Comments on: Viz’s Price Change Unlikely to Affect Sales Significantly

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:09:37 +0000

The problem with Right Stuf is that if they don’t have the title in stock (i.e. it’s listed as “on order”), then chances are that you could be waiting a while for it.

By: Lorena

Lorena — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:43:00 +0000

I still suggest buying used from honest folks – I’ve bought manga from reputable people via LiveJournal and from eBay. I noticed that Borders now has a marketplace, with some used manga as low as $2 per volume.

I also purchase from one publisher when RightStuf.com has their publisher sales, where you can get about a third off of your order. You can also sometimes pre-order from publishers, so if I don’t have enough books in stock right now from a publisher, I’ll just add my pre-orders in order to get free shipping (they ship free for $50+).

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:39:02 +0000

Rightstuf.com generally lists manga for 10-25% off, depending on the publisher, and with a Got Anime membership you can knock that down further. (Of course, the membership costs $12, so it’s only worth it if you spend over $120 or so a year, but if you do it adds up.) Free shipping is at $49.

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Handley gag order, price hikes, con reports

MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Handley gag order, price hikes, con reports — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:21:47 +0000

[...] hard to begrudge them. At Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson did an informal survey and concluded that people are going to buy the books anyway. More reactions at Anime Vice and [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Thanks so much for the suggestions! The 4-for-3 idea is a good one. And I'm glad you weighed in, John, since I know you've done some research on all this.

By: Sonic2nd

Sonic2nd — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:38:45 +0000

I usually order from Justmanga.com. They have a small discount on all of their manga and free shipping for orders over $40.00.

You can also join their $5.55 club which lets you pick out a manga for only $5.55 and that book will also count if you buy a total number of manga to get the free shipping.

By: Olivier E.

Olivier E. — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:01:18 +0000

I use this for comics sometimes instead of the european amazons, it has free shipping, but the mangas seem to be cheap too.

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/browse/category/id/2634/Graphic-Novels-Manga

By: Joshua Macy

Joshua Macy — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:48:35 +0000

I use Amazon Prime, so no shipping costs. Or rather, it costs about $80 a year for unlimited shipping. I figure that I break even just on Christmas, and the rest of the year is gravy.

By: John Jakala

John Jakala — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:48:05 +0000

Lately I’ve been buying all of my manga from Tower.com or Buy.com, which both have discounts from 25% to 40% and free shipping on orders over $25. Tower’s prices fluctuate quite a bit, so I use shoppingnotes.com to track price changes and snag them when they hit a low enough threshold to satisfy my frugal ways.

By: zyzzyva

zyzzyva — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:06:15 +0000

If you can stand to wait a couple months after the release date, Amazon has their 4-for-3 promotion which includes most manga titles. If a book is eligible, it’ll have ‘Special Offers Available’ under the price linking to info specifically about the 4-for-3 below.

Four $9.99 books comes to ~$7.50 each (plus they qualify for Amazon’s no tax and free shipping).

Yeah, you have to wait some (I find two months seems to be the norm), but life is busy anyways and I love having 4 new manga arrive in the mail to read all in one sitting. :) It works particularly well for multiple series, as they are released (and become eligible) at around the same time as one another (especially if they’re all Viz).

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:13:22 +0000

Wow, they have some amazing prices, but with it requiring a $50 order to get free shipping, I can’t see myself using them frequently. (Plus, the “we charge your card immediately but may wait to ship if we don’t have the stock” combined with the “no refunds or cancellations” means other places have better customer service.) I never would have thought of them for manga; thanks for the suggestion.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:55:49 +0000

Check out In Stock Trades as a possibility. Most trades are discounted up to 35% off. That's where I wound up ordering my copy of Emma & Hikaru no Go volumes rather than wait and see if Borders would get them in or not. I hate special ordering, too, especially for titles I'm on the fence about. I doubt I would have picked up Pluto if I couldn't have flipped through a copy in store.