Thread: Anyone buy from monotaro

Our old UD truck has a two speed diff that is air operated and on top of the diff it has a box containing two microswitches that assist in changing from high to low and vice versa. One of the switches broke some time ago andwe did not bother to fix the problem but since it is now due for a roadworthy thought I might as well fix it even though it is not required as part of a roadworthy.

A new part from Volvo (who owns UD) came out at $750 ex Japan. Searching the number on the switch I came across a Japanese site who also have an subsidiary in Singapore that handles the english speaking side Maintenance, Repair, and Operations - MonotaRO Singapore

Switch price. 9 singapore dollars ex Japan Looking across the site they sell anything and everything and accept ebay. I stuffed up my first order after I had paid via Paypal, it was late at night and I ordered the wrong switch. A quick message to them and they cancelled the order and refunded my money, and I reordered the parts I needed, and ordered some spiral taps as well to replace my snapped ones.

Catch is the freight, $50 for small items. I do not know how much you can order with the minimum charge.

I just had a look on the site looks interesting. They dont.specifically say they ship too Australia but I guess they do.

Hi RC,

I have dozens of different types of microswitch's, a number of which are for automotive applications, it is possible that I may have something suitable for your application. Post a picture please.

I see why the postage is so expensive.

It was collected in Japan yesterday afternoon. It is already in Sydney.

That's fantastic, now it'll be 2 weeks before it gets to you, knowing Aust Post .
Kryn

I bought some pulleys from them a couple of weeks ago. Didn't have any problems. They were expensive but that sort of stuff is expensive everywhere I looked......

Everything turned up fine. Taps are made in Korea. They look good. I can see myself shopping there again. I am $700 ahead now.

Just had a look around their site , some reasonable priced seals and other very handy material.
Might give them a try.
Michael

monotaro is a joint venture with grainger usa but much better prices than grainger.

i have spent loads (maybe a dozen orders) at monotaro since 2014 when it popped up on a google search looking for vernier ruler stopper. minimum shipping appears to be the cost of a 10kg dhl box. i used to keep a shopping cart open and adjust contents to get efficient shipping. go over 10 kg and the price can go up by $100! now has free shipping over sg$200 spend. register and they send 10% off voucher code every 2-4 weeks i think. order picking can take up to a week. shipping dhl usually 2 days ex japan. when items are not immediately available they do multiple shipments at their cost.

english translations are rubbish, but poking round more inside product categories helps. so does using suggestions of what other users looked at. product information is poor, photos poor. better to check manufacturer website if you are trying to understand the product and quality - use chrome and autotranslate. quality of most products is excellent. multi item listings (eg fasteners) have dimensional diagrams on the single item page.

monotaro japan has more products but doesnt ship to freight forwarders.

real prices are dearer than rakuten but free shipping especially for heavy items makes it excellent value.

rakuten now uses tenso.com as freight forwarder. i have been using anislo.jp by japan post. cheaper than tenso i think. insanely good packing. i use it for products i find that monotaro doesn't sell.

some metalworking highlights: shinwa rulers, abrasives (100*15 for angle grinder), fasteners, pelican snips, hoses and fittings, fiddly bits you would never find anywhere else. proxxon milling machine is good price if you can live with 100v. (otherwise conrad.com)

Can anyone confirm that monotaro still ship to Australia? Their website would suggest not.

Graham.

monotaro.sg is the English site (as per OP's link). I had 2 orders in December and working on a cartful today waiting for my next discount voucher.

lately the 10% discount voucher codes have been coming weekly for at least 6 weeks. Just placed another order. register on the front page and I think they will send you the voucher codes.

Two weeks???; I wish. I am still waiting for an item shipped from China which according to tracking, arrived in Melbourne on 4th December. Unfortunately, Australia is one of the very few countries whose postal system cannot track China Post items past the airline arrival point. Even NZ has this service. Aust Post will not attempt to find the missing item until 90 days have elapsed. I am not hopeful.

Chas.

Not 2 weeks, 2 days to ship from Monotaro Japan to me. 3-5 days usually for Monotaro to pick order is a bit slow.

2 weeks for royal mail from UK or parcel post from USA.

Rakuten.jp to Anilso.jp to here takes less than a week total I think.

Stuff I got from Conrad.com ships DHL to AusPost - takes 2-3 days to get from germany to here and 3 weeks from Australia to Australia and boxes beaten up on the way as a special service! Conrad replaced item with damaged packaging and missing part no questions or photos required!

Anything from China takes forever 2-6 weeks - at least it is cheap. Service is terrible from sellers who don't want to fix any problems. At least AliExpress steps in to resolve.

Looks like business under covid is slow. Monotaro has sent me a couple if 15% off everything coupon codes. AUD better than parity with SGD.

Joined up wife last week and there was a 20% signup voucher valid for 3days. For the last 6 years, signup discount has only been 10%. Still free shipping if >SGD200 before voucher.

Ordered the Proxxon bfb-2000 based milling machine. Close to half the price i could get from a local supplier.