Buying Tomoe River Paper In Bulk?

[mivox]

I filled out Tomoegawa's online inquiry form on the main company website yesterday, and haven't heard back...

 

Maybe I am just being impatient, but has anyone here purchased a bulk order of Tomoe River FP paper directly from the manufacturer before? Is there a quicker way of contacting them about such things? Or perhaps a reseller in Japan who is known for selling bulk/wholesale orders?

 

TIA for any suggestions!

[macaddicted]

The current problem isn't the quantity it's the cost for shipping. I had come across a company that would ship but through a more reasonable method (think weeks instead of days). Unfortunately I can't find it (I know "Hey, but thanks anyway.")

 

Paper companies tend to think in terms of pallets instead of cases. But i second the query about wholesalers.

[mivox]

hahahaha ... Well, thanks for the ideas. I'll keep looking around. Weeks is probably fine for my purposes, but I don't really need a whole pallet at this point, I have to admit.

[migo984]

Could you clarify what you mean by "bulk" i.e. how many reams? Thanks

[Cryptos]

I've stalled in negotiations between the sellers and our University freight shippers for now. Too many other things going on at the moment. For me 8 reams was my limit, though considering the comparatively small increases associated with progressively larger orders I may have to revise that when I revisit this problem.

[Notgatherox]

There is a link on Rakuten for 4000 sheets (4 reams). Let me pull that up:

 

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/auc-shikisai/item/50602/

 

 

Good luck with shipping. Not sure if they ship overseas so you might have to find a 3rd party to do it for you - say Tenso.

 

 

~Epic

[Mew]

There is a link on Rakuten for 4000 sheets (4 reams). Let me pull that up:

 

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/auc-shikisai/item/50602/

 

 

Good luck with shipping. Not sure if they ship overseas so you might have to find a 3rd party to do it for you - say Tenso.

 

 

~Epic

This will be in 2 reams of 2000 pages each. They do not ship outside Japan so you will need a forwarder.

[Mew]

I filled out Tomoegawa's online inquiry form on the main company website yesterday, and haven't heard back...

 

Maybe I am just being impatient, but has anyone here purchased a bulk order of Tomoe River FP paper directly from the manufacturer before? Is there a quicker way of contacting them about such things? Or perhaps a reseller in Japan who is known for selling bulk/wholesale orders?

 

TIA for any suggestions!

Do you think you can take their Minimum order Quantity? It's more than 10000 sheets in Shiroku-ban size. Tomoegawa sells paper in 3 sizes and none of them small enough for practical usage. So you will have get them cut into usable sizes, and that's what every retailer does. 10000 sheets will be cut into 20000+ A4 sheets depending upon the size of the paper it in being cut out from.

 

Now comes the harder part, considering Japan post shipping limitation of 30kg, how are you going to get 20000+ sheets shipped to your country?

 

I have done this and I'm have a whole lot of paper lying about.

 

Edit: so don't contact the company directly unless you want a lifetime supply of paper. There are other issues in ordering directly from them as they ask for company details (they assume that no individual can order this much). Use the link for 4000 sheets.

Edited October 6, 2016 by Mew

[mivox]

-snip-

I have done this and I'm have a whole lot of paper lying about.

Edit: so don't contact the company directly unless you want a lifetime supply of paper. There are other issues in ordering directly from them as they ask for company details (they assume that no individual can order this much). Use the link for 4000 sheets.

Thank you! That is all super useful information. I know they do export paper to a couple companies, so shipping out of Japan can apparently be arranged... But given that I'm just trying to start a small business making notebooks (that I want and can't find anywhere... Selfish motives! lol) I surely don't need that kind of volume of paper yet. But if I could use that much, I guess cutting it would be part of the deal? Good to know!

 

I'll keep looking for a secondary supplier. Thank you again.

Edited October 6, 2016 by mivox

[mivox]

I found a company in Canada that imports a lot of paper of various types from Japan, which looks like the best bet for my needs, as they also offer cutting services (Because I really don't need full commercial offset printing size paper.).

 

I'm still talking to them any specific pricing on everything, but if anyone is interested in buying a minimum $200 order of paper, Japanese Paper Place has it. :-)

[inkypete]

Just for clarification a ream is 500 sheets. 1000 is two reams, 4000 sheets is 8 reams etc etc.

[Mew]

Just for clarification a ream is 500 sheets. 1000 is two reams, 4000 sheets is 8 reams etc etc.

Oh, so you were referring to writing paper units. I am just used to calling any stack of paper as a ream, be it my 2000 sheet stack of 52gsm TR or 1000 sheet stack of 68gsm TR.

sorry.

[Mew]

Thank you! That is all super useful information. I know they do export paper to a couple companies, so shipping out of Japan can apparently be arranged... But given that I'm just trying to start a small business making notebooks (that I want and can't find anywhere... Selfish motives! lol) I surely don't need that kind of volume of paper yet. But if I could use that much, I guess cutting it would be part of the deal? Good to know!

 

I'll keep looking for a secondary supplier. Thank you again.

If you are just starting out, I would suggest that you look for smaller quantities. People should go to Tomoegawa only if they represent a company, or if they can take their minimum order quantity. It's a lot of paper for anyone to use up, especially if the business is just starting out.

Someone posted a link to the rakuten vendor who carries TR and sell by sets of 4000 sheets each. Buy 2 using a forwarding service and I think you'll be good to go.

Any other option would likely be more expensive because they will add their profit margin.

 

Here is the link again: http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/auc-shikisai/item/50602/

This vendor offers A4 size paper, so you don't need any cutting etc.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Mew

[inkypete]

Oh, so you were referring to writing paper units. I am just used to calling any stack of paper as a ream, be it my 2000 sheet stack of 52gsm TR or 1000 sheet stack of 68gsm TR.

sorry.

 

No worries - a ream is a ream no matter what size the sheet. Small, large, humongous! It is a ream if 500 sheets. From memory a ream used to be 480 sheets pre metric but the 'official' quantity now is 500.

[mivox]

Someone posted a link to the rakuten vendor who carries TR and sell by sets of 4000 sheets each. Buy 2 using a forwarding service and I think you'll be good to go.

(...snip...)

Here is the link again: http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/auc-shikisai/item/50602/

This vendor offers A4 size paper, so you don't need any cutting etc.

Thank you! Oddly, the cheapest I've found so far is on Amazon in 100 sheet cello packs, including the Canadian vendor's $200 minimum orders... So I'll look into the rakutan link, and if that's still in the same ballpark as the Amazon vendor, I'll give up. haha

[SpecTP]

I've tried that Rakuten.jp route, but the shipping costs for anything that exceeds JP standard post weight will be quite expensive.

 

You might opt for this site http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/tomoe-river-paper-bulk-buy-500-sheets.html

Edited October 7, 2016 by SpecTP

[Mew]

Thank you! Oddly, the cheapest I've found so far is on Amazon in 100 sheet cello packs, including the Canadian vendor's $200 minimum orders... So I'll look into the rakutan link, and if that's still in the same ballpark as the Amazon vendor, I'll give up. haha

Sigh..

Google says Fairbanks is in Alaska. Using the Japan post shipping calculator:

Weight of 4000 sheets of TR and packing is ~14kg

Cost of TR: 9200 yen

Shipping to Tokyo (vendor is in Osaka): 800 yen

Shipping charges via EMS: 18,900 yen

You may have to pay the forwarding company some commission to handle this for you. I think total might come to around 30000 yen.

[SpecTP]

you can probably save quite a bit on shipping costs if the vendor will do surface mail (2months).

[mivox]

You might opt for this site http://www.nanamipaper.com/products/tomoe-river-paper-bulk-buy-500-sheets.html

 

I've kept an eye on that site for a while... It looks like that may have been a one-time, unusual circumstance sort of deal. It's been out of stock every time I've looked. But I keep looking, just in case.

 

Sigh..

Google says Fairbanks is in Alaska. Using the Japan post shipping calculator:

Weight of 4000 sheets of TR and packing is ~14kg

Cost of TR: 9200 yen

Shipping to Tokyo (vendor is in Osaka): 800 yen

Shipping charges via EMS: 18,900 yen

You may have to pay the forwarding company some commission to handle this for you. I think total might come to around 30000 yen.

 

Sigh? I apologize, I wasn't trying to get anyone to do my homework for me! I was just on my way out the door to go to work when I posted that, so I didn't have time to look everything up right then. But thank you for the calculations.

[Mew]

Sigh? I apologize, I wasn't trying to get anyone to do my homework for me! I was just on my way out the door to go to work when I posted that, so I didn't have time to look everything up right then. But thank you for the calculations.

That is not what I meant. That was more for me trying to explain that rakuten would be the cheapest for you.