Importing anime from the U.S

Baggie_Saiyan

Baggie_Saiyan

Thousand Master
Hi, hope everyone is well, just wondering the best places to import anime from the U.S (by best I mean trustworthy and reasonably cheap)
I currently have the new DBZ BD and JL S1 on it's way from amazon.com but it's estimated to be here by Jan 23rd, also what the odds to get hit by the customs?

Also, are rightstuf any good? what are their shipping rates? do orders from them get hit by customs?

Thanks!
 
The best site I use is United Publications.

UK Version / US Version

+ No Customs/Tax
+ Items in stock will dispatch and arrive at your home in 2-3 days
+ UK, US, Some AU and few Imports
+ Figurines and Visual Novels also available
+ Manga (UK Version only)
- Items not in stock will take 7-10 days since they need to get the stock from America or Australia, depending on the item
- Prices are slightly higher than the ones on Amazon & Rightstuf
- No Free Delivery

I describe UP1 has the UK equivalent of Rightstuf without the awesome deals.

In terms of Amazon, well I don't use them for imports.
 
As far as i'm aware orders from RightStuf can be hit and miss. If you want r1 dvds and blu-ray, it may also be worth looking at United Publications. In my experience they've been fast on delivering orders and you'll avoid customs as they're being brought from the UK.

There's also Overstock which I haven't shopped with but looks like it'll cover VAT as well in the cost.
 
Baggie_Saiyan said:
is there any difference from the US site and UK site in terms of delivery? Will it be longer via the US site?
Thanks for the response guys!
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The US version is exactly the same as the UK in terms of delivery estimation and service, instead it uses US currency (Pounds and Euros are displayed for each item) but makes the items slightly cheaper.

For instance a Limited Edition Funimation set would normally cost £36.66 without delivery costs on the UK site, the US site instead would give it £34.32 or a bit less. The postage cost will be slightly higher.

However I strongly recommend the US version for the Aniplex sets as they are way cheaper than the UK version: It would have costed me £210 for the Madoka volumes if I had used the UK site, I instead end up spending £180 by using the US site.

When I order on the US site, I get charged a few more pounds extra (probably the bank) because of the currency but for other people it may vary. I would say try the US on a cheap item first before going on a shopping frenzy.
 
NormanicGrav said:
LtDiscotek said:
VLC plays Region 1 discs.
Click to expand...

It's true that VLC is region free but that does depend on the user's disc drive.
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Quite. I can't play region 1 DVD's on my MacBook Pro because the drive's firmware is locked to region 2. VLC can read the disc, but can't play it.

That's one of 2 reasons I keep my old ****** windows laptop. The other is Sims :p
 
Hey, guys I just ordered my first order from up1 (FMA Part 3 BD), hopefully all's good. I also ordered Clannad S2 BD for £26 (which was pretty sweet considering up1 had it up for £50). I don't think I'll try rightstuf as it just seems way to complex with them wanting i.d etc, I could probably find better deals on eBay.
 
Baggie_Saiyan said:
Hey, guys I just ordered my first order from up1 (FMA Part 3 BD), hopefully all's good. I also ordered Clannad S2 BD for £26 (which was pretty sweet considering up1 had it up for £50). I don't think I'll try rightstuf as it just seems way to complex with them wanting i.d etc, I could probably find better deals on eBay.
Click to expand...
Were did you order clannad season 2 blu-ray for £26?
 
LtDiscotek said:
VLC plays Region 1 discs.
Click to expand...

Though most people here would recommend you use MPC-HC, PotPlayer or (If you're on Mac or Linux or just don't like the first two recommendations) an Mplayer fork.

All of them will play R1/A DVDs/BDs
 
Still provided you don't have a problematic drive.
Not even AnyDVD could do anything about my old Matshita internal laptop drive, and there were no firmware patches for it.
 
Shiroi Hane said:
Still provided you don't have a problematic drive.
Not even AnyDVD could do anything about my old Matshita internal laptop drive, and there were no firmware patches for it.
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Ugh yeah, Matshita/Panasonic drives have some horrible special region lock technology on them. Someone came up with a solution a few years ago, though I only discovered it last year. These tools generate a custom region-free firmware using your drive's existing firmware. On the off-chance that you've still got your old laptop it might be worth a shot? (I have a Matshita UJ-850S)
 
Nahh was my first time.
Did I do something wrong?. I mean they charged me $17 for international shipping and they sent me a conformation email and all.
 
Baggie_Saiyan said:
Nahh was my first time.
Did I do something wrong?. I mean they charged me $17 for international shipping and they sent me a conformation email and all.
Click to expand...
It'll be triggered and the corresponding e-mail sent soon enough (unless you used an American express card to pay which bypasses the checks).

And FYI, you'll more then likely get hit with a customs bill when the package hits the UK as they won't undervalue the package (they used to, but they got found out so they stopped doing it).
 
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