Santa Trading Japan (Gbi) On Amazon.com

[pdc13]

 

I did. Amazon said they will look into it. However, they say I will not be told of the result, due to some kind of privacySa

Santa Trading Japan appears to be withdrawing from Amazon. I just looked at their storefront and there are less than 300 items, mostly candy, being offered. Ahhh!!

[Zanshin]

That's interesting, I ordered a Prera from Santa Trading a few weeks ago, which arrived in ten days, and some Misubishi Uni pencils last week which Amazon tell have been dispatched.. They had plenty on their Amazon UK storefront last week but absolutely nothing today, not a single item.

 

I have noticed quite a few similar operations have sprung up with low prices, albeit not the very low prices that Santa was offering for fountain pens, but quite a few sell Iroshizuku. I've placed a few low value orders to test the waters with Deputi Japan, Japan Sub-Cultures, Sukiyaki JP and MK Japan. The order from MK Japan was another Prera and took three weeks, arriving a couple of days after the Santa Trading order which was placed a week later. The other orders were only put in last week so haven't arrived yet.

[erpe]

would not be good if they really stop, I have some things from them on my Amazon wishlist. I have seen before that some stores go and a few weeks later a new store pops-up with similar offers. Patience is in order. Anyway, with every delivery comes an e-mail address for service questions, maybe I will try to contact them there to see what's happening. I will check my archive in the next days.

[Chrissy]

I bought one bottle of PI ink from Santa, but it arrived with the box slightly damaged. I found a cheaper source on ebay for the rest of the PI ink I wanted. It's packed much better and arrives quicker.

 

I also bought a Prera from Santa, and that arrived safely although it took a long time.

 

I wasn't able to select any alternate shipping method with Santa either.

[stephanos]

I ordered a Prera from Santa Trading at the end of March (free postage) and it arrived in perfect condition after a few weeks.

I'm still waiting for a bottle of Iroshizuku, which I ordered in July (also free postage), but as it's still within the delivery estimate I'm not too worried.

 

I've also had good experience with the seller, Japan-Subcultures, on Amazon - I ordered a CON-70 converter last month, with free standard postage, and it arrived about a fortnight later in perfect condition.

[NCGibbon]

I ordered a Prera from Santa Trading at the end of March (free postage) and it arrived in perfect condition after a few weeks.

I'm still waiting for a bottle of Iroshizuku, which I ordered in July (also free postage), but as it's still within the delivery estimate I'm not too worried.

 

I've also had good experience with the seller, Japan-Subcultures, on Amazon - I ordered a CON-70 converter last month, with free standard postage, and it arrived about a fortnight later in perfect condition.

I placed an order last week for one and am waiting for it to arrive. Did yours come with the converter or will I need to go out and purchase one?

[pdc13]

I ordered a Prera from Santa Trading at the end of March (free postage) and it arrived in perfect condition after a few weeks.

I'm still waiting for a bottle of Iroshizuku, which I ordered in July (also free postage), but as it's still within the delivery estimate I'm not too worried.

 

I've also had good experience with the seller, Japan-Subcultures, on Amazon - I ordered a CON-70 converter last month, with free standard postage, and it arrived about a fortnight later in perfect condition.

Coincidentally, I had noticed J-Subculture on Amazon as well. When I did a search on Google, I came up with their website, http://www.j-subculture.com/ which I've been looking at for the last couple of days.

 

Very interesting! Pilot Iroshizuku inks... 1143 Yen = approx. US$ 11.23 (Go here http://www.j-subculture.com/yahoo_auctions/category/9FB3A2C28AEC4E4 ...and look under Fountain Pen/Pilot pages 9-11). There are some other pretty good deals and not just Japanese products. You will even come across some used fountain pens on Yahoo Japan auction. I've come across items that I haven't seen before...Playboy brand ink, anyone?

 

These people are software developers (former?) that started this business. They've recently hired native English and German language staff which is a big plus. Well, no sense in me trying to explain everything. Here is their How To page: http://www.j-subculture.com/pages/how_to

 

Seriously, have a look and see what you think.

 

Paul

Edited August 5, 2014 by pdc13

[stephanos]

I placed an order last week for one and am waiting for it to arrive. Did yours come with the converter or will I need to go out and purchase one?

 

The Prera came with a converter, IIRC.

 

Edit: in my original comment, I mentioned ordering a converter: that was for a different pen, sorry for any unintended confusion (actually, I don't think the CON-70 would fit into the Prera)

Edited August 5, 2014 by stephanos

[janelle]

I placed an order last week for one and am waiting for it to arrive. Did yours come with the converter or will I need to go out and purchase one?

The demo Preras come with a Con-50 converter installed; for the opaque ones you have to buy them separately.

[NCGibbon]

The demo Preras come with a Con-50 converter installed; for the opaque ones you have to buy them separately.

Great thank you. I ordered the dark blue demo so I should be good to go. Now it is a waiting game. I think Amazon said it was going to arrive by late September. Shoooooo.

[cpmcnamara]

Fyi, I ordered a blue prera fine nib from these guys a few weeks ago. I received my...orange prera caligraphy nib this Monday. These guys arent good at resolving issues. I emailed them about this, they asked for pics, I sent them...they still haven't gotten back. Given the shipping time I think I'm just going to use the pen (I'm kind of curious about this nib anyways). However, you're definitely taking a gamble if you go to these guys for a discount

[Dubois]

Santa Trading Japan appears to be withdrawing from Amazon. I just looked at their storefront and there are less than 300 items, mostly candy, being offered. Ahhh!!

 

They are now back - on amazon.co.uk at least - with their full line of stock, some 13,000 items. Some good prices, although the Iroshizuku ink seems to be a little more expensive than I remember.

[senzen]

My Platinum Cool was bought from Santa Trading through Amazon on 21 july and arrived in LA on 8 August - no info in the meantime but pretty good! Just to give others an idea of shipping times.

[NCGibbon]

My Platinum Cool was bought from Santa Trading through Amazon on 21 july and arrived in LA on 8 August - no info in the meantime but pretty good! Just to give others an idea of shipping times.

Really appreciate this information. I ordered my Prera on July 27 so I would expect my pen to arrive this week then.

 

Thanks for the info.

[cpmcnamara]

Update: since they sent me the wrong pen, dealing with Santa trading has been a pain. They actually suggested that I purchase a new pen at full price as a resolution. I think I'm going to file an amazon complaint and just live with the wrong order. I will definitely pay a few bucks more to go to one of the other sellers in the future though.

[hank scorpio]

I've successfully ordered a few things from them and would echo the "great prices","really long wait" sentiments.

[columela]

I just got a Pilot 74 F and a red capless Pilot . It has taken 4 weeks to get here from Japan, without any custom charges. I am very happy with them, so it was a very good deal

[NCGibbon]

My need for instant gratification has left me bummed about buying from them. I should have just paid the $7 difference and bought more local.

[pdc13]

 

They are now back - on amazon.co.uk at least - with their full line of stock, some 13,000 items. Some good prices, although the Iroshizuku ink seems to be a little more expensive than I remember.

Yes, they are back now. I noticed that they've rebuilt their listings in the past couple of weeks, but seem to have removed many of the duplicate listings and they may have winnowed some items away from their catalogue. Also, probably in response to some of the out-of-stock issues some people here have experienced, they've also added an item's stock count for their lower volume items, or maybe just for fountain pens.

[Bill P]

I would be a little skeptical regarding ordering from Santa Trading. My experience: I ordered a bottle of iroshizuku asa-gao thru Amazon from DSanta Fe on 7/2..Amazon site said in stock...it was a good price around $21.00 total...very appealing.

 

Well, I order quite a bit of writing instrument stuff from Japan and China, and even in a worse case it might take 30 days..

 

So after 30 days I write an email to Santa Trading..tracking #? date shipped?..response - be patient

After 6 weeks I wrote again...same response - be patient

After 8 weeks I write one last time - same response - be patient..

Email amazon and the order is cancelled with a full credit.

 

Really really disappointing...thought I was saving a few $$, and ended up just wasting time.

 

So, best of luck to those of you who choose to order from Santa Trading..to me looks like hit or miss..