UK Anime Distributor Anime Limited Discussion Thread

[ayase]

You'll find the entirety of that charge will be a handling fee for customs processing plus a fraction of a cent VAT. All imported items are subject to VAT, that €150 threshold is with regards to Duty which is 0% on physical media.

Baffling. I can’t claim to know all the ins and outs of UK export law (especially not since Brexit or as it applies to corporate entities) but I suspect the reason it was declared with a value of 1p is that it’s likely not possible to declare something as having zero value. Even if it’s being given freely and qualifies as a gift it still technically must have a declared value, I know that much from sending gifts to friends and family abroad.

I wonder if the smart move would just be to send replacement discs in a card envelope with a regular international stamp in the same manner you’d send a letter or a greetings card that doesn’t require a customs declaration at all. But I don’t know how legal that would be for a business to do.

 

[ussjtrunks]

Why we need ioss, solves most of the customs headaches for the customer

 

[sniper_samurai]

Baffling. I can’t claim to know all the ins and outs of UK export law (especially not since Brexit or as it applies to corporate entities) but I suspect the reason it was declared with a value of 1p is that it’s likely not possible to declare something as having zero value. Even if it’s being given freely and qualifies as a gift it still technically must have a declared value, I know that much from sending gifts to friends and family abroad.

I wonder if the smart move would just be to send replacement discs in a card envelope with a regular international stamp in the same manner you’d send a letter or a greetings card that doesn’t require a customs declaration at all. But I don’t know how legal that would be for a business to do.

If the customs information was filled out correctly by the company doing ALs fulfillment it would have been fine, they sent the disc listed as merchandise and not as a replacement/repair return.

 

[ayase]

If the customs information was filled out correctly by the company doing ALs fulfillment it would have been fine, they sent the disc listed as merchandise and not as a replacement/repair return.

If that’s the case then that’s definitely bad and there’s no way people should be having to pay these charges, but I can’t help but think that any customs regime that charges €22 to import something declared at a value of 1p is even worse. I remember when certain retailers who shall remain nameless sent everything as gifts to avoid tax and handling charges altogether, though I think those days are long gone…

 

[Stiivun]

Thanks for all replies regarding the Nadia replacement disc and customs charges for … well anyone living in Europe. To clarify BPost charges 3,89€ over that pence value + 18,50€ customs administration charges (yikes).

Have not checked yet why on earth BPost charges 3,89€ VAT, maybe that is a minimum. Luckily they include a photo of the package and it states clearly on the package ‘Category of Items: Sale of Goods’
Maybe BPost thinks hey a sales item for only one pence, that doesn’t make sense at all, and actually they might be right here.

Either way i’m gone refuse that payment so the item will be send back to the ALs fulfillment. Then I’ll get into contact with AL and experience how good, or bad, their customer service is.

 

[Geriatric hedgehog]

I had a parcel of four standard edition Blu-rays ordered on Day 1 of the Anime Limited 2023 12 Days of Xmas sale, all from the BOGOF section, I paid £29.98 for them. I went away for Xmas to visit family far from home (in England where I live, but definitely not close enough that I could have zipped back to collect the package), but I left my flat to travel there on the 14th of December 2023, so it's not as though they did not have a decent length of time to get them to me before that point. I returned from my trip on the 8th of January 2024 to find that, after being left in the communal hallway of my apartment building by a Royal Mail postie, the parcel had been stolen (no idea who by, could be another tenant or a visitor to the building, an opportunistic passer by who happened to see the door open with the package downstairs, etc.). I understand I may not have any recourse at this point as I have not been on the ball about getting in touch with Anime Limited regarding the issue (I was somewhat discouraged by reports from other posters here of them not replying to emails etc. - that's not me blaming anyone here just making the point that AL's customer service is probably not what it once was), but I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how I could get either my money back or a replacement of the stolen items (especially given that they are standards not CEs so stock is relatively unlikely to be permanently run out)? I have attached an image of the order summary, I paid with PayPal and don't actually have a credit card just a debit card so I don't think I could do a chargeback even if I contacted AL and the issue was still not resolved within a reasonable timeframe (I'm not entirely certain what my statutory rights are here, I just wanted to mention that in case it is useful info for anyone trying to help).

Late to the party would be an understatement in my case and while I don't mean to open up old wounds, I just wanted to say so sorry that you had this to deal with. Pretty unfortunate that AL were only helpful enough to provide a "computer says no" response - I honestly expected more from them, but I've felt they become more and more corporate by the day. I too would have thought to chase royal mail as it is their debacle but good to learn some consumer law info thanks to @BrokenPhoenix. I would've done the same as you though and just written off my losses, if reasonable, as I value my time and mental health too much to chase up unhelpful individuals and companies...

 

[RadFemHedonist]

Late to the party would be an understatement in my case and while I don't mean to open up old wounds, I just wanted to say so sorry that you had this to deal with. Pretty unfortunate that AL were only helpful enough to provide a "computer says no" response - I honestly expected more from them, but I've felt they become more and more corporate by the day. I too would have thought to chase royal mail as it is their debacle but good to learn some consumer law info thanks to @BrokenPhoenix. I would've done the same as you though and just written off my losses, if reasonable, as I value my time and mental health too much to chase up unhelpful individuals and companies...

Thankyou for your kind words, same tbh I mean I can only ease the pain and frustration of life w tiramisu and chocolate praline vanilla caramel gelato so much

 

[Hunter_Killer]

I hope that Anime Ltd will send me this Nadia disc by standard mail and not using FedEX, because I will also have to pay a terrible amount.

Did you get any news about shipping or was it just there one day?

 

[Girls with Guns]

I hope that Anime Ltd will send me this Nadia disc by standard mail and not using FedEX, because I will also have to pay a terrible amount.

Did you get any news about shipping or was it just there one day?

Mine just arrived today here in the US, with no notice.

 

[Stiivun]

I hope that Anime Ltd will send me this Nadia disc by standard mail and not using FedEX, because I will also have to pay a terrible amount.

Did you get any news about shipping or was it just there one day?

Do hope so for you.

AL never send out a mail that the replacement was shipped in my case. Just got a mail from the local postal services (BPost in my case) that an item from outside Europe had custom charges. I was puzzled at first as I don’t have anything on order currently, so needed to check the photo BPost send me to know what it could be, and checked the forums here to see the replacement disc has been send out.

 

[Lucky_Deity]

A Place Further Than the Universe is available to pre-order now, it is £49.99 (£44.99 with Unlimited).

EB window is up until the 15th March which I read after I ordered it so could had waited a little bit before ordering but don't wanna miss out on this set.

A Place Further Than the Universe - Blu-ray + Soundtrack CD Collector'

Scenery that we have never seen. Sounds that we have never heard. Scent that we have never smelled. Food that we have never tasted. And the surge of emotion that we have never experienced. This is the expedition of recollecting the pieces torn apart and sensation left alone. When we reach that...

www.alltheanime.com

 

[Jon O Fun]

A Place Further Than the Universe is available to pre-order now, it is £49.99 (£44.99 with Unlimited).

EB window is up until the 15th March which I read after I ordered it so could had waited a little bit before ordering but don't wanna miss out on this set.

A Place Further Than the Universe - Blu-ray + Soundtrack CD Collector'

Scenery that we have never seen. Sounds that we have never heard. Scent that we have never smelled. Food that we have never tasted. And the surge of emotion that we have never experienced. This is the expedition of recollecting the pieces torn apart and sensation left alone. When we reach that...

www.alltheanime.com

I've not seen the series but I've heard nothing but good things and I'm sure fans will lap it up at any price.

But dang, £50 for a 13ep series and thats the EB price!! it was only a matter of time after Crunchyroll started charging it for the barebones releases but this really shouldn't be normalised.
We're literally going backwards in time on pricing.
I'm old enough to remember multi volume series with 3 - 5 eps for £25 and looks like we're almost back there again.

 

[thedoctor2016]

Inflation was 11% in early 2023 so I can’t blame AL for having to increase prices.

 

[BrokenPhoenix]

I've not seen the series but I've heard nothing but good things and I'm sure fans will lap it up at any price.

But dang, £50 for a 13ep series and thats the EB price!! it was only a matter of time after Crunchyroll started charging it for the barebones releases but this really shouldn't be normalised.
We're literally going backwards in time on pricing.
I'm old enough to remember multi volume series with 3 - 5 eps for £25 and looks like we're almost back there again.

Shonen Jump manga volumes used to be £5.99 RRP (probably less before that, but that's as far as my memory goes back), now they're £8.99 RRP a pop. I think everything has just gone up in price over the past few years because of inflation and the cost of materials going up.

£50 is kind of the price you pay for boutique blu-ray collector sets nowadays unfortunately - if you look at a lot of collector's sets on Arrow and other boutique labels, it's kind of the standard price without sales or discounts. I think I paid about £50 for the collector's set of Battle Royale from HMV and that was essentially just two films with a bunch of behind the scenes stuff and nice extras in a nice box. It's £18 for a bog standard blu-ray from Arrow at full price.

I don't remember having a lot of boutique-style anime sets available before. Sure, you used to pay stupid prices for a 4/5 episode DVD, but that was just a disc in a standard case with no bells or whistles.

 

[RaeDra]

£39.99 has been the typical early bird price for most single cour shows, £44.99 if it has a CD. This has 2 CDs, £49.99 seems to logically follow that increase.

 

[Otomo]

I've not seen the series but I've heard nothing but good things and I'm sure fans will lap it up at any price.

But dang, £50 for a 13ep series and thats the EB price!! it was only a matter of time after Crunchyroll started charging it for the barebones releases but this really shouldn't be normalised.
We're literally going backwards in time on pricing.
I'm old enough to remember multi volume series with 3 - 5 eps for £25 and looks like we're almost back there again.

Me too.
I can remember paying about £15 (might be wrong) for each volume of GITS SAC S1. And about £30 for S2 which was released as a complete.
You got a regular disc and a DTS disc and a poster. So they were at least trying a wee bit. The last volume had a version in a big steel tin and a t-shirt so that was great.
Except the tin fitted all but one volume. Surely someone might had said " make it big enough for all" but no.

To this day, I don't know what DTS is.

 

[sniper_samurai]

Me too.
I can remember paying about £15 (might be wrong) for each volume of GITS SAC S1. And about £30 for S2 which was released as a complete.
You got a regular disc and a DTS disc and a poster. So they were at least trying a wee bit. The last volume had a version in a big steel tin and a t-shirt so that was great.
Except the tin fitted all but one volume. Surely someone might had said " make it big enough for all" but no.

To this day, I don't know what DTS is.

The tin fitted all the releases, both the UK and US got the same number of volumes and the same tin. The tin for season 2 is a bit weird though as it's spaced for the steelcases the US limited editions came in.

 

[Otomo]

The tin fitted all the releases, both the UK and US got the same number of volumes and the same tin. The tin for season 2 is a bit weird though as it's spaced for the steelcases the US limited editions came in.

After my last interaction with a poster, I'm not up for disagreeing with you.
I've posted some pictures.

 

[sniper_samurai]

After my last interaction with a poster, I'm not up for disagreeing with you.
I've posted some pictures.

You have the sets incorrectly inserted, they all fit in spine up.

 

[Otomo]

You have the sets incorrectly inserted, they all fit in spine up.

Completely forgot there is an id badge.
Means I can get into the Section 9 complex. And you can't.
I'll be watching the Togusa and his "48 hours to solve this" episode after all this debate.

I should probably get all the posters out one day and see if they make a big picture. Only been 20 years.