FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Holiday schedule
Shipping questions:
Q: I see that you ship from Japan. Will those items ever ship from America or Europe?
A: At the moment we do not plan to stock those items outside Japan. Shipping from Japan to most countries
is normally reasonably cheap and can even be surprisingly fast given the distance!
The shipping options currently available for your country will be displayed once you add an item to the
cart and select the destination country.
A: This depends on the shipping option you selected when ordering.
- If you selected a Japan Post service, in most cases the package will be handlded by the national postal company in your country. That would be USPS in the US, Royal Mail in the UK, ...
- If you selected FedEx or DHL, then in most cases your package will be delivered by FedEx or DHL directly, but in some areas FedEx or DHL may retain the services of third-party.
Q: How much time does it takes before you ship my item(s)?
A: It typically takes between 1 and 5 business for us to package your order and bring it to a post
office (or have it picked up), unless specified otherwise on the product's page.
Week-ends as well as Japanese holidays are not counted as business days.
A: It varies according to the destination and shipping option selected:
- To most countries: Normally 10 to 20 business days, but in some cases or for some countries, shipments can be several weeks late.
- To the United States: Normally about 10 business days, but this varies a lot.
- To Japan: Typically a few daysk.
Was your order shipped by surface/boat? If your order was shipped by surface, the estimate is at least 2 to 4 months. (i.e. it could be even longer). For your order to be shipped by Surface, you will have selected Surface shipping when ordering and will have been clearly told about the 2-4 months delay. (On April 6, 2022, the estimate was increased from 3 to 4 months)
Also keep in mind that there can be additional delays due to customs or other factors such as holidays (Japanese or in the destination country) and mail volume during certain periods of the year.
Q: Can you expedite the processing of my order? Can I pay for faster shipping (eg: Overnight)?
A: We are sorry but at the moment we are not able offer accelerated order preparation
or shipping. Preparation and shipment are as described above for all orders.
Q: How much does shipping to <insert-my-country-here> costs ?
A: It depends on the items. Please add the items to the cart, then select
the destination country in the shopping cart page. The shipping fee will be displayed.
Q: What if my order does not arrive?
A: If the order is late, please allow at least one extra week one month to pass before
worrying. As stated above, the delivery delays are only estimates. If your order still
does not show up, please contact us so that we can investigate.
(At this time, considering the many unpredictable delays we are seeing in the mail, we ask customers to wait until at least 1 month past the delivery estimate before
contacting us.)
Q: Can you check the gift box on the customs form and/or declare a lower value?
A: We are sorry but we must declare the full value of the items.
Q: Can I pick-up my order in person?
A: We are sorry, but our store is not currently open to the public. All orders
must be placed online and shipped (not pick-up). No exceptions.
Various questions:
Q: What are the status notifications your website will send?
A: We send an email to the PayPal payer when we first receive your order and a second message once it has been shipped. Please make sure to check your spambox if the emails appear not to be getting through.
Q: Is your store still in activity?
A: Why yes of course! No recent news only means there is nothing new. And if a product is ever out of stock or discontinued, it will be clearly indicated. At the moment many products are out of stock due to supply chain issues, but they will be back soon.
As of February 11, 2025, this store is open and active. - Owner.
Q: What are the business hours, yearly holidays and breaks observed by or affecting this online store?
A: All business takes place in Japan, and all operations (support, shipping, etc) normally take place on weekdays only,
and during the day in Japan. So if it is the morning where you live, for instance, in the US, it's already the evening here and you
may not receive an immediate answer.
Every year the staff rests for a few periods during which orders are still accepted, but only shipped at the end of the holiday or rest:
- New year holiday (1 to 2 weeks)
- Japanese Golden week (1 week)
- Typically 1 or 2 weeks in July, August or September
- Occasionally 1 or 2 weeks in November
In addition, since 2024 we have an annual store temporarily closed period of 4-5 weeks around February/March. Orders are not
accepted during this period. While you can add items to the cart and select shipping options, checkout is disabled so there is no risk
of accidentally placing an order.
Whenever the store enters a holiday or closed period, a message is displayed on the product pages, the cart page and the FAQ page. If
you placed an order before the period began and it is not yet shipped, do not worry, it will be shipped within the normal delays, as
we normally reserve time at the beginning of rest periods to finish shipping orders. In the event that we cannot do that for exceptional
reasons, we will contact you.
You may contact us by e-mail during holidays, rest or closed periods, and while we do sometimes reply, it is possible that we won't
before the end of the period, even if your message is about an urgent shipping address change for an order, or an order cancellation.
But as we will read all e-mails before resuming shipping, we will still be able to act in time and avoid shipping to the wrong place.
Q: When the store is closed, can you let me know when you re-open?
A: Certainly. When the store is temporarily closed, simply send an empty e-mail to shop+open@raphnet-tech.com
and when we re-open we will reply to let you know.
Return/exchange/warranty questions:
Q: What if I change my mind and wish to return the product?
A: You can return a product for up to 30 days from the date you
received it. The product must be in the same condition you received it and
in the original packaging. You pay for shipping the item(s) back, and the
refund will only cover the value of the item(s). The original shipping fee
will not be refunded.
Q: What if the product does not work?
A: First, we will do our best to help you troubleshoot the problem. But if the product
is truly defective, send it back to us and we will send you another one or issue a refund if you prefer.
Q: What is the Warranty for your products?
A: All products are covered by a one-year warranty against manufacture defects. Problems due to
extreme or inappropriate usage, accidents, assembly errors (for kits), bad soldering (for kits) are not covered.
Q: What if your product damages my computer/device/port...!
A: This is very unlikely to occur if you follow the assembly instructions
correctly. It is even more unlikely to occur with ready to use products. But in any case, should something happen,
we cannot be held responsible for any damage or loss caused directly or indirectly by the use of our products,
including but not limited to loss of data, loss of profit, computer/server downtime, device and peripheral failures.
Contact information:
You can contact us at the following e-mail address:
support@raphnet-tech.com
We offer service in english, french and japanese.
Note: Our response time varies, please allow a few days.
If you are not receiving any notifications from us, and do not receive an answer after contacting us, please check your SPAM folder and make sure your email/google account is not over quota (i.e. full). (For gmail/google, see this page for more information)