Frequently Asked Questions

We are constantly buying inventory from a number of sources be it distributors, private collectors or Japanese store lots. Due to the amounts of items we buy and the rate at which they arrive from different sources, there is no way to determine when items will become available or what items we even are getting until they are in hand. If we have an item you are looking for listed but out of stock, you can sign up on that product page so that you will be notified automatically when it is restocked. Beyond that we cannot give estimates on when items will be restocked as most items are not simply available for us to order from the distributor after its original release, but instead have to be tracked down in the case of any item that has not just come out in the US and is not currently being carried by our distributor.

We often only get one chance to purchase brand new release items from the distributor who never orders enough of popular items so we are able to reorder from them and Good Smile only produces things once unless they announce a re-release later.

We typically take about 2-3 days to fill most orders. Add normal ship time to that and you should have a good estimate. If it's been over a week, you should verify that you did not accidentally choose "Hold order (no shipping)" as your selected shipment option. This means you order is being held for you in a cache. Just submit a ship order request on the account page and pay any applicable shipping to get your package on its way.

Please be patient. Unless a day or two has passed after the tracking shows it was delivered, there is no reason to worry. Most often the postal carrier will pre-scan all packages as delivered before they start their route so they don't have to stop and scan at every single house. Sometimes they are still unable to deliver and make the rounds again the next day. If it's been 2 days and you see no sign of the package, contact your local post office and give them the tracking number to look into.

Someone just beat you to it. When we restock items (not new listings) we often only get 1 or 2 of them at a time and so people who sign up for notification often pounce on buying it as soon as the notice comes in. Since these are items out of circulation usually, we can't get more than one or two at a time or we would.

We do occasionally get pre-order bonus items when we buy collections or lots, but not when we buy from the wholesaler. Pre-order bonuses are only for retail purchases made with Goodsmile directly (at retail price). Since we order wholesale from their distributor, Pre-order bonuses are not an options for us, so they have very limited availability.

Exclusive items (like wonderfest exclusives) or limited regionally licensed products (like twisted wonderland) are only available in certain places or at certain events. We cannot order them from the distributor but we do however strive to purchase some quantities of these elusive items from our secondary market sources, but their supply is limited and there is no guarantee that we will manage to find any at reasonable prices.

While almost all humanoid Nendoroids have similar proportions and scale, not all parts are 100% compatible, unfortunately.  Nendoroid faceplates have evolved over the years so that some will require minor modifications to work with hair or accessories designed for the other style.  Nendoroids number 30 or earlier are not super compatible with one another or newer Nendoroids.  Nendoroids pre-300 had their neck joint attached while after 300 almost all humanoid nendoroids had their neck joints as a separate piece we call a ‘faceplate neck joint’ that holds the little neck joint in place and let’s you slide various faceplates on and off.  Sometimes mixing and matching the pre300s with the post300s means the neck isn’t a tight fit or you need to cut some of the flashing off of the sides of the piece.  In general, these issues can be fixed fairly easily and the Nendoroid usually looks fine for display or photography but may not be as sturdy as one with all modern parts or all older parts, which are usually more easily compatible with one another.

If you are ever considering a purchase of pieces and need advice about compatibility feel free to reach out to us.  We will try to email you back within the next 36 business hours to help you out.

We do not combine shipping on normal shipped orders because we fill purchases in the order they come in and will often not see subsequent orders from the same customer until after the initial order is filled. If you want to combine orders to consolidate into a single package or save on shipping, you should utilize our Chibi Cache program which allows you to place as many orders as you like and only pay shipping once at the end when you request that your orders ship. Doing this will also combine your order values to qualify for free or reduced shipping costs.

Unfortunately no. In addition to the reasons above under combining shipped orders, we also have to be able to calculate the weight and size of all hold order items being shipped, and combining them with an already paid normal shipment order, that can't be taken into account.

If you have a cache and want the items sent with your most recent order, you should always place ALL orders as hold orders and then request that your cache be shipped on the account page. This way all orders are combined, calculated for shipping and total value for shipping discounts and makes our lives a lot easier.

If you would like your ship order and cache to still be shipped together, just let us know that you'd like your ship order converted to a hold order and we'll refund any shipping paid. You can then submit a cache shipment request on the account page to have it all shipped together. This helps us to keep things streamlined, organized and orders going our more quickly. Thanks!

Unfortunately no. Because of limitations with our 3rd party app and the Shopify API, once a hold order has been processed into a cache ship request order, we cannot add additional orders to it. We previously were able to simply "unfulfill" the orders and cancel the ship request and allow customers to re-submit the ship request to include all orders, but after a change in April 2021 to the Shopify API, we can no longer edit orders processed by the hold order system after they have been set to ship. All hold orders placed after a ship request will start a new hold order cache.

Placing a normal shipment order will not trigger shipment of your cache. Primarily because the shipping rate would not be correct and because we can't assume you want the cache shipped as well. Often customers want to place a higher priority on getting the new items shipped out, or are sending things to another address and want to keep their cache for a later time. If you want things combined, see the entry above.

We do not make sub-splits of listed parts. Once an item has been photographed and listed it is a lot of extra work to separate the parts you want, retake photos and re-price listings not to mention custom invoice you for the parts. On occasion we will post random left over parts if obtained in a lot that way, but usually we will list items in lot arrangements that we think will best sell without leaving leftovers.

We would be happy to order a new in box Nendoroid and sell it for the going price on the market/retail price (for most newer items), but we are not able to give a discounted price off the listed part prices because we have already gone to the effort to split, list and photograph each individual part, and that time has to be accounted for and is reflected in the price points we list items at.

Chibi Chop Shop is the world's largest source for Nendoroid Split parts, and as far as we know, we are the only English speaking service in the world that splits Nendoroids to this extensive degree, so unless you live in Japan and can buy the parts locally, or deal with more localized collectors, we are the main option for this. To help mitigate the shipping expense, we offer a "Chibi Cache" hold order service where you can place several orders over time and qualify for discounted shipping based on the amount you have purchased on your orders. For every $50 spent, we give a $5 discount off shipping charges.

To learn more about the Chibi Cache program click here: https://chibichopshop.com/pages/chibi-cache-order-hold-service

We CANNOT ship small items in a flat envelope in order to try and get it mailed like a letter. the USPS uses sorting machines for flat rate envelopes and it WILL jam up and rip the envelope and destroy the item. Even padded envelopes have to ship as a small package which unfortunately is the standard package rate.

If the part is out of stock, simply enter your email in the 'notify me when back in stock' field on the item's webpage and you will automatically receive an email when the item is back in stock.  If the item you are looking for is not part of our current or out-of-stock inventory, Check the "Never Before Stocked" section on the main product menu section. This page will list placeholder items you can sign up for notification on and will be "restocked" when we split that Nendoroid for the first time. Come back and make a search for the character and you should find what you are looking for (please also read the description on the pre-listing item).

All of our split pieces are imported directly from Japan or purchased from Good Smile Company certified distributors or from the personal collections of other collectors.  Their authenticity is guaranteed.  One of the reasons we founded the Chibi Chop Shop was to encourage the use of authentic pieces when mixing and matching and customizing Nendoroids and we take painstaking care to ensure than no fake items make it onto our shop, so you can shop with confidence. Even if we somehow get a bootleg from a collector or an auction listing, we never sell them and they simply go in our "closet of shame" where we use them for educational purposes to inform people at conventions and via videos in the future of how to spot bootlegs.

Nendoroids are the core of our business, both standard figures and the doll line and we intend to keep the focus mainly on these two lines. We do however occasionally find good deals on Cu-Poche items, Co-De or Figma parts and other similar lines which we do list, but do not have the available space or resources to focus on them beyond a few random listings.

Supply and demand plays a major factor.  Certain pieces like eyeglasses, unique and different faceplates, and hair tend to sell fast while other things take longer.  In addition, the rarity of the figure the parts come from plays a role in their availability as well.

Some Nendoroid parts cost more than others because they are rarer or more sought after either in part or as a full figure. In addition, some Nendoroids only have a few pieces that are in high demand and the rest of the figure isn’t very desirable. The cost and our profit has to be calculated across the value of the figure's parts and so the popular items will often have to carry the burden of being more expensive while we heavily discount the less desirable parts.

Our warehouse is located in Milwaukie, Oregon, USA (a barnacle on Portland if you will) the home of microbrews, well-known athletic wear companies, legalized cannabis use, Voodoo Donuts, food carts galore, tiny houses, and a gazillion anime fans.  It’s a good place to be an otaku, but even here in Portlandia we don’t have a decent brick and mortar figure store.  There is a big plus side to us being in Oregon, though, it means none of our customers have to pay sales tax on their purchases, because here in wacky Oregon we have no sales tax!

Everything in the chop shop is in readily available in our in home facility. There’s no waiting for things to arrive or be drop shipped from Japan.  We usually ship out within a couple business days.  Some more things to know about our shipping methods:  all orders are shipped using the United States Postal Service and include tracking and your order will be packed with care.  One of our pet peeves is poorly packaged items so we will always go the extra mile to wrap and protect your items for shipment. Bear in mind that delays can occur because of causes beyond our control but we generally will keep you informed if there is an unexpected delay. If you would like the cost of your items (not including chipping cost) to be covered in the case of loss or damage, upgrade to priority mail service which will cover $100. If your order is worth more than $100 or you also want to cover theft, consider adding our addition $5 insurance addon which will cover up to $1000 worth of merchandise against loss, theft, and damage. Please note that this will provide you with money back, but items will not be replaced unless re-ordered.

Talking to other customization enthusiasts will help get you started.  Also, YouTube has a lot of great videos about customizing dolls and amiibos with techniques that may work for chibi figures as well.  There is also a Facebook group specifically dedicated to customization and mods of nendoroids which we helped to form before starting Chibi Chop Shop.  There you will find lots of folks at every skill level modifying not only figures but also creating one of a kind habitats for their figures. We also started a Nendoroid Customization Group on Facebook which is overseen by a dedicated group of custom makers.