Shipping & Returns

Last updated 11 August 2026

Every box we sell physically starts in Japan. That is the whole reason this page is longer than a domestic store’s: there is a border in the middle of it, and the charges either side of that border work differently.

Processing time

Card orders are picked and handed to the carrier within 1–2 business days of payment clearing. Quoted wholesale orders ship within 2–5 business days of the invoice being paid — the spread is allocation: a multi-case order sometimes waits on a consolidation from more than one Japanese supplier.

Pre-release and allocated product ships when the Japanese street date allows and not before. Where a SKU is on allocation we will say so in your quote, with the date we expect it to move.

Business days are Monday to Friday excluding Japanese and US public holidays. Japan effectively closes for New Year and Golden Week; orders placed into those windows move on the far side of them.

How it ships

Everything goes tracked and insured by international courier — DHL or FedEx on most lanes — from Japan to your address in the United States. There is no untracked option and we will not ship one; sealed product is high value per kilogram and an untracked parcel is an uninsurable loss for both of us.

You get a tracking number by email as soon as the consignment is manifested, before it physically leaves. Typical transit is 3–7 business daysdoor to door once the parcel is with the carrier, plus whatever customs clearance takes on the day. Transit times are the carrier’s estimates, not a guarantee we can give on their behalf.

Boxes are double-boxed with the manufacturer’s shrink intact. We do not open, weigh, search or resleeve anything.

What shipping costs

The three caveats on that promise, stated plainly because they matter:

• It applies to card orders only.An order at or above a SKU’s minimum quantity is quoted and invoiced instead of paid by card, and a quoted order always carries freight at cost. The free-shipping line is never shown on a quote and never applies to one.
• It covers freight, not duty. Import duty, tariffs, brokerage and any carrier handling fee are yours, and are invoiced to you at cost, with the carrier’s paperwork attached. We do not mark them up and we do not estimate them into the price.
• It is not a landed total. No figure anywhere on this site — not a product price, not a cart subtotal, not a quote line — is the all-in cost of getting a box onto your shelf. Under $500.00 we quote no flat rate at all, because there is no flat rate on this lane that we could honestly honour.

We ship to business addresses in the United States. Ask before ordering if you need somewhere else — we can usually do it, but the freight answer will be different.

When it arrives: check it at the door

Sealed product is worth what it is worth because it is sealed, which makes the condition of the outer carton the only thing either of us can inspect. So:

• Photograph the outer carton before you open it if it looks crushed, wet, retaped or light.
• Note any visible damage on the carrier’s delivery record before you sign for it. A clean signature on a damaged consignment is the one thing that makes a carrier claim unwinnable.
• Count the boxes against the packing list before the shrink comes off anything.

Damage, shortage and loss

To open a claim, email tokyolegends@outlook.com with:

• Your order or quote number.
• Photographs of the outer carton on all six faces, before unpacking.
• Photographs of the affected boxes as they sat inside the carton.
• For a shortage, a photograph of the packing list beside what actually arrived.

We acknowledge every claim within 2 business days. Where the claim stands, we replace the affected boxes if we can source them or refund them if we cannot — your choice where both are possible. We pay the return freight on anything we ask you to send back.

Returns

This is a wholesale channel selling sealed goods for resale, so the returns position is narrower than a consumer store’s and we would rather you knew that before you ordered than after.

• Unopened, undamaged, resalable product may be returned within 14 days of delivery with our written authorisation. Manufacturer shrink must be fully intact and unmarked, and the boxes must be free of price stickers, barcode labels and store markings. Return freight is yours, and a 15% restocking fee applies — that is the real cost of re-inspecting, re-photographing and re-listing product that has crossed the Pacific twice.
• Opened product cannot be returned. Ever.Once the shrink is broken the contents cannot be verified by anyone, and a sealed-product wholesaler that accepted opened returns would be laundering searched boxes back into other customers’ orders. No exceptions, including for boxes opened by mistake.
• Pull rates are not a defect. A box that yields nothing is a normal outcome of a manufacturer-set distribution, not damaged goods, and it is not a ground for return or refund.
• Allocated, pre-order and made-to-order quantities are non-returnable once we have committed them to you with our supplier.

Nothing may be sent back without a return authorisation. Unauthorised returns are refused at the door and the freight is yours in both directions.

Approved refunds go back to the original payment method within 5 business days of us receiving and inspecting the goods. Original outbound freight is refunded only where the return is our fault — a wrong SKU, a wrong count, or damage we caused.

Cancellations

Card orders can be cancelled in full for a full refund at any time before the consignment is manifested — email us and we will tell you straight away whether it has been. A quoted order can be cancelled before the invoice is paid; after payment it is subject to the returns terms above, because by then we have bought it.

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