Where to Buy Anime in the UK (was Anime Online Retailers)

ayase said:
w00d09 said:
Just Passing Through said:
Has anyone tried ordering from UP1USA?

You know the UP1's US mirror that you get directed to when you click the (is this item cheaper on our US website?) link. Do you get charged customs, is the item posted from the US or the UK? Stuff like that...
Haven't ordered from them yet, but I ask them recently by email about this and got the following answer -

"Goods are shipped and handled by "United Publications" from USA to UK and then from UK warehouse to you. We cover all customs and shipping charges in price quoted on web site."
Eh? I always presumed ordering from the US site would run the risk of customs, otherwise why would anyone buy from the UK store at higher prices?

That's useful info, I too had assumed it came at the risk of customs, but then again I suspect it'd be easy enough for them to ship your item over to the UK as part of their usual UK stock. I'll have to have a look next time I place an order.
 
Ordered Black Lagoon Season1&2 collection 10 days ago from the spanish Amazon and was shipped 9 days ago from Amazon EU S.a.r.L. by Deutsche Post DHL., but still nothing...I'm starting to get worried :(
 
Tind said:
There are no customs/tax charges for items under $60 arriving from outside the EU in Hungary. But the limit maybe $100, I'm not sure about the exact number. Ordered under $60 several times from Amazon, but my first RightStuf order will be $94 (Shana II pack), so will find out if that gets any custom charges.

Then I rephrase my question: Does anyone know another reliable US shop (besides Amazon and RightStuf) who has good prices and ships internationally?

deepdiscount.com have some pretty good prices on most things and their postage charges are some of the lowest I have seen from the US (for many companies the postage is more than the items). I used to use them a lot before the exchange rate went crap, the only thing is most things take a couple of weeks to arrive. Also they used to only charge once for shipping on an order even if they had to send multiple packages due to release dates.

cduniverse.com also used to be quite decent on price and postage was not too bad.

Depending on your local import laws and fees these might be worth looking into over other options.
 
Tind said:
Then I rephrase my question: Does anyone know another reliable US shop (besides Amazon and RightStuf) who has good prices and ships internationally?
http://www.movietyme.com has been good at times in the past, but I am not sure of the consistency of their anime selection these days, nor how they compare in price. They are, at the very least, reliable.
 
ilmaestro said:
Tind said:
Then I rephrase my question: Does anyone know another reliable US shop (besides Amazon and RightStuf) who has good prices and ships internationally?
http://www.movietyme.com has been good at times in the past, but I am not sure of the consistency of their anime selection these days, nor how they compare in price. They are, at the very least, reliable.

I used to use them from time to time for films. I think price wise they are not bad. They still send me money off emails so I have been checking out their anime selection which seems poor nowadays.

It can be worth checking find-dvd.co.uk if you are looking for US discs.
 
Play institute a loyalty points scheme.

I hope they pay royalties to MVM for the idea.

They've instituted a loyalty scheme, spend a pound, save a penny. What you save can be spent on future purchases.

Accumulating points gives you more to spend obviously, and you can use them in part payment as well complete (should you accumulate enough)

You have to spend at least once every 180 days at Play to keep your tally of points active, otherwise they'll be deleted.

http://www.play.com/superpoints.html
http://www.play.com/Helpdesk/SuperPoints_FAQ/SuperPoints_FAQ.aspx
 
Just Passing Through said:
Play institute a loyalty points scheme.

I hope they pay royalties to MVM for the idea.

They've instituted a loyalty scheme, spend a pound, save a penny. What you save can be spent on future purchases.

Accumulating points gives you more to spend obviously, and you can use them in part payment as well complete (should you accumulate enough)

You have to spend at least once every 180 days at Play to keep your tally of points active, otherwise they'll be deleted.

http://www.play.com/superpoints.html
http://www.play.com/Helpdesk/SuperPoints_FAQ/SuperPoints_FAQ.aspx

If you ask me it sounds like Zavvi's "Rewardz" points scheme

http://www.zavvi.com/rewardz.info
You earn rewardz points every time you spend with zavvi. For every £1 you spend with zavvi, you earn 1 zavvi reward point. Each point is worth a penny, so if you spend £100 on your order, you would earn 100 Rewardz points which converts to £1 off a future purchase. The points really do add up - we know because we see how much customers save when they spend them! Watch out for special zavvi Rewardz points promotions from time to time for the chance to earn extra Rewardz points.

About the only difference is the 'must spend every 180 days' bit which isn't on the Zavvi scheme.
 
Play.com with a poor choice of limitations for their point system - I wish HMV would get rid of the £3 requirement for pureHMV.
 
Just Passing Through said:
Play institute a loyalty points scheme.

I hope they pay royalties to MVM for the idea.

They've instituted a loyalty scheme, spend a pound, save a penny. What you save can be spent on future purchases.
I guess all the supermarkets owe a lot of money to MVM too then?
 
I remember reading a short discussion about up1's USA store in a thread fairly recently, was their any conclusion drawn (or does anyone know from experience) about the exact pros and cons of ordering from there instead of their UK store?
 
As far as I'm aware:

Pros: It's ususally *technically* cheaper

Cons: Your bank/credit card company might charge you a fee/%age/crappy exchange rate so it doesn't end up any cheaper after all...

Other than that I believe the stock comes from the same place in the same timely fashion.
 
FourthLion said:
As far as I'm aware:

Pros: It's ususally *technically* cheaper

Cons: Your bank/credit card company might charge you a fee/%age/crappy exchange rate so it doesn't end up any cheaper after all...

Other than that I believe the stock comes from the same place in the same timely fashion.
I'm fairly sure that's the case. Your CC company will likely screw you hard on foreign currency transactions. Most will charge a 'foreign transaction fee' (up to about 3%) on-top of a crap exchange rate and some of them also start charging interest instantly on such transactions. So it'll rarely workout any cheaper.

Might be worth a look at http://www.moneysupermarket.com/credit- ... -spending/ if anyone's planning to go the US route.
 
ilmaestro said:
Mmm, my bank is fairly decent on foreign transactions, was more interested to know if up1 still cover you from paying VAT, really.

Yes, item is still sent from the UK, pretty much exactly the same service as the UK site.

As far as I'm aware the only possibly problem is charges from your bank/card. Aslong as you have one that doesn't charge much for foreign transaction (e.g. nationwide debit or post office credit?) then you should be safe to order from them.
 
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