Forum - View topicMs. Answerman: The Award Goes To...
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dethjackal
 Posts: 7 |
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I tend to buy most of my anime, manga, etc. at http://animecornerstore.com
They usualy release titles on an average of 30 days before most other stores do. And they give discounts to buying an entire series all at once. But for idividual prices I go to http://animecastle.com. They offer the lowest prices on each seperate titles. And they have the largest selection of posters and wallscrolls I've seen anywhere. Both offer many different types of shipping from USPS, to DHL international. |
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Kiyoko
 Posts: 131 Location: Pennsylvania |
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I too have to say Anime Castle http://www.animecastle.com is one of my favorite anime stores to shop.
Another great site for anime DVD's is Suncoast http://www.suncoast.com I used to like Right Stuf a lot, but I eventually got disgusted with their pre-order problems. It seems every time I would pre-order an item, the day is was scheduled for release Right Stuf would immeadetly put it on backorder. I'd be waiting several weeks for it to come out of backorder when the local stores would have it on the shelves a few days after the release date. So now I only buy from them if they have an item I can't get at any other store. |
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Vukir
 Posts: 66 Location: California |
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Hehe, as for online stores, there are three listed below the general links bar to the left of the ANN page (below 'About ANN', under 'Banners>>').
 Just thought I would point that out.
And, as for the anime industry dying, I think its more that we just bought up all we could, and now we have to go back to work to earn more money to buy more anime. At least that's the case with me.
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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Godaistudios
Posts: 2075 Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment) |
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They are supposedly "liquidating" the Son May Cd's and the like and only selling off what bootleg items they already have in stock. Personally I'd like to see them just take the boots completely off the site and write them off in some way or other. |
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Rebecca
 Posts: 57 |
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First off, she never said how old her daughter was. She could be going to a local college/university and living at home to save money. She could be 35 and lives in her parent's basement. She could be 10 years old and the mother doesn't believe in 'shielding' adult content from her. There's no way of knowing for sure. Second, I did comment that the other two titles had nudity and lots of violence, so it's up to the parent to decide whether or not she wishes to mention them to her daughter. Truthfully I'm happy to see a parent getting involved with their child's interests, even if it's something as simple as saying "Hey, I heard that X was a good series, you should try it out". |
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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The March 2005 issue of Animefringe has an article about different places to shop for anime. Along with the Anime Corner Store, AnimeNation, and TRSI, they also listed some shops that weren't mentioned yet in this thread.
WARNING  : When you read the Animefringe article, please be aware that there are a couple of links that don't work. One link is for the on-line store Power Anime. I will provide you with the link to this store if you want to check it out: www.poweranime.com
The other link that doesn't work is for the store Japanimation. I will NOT provide the link for this site because this store is known to sell bootlegs (proven by the fact that when I typed the website address, I saw the "This URL is a known Bootlegging website" message). DO NOT go to this site!!! Last edited by biliano on Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:08 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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fargazer
 Posts: 29 Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee |
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I've built up a decent amount of quality anime over the past couple years, and I find patience is the key to price efficiency. With that in mind, I tend to patronize TRSI. Eventually, what you want will likely come on sale, and when it is on sale the price going to beat just about anything out there. It is true, everyday pricing is not particularly cheap, but if I really want something now and am not willing to wait for a sale price, then I would rather pay the higher price to a retailer like TRSI that treats me well.
I have purchased from Overstock Dot Com successfully also, though I agree with the feedback I am seeing here about how the site is not friendly to search. In general, I tend to find that patronizing a single vendor or two for the bulk of my purchases is an overall benefit to me. For example, I purchase manga at a small local shop (FoxDen Comics); I don't necessarily get discounts, but they know my tastes, and make a point to order anything new that they know I collect and like. I patronize my local Media Play often, and so tend to get the benefit of the doubt on various sales and policies, as well as some idea of what's coming up. In addition, if a store has a frequent buyer program, typically you can't get full benefit from it unless you focus purchasing there (which is of course why they have those programs). By the way, let me give a quick thanks to you all for the suggestions; I have added a number of these to my bookmarks, and will be trying them out in the next few months. Off topic, on physical retailers: Typically I build up my anime collection by what I find locally; I have a couple local used book stores that handle DVDs, and often I can get a good deal on used DVDs there. Media Play and Best Buy often have good deals if you closely watch the system. For example (and I am not going over all the fine points here), Media Play will give you a new release (up to a $29.99 value) for a trade in theatrical release DVD and $13.99. Now, consider that you can typically get a theatrical release DVD secondhand for $6, and you can time your purchase to a triple points weekend (which means roughly speaking you will get 15% of your purchase back in a gift certificate as part of their Replay program). That compares favorably to many online pricing deals. One caution about web sites of physical retailers; they often treat the web site as independent from the physical store. For example, I saw some good pricing on a couple DVDs on Best Buy's web site. When I walked into the retailer and asked why their in store prices were significantly higher, I was told they treated the web as a separate company, and would not price match. Love the column, love the site! - Fargazer |
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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That's excellent advise, fargazer!
I do the majority of my anime shopping at Best Buy (a new store opened about 5 miles south of where I live a couple of months ago), and they give a 33% discount on most of their anime titles. (For example, Gantz, which has a MSRP of $17.99, is selling at Best Buy for $11.99.) I don't know if it's that way for all of the Best Buys in this country; I know that the ones in Northeast Ohio take this discount. Sometimes I will receive a coupon in the mail for 10% off any DVD in the store priced $19.99 and up, so I take advantage of this whenever I can. For on-line retailers, I do the majority of my purchasing at AnimeNation, though I don't shop on-line often. However, I do like to try out new stores to see how they "feel", such as YAYanime (which just opened a couple of weeks ago). I said this in another thread so I will repeat it: When anime shopping, be smart! Take advantage of deals. Buy used discs whenever possible. You can always rent a disc and then buy it off of them at the most 50% off. Browse through the Retail threads in the ANN forums; some of the on-line retailers will post specials there. DON'T BUY BOOTLEGS!!! |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18194 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Concerning online sites to purchase anime:
I only occasionally order stuff online because I have a couple of good local stores who are usually quite current and have good prices. When I do have to order something, though, I always go through Anime Nation. They have as broad a selection as anyone (including manga, import titles, and anime-related games, OSTs, and trinkets), are very timely in obtaining releases, have proven very reliable, and always get orders sent out within 1-2 business days if what you want is in stock. They give a 10% discount on most MSRPs for domestic releases and a 20% discount if you pre-order by at least a month, so you might be able to find a little better prices elsewhere, but you won't get anything that isn't the genuine article. Anime Nation's website also is in a league with ANN when it comes to news and upcoming release notices. It features the "Ask John" column, who knows about as much about anime and the anime business as anyone I've seen online and goes out his way to be non-offensive. (Caution, though, that he is an unabashed hard-core purist with little regard for dubbing, which slants some of his responses a certain way.) |
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biliano
Posts: 956 Location: Cleveland, OH |
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But despite that, it's very informative (albeit lenghty) and one of the few on-line columns that I read on a regular basis. (The others are the Shelf Life and Ms. Answerman columns on ANN, and Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback on the NFL's website.) |
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wilfp
Posts: 4 |
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Living in the UK, I use DVDboxoffice.com and PlayUSA.com, both of which are located outside the UK. Within the UK, UP1 are quite efficient.
Wilfp |
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Neo_1
Posts: 6 Location: Lynnwood |
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Well, I usally go to The Right Stuf International or Best buy online stores cause they have the better deals for dvds. As for merchandise it really all depends on what I'm looking for.
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UltimaShadowfax
 Posts: 288 |
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I suppose this is being redundant since ANN advertises for them already, but Robert's Anime Corner Store is a very good, reliable site to purchase anime and manga. I have ordered from them several times, and have always been satisfied with their delivery. They have a nice selection as well.
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vherub
Posts: 49 |
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I find myself using usually deepdiscountdvd.com as they often have the lowest price and i am not in a rush (as the free shipping takes about a week)
customer service is also prompt additionally, as i did not read this pointed out, twice a year ddd runs a 20% off sale, at which point their already low prices become insanely low (this occurs roughly around july 4th and thanksgiving, give or take a few weeks) I also recommend dvdpricesearch.com, while this is not a seller, it is a powerful price engine that updates lowest prices as well as coupons/specials on the front page and has a great price comparison tool if purchasing multiple dvds. While it does not pricecrawl all the good anime stores (like rightstuf) it does include the main ones such as ddd, digitaleyes, dvdempire, etc |
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