Trustworthy import websites for anime & manga.

N

Nemphtis

Hunter
Okay, I want to pick up some light novels and manga books that aren't available here yet but are out in America. The problem is, I barely know any decent UK websites let alone US ones which is where you all come in. Which are the most commonly used websites for importing manga and any other Japanese crap in general? The only websites I have ever used is Play-Asia and TokyoToys, but I'm looking for more of a 'specialist' in only anime/manga imports.
 
I just spent a vast sum of money with Up1. It's been recommended to me by a lot of people, so I would use them. You don't have to pay customs or anything either, it's shipped from the UK.

EDIT: www.up1.co.uk :p

EDIT2: Actually, I'll list what I bought : P

Black Lagoon 1 + 2 special editions
Ergo Proxy 1 + artbox
Tenjho Tenge 1 + artbox
Last Exile 1 + artbox + limited edition extra
Ah My Goddess 1 + artbox
Aquarian Age: Juvenille Orion 5 + artbox (manga)
Beck 1 + artbox
Texhnolyze 1 + artbox
Eureka Seven 1,3,5,6,7 special editions
Mai Hime 7 + artbox
FLCL Ultimate Collection
Hellsing Ultimate 1+2 special editions
Gungrave 1 + artbox
Kamichu! 1 + artbox
Kyou Kara Maoh Season 1 volume 4 + artbox and Season 2 volume 1 +artbox
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 1 + 2 special editions
Read of Die 7 + artbox + figure
Rozen Maiden 1 + artbox

I would have loved to order Gankutsuou 1 + artbox but it's out of print -.-
Same with the Fate/Stay Night 1 + artbox (which only came out 4 months ago!!)

I just hope lots of those older releases are actually able to be obtained..
I should have ordered these artboxes a long time ago..

When I get some more money together (when I get a job after the exams), I'm going to buy the two 12k boxsets, and see if I can find the 'out of print' Card Captor Sakura box sets, and try and find the GITS:SAC volume 7 special edition (that play.com messed up for me last year). Damn there's so much stuff O_O
 
A great place to get Japanese manga from, although not a specialist in manga specifically, is Sasuga Japanese Bookstore, which is a US based online store selling Japanese books. Quite often I will use Amazon Japan for manga as well. If you are looking for merchandise then Hobbylink Japan are a great source for that although again are not specialists in anime/manga. I must say that I have never really found a decent outlet for anime/manga imports since most stores tend to deal in more diverse merchandise.
 
Xelis said:
Its not specialist but its dam cheap DVD Pacific just make sure your order is below £18 so you dont get a customs charge.

DaNiMe said:
Same with the Fate/Stay Night 1 + artbox (which only came out 4 months ago!!)
Click to expand...

Fate/Stay Night Box
Click to expand...

Although DVD Pacific look cheap; their delivery costs, at the least are £2 per item, so that's going to bring the price above £18 for customs.. and the whole 9-20 days means that the parcel is going to be moved (and probably thrown) around a lot.. Up1 may be be expensive, but at least there's no problem with the delivery aspect, for all the dvd's I listed above, they will all come together for £7.50, that's pretty damn reasonable, and they have a 30% discount on mostly everything at the moment.
Maybe I'm wrong about DVD Pacific though, if you use them I'm all ears for hearing about it : )
Does anyone know how much customs would be per item by the way? (large item that would be).
 
DaNiMe said:
Xelis said:
Its not specialist but its dam cheap DVD Pacific just make sure your order is below £18 so you dont get a customs charge.

DaNiMe said:
Same with the Fate/Stay Night 1 + artbox (which only came out 4 months ago!!)
Click to expand...

Fate/Stay Night Box
Click to expand...

Although DVD Pacific look cheap; their delivery costs, at the least are £2 per item, so that's going to bring the price above £18 for customs.. and the whole 9-20 days means that the parcel is going to be moved (and probably thrown) around a lot.. Up1 may be be expensive, but at least there's no problem with the delivery aspect, for all the dvd's I listed above, they will all come together for £7.50, that's pretty damn reasonable, and they have a 30% discount on mostly everything at the moment.
Maybe I'm wrong about DVD Pacific though, if you use them I'm all ears for hearing about it : )
Does anyone know how much customs would be per item by the way? (large item that would be).
Click to expand...

Fate/Stay is £12 before the delivery and about £14 after. Ive used them for many items, FMA disks, Ergo Proxy #1 w/ box, Dragonball Z Season 1 and some others, they all arrived in perfect condition too.

Im unsure on the customs charge tho.
 
Xelis said:
DaNiMe said:
Xelis said:
Its not specialist but its dam cheap DVD Pacific just make sure your order is below £18 so you dont get a customs charge.

DaNiMe said:
Same with the Fate/Stay Night 1 + artbox (which only came out 4 months ago!!)
Click to expand...

Fate/Stay Night Box
Click to expand...

Although DVD Pacific look cheap; their delivery costs, at the least are £2 per item, so that's going to bring the price above £18 for customs.. and the whole 9-20 days means that the parcel is going to be moved (and probably thrown) around a lot.. Up1 may be be expensive, but at least there's no problem with the delivery aspect, for all the dvd's I listed above, they will all come together for £7.50, that's pretty damn reasonable, and they have a 30% discount on mostly everything at the moment.
Maybe I'm wrong about DVD Pacific though, if you use them I'm all ears for hearing about it : )
Does anyone know how much customs would be per item by the way? (large item that would be).
Click to expand...

Fate/Stay is £12 before the delivery and about £14 after. Ive used them for many items, FMA disks, Ergo Proxy #1 w/ box, Dragonball Z Season 1 and some others, they all arrived in perfect condition too.

Im unsure on the customs charge tho.
Click to expand...
If the total, after shipping costs, is less than £18 then there should be no import duty.
 
DaNiMe said:
Xelis said:
Its not specialist but its dam cheap DVD Pacific just make sure your order is below £18 so you dont get a customs charge.

DaNiMe said:
Same with the Fate/Stay Night 1 + artbox (which only came out 4 months ago!!)
Click to expand...

Fate/Stay Night Box
Click to expand...

Although DVD Pacific look cheap; their delivery costs, at the least are £2 per item, so that's going to bring the price above £18 for customs.. and the whole 9-20 days means that the parcel is going to be moved (and probably thrown) around a lot.. Up1 may be be expensive, but at least there's no problem with the delivery aspect, for all the dvd's I listed above, they will all come together for £7.50, that's pretty damn reasonable, and they have a 30% discount on mostly everything at the moment.
Maybe I'm wrong about DVD Pacific though, if you use them I'm all ears for hearing about it : )
Does anyone know how much customs would be per item by the way? (large item that would be).
Click to expand...

DVD Pacific sell all their discs at 35 - 40% off retail price, which means that if you order discs individually from them and you won't get hit by customs. At the moment my orders from them are costing in the region of £10 or £11 for one disc, including shipping.

Shipping is expensive for one item at just under £2, if you use surface mail, but I've never had any problems with them or the way they package things.

Of course, if you get hit by customs then UP1 becomes the cheaper option. Customs works at 17.5% VAT for the order plus an £8 fee. Although as Gawyn says parcels that cost less than £18 are exempt.

It is worth pointing out though that Manga is exempt from customs charges, on the grounds that there is no VAT on books. But then in between Amazon (which lists US books and manga releases) and UP1 there is absolutely no reason to import american manga releases.
 
Thanks for the information about these people, I think I'm going to cancel most of the stuff from Up1 and order from DVD Pacific instead, you've saved me a lot of money : )

I'm wondering though, if there's an option for delivering each item separately so I don't get hit by customs for the lot of them, if I put a lot of items in the basket. Or should I just order them 1 at a time?
 
DaNiMe said:
Thanks for the information about these people, I think I'm going to cancel most of the stuff from Up1 and order from DVD Pacific instead, you've saved me a lot of money : )

I'm wondering though, if there's an option for delivering each item separately so I don't get hit by customs for the lot of them, if I put a lot of items in the basket. Or should I just order them 1 at a time?
Click to expand...

Order 1 at a time is the safest bet, also there are 3 options when your ordering, just tick the oppropriate one.
 
Does anyone use The Book Depository?

It kinda bothers me how cheap their manga is (£3.91 for SJ stuff...wtf?), so I'm thinking there must be a catch somewhere.

Are the books all second hand or in **** condition or something?
 
Aaron said:
Does anyone use The Book Depository?

It kinda bothers me how cheap their manga is (£3.91 for SJ stuff...wtf?), so I'm thinking there must be a catch somewhere.

Are the books all second hand or in **** condition or something?
Click to expand...

Their only losing like 10p.
 
Aaron said:
Jayme said:
Their only losing like 10p.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I don't understand what you mean. :?
Click to expand...

Sorry; what i meant was that Amazon's prices are around £4.01, or similar. Therefore £3.91 isn't losing them that much money to each sale, considering as well that they probably buy off the suppliers for around £2.00(im guessing)
 
Ah...I've never bought anything from Amazon. I was comparing the price to UP1 where they're usually about £5-something (including postage), and FP etc., where they're £5.49.
 
I've used Book Depository, and the only thing I've noticed is that their delivery times are a bit on the slow side - up to two weeks. But the books themselves were mint, and you can't argue with the prices.
 
Andy said:
I've used Book Depository, and the only thing I've noticed is that their delivery times are a bit on the slow side - up to two weeks. But the books themselves were mint, and you can't argue with the prices.
Click to expand...
I've just started to use The Book Depository and I've found the same thing although so far I've not found the delivery times noticeably any longer than Play.com but in both cases the delivery is free. My main complaint with The Book Depository is that, unlike every other company where I ordered stuff online, they don't send you an email when something has been despatched.
 
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