So how do you guys buy these Mafex import figures? Do you order them one at a time from a Japanese shop and just pay shipping per figure, or do you bundle them together to save on shipping? Does anyone offer a Pile of Loot type system like BBTS? What sites have you found to be most reliable/cheapest/get the figures first?
I'm interested in several Mafex figures that are currently up for pre-order and obviously want to order them in the best way possible.
Thanks for your help!
Anime-Export (you pay up front there) lets you keep items and combine shipping. They have no defined policy on it, I've left figures for 3 months there and then shipped them. You request shipping and they give you 2 options, Slow (SAL) and Fast (EMS) prices. Their shipping prices can be high sometimes. I don't usually have any issue there, but their site is a little bare bones. And you pay up front like I said, so less desirable.
HLJ you pay when the item gets into stock and then they have a "Private Warehouse" where you can keep items up to 60 days there. Nice thing about their site is full feaured in that you can add a items to be shipped and get an immediate price, subtract items, get a new price. Lets you figure out how best/cheaply to ship your stuff. You don't have to ship everything at once, just whatever you want and the rest stays in the PW for when you want to ship. Their boxes are awesome, pretty strong.
Amiami (I haven't ordered here in a year or more, so if anythings wrong, please correct me) - you pay when the items get into stock, they don't have a warehouse. They only let you combine shipping on items for things that come out in the same calender month. So that's pretty restrictive. They overpack their boxes with paper, so I think their shipping can be high. You don't know shipping at all until they come into stock and they tell you. You organize your orders by shipment, so you can combine things if you happen to order them in the same month. They have like 4-5 options I think for shipping speeds/types.
CDJapan is pretty good, they let you combine orders that come out in 2 consecutive months, you don't pay at order time, but you pay 90 days after the order. They recently made a change to do that, has to do with credit cards and authorizations. They used to do a temp authorization every 90 days, then do the real charge at time of shipping. I think lots of people use their debit card and aren't prepared for the 2 day temp hold on the figure cost and complained, leading them to just outright charge the figure 90 days out. CDJ is like Best Buy, they sell everything, so 90% of their stuff isn't effected by this, but Mafex figures will 100% be effected because of the long preorder wait time. CDJ tells you the shipping right at order time, so that is a nice feature, plus they have a nice rewards system too.
HLJ is usually my #1 option lately. Decent prices and very easy to deal with the shipping. I personally always bundle or order extras to save on shipping. I don't usually recommend Nippon-Yasan because they have high shipping and bad customer service from what I've heard. Plus they gouge on figure prices once they're released.
Sorry for the wall of text!
