I apologize, but I feel this needs to be addressed, in general and due to recent events: Please don't ship a toy with it's header in the same bag. Going through the post can be a tumultuous trek, and friction can be a nasty I FART A LOT. It's happened one too many times; yet irritating to know how easily avoidable it can be with the use of common sense. I just always hate to see scratches on the raised points of a toy that was mailed and packaged in the bag with it's header conveniently alongside it, and then whatever bubble wrap/plastic bag around those two to make sure they're *snug* .. It's especially infuriating when it's on the face, the nose no less, coincidentally in the same area where the toy and header would have made contact for X amount of days during it's hundreds maybe thousands of miles journey to my doorstep... Put the header outside the bag, throw it in the box along the wall, sandwich it between some board if you're feeling generous. But just protect the toy at all cost.

And also don't wrap the damn things in newpaper and throw them in a box with other loosley crumpled newspapers. You can do better than that. Recycle old packaging. Thanks ~

A good point about headers to add to the List.

Very well said G. It astounds me how some people can show little respect towards the toys they claim to love (nevermind the buyer) by shipping and packaging so carelessly like this. When I wrap up a toy I take as much care with it as I would want someone to take, to make sure it arrives in exactly the same condition it was sold in. It only takes a minute or two extra, but can make all the difference, so why not? I am sorry you had a bad experience with a particular toy, was there a staple on the header that was causing this? I even sandwich my headers between cardboard sometimes if I can.

This also brings to mind a personal gripe I have with how much the packaging standards have fallen on Mandarake mail order items. Used to be items came perfectly entombed in nice bubblewrap, but the last year, even in spite of special requests to take care with packaging my items, they are frequently coming just loose in the box with one sheet of paper. Sometimes the figures are now inside plastic bags instead of being wrapped up at all. And when more then one item is in a box (as is often the case) this is incredibly frustrating and nonsensical. Considering the money I have put through there I am very disappointed in this change, and more that it has now become standard. They know this stuff is traveling halfway across the world. I have purchased stuff in person in the store and it has always been wrapped up better than that. I appreciate the low shipping costs, but a small layer of bubble wrap is not exactly breaking their profit margins, and in any case, I would gladly add the option for an extra 30 yen if that is what it would take.

I've never had those issues with Mandarake.

Paper is fine for Unpainted toys but it especially irks me when retailers send painted toys packaged in paper with no bubble wrap. They do this for a living and should know better.

So wrapping the toy in sand paper and filling the box with pumice stones is frowned upon too?

I just stick the postage on the actual toy when i drop it off at the post office. no box or nothing. I ain't fancy like that!

Same here. Didn't order much and mostly from Shibuya, everything was well-protected, even sets of unpainted minis. Maybe just an issue with a specific store..?

^ I like that method hellscrape. Sometime I will just poop in the box and seal it up to be shipped off. At least I mark it as hazardous.

On a serious note, very few issues with Mandarake. A few lazily packed boxes when I ordered Buta toys, but usually they are fairly well packed. If it is a larger item they usually give the packing job sufficient attention.

I just had 3 teeny-tiny Be@rbricks shipped from Mandarake. They were still in the original bags, then sealed in another bag, individually bubble-wrapped and shipped in a box the size of a small TV filled to bursting with more bubble-wrap! There was a minor confusion when I requested 2 orders be shipped together which led to a slight delay (completely my fault), so they shipped 'em DHL instead of the bargain basement SAL that I'd paid for!

Maybe Mandarake just hate 'mericans . . . or are just impressed by my English accent!

Fortunately (knock on wood!) Mandarake has always packaged everything very carefully, when sending stuff to me. Their boxes are extra-thick cardboard too! Kitties are always trying to squeeze into a way-to-small box size for them!

On another note... I once ordered an entire set of Noupas (yes Uglydoll related, don't stone me please! ). The seller in HK threw all 17 figures in a box and let them rattle around all the way to the USA! When I opened the box, I was mortified! Looked like someone when rampant with crayons and drew all over each figure, when in fact, all that rattling caused the paint to transfer on all of the poor Noupas! Fortunately, I reversed the credit card charges, citing fraud, and the Seller sent me a completely new set, each figure, perfectly bubble wrapped... sheesh, just no common sense there!

I have to respectfully disagree. I've now dealt with the "1 sheet of paper" as packaging from M (Shibuya store mostly) on multiple occasions with mid/large size figures... including some of my most expensive purchases. Disappointing indeed, when considering the price tag and S&H fees paid. Fortunately I haven't had anything come to me damaged in transit from this lack of oversight YET...

I emailed Mandarake back in September after a string of not-cheap (is anything there?) purchases came to me with the bagged toy bumping around inside the box. Each time after opening, I found the figure pressed against the box floor or side (very unnerving), with the 1 crinkled sheet of paper as a buffer. I was told better attention would be provided for future orders. Since then I've only made one mini purchase (that came in a small box packed very well), so nothing to report back yet in regards to any changes/improvements with large packages.

The main reason for my lack of recent purchasing is not the shipping material. I just don't have it in me to obsessively stalk their site, and try to catch the updates which almost always happen in the wee hours while I'm sound asleep...
In the rare chance something is still for sale that I'm interested in, it's usually only because the price has scared away the other prospective buyers who saw it hours prior OR because the toy is damaged/flawed.

I certainly respect and am grateful for the service that M provides for us. I just wish that they'd put a little more care into such an important part of their business...

Well nice, but unfortunate of course, to know it wasn't just me. It hasn't been consistent of course, just one of those things where you always remember the bad experiences. And I have to say I think it is almost always the Shibuya store too. Might just be when they are really busy, or depends on which employee happens to be doing the packaging maybe. I am not really finicky or anything with my toys, but as I said, a simple sheet of paper is kinda annoying. Especially with the vintage stuff, the vinyl is old and even if it doesn't get damaged, I don't really like it knocking about inside. I would say it happens more for the loose stuff I have bought, which gets the 'bagged' method. Again, I am still very satisfied with Mandarake overall, and I think I only bring it up in contrast to the overkill amazing wrapping jobs I have had from them in the past.

someone sent me some minis in a cd mailer which opened in transit, releasing my toys into the wild. I went to the post office to show them pictures of my missing toys, they were about as helpful as you would expect any government employee to be.

Get on with the program people! Gian is BANNED from Mandarake!

Lol this is a known SB fact now!

But my experience was well within our very own bst. Not gonna name names, hence the general thread

Mandarake has had excellent packaging skills from the times I ordered though. I never had to purchase bubble wrap because they provided so much of it the way they wrap their toys. I don't know if things changed and they cut back within the past year though. Come to think, Utsunomiya was one of the last Mandarakes I ordered from and that package was sub par. Nakano and Grandchaos are on point.

I'm lucky that I only have had one package arrive packed so poorly that it damaged the toys. It was from a member, who I don't remember and I don't think it is active anymore. It was a set of Ilanena patchi minis, and they arrived rattling in the box with absolutely no packing material. They were pretty much ruined, scuffed everywhere. I messaged the guy and never heard back, go figure.

Wait, shredded or balled up newspaper doesn't work? I used that all the time

I use newsprint all the time, just AROUND a toy already wrapped in bubble wrap. I assume complaints about newspaper is when it is ALL that is used?

Cheerio!

I simply hate when my toys are sent inside envelopes! Toys must travel a long way down to my country and envelopes are smashed en route. Not to mention there is the risk of envelopes being torn apart… Toys lay under piles and piles of mail for over a month! I noticed painting and articulation suffer from that, so attention must be paid when sending those expensive toys out in the mail... And even if it is a micro or an unpainted toy, the fact is that poor packaging affects them too. We are supposed to love and take good care of toys, aren't we?

Sorry, I think I sent you something in an envelope recently

Easy way to see if you've packed something properly - can you hear anything moving in the box when you shake it? If you can, you did something wrong.

^ Kevin, the surprise made me forget everything else, including your "shipping technique".