First of all, please forgive me if this is a somewhat "miscellaneous" question - but I don't really have anywhere else to ask it, and I guess it's potentially relevant to obtaining books and learning tools.
I've found that most Amazon Marketplace sellers don't want to get involved with shipping internationally, even if you make it clear that your willing to completely cover their costs upfront (I've had some fun writing emails to ask this!). And in principle, I'm very happy to pay the going rate (or more) for EMS to the UK, as its such a fast and efficient service. In particular, there's an out-of-print manga that I'd really like to have, which might form the basis of an ongoing fun translation project.
I have friends in America and Europe who I have in the past occasionally asked to take receipt of a package, then ship it on to me and be reimbursed (usually by Paypal or cash sent in the post). But I don't have friends or family in Japan, and it seems very presumptious to ask strangers or casual acquaintances (or anyone on this site!) to do something like this.
I've looked at professional maildrop services, and the cheapest ones I've found are Southeast Asian Mail Drop and Baltikums, but Baltikums looks complicated (I don't quite understand their explanation of how it works), and how do you know if they are they reliable? Maybe the most promising thing I've found is eBay sellers who sometimes write at the bottom of their listings that they will search for things which are hard-to-obtain in the West.
Any good ideas?
Cheers, Robin
I've found that most Amazon Marketplace sellers don't want to get involved with shipping internationally, even if you make it clear that your willing to completely cover their costs upfront (I've had some fun writing emails to ask this!). And in principle, I'm very happy to pay the going rate (or more) for EMS to the UK, as its such a fast and efficient service. In particular, there's an out-of-print manga that I'd really like to have, which might form the basis of an ongoing fun translation project.
I have friends in America and Europe who I have in the past occasionally asked to take receipt of a package, then ship it on to me and be reimbursed (usually by Paypal or cash sent in the post). But I don't have friends or family in Japan, and it seems very presumptious to ask strangers or casual acquaintances (or anyone on this site!) to do something like this.
I've looked at professional maildrop services, and the cheapest ones I've found are Southeast Asian Mail Drop and Baltikums, but Baltikums looks complicated (I don't quite understand their explanation of how it works), and how do you know if they are they reliable? Maybe the most promising thing I've found is eBay sellers who sometimes write at the bottom of their listings that they will search for things which are hard-to-obtain in the West.
Any good ideas?
Cheers, Robin
Edited: 2006-11-02, 8:17 am