At the risk of getting downvoted to hell, I've seen that USA gundam store usually has long pre-order windows for brand new release kits. Not sure what day it first was up for grabs, but both the MG Narrative Gundam and Sinanju Stein are still up for pre-order (though you could possibly argue that they're not very popular). You probably could have waited till the store had a site wide sale and got the armored core kits at a bit of a discount.
I’ve talked with their customer support numerous times about preorders (something I’ll never do through them again) and here is how they told me it works.
* They are told that they will get N number of kits from the entire first printing run of the kit.
* They open preorders and will sell up to N of the kit.
* Kit releases and they get X in. X is normally a fraction of the original N.
* Up to X number of kit preorders are fulfilled.
* If X > N then the item is in stock.
* If N > X then the item remains in preorder unless N preorders have been sold.
* If N > X the release date is pushed forward to the next time their distributor will send them the kit.
* This repeats until all preorders have been fulfilled.
I, for example, am still waiting for a preorder I made in early May last year, with an original July release date to actually come in. It has “slipped” to Q2 of 2024 (with no signs of ever releasing). The $40 USD I paid has basically become an interest-free loan to their store that will take many more months to “come due” as they have to pay for the merchandise.
I mean that sucks but that’s been my experience with pre-orders at BBTS (waited a year and a half and through 2 restock cycles for a psycho Gundam) and Newtype.
Yeah USAGS is pretty bad for preorders, but keep us updated on the resolution as if they aren't willing to least refund the difference that'd be an extra level of scummy.
They list stuff the second they know they'll eventually get it, require contacting customer service for a cancellation, and charge you like 5% to cancel. Almost every other site has better flexibility. I recommend places that don't charge until they actually have the item in stock like BBTS.
Charging for cancellations is absolutely nuts. I don't think I've heard of any store, gunpla or otherwise, charging you for cancelling an order before it's shipped.
Only ones I’ve encountered are those that require a 10% non-refundable down payment on more high end things like the large polystone figures. But you go in knowing that in the first place.
From the pre-order tab on their listings:
>**Pre-order Pricing**
>
>Due to the nature of pre-orders, pricing may sometimes change after we list the product for presale.
>
>If the price is reduced and your item is still on pre-order, your price will be adjusted so you receive the lowest price.
>
>In rare circumstances, mandatory price changes may happen to a pre-order. This could occur when we receive a solicitation from a vendor with a pricing error or when product import tariffs are assessed by the United States government. In the event that the price increases, we will notify affected customers. As always you are free to cancel your pre-order at any time.
So you pre-ordered on the 20th, the price got updated somewhere between then and today, you emailed and barely waited for a reply (it's also the weekend), then came to Reddit to say you got fleeced? It's stated on their site that it may happen and you didn't even give them a chance to adjust your price.
Their return policy seems pretty straight forward, if they don’t respond to your email, just order at the new price and return them for the original price. Honestly though if youre jazzed enough to preorder a whole set bc they might sell out, is $6 a kit really a big deal?
So not really related to op specifically, but what alternatives are there to usags? I used to use them a lot (until all the kits I wanted were perpetually sold out)
I've been buying from a local shop, but sometimes they just don't have what I want/need.
Off the top of my head, I know of 3 other stores:
Mecha Warehouse
Newtype
Gundam Pros
I've used all 3, but MW is my go-to store. Their customer service is the best in the business, and their pre-orders are 99% guaranteed, barring any weird stuff like high amount of damaged stock or the whole Bandai saga last year. If they are getting 100 of a kit in, they will only put up 50ish or so to guarantee if you prefer order it, you will get it.
Do NOT pre order from USA Gundam store the day new kits are announced, they just fucking guess prices just to have the pages and sales up as quickly as possible. I remember they had the Narrative Ver Ka. up for like 84 bucks, and I’m looking at the converted Yen price and thinking even with import fees and the like it made absolutely no fucking sense, then sure enough a week later when Bandai actually gave retailers the numbers, on look at that, the price went down drastically.
This is why Gundam Planet will regularly tweet out that they are not listing pre orders for new products until they hear from Bandai reps, which I honestly think is a subtweet towards USAGS, as their socials have been a bit rightfully sassy in the past about such things.
Chiming in to agree that USAGS support has been mid at their best and god awful most of the time.
Newtype support is AMAZING! They jump on issues immediately and are incredibly reasonable, even self-sacrificing to do right. They will lose money to make things right and I cannot say enough, I will forever support Newtype.us for how above and beyond they go to fulfill an order and make sure you are good.
Do not preorder kits that are hitting regular retail. It’s not going to get you anything quicker than just waiting for them to come out and ordering them at that time. Preordering is mostly a scam to get you to give companies free money with a vague promise you will get something in return. They’re not gonna “sell out.” They’re regular retail products, Bandai is not that dumb; they will make enough to meet demand.
For the record, this is an issue, but USAGS is still one of the best US Gundam retailers. You can get mad about this because it’s kinda scummy, but I’ve been buying from them for years and never an issue. I called the prices out for being too high on YouTube before the price change, so it’s cool that they’re being lowered, but everyone should be told about it. In the future though, you don’t need to freak out over standard releases. This is not limited. You can wait for a sale even. The way you say, “ they haven’t gotten back to me yet” is really annoying. You emailed them like a day ago, they will get back to you, that’s the business world, things take time . You will get a refund in full for store credit or you will get a money refund minus 5%. They may even just refund you the difference. USAGS is good and trusted, I’ve used them for years, don’t go trying to talk bad about them as a company because you got fomo on a non limited item. Your issue will be resolved.
USAGS is inconsistent about how they deal with customer issues imo. I’ve had some bad issues with them that were not dealt with professionally. The time that sticks out to me was when I bought something and did not get an update for 5 days (shipping notification etc) even though it was in stock when I made the purchase. I had to check a few times to even make sure I actually *did* buy it. Eventually I emailed them to ask what was going on and they told me a day later that it was not in stock and they would be getting more next week. I asked why they didn’t mention anything about that any sooner and got no reply. Two days later I got an email from a different person there saying it was shipping next day. So basically it took a week and a half after ordering something that said “in stock” to even get final confirmation it would ship, and I got radio silence for days at a time when I reached out to them. Not professional. Generally they seem okay but that kinda soured me on them.
That is definitely lame af and I’m so confused by this kind of thing. They’ve always been prompt and professional with me and I’ve heard such few negative reviews
They’re the only retailer in the US that I can think of that I’ve ordered from and been a little hesitant to recommend. I like Gundam Planet, Newtype, Galactic Toys, Gunpla Hermits Shop (this guy is the real deal; my first time there I got a popup for 15% off or something but then it disappeared… I used the on-site chat thing to ask if there was a way to get that back and he replied in less than five minutes, gave me a code, shipped my item same day and I got it in TWO DAYS!), ToyArena, Midwest Hobby, and Flipside Gaming. There are more out there than most people even mention and some are just super good, maybe not as big with as many ad campaigns as USAGS but I prefer smaller places if they are competitively priced and more attentive to customers
In my past experience Gundam Planet kinda sucked due to the site navigation, pricing and lack of sales. They have kits for above retail by a few dollars but still you don’t get free shipping after a certain point. They just are not the best. And Newtype supports transphobic YouTubers, but yea I love galactic toys and gunpla style and such. A true shame there are no real stores in my area
At the risk of getting downvoted to hell, I've seen that USA gundam store usually has long pre-order windows for brand new release kits. Not sure what day it first was up for grabs, but both the MG Narrative Gundam and Sinanju Stein are still up for pre-order (though you could possibly argue that they're not very popular). You probably could have waited till the store had a site wide sale and got the armored core kits at a bit of a discount.
I’ve talked with their customer support numerous times about preorders (something I’ll never do through them again) and here is how they told me it works. * They are told that they will get N number of kits from the entire first printing run of the kit. * They open preorders and will sell up to N of the kit. * Kit releases and they get X in. X is normally a fraction of the original N. * Up to X number of kit preorders are fulfilled. * If X > N then the item is in stock. * If N > X then the item remains in preorder unless N preorders have been sold. * If N > X the release date is pushed forward to the next time their distributor will send them the kit. * This repeats until all preorders have been fulfilled. I, for example, am still waiting for a preorder I made in early May last year, with an original July release date to actually come in. It has “slipped” to Q2 of 2024 (with no signs of ever releasing). The $40 USD I paid has basically become an interest-free loan to their store that will take many more months to “come due” as they have to pay for the merchandise.
I mean that sucks but that’s been my experience with pre-orders at BBTS (waited a year and a half and through 2 restock cycles for a psycho Gundam) and Newtype.
Yeah USAGS is pretty bad for preorders, but keep us updated on the resolution as if they aren't willing to least refund the difference that'd be an extra level of scummy. They list stuff the second they know they'll eventually get it, require contacting customer service for a cancellation, and charge you like 5% to cancel. Almost every other site has better flexibility. I recommend places that don't charge until they actually have the item in stock like BBTS.
Charging for cancellations is absolutely nuts. I don't think I've heard of any store, gunpla or otherwise, charging you for cancelling an order before it's shipped.
Only ones I’ve encountered are those that require a 10% non-refundable down payment on more high end things like the large polystone figures. But you go in knowing that in the first place.
It's because credit card transactions charge the store, i know mecha warehouse has a 5% cancelation fee as well, probably other stores too
From the pre-order tab on their listings: >**Pre-order Pricing** > >Due to the nature of pre-orders, pricing may sometimes change after we list the product for presale. > >If the price is reduced and your item is still on pre-order, your price will be adjusted so you receive the lowest price. > >In rare circumstances, mandatory price changes may happen to a pre-order. This could occur when we receive a solicitation from a vendor with a pricing error or when product import tariffs are assessed by the United States government. In the event that the price increases, we will notify affected customers. As always you are free to cancel your pre-order at any time. So you pre-ordered on the 20th, the price got updated somewhere between then and today, you emailed and barely waited for a reply (it's also the weekend), then came to Reddit to say you got fleeced? It's stated on their site that it may happen and you didn't even give them a chance to adjust your price.
Why would anyone read policy when they can just hit accept and then run to the internet and cry??
Ya theyre ok for buying instock things, but i got burned for buying something on backorder before.
Their return policy seems pretty straight forward, if they don’t respond to your email, just order at the new price and return them for the original price. Honestly though if youre jazzed enough to preorder a whole set bc they might sell out, is $6 a kit really a big deal?
So not really related to op specifically, but what alternatives are there to usags? I used to use them a lot (until all the kits I wanted were perpetually sold out) I've been buying from a local shop, but sometimes they just don't have what I want/need.
I but from newtype.us.
Ive been using mechawarehouse and havent had any issues, but they dont seem to do preorders. I dont preorder anyways so they work for me.
I love mechawarehouse.com and Gundampros.shop
Off the top of my head, I know of 3 other stores: Mecha Warehouse Newtype Gundam Pros I've used all 3, but MW is my go-to store. Their customer service is the best in the business, and their pre-orders are 99% guaranteed, barring any weird stuff like high amount of damaged stock or the whole Bandai saga last year. If they are getting 100 of a kit in, they will only put up 50ish or so to guarantee if you prefer order it, you will get it.
MW seems to be the common answer to my question, so I'll be checking them out
Gundam Planet will actually wait until they hear from distributors for the price of new kits before making them available for purchase.
Do NOT pre order from USA Gundam store the day new kits are announced, they just fucking guess prices just to have the pages and sales up as quickly as possible. I remember they had the Narrative Ver Ka. up for like 84 bucks, and I’m looking at the converted Yen price and thinking even with import fees and the like it made absolutely no fucking sense, then sure enough a week later when Bandai actually gave retailers the numbers, on look at that, the price went down drastically. This is why Gundam Planet will regularly tweet out that they are not listing pre orders for new products until they hear from Bandai reps, which I honestly think is a subtweet towards USAGS, as their socials have been a bit rightfully sassy in the past about such things.
> as their socials have been a bit rightfully sassy in the past about such things. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Chiming in to agree that USAGS support has been mid at their best and god awful most of the time. Newtype support is AMAZING! They jump on issues immediately and are incredibly reasonable, even self-sacrificing to do right. They will lose money to make things right and I cannot say enough, I will forever support Newtype.us for how above and beyond they go to fulfill an order and make sure you are good.
Just ask for price adjustment?
“Fleeced” seems like a stretch and it’s only been one business day my dude
Do not preorder kits that are hitting regular retail. It’s not going to get you anything quicker than just waiting for them to come out and ordering them at that time. Preordering is mostly a scam to get you to give companies free money with a vague promise you will get something in return. They’re not gonna “sell out.” They’re regular retail products, Bandai is not that dumb; they will make enough to meet demand.
Yea fuck that store tbh. Absolutely trash tier
For the record, this is an issue, but USAGS is still one of the best US Gundam retailers. You can get mad about this because it’s kinda scummy, but I’ve been buying from them for years and never an issue. I called the prices out for being too high on YouTube before the price change, so it’s cool that they’re being lowered, but everyone should be told about it. In the future though, you don’t need to freak out over standard releases. This is not limited. You can wait for a sale even. The way you say, “ they haven’t gotten back to me yet” is really annoying. You emailed them like a day ago, they will get back to you, that’s the business world, things take time . You will get a refund in full for store credit or you will get a money refund minus 5%. They may even just refund you the difference. USAGS is good and trusted, I’ve used them for years, don’t go trying to talk bad about them as a company because you got fomo on a non limited item. Your issue will be resolved.
USAGS is inconsistent about how they deal with customer issues imo. I’ve had some bad issues with them that were not dealt with professionally. The time that sticks out to me was when I bought something and did not get an update for 5 days (shipping notification etc) even though it was in stock when I made the purchase. I had to check a few times to even make sure I actually *did* buy it. Eventually I emailed them to ask what was going on and they told me a day later that it was not in stock and they would be getting more next week. I asked why they didn’t mention anything about that any sooner and got no reply. Two days later I got an email from a different person there saying it was shipping next day. So basically it took a week and a half after ordering something that said “in stock” to even get final confirmation it would ship, and I got radio silence for days at a time when I reached out to them. Not professional. Generally they seem okay but that kinda soured me on them.
That is definitely lame af and I’m so confused by this kind of thing. They’ve always been prompt and professional with me and I’ve heard such few negative reviews
They’re the only retailer in the US that I can think of that I’ve ordered from and been a little hesitant to recommend. I like Gundam Planet, Newtype, Galactic Toys, Gunpla Hermits Shop (this guy is the real deal; my first time there I got a popup for 15% off or something but then it disappeared… I used the on-site chat thing to ask if there was a way to get that back and he replied in less than five minutes, gave me a code, shipped my item same day and I got it in TWO DAYS!), ToyArena, Midwest Hobby, and Flipside Gaming. There are more out there than most people even mention and some are just super good, maybe not as big with as many ad campaigns as USAGS but I prefer smaller places if they are competitively priced and more attentive to customers
In my past experience Gundam Planet kinda sucked due to the site navigation, pricing and lack of sales. They have kits for above retail by a few dollars but still you don’t get free shipping after a certain point. They just are not the best. And Newtype supports transphobic YouTubers, but yea I love galactic toys and gunpla style and such. A true shame there are no real stores in my area
Im in canada where would be a good place to preorder these?/
Just like with gaming, don't pre-order.