldn't be priced same as International. Since they would need to pay customs and most likely would need to have their own person handling the papers for customs which would also add extra cost, the price would most likely be the same as any affiliate store that carries Volks dolls.

I think Volks knows this and is why they prefer to just work with affiliates rather than make their own.

6 hours ago, Shailara said:

The thing is, even if there was a Volks EU, they wouldn't be priced same as International. Since they would need to pay customs and most likely would need to have their own person handling the papers for customs which would also add extra cost, the price would most likely be the same as any affiliate store that carries Volks dolls.

I think Volks knows this and is why they prefer to just work with affiliates rather than make their own.

I don‘t think so. I can imagine the price to be similar to the one of the international site plus custom fees since it is still the same company.

If you buy a limited doll from the EU friend shop, the price is usually still significantly higher compared to the price on VolksInt + Custom fees. Which is okay, since they want to make profit but that‘s what makes it totally unattractive to me. But if you don‘t want to have extra work for e.g. picking the package up from the custom office or ordering through VolksInt is too complicated, friends shops are great.

On 11/29/2022 at 11:55 PM, Victoria said:

I don‘t think so. I can imagine the price to be similar to the one of the international site plus custom fees since it is still the same company.

If you buy a limited doll from the EU friend shop, the price is usually still significantly higher compared to the price on VolksInt + Custom fees.

Can you think of a few examples and their prices?

I'm curious to compare to the Volks USA Price.

Ranko Kanzaki was $660 + $63 State Sales Tax.

Sailor Moon was $650 + $60 State Sales Tax.

Yayoi Takatsuki was $620 + $56 State Sales Tax.

Any Himemiya was $670 + $69 State Sales Tax.

I'm sure we pay for shipping and any overhead on top of the doll, but I have no idea how their profit / product cost works in their relationship with Japan.

 

Not OP, but also from the EU.

I only know of two friend shops - Sakura Dreams and Papattes Company. 
Sakura Dreams is located in the UK, which makes them doubly unappealing for most people, because the pound is very strong and you will have to pay import tax + customs duty due to Brexit.

Papattes Company is located in France (So no extra fees for people within the EU), but their prices can be very high. I think it kind of depends on the item. I've used them before and one thing to note is that they don't seem to carry stock. If you buy something from their website, they will order it from Volks and once it arrives at their - I don't want to call it a 'warehouse' because I'm pretty sure it's basically operated out of a garage or something, at least that's what it kind of looks like on Google Maps - at their place, they repack it and send it over to you. So, it's not even that you save shipping time or anything like that.

They still have 'sold out' listings up for some of the older dolls, so I was able to check the prices:

Ranko Kanzaki went for €971,25
Anthy Himemiya went for €900

I'm not sure exactly how they handle lotteries though. Back during Anthy's/Utena's release I saw them make a post on their website and they asked people to comment on whether they wanted to buy one of them, but they also mentioned it's 'a game of luck' and that they would inform people once they knew 'which quantity was allocated to them by Volks'. I think they went by first come first serve - so I assume Volks gave them a limited amount of each doll and then they went down the comments.

Now, for some more comprehensive pricing information, I can offer you the cost calculations I made for KAITO.

Spoiler

 

Through Volks:

KAITO base cost was ¥77.900
Then there is shipping, overseas shipping and overseas sipping insurance. I tried that out with a standard model and that amounted to an additional ¥7.440
Total cost: ¥85.340

Back when I made that calculation that would have been €580,70, doing it right now it would be €602,97

Custom duty would be an additional 4,7%, I think - might be higher? - and then on top of that you would have to pay 19% import tax (Please don't quote me on those terms btw, it's all a little confusing)

Anyways that would be €581 (The calculator I used only works with natural numbers) + €27,31 + €115,58 for a grand total of €723,89 or
at a cost of €603 it would total at €751,29.
However, couriers here take a little 'extra' for handling custom duties for you. Prices wary, but I think Volks uses DHL Express? And apparently they take 2% of the total value of the goods, but at least €14,88

 

So, buying KAITO through Volks: ~€738,77 - €766,17
Price for KAITO on Papatte's?: €900 + a little bit of shipping.

Now, you might ask yourself who in their right mind would order through Papatte's? Well, I did. 
But, why?!

There's two reasons, actually: 1. Papatte let me pay for everything up front. I know it sounds stupid, but I'd rather just 'pay and forget' otherwise I'll just stress out about the second payment. 2. If you are super lucky your imported package might be held back at your closest custom duty office, where you will be required to appear in person to open the box, confirm the price of the items and pay for your duties and taxes in person. I live in a rural area, so the next office is quite a drive away and if you go, you'll likely have to wait in line for a couple of hours. I think you might also be able to ask your courier to do this for you, but naturally they will want to be paid for their service. I've never had to do this personally and I hope I'll never have to. It all just sounds very stressful. 

So, yeah, I overpaid to have a stress-free experience. Personally that was worth the price for me. 

For another example, let's look at Ruler Jeanne! 
Volks: ¥119.900 + additional ¥7.440 for Shipping, etc. (It might actually be more because I think her box is larger than most DD boxes?) That's a total of ¥127.340 currently €899,72, with taxes etc. ~€1.121,06
Papatte's: €1,197.00 + shipping
Sakura: £1,250.00 or ~€1459,09 + shipping and taxes if you're not from the UK

Volks is still cheaper, but the difference compared to Papatte's is smaller. Papatte also offers a bundle with both Jeanna and Saber for €2.094,75, which I think should be cheaper than buying both from Volks directly. 

Interestingly enough the new Yor Forger is listed for €850 and Arcueid Brunestud is listed for €750. I'm not sure if those prices are final and I'm not sure whether we got Volks's prices already, but if they are final they could be much more competitive.

TLDR: RIP everyone collecting dolls/figures/etc. in the EU 

6 minutes ago, RetroKanojo said:

Ranko Kanzaki went for €971,25

That's over $1000.00, which is a jaw dropping price for Ranko. It's a beautiful full set, but wow...

39 minutes ago, RetroKanojo said:

However, couriers here take a little 'extra' for handling custom duties for you. Prices wary, but I think Volks uses DHL Express? And apparently they take 2% of the total value of the goods

This also varies a bit by country, here DHL gives you the right to declare your stuff yourself with the finnish customs service, however they are stricter about the timeperiod you do it in, 7 days from arrival versus 14-20 days with the finnish postal service that handles EMS.

Although as a side note, the VAT/GST is different in each european country, here its 24%, so yay for that.

 

EDIT:

39 minutes ago, RetroKanojo said:

Ranko Kanzaki went for €971,25

Went and checked what the rates were back in december 2014 when Ranko Seconds was released, the price would have been about 700€ self declared - So I wonder if that was something peculiar.

Edited December 3, 2022 by finnleo

Just now, finnleo said:

This also varies a bit by country, here DHL gives you the right to declare your stuff yourself with the finnish customs service, however they are stricter about the timeperiod you do it in, 7 days from arrival versus 20 days with the finnish postal service that handles EMS.

Although as a side note, the VAT/GST is different in each european country, here its 24%, so yay for that.

Yes, that's right! You can declare your stuff yourself over here as well, but I honestly haven't looked into it very much.
I didn't know about the differing VAT/GST though - that sucks!  I guess it will never happen, but one can only dream of a Volks EU store, haha! Maybe they could add DDB and DDSB bodies to their online stores as well while we're at it..  and tan!

People seem to forget that companies can usually hardly have someone just go pick up stuff from the airport themselves, that's why there's an added cost apart from the custom fees which depending on the country can be really high. My company for example would typically pay around 50-100 euros per 200 euros depending on item just to the person going to the airport to hand in papers and pick up your stuff and send them to you and all that handling.

I know normal post office had a flat fee of 20 euros for handling regardless of cost, but no company ships normal post to their stores across the world. Very rarely do legit businesses deal with normal post office, because they want the stuff to arrive in a timely manner. 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Shailara