Which do you prefer: EMS, Airmail or Seamail?

[klausien]

I personally always go with airmail. I started with EMS, but tried airmail and haven't gone back. Comparable shipping time, half the price.

[Lord Contaminous]

EMS.

Last time I dealt with it, it was cheaper than using airmail.

Package came fast as hell! And that's coming from Japan itself.

[Mayhem]

That's a bit of a curious statement; at no point when having games shipped from Japan or Hong Kong has the EMS option been cheaper than the airmail one.

I wonder if it balanced out when the weight gets REALLY high...? Normally I'm having no more than 10 games shipped at one time.

[yok-dfa]

I'd go for airmail (never used EMS). I've tried sea mail a few times to save on shipping, but those packages took around 3 months to arrive. Needless to say it is very annoying to wait that long (and airmail is not that much more expensive to justify the wait). On the other hand, it is always a nice surprise to find a package in your mailbox that you have completey forgotten about...

[anagrama]

Airmail as standard, EMS for anything particularly valuable. Surface rate is a joke.

[Stark]

I've always used EMS and never had any problems.

[felix]

They all take outlandish amounts of time :(
But airmail has worked for me.. I havent really bought anything really of value, but I dont see any problem with airmail

[Iron Draggon]

I've always gone with airmail before, but I went with EMS for the first time on a particularly valuable game recently, and it got here fast as hell! So I may start going with EMS more often. It's not too bad if you use it for multiple items.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Depends on what i'm buying. If I buy something that only cost 5 US dollars or so, then yeah, of course I am going to just send it airmail. However, if I won an auction for a 100+ dollar auction then i'd rather pay the money for EMS. Better safe then sorry if you ask me.

[DDCecil]

The two times I've bought from Japan, I've always used EMS, even on my 3.00 CD bought. Airmail on some auctions was $3-4 more expensive.

[Aussie2B]

I don't think I've ever used EMS. I see it as the shipping method for impatient, paranoid collectors (be it for video games or other stuff). :P When it comes to games, I pretty much always use Airmail. I think it's very fast as it is, so it's good enough for me. Registered Airmail is kinda nice too if there's reason to be worried about the package, but sometimes the cost isn't much better than EMS.

I'm also a big fan of SAL. It's a nice middleground between Airmail and Seamail. I use it when I'm really broke or when I'm buying a ton of manga books or such that are really heavy (and with those packages, even SAL is $20-$30 x_x). Most often, I'm pleasantly surprised with how quickly it arrives. There's the possibility it can take a few weeks, but usually I'd get my stuff within the same amount of time Airmail would take or just a tiny bit longer.

[GaijinPunch]

From Japan (and probably other parts of asia) EMS is cheaper if the package is over 2kg. Well... they don't let you ship it airmail if it's over 2kg I should say.

If you're getting 1-game packages, EMS is very much overkill. Minimum of 1200 yen to the US for most likely maximum a 5800 yen game, and often cheaper.

[Tron 2.0]

EMS i don't trust (Air or Seamail) that much.

[UndeadKing]

The few times I order something from Japan, I use EMS. Is it more expensive? Yes, but it's worth it in my opinion. I'm very paranoid when it comes to having items shipped and such and EMS helps me rest a bit easier. Plus, most of my shipments from EMS were very big and very valuable.

I guess there is a hint of impatience as well...

[GaijinPunch]

Not to make anyone feel like they've wasted their money, but I've mailed well over 1000 packages from Japan... maybe close to 2. Only 1 ever got lost in the mail (Knock on wood).

[Steven]

Airmail fan here. SAL is also decent, as one person pointed out but I almost always go Airmail.

IMHO Airmail is like 1st class and priority.

Longer wait (but sometimes not much longer) and much cheaper.

But yeah, go with common sense. Regular games = Airmail, expensive games like Radiant Silvergun go EMS.

[Teo]

Ems when shipping from japan, that's where my favorite stuff comes from and then it tells me exactrly what day it will be here.

[ozyr]

Airmail all the time. Have sent to Austria, England, Netherlands, and others in that area of Europe. I've never tried EMS, and really don't want to, since I've not had any issues with Air.

Judging by the other posts her, it is a mixed bag.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I prefer Airmail due to the price.

[InsaneDavid]

I usually go EMS - the less time a package is in routing the less chance of it getting lost or damaged, it's a straight shot. Most things I get from Hong Kong (games or mini RC car parts) are only offered as being shipped by Hong Kong Airmail so I have to use that. However when available I use EMS, especially for games or animation cels. You may be saving a couple bucks with airmail but when that rare desired package doesn't arrive - that few dollars savings really doesn't matter anymore.

[howdoin]

I usually use Airmail for most part but EMS when the item is of value or weight makes airmail/ems comparable.

It usually also depends on country - Inoticed recently that sending a 6 pounds package to the UK (from the US) was $40 airmail and $45 EMS = in this case I pick EMS.

[Cthulhu]

I love EMS. Airmail is okay if you can get insurance on it (not all post offices can insure regular airmail), but unless there's a really noticable price difference, I just go with EMS.

[pookninja]

i always go with airmail,because i get my game within a couple weeks,and its alot cheaper.i have never had any problems with airmail either.the only time i used ems was when i bought my neo-geo cd from yamatoku on ebay.

[Ed Oscuro]

Surface is cheap, but the x68K box I got seems to have been bashed around a bit - not recommended for anything but the sturdiest of packages ;)

As for airmail/EMS, I always check out my options at auction time. The answers may always be the same, but it pays to check.