I like many others i'm sure do just about everything behind my computer all day long. Just about all my work for University is behind a computer, i watch movies, play games etc also behind my computer. There is very little time i spend not behind my computer.

I'm aware my question has been asked before. (Namely what website would i use to order japanese books) However i find that most of them include shipping to America and not to Europe. Specifically the Netherlands. I'm just curious where people in the netherlands, or otherwise in europe order there books.

I hear Amazon.jp has an excellent selection but has huge shipping prices. Naturally i'm looking for cheap. If that means buying many books at once that's perfectly fine. I'm just not sure where to begin.
Any help would be well appreciated.

I'm also slightly surprised that links to book/manga/ whathave you are not avalible in one of the stickies. I've been stuck spending quite a bit of time reading through individual topics

Yay another dutchie \o/

I usually use ebay.com sellers from England have pretty low shipping prices and it arrives in 3/4 days most of the time. Or I search for a cheap American seller with low shipping prices. Sometimes Japanese sellers but the shipping fees are usally killing :<

and you have http://www.yesasia.com/global/en/home.html . Which gives free international shipping under certain conditions(+ 39us order and the items should be certified for free international shipping) which is nice. They have some Japanese manga,books probly not as big as Amazon but a nice collection.

I use bk1.jp; they offer shipping by seamail at cost price to Europe (I'm in the UK). If you're willing to wait a month or two for your next parcel of books/manga this is probably as cheap as it gets for buying new.

yesasia's free shipping offers are counterbalanced by their setting the prices higher, obviously, although I guess it's still convenient in some cases.

I use zavvi.com, they ship for free to the UK. Shipping to Poland is 1 pound per item (they shipp everything separately), so it can't be much higher to the Netherlands. I just checked and they seem to have all the standard books for lightweight Japanese learners, perhaps they have what you're looking for as well.

I hate my dependence on the computer as well

I use hmv.co.jp because they generally have a wider range than bk1, they have DVDs as well, and shipping is cheap and quick.

Oh yeah, and they're eternally having specials on movies or books so things are cheaper.

I've used bk1.jp and they were very good. You can choose from a wide range of shiping methods - unlike amazon who only ships expedited - and if you are outside Japan you don't even have to pay the VAT.

thecite Wrote:I use hmv.co.jp because they generally have a wider range than bk1, they have DVDs as well, and shipping is cheap and quick.

So I had a try with the last bk1 order I have an invoice lying around for.

bk1: 4258 yen (7 books) + 1080 yen (shipping, seamail) = 5338 yen
hmv: 4472 yen (7 books) + 3250 yen (shipping, EMS) = 7722 yen

Admittedly the bk1 price is for middle of last year, but that makes hmv more than 40% more expensive. I think I'll continue to go for the cheap-and-slow shipping :-)

as long as the cheap and slow shipping gets my books delivered i'm happy.
Only issue is navigating the site in japanese, I can see myself doing something wrong, especially with payment. Good practice though :p
Thanks for all the reply's though, they were very helpful

pm215 Wrote:I use bk1.jp; they offer shipping by seamail at cost price to Europe (I'm in the UK). If you're willing to wait a month or two for your next parcel of books/manga this is probably as cheap as it gets for buying new.

yesasia's free shipping offers are counterbalanced by their setting the prices higher, obviously, although I guess it's still convenient in some cases.

True true.

But it also sucks the credit card is not so common here in the netherlands.. I have more than enough money to order some stuff(But I do not fit the requirements of a creditcard here.I have no debts. But not enough monthly income.Yay student ftw!). At yes-asia you can use paypal at bk1.jp unfortunately you can't =/ none of my friends or even family doesn't have a Creditcard aswell.

I would love to order at bk1.jp instead of yes-asia. Anyone has experience with "virtual creditcards" and maybe even using "virtual creditcards" with bk1.jp?

You don't actually need a credit card for Paypal; you can link up your account with your normal banking account and they will automatically withdraw (automatische incasso) the money you spend.

Not sure if it still works, but when I was a poor student I still got a credit card with my student account at ABN. No need for income, they only ask that you have your study financing deposited on the student account.

If all else fails there is also http://www.roellin-books.com/index.php

They are a German/Swiss company that, besides credit cards, also accepts bank transfers.

Oh I do have paypal with that automatic thingy. Thats why I sad I can use yes-asia. But not Bk1.jp bk1.jp is only creditcard for foreigners. They have no paypal isn't that popular in japan it seems.

Still in middle school atm so I dont have a student account yet. But next year I I should have! ING (my bank )seems to offer the same thing. cool. I would need to wait a few months first though for the first deposit than seashipping. Haha I am impatient \o/. But yea that will be a option later on. thanks!

Still would be nice to hear if someone has experience with virtual creditcards^^

wants to buy a few manga/light novel stuff. Its seems the only choice now is yes-asia or bk1.jp. I can fit in a more books though with bk1.jp for the same price as yes-asia ^.^ that is worth waiting for.

http://shop.jpbooks.co.uk/
They have other website, not for textbooks but for literature, manga, etc.

I strongly recommend.

loonytik Wrote:Oh I do have paypal with that automatic thingy. Thats why I sad I can use yes-asia. But not Bk1.jp bk1.jp is only creditcard for foreigners. They have no paypal isn't that popular in japan it seems.

Still in middle school atm so I dont have a student account yet. But next year I I should have! ING (my bank )seems to offer the same thing. cool. I would need to wait a few months first though for the first deposit than seashipping. Haha I am impatient \o/. But yea that will be a option later on. thanks!

Still would be nice to hear if someone has experience with virtual creditcards^^

wants to buy a few manga/light novel stuff. Its seems the only choice now is yes-asia or bk1.jp. I can fit in a more books though with bk1.jp for the same price as yes-asia ^.^ that is worth waiting for.

Middle school? I wasn't aware we had something like that in The Netherlands. I'm guessing you mean high school. The easiest thing to do is probably convincing your parents to let you use their creditcard. Also I think you can buy prepaid visa cards at gas stations and other shops, I have no experience with them myself but I have friends that have used them.

yea mindfuck translating schools is fun As I sad before none of my friends or family have a creditcard so isn't possible to ask them if I can use it hehe.

Prepaid CC's might be an options but I heard for example that some prepaid(maybe all) CC doesnt work on PSN as payment. Ill be pretty much screwed if it does not work. As its not a small order hehe. Mmm waiting is the probly easiest/safest option. Just takes a bit of time heh Ill try to look around for some more info ^^ thanks!

If you're after Japanese textbooks published in English, you might want to check out
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk

They ship internationally (including to the Netherlands) for free, no minimum order value: I've used them several times to get books out to Japan for zero shipping cost. Usually takes around 7-10 days to arrive in Tokyo.

It won't help much if you're really after stuff published in Japan (although they do have some) - but I thought I'd mention it just in case. Plus they have 10% off their entire catalogue during May.