Amayama Shipping Costs

[GreenOnBlack]

Hey all,
I put in a big order with Amayama and the shipping cost came back as $2500. There are some larger parts (center console, engine lid insulator, inner wheel fender liners) so I'm not totally surprised given everything going on in the world.

Would you say this is typical? They wrote they would refund any difference vs actual shipping cost but just wanted to check if this is to be expected and if you all have seen similar costs, and ever been refunded anything.

Thanks!

 

[The King]

Are you getting a whole car?

 

[GreenOnBlack]

Haha. A lot of nuts and bolts, a lot of interior trim pieces like door handles, nothing gigantic or super heavy, no drivetrain components. I am somewhat OCD so wanted to just refresh some areas after 30 years of wear and before everything becomes discontinued due to the end of the world.

 

[Old Guy]

Center console, engine lid insulator, inner wheel fender liners - those are some fairly bulky items. Shipping via Fed Ex / UPS (or what ever they are using at the moment) is pricey for stuff like that because it is a high speed / premium service. If it is not too late, I would be inclined to price those items out from a dealer - if you are OK with the wait.. Honda / Acura probably ships parts via container which ends up with a much lower delivery cost. If you have already tested those waters and Amayama + courier was still cheaper then go for it.

 

[ekhonda87]

I had a 5.5 pound box shipped from Amayama. It was like 24”x12”x12”. Cost $137. Shipping took about 18 hours from Japan to Minnesota. Insanely fast and cheap.

 

[GreenOnBlack]

Oh hey fellow Twin City NSX owner!

Amayama price is through DHL Express, I think that was the only option given to me. I'd be surprised if dealer will be cheaper as the center console price difference alone is $900 vs $300-400. I sent Amayama an email asking for a breakdown if possible.

The weight shows as 21 kgs (46 volumetric kgs)

 

[Honcho]

Amayama charges mostly based on the size of the box, not necessarily weight. The engine cover insulator is a huge part, so it needs a big box. $2,500 sounds about right, based on the size of the box. You may want to see if they will do EMS. I try as much as possible to order large parts from US Acura, since even though it costs more for the part, it's usually less then it would be if you factor in the mega shipping from Japan.

 

[azn8v]

For a reference point, I just had a similar experience. They provided an excellent and detailed response:

Shipping agents/carriers like FedEx/DHL/UPS calculate charges by volumetric weight which increases the cost of shipping considerably. They use their own formulas to determine shipping prices based on the size of the package in addition to the weight.​

​

Our system can only provide placeholder quotes for these services based on weight, but cannot account for size.​

​

EMS provided a lowest quote overall as it charges by weight directly up to a maximum volume.​

As an example, I submitted an order inquiry for a replacement condenser (80101-SL0-A02 @ $180.75), with UPS calculated as $36.94. After their review, the shipping method was selected as EMS at $79.61.

The rest of the story: the reason I submitted the condenser order was to determine how much extra shipping charges would increase if added to an existing order. The earlier order is for a large preventative maintenance project (timing belt, hoses, LMA, etc.) where the initial UPS charge was around $165, but came back as EMS at $335. After linking the two orders, the additional EMS charge is $20.

 

[GreenOnBlack]

Very smart to do multiple orders, I wish I did that from the start. Their response to my question about if certain items are very expensive or if there is a cheaper option than DHL express with a canned response:

if there will be the difference in shipping cost, after your order has been shipped, the shipping cost will be recalculated and refunded to you.

The 91-94 engine lid insulator doesn't seem available on any dealer sites I checked, 74624-SL0-000.

 

[Wild Turkey]

Amayama's shipping is super fast, but super expensive to Canada, & then the shipper adds a $55 charge on top of the duty to collect the duty. I added 2 headlight adjusters (~8 oz) & the shipping then went up another $40. If only they would offer an inexpensive option, with the ability to pre-pay the taxes. I'm almost never in that much of a rush and a 3-4 weeks would be fine.

 

[azn8v]

Ah, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t that smart about doing multiple orders! After getting over the shock of seeing the shipping go from ~$165 to ~$335, I wondered how much more it would be if I added another item (on my wishlist). Was interesting to see the shipping costs go from $37 (UPS) to $80 (EMS); or $20 (EMS) if added to another order.

Submitting multiple orders/inquiries and linking the orders would be one way to see how each part would contribute to the shipping costs, but that could become very cumbersome with a large order!

 

[neuronbob]

I ordered a 2002-05 tow hook from Amayama, which took two weeks to get to the warehouse, another two days to be packed at the factory, and was shipped overnight so I received it Friday. The shipping price was double the price of the tow hook, but since it wasn’t available/on interminable back order in the USA at the time I ordered, I took what I could get.

 

[tdiggity]

FWIW - I just got some parts from megazip.net and it was overall cheaper than amayama due to better shipping options. Part prices were a bit more expensive, but shipping more than made up for it.

 

[OE2]

I just ordered from megazip and they have a 10% off oem parts so basically got me free shipping. Pricing may be a wash between them and amayama on some of the smaller items.

 

[GreenOnBlack]

Yeah a lot of the bigger / expensive items on Megazip were significantly more expensive than Amayama, or just not available. I did a lot of cross checking but seems impossible to compare shipping costs. I did pull the trigger on the Amayama order so we'll see if I get any refund haha.

 

[GreenOnBlack]

So I received my Megazip order, I haven't done a thorough check that everything is in there yet but it was well packaged and everything came in great condition. I was surprised at how quickly everything arrived, about 2 weeks post placing payment. There were a couple parts on backorder but likely available later which they gave me the option to split out and not wait for. I will probably put in another order there, great service / communication overall.

My amayama order has a pretty long delivery estimate right now between end of October and Christmas.

 

[GreenOnBlack]

Update on my Amayama order... 2 expensive parts were NLA (outside door handles) so I got those refunded, and I'm getting $1500 refund on shipping so I'm pretty happy overall! Here are the part numbers that were not available and refunded. Parts should get here in a week or so, pretty quick shipping overall, I was expecting to wait a few months.

Honda 72242-SL0-013ZB - HOLDER ASSY., R. RR. SASH *NH547* Delivery term unknown	1	408.92
Honda 72282-SL0-013ZB - HOLDER ASSY., L. RR. SASH *NH547* Delivery term unknown	1	408.92

 

[Honcho]

Mita has those in stock, I believe.

 

[ekhonda87]

I just ordered a knee bolster from Amayama yesterday. They came back with a shipping quote of $483. I emailed them and asked if they had alternative shipping methods. They came back with EMS International, with a delivery date of 10 days from now, for....$40.70. How did we go from almost $500 to $40? Always double check I guess!

 

[OE2]

Great point on double checking on shipping, I haven’t done that with amayama yet.

My megazip order just shipped and they immediately contacted me about ems as the cheaper shipping method compared to the default fedex

 

[GreenOnBlack]

I completely forgot about foreign transaction fees when ordering from Japan and got hit with quite a surprise fee. Use the right credit card for this!

 

[MaxGeek]

On the topic of foreign transaction fees, if you use paypal they can convert it to usd for you, but they hide a transaction fee in the conversion rate. So if you have a zero foreign transaction fee credit card don't let paypal do the conversion (paypal let's you choose).