Ciber City Anime gone

D

Dracos

Dragon Knight
I was just doing a bit of a trawl on the internet of some of the places I have bough Anime DVDs and I was greeted by this message on Ciber City Anime.

Important Notice:
 
We regret to inform you that City Cyber Anime will no longer be trading to the public. If you have placed orders with us for products on back order please contact us at our e-mail address to arrange for you to be refunded.
 
Once again let us apologise regarding this issue.
 
Yeah I live in Leeds and went past the other day and it was all closed up.

Something dodgy has happened though coz they are offering refunds, which sounds to me like they have been told they cannot sell anything otherwise I think they would have just honoured the orders placed.

Anyway I know one of the guys who worked there so I'll ask him if I see him.
 
I never bought much from them so did not realise until just now. As for something dodgy it will probably turn out to be something like trading standards got onto them for selling R1 DVDs without the proper paper work.
 
Thats what I was thinking.

Was always worried about them when they used to just sell R1 Movies. Then they moved to a new shop and started selling anime.

They also used to have some of them wrapped in Selephane with 12, 15, 18 certificates etc on. That obviously wasn't right.
 
I remember a good while back that Neo pulled an advert of theirs due to them selling R1 DVDs without proper permissions or something along those lines.
 
It's a shame that one of my favourite shopping spots in Leeds has gone, but in all honesty I'm not surprised. The legal issues of selling import R1 discs never occured to me actually, but I was more surprised at how a shop in a secluded corner of a UK city could run a viable business selling products that can't be used on R2-only players.

I wish the staff of CCA the best of luck in their future endeavours.
 
Finally saw one of the guys who worked there.

In short - Owner spending too much money and not paying the bills.

Or at least that's what I was told.
 
Did these guys have a crapload of R1 DVD's/art boxes?

There has been 2 UK sellers selling 100's of R1 DVD's on eBay.co.uk, claiming to have got them from a shop closure. One of the sellers claims to still having something like 1000 to sell.
 
Lucky bastards.

I've managed to the Gankutsuou Vol. 1 + Series Box, Trigun: Collector's Box II and a fairly beat-up copy up the LE Witch Hunter Robin set.

I asked one if he had any Gankutsuou DVD's, his response being that he had too many to know what he does and doesn't have!
 
HiroYui said:
I'm glad they're gone. Awful service and ridiculously high prices, hopefully united publications will be next.
Click to expand...

Uh, just because a company exists doesn't force you to use them. If your complaint is prices just shop elsewhere. Them ceasing to exist won't magically give you a better deal.

United Publications are a vital service for people who can't order from abroad normally (cash only customers) and have been working in the UK anime industry for years, through rough times along the way. They're also extremely helpful people who are always ready with advice or to try to get you something difficult to obtain with their connections if you talk to them. And they're often cheaper than Otaku, like for like, so if you're going to insult all of the local importers you should make that clear.

Nobody's making you pay their prices; I don't myself quite often when I can just import directly. But it's a bit arrogant to make sweeping criticisms like yours without proper consideration, in my opinion.

I don't work for UP1 by the way, and I don't buy from them that much. But they have supported my habit in the past VHS days and bent over backwards to help customers source nuisance items. If you've had a problem with them it's best to indicate that in your post rather than make a general attack on them.

Rui
 
HiroYui said:
I'm glad they're gone. Awful service and ridiculously high prices, hopefully united publications will be next.
Click to expand...
I've never had a problem with UP1 TBH. Any delays I experienced in the past could be attributed to their suppliers when ordering hard-to-find items. The prices are competitive too, relatively speaking.
 
Up1 are absolutely brilliant, no question of that.

Just echoing what Rui said, I agree with everything.

I wish there was some way I could show my appreciation for everything they've done over the time I've ordered from them, they've been absolutely fantastic.
 
Yeah, I've never had anything but fast and reliable service from UP1...great communications too if there's ever any reason for a delay (even their "delays" are faster than most sites' usual delivery times).

The only time I had a long wait for something from them was from September-January for a volume of Rave, and that was because they were waiting for Tokyopop to reprint it. NOWHERE else had it either, so it was alright.

...and one of their employees is called Little John. That just rules.
 
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