Importing advice

F

Fellistowe

Kiznaiver
Heya guys,
I'm after a bit of advice from the more experience anime collectors on here if possible.

I'm looking to increase the number of anime CD soundtracks I import from Japan (currently only get a few from Amazon.co.jp, but the carriage is a killer) and also finally start importing Japanese DVD's, and I was wondering if anyone could give advice on good sites to import from with reasonable carriage charges (SAL preferable, for sneaking through customs ;) ).
My biggest priority though is everything has to be legitimate. I have no time for bootleggers and don't trust E-bay as far as I can throw it ;)

I've looked at Play-asia and Yesasia.com and I'd appreciate hearing anyones experiences with them if possible.

Many thanks in advance for any help provided.
 
Had good experiences with Play Asia, everything I've bought has arrived in good time and it doesn't cost much extra to have it sent in a box (which I like to do). You'll pay a small premium over Japanese prices for CDs and DVDs but the postage is extremely reasonable - makes eBay P&P look like a rip-off!
 
Jayme said:
The most excellent Up1 have quite a lot of Soundtracks to boot.
Click to expand...

heh, yeah, Martin already knows my credit card number fairly well ;) (managed to get a security warning on my credit card with UP with 1K spent last month!)
Its OK for domestics, but what I'm looking for now is starting to get the new OP and ED singles and some of the stuff likely to never come out over here (e.g. Got the Sola character album and the EF-A tale of Memories OP single Euphoric Field winging their way over at the mo, and I want to get the Night Wizard ED single Erinyes )
I also want to start getting some of the Japanese DVD collectors editions, preferably pasing under the import duty officers eyes if Im lucky ;)
 
Ryo Chan said:
heard nothing but good things about CD Japan
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QFT. The price isn't too bad either and the delivery times are nothing short of impressive. Two votes for CD Japan (and I got paid today...hmm...)

EDIT: Felixtowe's not talking about me btw. At least I hope not! :eek:
 
Fellistowe said:
Jayme said:
The most excellent Up1 have quite a lot of Soundtracks to boot.
Click to expand...

heh, yeah, Martin already knows my credit card number fairly well ;) (managed to get a security warning on my credit card with UP with 1K spent last month!)
Click to expand...

they know me well for moaning at them every month lol

least they get it sorted if there's a problem though
 
Martin said:
EDIT: Fellistowe's not talking about me btw. At least I hope not! :eek:
Click to expand...

hmm, I was wondering why my credit card was maxing out, it was you!! :D

Thanks for the advice so far everyone, I'd completely forgotten about CD Japan :roll:
 
Fellistowe said:
heh, yeah, Martin already knows my credit card number fairly well ;) (managed to get a security warning on my credit card with UP with 1K spent last month!)
Its OK for domestics, but what I'm looking for now is starting to get the new OP and ED singles and some of the stuff likely to never come out over here (e.g. Got the Sola character album and the EF-A tale of Memories OP single Euphoric Field winging their way over at the mo, and I want to get the Night Wizard ED single Erinyes )
I also want to start getting some of the Japanese DVD collectors editions, preferably pasing under the import duty officers eyes if Im lucky ;)
Click to expand...

I'm hoping to go onto what you're wanting to do, once I've caught up with the R1 market, so maybe a couple of years time xD. The Japanese collector's market is really hard to get into though, it's pretty odd as well.. you have the chance of getting an artbox with something through the first press thing.. then there are limited editions that don't seem to have artboxes o_O. The quality of the releases are just superb though, >_<
Good luck starting your collection, and keep us updated on what you think of the releases : p
 
I'm a heavy user of Yesasia and CD Japan and they're both great. And both have promotions on at the moment to accumulate extra discounts. Play Asia is good too but they're not a specialist so there's a lot they never stock. Yesasia is my favourite (despite having a terrible website search sometimes) as they ensure you pay no VAT for the UK *and* do free shipping *and* charge in USD which is worth almost nothing at the moment. Good times. CD Japan are a little more professional and can get some things Yesasia can't, so they're my second port of call and also get a lot of my money. CD Japan does get hit by customs occasionally though whereas Yesasia packages never will if they're bought with the VAT Free offer (which has been going on for years).

If you want a limited item or a first press I'd go with CD Japan as they're a bit more reliable for quirky things. Never had any problems with either so can't speak for their returns policies!

Rui
 
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