I think the point system on Hobby Search is kind of funny and clever of them.
you might buy something that's 3100 yen for example, but they'll give you 100 points, and from I've seen, they take this into consideration when listing the prices, the same item might be 3000 at other sites, they increase the price by what the discount is, but you don't get the discount until you buy another item, which would also have the slightly increased price.
That just seems funny to me.

I thought Hobby Search had quite reasonable prices but I havent really been paying attention lately.

I used to use HLJ sometimes, I like the way you can see the shipping charge right on the product page.

Amiami seems to be the cheapest but they kind of screw you with shipping so its about the same as the other main sites.

Glad you like Otacute so much; I just pre-ordered an Aya figma, and I'd never even heard of the site until someone told me that was the cheapest place to buy one. I was shocked that it's actually going for the list price there.

I use HobbyLinkJapan more than any other site and have had no problems whatsoever. Shipping is sometimes slow, but they seem to package well and they have good preorder deals if a bit pricey to begin with.

Angolz is another good site for figures, primarily toy type ones like figma and revoltech, but they have other stuff too.

Never used Otacute before but both Amiami and Hobby Search have only been good to me.

Also Ebay is always an option if you are a savvy shopper.

It kind of ticks me off to hear about Otacute giving stuff away with orders, amiami has done so also, with winter gear being included with their figmas before.
But once I start really getting into buying figures, I get jack.
I've ordered tones of stuff now from amiami and got nothing, and I've ordered a few times from Otacute and all I got were some crummy advertisements in place of packing material, mostly the same one for some pokemon game, and a random trading card with another order, woooh awesome free stuff! /butthurt

Otacute isn't bad for people paying in USD, or maybe even EUR since the exchange rate is so bad right now. Just be aware that Otacute basically use whatever boxes they have around to ship your goods in, and they don't always pack them very well. I've heard some horror stories and seen some photos of figure boxes badly bashed in. Everything I've gotten from them has arrived fine, but they've always been smaller boxes. Basically, they're just my go-to for great deals, limited items and sometimes as a last resort.

I haven't had that experience with figs and fig boxes horribly smashed, and the worst I got was one of my fig boxes was slightly dented.

But I like the way they handle their orders, even if I heard horrible shipping stories from them.

I just can't stand the current exchange rate right now. And most of the merchandise I'm planning to get from Otacute seems to be much more cheaper than all the other shops. I did try HLJ, but they don't seem to have anything that I'm interested in. Though I usually go to the other shops as a last resort.

Anyone ordered from Mandarake here? I want to give them a go in the near future because I saw some interesting figs going for pretty cheap.

They usually tell you if the box is damaged or if it has been opened but can we really trust them? I don't care that much about a damaged box but receiving a smelly hotglued fig scares me a bit.

>>204
yeah theyre ok, I'd trust them. last I checked they only do EMS shipping but they do have good deals sometimes. the items on their website arent always updated so theres a chance theyre sold out.

>>204
>receiving a smelly hotglued fig
That scares the shit out of me.

And I dislike buying in JPY. It seems that with each passing day, I'm getting less and less for what I paid for.

Well, Necro got the only three I bother to order from anymore, however I HIGHLY recommend amiami over any of the others. They are the fastest and the most reliable, with the easiest staff to get along with. Their prices are good, too. Except for shipping...

NOW.

EMS shipping is butthole rape. However, there is an air of uncertainty about SAL that I can not come to terms with. All my shit I've gotten via SAL has come to me looking like it was shipped from Afghanistan instead of Tokyo. So, ya gotta weigh your options.

>>222
This.

Yet, I'd like to reiterate that I don't want to get assraped by shipping from AmiAmi and the exchange rate. So I'd much rather deal with Otacute than any place that deals in JPY, even if I ended up with a fucked up box. Plus, I mostly order tcg-related materials anyway, aside from cheap figs that are on sale.

http://www.figinstock.com/figinstock-be-shutdown.html