What's wrong with YesAsia? I use PayPal, and I've never had any problems with them.

I've used thejapanshop for most things that I couldn't get from Amazon.co.uk. I usually receive the stuff I buy within 1 week from America so it's not bad. The guy who runs it is also a very nice guy, as was said above.

Last edited by CaLeDee (2008 October 01, 9:42 am)

You might consider some Japanese sights as well, like bk1.jp .  I order Manga from there all the time.

wccrawford wrote:

You might consider some Japanese sights as well, like bk1.jp .  I order Manga from there all the time.

bk1.jp seems like a good site, unfortunately I can't find any information on shipping prices except what it costs to ship it inside Japan, and that the price when shipping over seas is based on weight. Actual prices are not present

EDIT: Spent more time looking and found shipping tables, bk1.jp is very cheap! There are tons of shipping methods, I especially like SAL which costs 1000yen for 1000gram worth of books etc, and it just takes 1-2 weeks to recieve it!

Last edited by Tobberoth (2008 October 01, 12:05 pm)

wccrawford wrote:

Tobberoth wrote:

EDIT: Spent more time looking and found shipping tables, bk1.jp is very cheap! There are tons of shipping methods, I especially like SAL which costs 1000yen for 1000gram worth of books etc, and it just takes 1-2 weeks to recieve it!

Ah, you're one up on me!  I never found those tables and just took my chances based on the fact that my friend said she got good shipping rates when she tried it.  I actually upgrade the shipping a bit and usually end up paying the same for shipping as I pay for the manga...  Amazon only got to that point when I had 10 or more mangas in my cart.  (Below that and I paid much more than the cost of each book in shipping charges on Amazon.)

Here is a link where you can find tables for the various shipping options:
http://www.bk1.jp/docs/help/He_e04

EMS and OCS are fast (takes 2-3 days) but they are expensive.
SAL was between 1 week and 2 months, so much slower than I thought, but still very cheap.
航空 (by plane) is about twice as expensive as SAL, but much faster, 10 days - 2 weeks.
船便 (by boat) is slightly cheaper than SAL, but takes between 1 and 3 months, so it's a lot slower.

Seems to me that SAL is the best choice, but I guess it would take more than a month before it arrives in Sweden.

Tobberoth wrote:

EMS and OCS are fast (takes 2-3 days) but they are expensive.
SAL was between 1 week and 2 months, so much slower than I thought, but still very cheap.
航空 (by plane) is about twice as expensive as SAL, but much faster, 10 days - 2 weeks.
船便 (by boat) is slightly cheaper than SAL, but takes between 1 and 3 months, so it's a lot slower.

Seems to me that SAL is the best choice, but I guess it would take more than a month before it arrives in Sweden.

I've been using BK1 for about a year now... SAL gets to Germany in about 2 weeks usually.

Don't forget to connect to BK1's website everyday to increase your discount points

Michael

nac_est wrote:

Yesasia is awesome for the free shipping, but it usually takes them 10-25 days to even find the products (usually manga and books) before they send them. That really bothers me.

I'm a cheap bastard, so I don't mind waiting if it saves me some shells. Besides, I usually pre-order things, so I hardly even notice. Of course, if one does care about delivery dates, it may not be the best choice.

兎に角...
One option is to use a proxy and buy things off Japanese auction sites. They add shipment fees and commission, of course, but depending on what you're buying, it's often a good deal, anyway. The one I've been using is http://www.goody-japan.com/ (Their webpage looks a bit fishy, but it has worked fine for me thus far).

Last edited by hknamida (2008 October 02, 3:59 am)

meushi wrote:

The shipping time is usually indicated in the item description. Most books are shipped in 2-3 days tops, some obscure/rare books have a 3+ weeks delay.

Thank you meushi, but what site are you referring to specifically? All of them?
Yesasia does provide the expected time of delivery, but it's invariably ~21 days except for dvds and cd as far as I know. That's because they have to order the items from a third party before shipping them. I was wandering if those other online stores do the same.

nac_est wrote:

Thank you meushi, but what site are you referring to specifically?

Forgot to specify it was for BK1 We also use them for magazine/serials subscriptions so we usually end up with around 1000 jpy of discounts every month.

atreya wrote:

I hope I am not going offtopic by posting this, but can anyone recommend any "offline" bookstores in Japan as well ? I will be staying in Japan for 15 days this month and I am planning to buy some books there while I am at it. Thanks in advance. ^_^

Depends on where you will be staying.

My main recommendation is BookOff. Really cheap, has a lot of things and can easily be found in most areas of Japan. You can buy books, manga, CDs and DVDs there.

In Shinjuku there are some very very big bookstores, but I don't remember the names of em They are easy enough to find, just ask any random person for a big 本屋 ^^.

nac_est wrote:

Regarding the above mentioned sites like bk1, TheJapanShop and Sasuga Books, how long do they take to ship the items?
Yesasia is awesome for the free shipping, but it usually takes them 10-25 days to even find the products (usually manga and books) before they send them. That really bothers me.

Sasuga ships quite fast to me, but I live only 20 miles away.  The owner of the shop is from Japan and he is extremely friendly and helpful.  He is a manga-holic.  Very nice quality and good prices.

One thing I'll recommend-- don't do your book shopping until you're done traveling around, because hauling 20 pounds of books around Japan ain't fun.

Another thing-- for Tokyo, drop $15 and get the Kodansha Tokyo City Atlas. It's a small book that will be a big help.

If you're going to major cities, there's usually a Kinokuniya to be found. In Tokyo, there's one in Shinjuku at Takeshimaya Times Square, across the bridge from JR Shinjuku (South Entrance, I believe). It's near the Krispy Kreme.

There's also Maruzen in Marunouchi as well. It's near-ish to Tokyo Station. It's also a big bookstore with a lot of books in it.

One thing I *highly* recommend is learning all the various words for various kinds of books, (Fiction, Non-Fiction, etc.) because it can be a little confusing if you can't read the little signs. It'll also save you a ton of time that way.

I'm not so familiar with Book-Off. I know there's one in Shinjuku... somewhere... but I have no idea where. I saw it on the way to a tiny hole-in-the-wall laundromat... somewhere.

There are also book shops in Kyoto and Osaka as well, but I didn't spend any time shopping for books there, because I didn't want to drag them all over Japan.

EDIT: For BK1 shipping, if I'm ordering light novels or manga, I just take a few books I already have and stick them on the scale to get an idea.

Last edited by rich_f (2008 October 03, 11:12 am)