Kindakawaii Reviews 

I went for the most expensive Advent Calendar I ever bought, with the Ghibli 24 days Calendar.
Ordered in October, was not sent until November, 24th.
And then DHL delivered it on January, 4th !
Great for an advent calendar.

But this does not end here : 2nd item was broken (and the missing piece was not even in the box), and then a totally missing jewel, then another broken item, and a half missing one.
In total 4 items damaged or lost !

I still give 2 stars because the late replies from customer service were fast, and I had a partial refund for the items.
However they refuse to ask DHL for a shipping refund, even if is was not delivered on time at all.

I'll think twice before ordering here again

I ordered the ghibli bathhouse advent calendar,
As many others I experienced a delay in shipping.
But everything regarding that has been explained over and over again by raff, offers to accommodate the buyers who want to return have been made, although most people don't seem to be happy with those.

I for myself can only say all of the communication with raff has always been pleasant, quick and helpful.

I decided to wait for my calendar and not send it back, and I'm not disappointed about any of it😁

The bathhouse box is designed delightfully, has a good quality to it (to the point where you can definitely reuse the packaging to create your own calendar - I will do one for my partner this year with it).
Also all items in the calendar are hand curated and very carefully picked.
Is it something for everyone? No. But I wouldn't be delighted by a.. let's say beer Advent calendar myself.
For ghibli fans? Definitely a good idea!

It's worth the price and the wait.
Also, let's not forget, raff mentioned it a lot as well, this is a small business, not a big company.
Raff does all the planning and curating and so on alone or almost alone.
Please be considerate of that.

Thanks raff for the awesome calendar and all of the hard work you put into creating it 🙏❤️

Purchased the Hello Kitty Advent Calendar back in October on pre-order. There was a slight delay but lots of communication for it’s arrival. I have to say it was worth the wait! Very high quality-(we will be keeping and using the decorative box) each gift was unique and high quality! My daughter was so excited and pleased- each box was special.
Would for sure order again in the future.
Thanks!

The communication was horrible, didn't here any updates for months. When the shipping date neared I had to ask for updates, only got informations after I wrote twice. There was no automatic update mail coming in...
Also it was promised that they would make up for the delay by faster shipping...was shipped on the 9th of December and arrived in 24th of December! Ordered a Ghilbi Advent calender...not much of a Advent calender if it arrives to late. Some of the goods where gorgeous (the only reason for the 2 stars), but some of them were just pointless or weirdly designed (e.g. a necklace of no-face on a poker chip?). I wouldn't order here again since the whole communication and shipping progress was not very good handled...

Like many of you my advent calendar was delayed greatly and didn’t arrive until after Xmas.

I ordered on Oct 21

It departed the US on Dec 11

It was delivered finally on Jan 9

They blamed the Canadian Postal strike but a) it was shipped via UPS, b) it was already late by the time it departed the US, c) why refuse a refund?

They also refuse to give a refund despite repeated attempts to explain that an advent calendar is useless once you’re into, never mind past, December.

I can’t comment on the quality of the item as I refuse to open it and want to ship it back for a refund.

i tried building my own box but no matter how many times I clicked on each different thing that said "start building" it just took me to a google error screen. please can you fix this issue I really want to build my own

I ordered the 12 Days Ghibli Calendar and would give it +5 stars for that. The products are great and unique. It was a gift, and my friend was very impressed and happy with it.
BUT: The Advent Calendar arrived on the 20th of December! If it was just a box with surprise items, that would have been fine, but it was an Advent Calendar! The significant delay unfortunately diminished its value as a time-sensitive gift, and I was offered an additional partial refund once the package arrived.

However, now that I’m asking when I will receive the promised refund, there’s no response. I know they are deliberately ignoring my emails because, when I mentioned that I had to pay taxes for the delivery (which was also frustrating and inconvenient), they sent me that money back on the same day. Clearly, they are checking emails but only responding to the ones they choose to.

So in the end, while the products themselves are nice, the overall experience was horrible. The lack of communication and failure to keep their promises are the reasons I cannot recommend this shop and will not order from them in the future.

My practical suggestion is to avoid any preorders. This business doesn't have the capability to handle them, and doesn't seem to have taken real steps to fix the issues that came up here. Maybe that will change by next year, but let someone else find that out. Monthly boxes are probably fine, because they don't really have to be timely.

My personal suggestion is to avoid doing business with this company. People were asking for legally protected and reasonable remedies -- refunds for an item which would be so late, only half of it would be useful. KindaKawaii treated them poorly, mocked them, and put their requests out to encourage a mob to do the same.

Ordered a $213 Ghibli 25-day Advent Calendar, in September. It came December 12th -- late, and clearly halfway through the practical use of the item.

Communication via order method was poor (And inaccurate). I have the following emails from KindaKawaii:
- 09/11 - Thanks for your order, we expect to ship mid-November
- 11/08 - We had more orders than expected. Delivery by late November
- 11/16 - Tracking information is uploading, delivery by late November/early December
- 11/24 - FedEx label
- 12/2 - Things are slightly late. Orders shipping this week. I take full responsibility
- 12/9 - Everything was completed and shipped last weekend (It wasn't until later that day)
- 12/11 - Calendar arrives

Now, to contrast with what was put on social media (And wasn't in a temporary, irretrievable 24-hour format):
- 11/21 - "Shipping is slightly delayed, things should be in by early December"
- 12/3 - "Things shipped late, it's completely not my fault, look at all the things that have been happening to me that aren't my fault. This is affecting me so much personally"

There were a few short-lived posts (Only around for 24 hours as IG/FB stories) that demanded, things had shipped and there would be no refunds. On and off, KindaKawaii has repeated this, and claimed that generating a shipping label through FedEx was the time of shipment, but they would "Do you a favor" by cancelling and refunding orders.

The 12/3 post deserves a little expansion, especially because it was intended for a certain audience, and is fairly disingenuous. The structure of the post follows the same way KindaKawaii handles the customer interactions later:
- Here are the issues and my personal interactions showing them
- Here is my sad story about how this is ruining my business and mental health

The post showed there were shipping issues (Which were not communicated through regular channels until weeks later), but was mostly to get customers and page followers to review the business favorably. It seems to have worked, that same day there were several 5-star reviews about how great the business is, and how wonderful the communication has been (It was barely mediocre -- see above). It helped seed the arrival of the boxes with a lot of customers motivated to give 5-star reviews.

Then the other side of that campaign started. KindaKawaii started posting choice emails and messages requesting refunds, with relatively nasty responses. "If I ever see your name on another order, I'll personally cancel it." "I'm just a small business and you're trying to ruin me." "I'm only one person, my warehouse crew is working so hard. Why be mean to us?" The effect here was to scare off bad reviews. This review was delayed until after the calendar arrived, because it had not been shipped, and KindaKawaii was still spite-cancelling orders (Possibly without refunds).

The entire time, KindaKawaii managed to figure out how to cancel and refund orders when chargebacks and other scam-related controls were used. This should have been offered to everyone (Again, it is legally required to do so). Instead, they attacked customers trying to protect themselves from what was a potential scam.

To summarize, there were three stories:
- Everything is fine, everything is on time. Now that it is late, we know it will be late. Now that it is very late, we'll try to deliver things.
- Everything is fine. Wait, everything was not fine and we knew about it a month ago, but we definitely told everyone.
- Everyone is so mean, can't you help out this poor drop-ship "small" business owner? Validate targeting this customer for asking for a remedy.

The box itself wasn't bad. Very heavy on items taken from older toy sets, with a couple unique things.

This is a drop-ship company, which doesn't seem to be able to handle the typical problems that drop-ship companies see. Instead of dealing with those problems and adjusting, the owner seems to want to go after the customer. KindaKawaii has intentionally stayed small (The advantage of outsourcing 95%+ of your business) and hid behind being a "small business" to avoid valid criticism.

My husband ordered the 12 day ghibli adventure box and a stocking. Due to shipping issues the stocking arrived after Christmas by a couple days. Both the stocking and advent box were full of thoughtful and unique pieces. I was so excited to open each day. The stocking was also packed full of beautiful items that I will cherish. I love the quality and craftsmanship of each item. I will definitely be buying more items in the future.

This company is not a scam! Yeah my calendar arrived late too but it arrived. They had problems with one item and for me that was okay! They are human too plus when it arrived I was super happy. I am 100% satisfied with the products, everything is so sweet and it was worth the wait <3

I was about to give this company 5 Stars but the last thing that happened didn't leave me a choice. I ordered a Adventscalender for Christmas I paid around 180€. The calendar had an issue with delivery which was completely fine for me. The calender came and I had to pay Taxes around 11.50€ since my delivery country is in Europe and the shipping came from America. I felt misleaded because their website said no duty fees on arrival. I contacted the company and they were ready to pay me
the 11.50€
I sent them the recipe and after that they ghosted me. I tried to contact them several times but still no answer and still no refund
I was hopeful because their response was super fast.
I know they had/have a lot of financial stress due to the recently happend shipping issues. But they didn't even came up with another solution or something similar.
I even would've agreed if they would pay half the price of the taxes.

UPDATE: kindakawaii just payed me the taxes back :) Iam happy that Everything worked out.
Thanks !

I bought the Studio Ghibli Advent Calendar and the Studio Ghibli Mystery Stocking from Kinda Kawaii! The quality of the products is amazing and our kids absolutely loved them!! Even with the delays we got everything just in time to open! The customer service was amazing and we were kept informed through social media!

I would order again in a heartbeat!

I ordered the 12-day Studio Ghibli advent calendar for my daughter, and she just loved it!! The items were so cute and well-designed ... everything from ornaments to salt and pepper shakers to candles. The quality was on point. The customer service was awesome too ... there was a hiccup with shipping, but the item did arrive on time, thanks to the diligence of the company owner. Also, one item arrived damaged, but when I reached out the owner, the response was quick and the item will be replaced with the same or equivalent. Very pleased with our purchase and will be buying more things.

I bought the Studio Ghibli Advent Calendar and the Studio Ghibli Mystery Stocking from Kinda Kawaii. This is my first time purchasing products from them and I couldn’t be happier.

There were some delays due to supplier issue but both items arrived quickly and safely.

I will definitely be buying from them again and would definitely recommend them if you want anything Sanrio, Studio Ghibli or Pokémon themed!

What great treasures!

I got the 24-day Ghibli calendar. Despite the calendar being substantially delayed due to a logistical issue, I really enjoyed the contents and found them to be wonderfully thought out and creative and generally of good quality. Communication could have been a bit better for those not on Instagram, but overall I still very much recommend this calendar and brand.

Im giving 5 stars because all the the trinkets in my advent calender were absolutely amazing!

I know the owner has issues with shipping/customs/manufacturers etc but they were upfront about it the whole time and none of it was the owners fault.

My husband loved everything!

I ordered a 24 day christmas calendar in september.

Now it is 24th of December. advent is officially over, and still no calender recieved.

a couple weeks before december, i sendt a mail and asked whats up, incase it was issues, i would have time to get my girlfriend another calendar. But Raff answered me confidentially that there were no problems in the process, and it would be shipped next week. (already pretty late to ship an item 7 days before its supposed to be used across the globe, what if it got damaged in shipping, or had missing items?) whatever. one week goes by, and suddely Raff sends out an email informing about delivery issues. Sure, why wasnt i told this when i asked? now it is a couple days before december. it is too late for me to get her anything else, so i decide to not ask for a refund due to Raffs confident «i will ship it asap, it will arrive by december 8».

sure, one week into december, it sucks, but we can manage it im thinking.

another week goes by, and the item still hasnt even been shipped. And all communication from Raff has been shifting the blame onto other parties like he is not to blame.

I do get that problems can come up during delivery, but the way he has handled this is extremely unproffesional. pointing fingers at everything but himself, not taking any accountability for what is his mistakes.

Imagine starting to plan a project like this 6 months before it should arrive. Thinking he can place an order to china for 24 unique items, have it arrive U.S, orders get packed and proccesed, and shipped accross the globe to all customers in that timeframe?

And then when people write legit bad reviews, he answers with childish remarks still not taking accountability. extremely unproffesional, And to you Raff, i would take a serious tought to yourself. are you actually able to handle a business like this?
On items like these, you ruin not only the whole experience making them not on time, but also advent has been pretty much ruined. but as you said, i guess its just a «mild inconvinience» for us..

Kinda kawaii can not be trusted to deliver items on time, or deliver a up to par support experience

I ordered a ghibli stocking from Kindakawaii in late November and things were looking a little dicey when, mid-December, there was no sign of the product shipping.

The lack of communication on that was a little disappointing, but when I reached out to the store I received a response from Raff within hours of my email. He explained the situation (a delay outside of his control) and gave me the option to cancel my order.

I'm really glad I didn't. The stocking arrived today and I am super pleased with the product. As described, it contains six ghibli items, and it was a really cute mix of things. Well worth the price.

LOVED my advent calender from this store. I also ordered some extra bits which have all been lovely quality too. I would absolutely order from here again, and will be finding it hard to resist the sub boxes they offer...

Communication from the owner has been really clear and thorough.

I have buy the 24day Ghibli-Adventcalender. It had some shipping problems but the owner of the shop Raff always answerd really fast if I have some question. The shipping problems weren't his fault because some of the Iteams came from Japan. After I got the calender I was so excited and opened it. The stuff in the calender is amazing and i have only one word for my feelings: WOW! Very high quality, beautiful selfmade stuff and a lot of love is in the calender. I would recommend the calender to other Ghibli Fans!
I'm excited to open the last three days and it is a perfect christmas gift!
Greetings from Germany.
Julia