So, where do you shop online? Where would you absolutely recommend against shopping? And of course... the cost of both.

Okay, I'll go first!

Animebooks - http://www.animebooks.com/ - Free Shipping: on $100 or more order
I've ordered many artbooks from this place in the past. They have a huge variety and the organize them pretty nicely. My biggest beef is that I've had many times where I order a book, they take my order, and then tell me the book is out of stock (and they will never be getting it). They give me my money back, but then they never update their site!

Animenation - http://www.animenation.com/ - Free Shipping: on certain things
Out of all the retailors I've delt with they are probably the most "professional" acting. Their artbook section is pretty tiny, but they have some nice titles.

Discount Anime DVD - http://www.discountanimedvd.com/ - Free shipping over $100
I've ordered mostly DVDs and manga from them, their artbook offerring is pretty small. I've only had a few small problems with them, and I will randomly find somewhat rare books in their list for sale.

Akadot Retail - http://www.akadotretail.com/ - Free Shipping over $100
There site is one of the best to navigate I think, since they allow you to do all kinds of differnet sorting. Probably my current favorite artbook store, since they have the best selection with the free shipping option. XD

Otaku.com - http://www.otaku.com/
I've bought a few books from them, they have fast, reliable service, and a somewhat random selection of books. They often have photographs of the inside of the books so you can get a vauge idea of what you are buying.

beNippon - http://benippon.com/
I love this store for it's selection, but hate it for it's shipping charges. Heck, the prices an their artbooks aren't that awesome either. :\


I like to buy artbooks at actual conventions too, since then I have a better idea of what I'm getting (usually can peak inside) and I'm less likely to be a glutton when I have to carry all the books around with me. That actually saved me from buying a real stinker of a La Corda book one time. I was thinking of buying it online but when I found it at the convention I discovered how few color pictures it had so I decided to pass.

When I shop online I usually Google the ISBN of the book to see if I can find any stores that show photos of the inside or sample graphics. That usually gives me a general idea if it has tons of already seen pictures or if it is worth getting at all. :3

Amazon.co.jp - shipping cost to the US is sky high, but it's actually cheaper if you order a few artbooks and magazines together. A good place to preorder calendars if you're ordering multiple since it's fedex shipping for the calendars and you get charged the regular rate even though they ship each calendar separately in its own box, which makes it cheaper than cdjapan

animaxis.com - I've gotten artbooks when I buy other merchandise, discounted shipping (15% off) when you over 10000yen or more

jpqueen - haven't tried as of yet :x

JPQueen - After my initial experience, I can say it's been smooth sailing with them. I ordered via SAL back in March and it took my package about two months to arrive. But since then, I do the extra for Airmail and it comes in just a week. For added peace of mind, JPQueen recently added registered mail for all their shipping options, so no worries now.

The store itself it a little odd though. They use a service called Kagi to process your payments, so you should wait to make sure the items you've selected are actually available, because they won't refund your money, just give you store credit if you pay before it's confirmed. The set up though, inclines you to think you should pay as soon as you place an order.

The new books on site are always egregiously overpriced, but you can really get good deals on out-of-print books. And they offer a ton of options for shipping, so you can really find the one that's right for you.

CDJapan - Yes, they sell more than just CD's! While I've never purchased art books from them, I have purchased calendars and individual issues (you have to ask). Shipping is alright, since they have cheaper options than say Amazon.co.jp. Also, they offer magazine subscriptions. I've heard from Trismugistus that they ship quickly and with air mail he gets them around the same time that I do from AJ.

HLJ - I used to buy everything from them. They have good service, multiple shipping options, and a good variety of items including art books. What kills me about them is that I was literally waiting around for an order from them for weeks. And this was just to let me know that they have the items and will be shipping them in the next week. Additionally, you can't cancel an item once the order has been processed, but the website doesn't update in a timely manner to let you know that the order has been processed. That's really the main drawback with them, though it could be attributed more to my own personal impatience ^^

Haha, I've never ordered from Hobby Link Japan but I abuse their site ALL the time because they usually have small scans of the books so you get an idea of what the contents are. XD

I find shipping costs the most disagreeable part of shopping online. :( I would buy so much more stuff if I wasn't such a scrouge about having to pay for shipping. x_x

I like to shop at discountanimedvd but sometimes they don't have what I want so I go the the cheapest place on the web. It's not always safe to do that but I take my chances. I just bought an artbook from Toylet Collectibles.

Yes, I would highly recommend cd-japan.

I get the following from there: Regular magazine subscriptions, figures, a few Japanese anime DVDs, calendars and apparel (some gurren lagann mugs :p).

I've struggled with other sites--for magazine subscriptions especially. The big thing I like about cd-japan is that the site is extremely easy to use, and everything is very clear, but mainly the communication is good. I get e-mails confirming purchases, but I also get e-mails telling me when they've sent stuff or if its release is delayed. In that sense it's like amazon--very professional and well done.

Another place I would recommend is yesasia. I've used it for buying foreign manga (I scan manga too as I like to make walls from them) but you do have to be careful--they do both Japanese, Hong Kong and Chinese manga and it's not always clear what language you're buying, though that's not a huge concern to me as I don't speak either!

yesasia's site is actually a rip off of amazon's, so it's easy to use. I've always found the price & shipping of their stuff to be extremely reasonable, especially when bulk buying, but then manga is very cheap over there so maybe that's why I get that impression.

Hobby Link Japan

I used to buy my stuff there. The have a quite good collection and are always up-to-date. The shipping to Germany is very expensive and I always have to pay customs but it's mostly worth the money. The service is excellent but sometimes it bothers me that some orders can't be canceled after some time has passed. I once needed to cancel an artbook (I found it way cheaper at a local comic store) but I wasn't able to do so. I needed to contact the service via mail but the problem was solved after that.

Archonia

I think this site is not very well known here cause it's located in Belgium and mostly offers stuff to the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. They have a huge collection of artbooks, DVDs, CDs, Figures and other stuff. The shipping is cheap for me cause Belgium is not far and I don't need to pay customs. And they are fast. Mostly only 2 days pass till I get my package ^^ The service is nice and you can earn "Points" buy writing comments or buying stuff. The points can be used to get some stuff.

That's mostly where I order online. Sometimes I buy stuff over ebay but that's not very often. I have a very good comic shop here in Berlin called "Grober Unfug". Huge collection of Artbooks ^^ I always spend a lot of money by visiting it.

I have a few places I buy from and just look.
Nippon Exports
beNippon
Sakura Media (Near where I live but still an online store as well)
Akadot Retail
Hobbyfan
E2046
Play Asia
Animenation
Anime Castle
JList

Some of the other sites that have been mention from all of you I have visited before but never bought from. From my list JList is the only place I haven't bought from yet but I've only visited the site a few times.

I used to rely on Amazon.co.jp until one day they decided that they wouldn't accept Visa Electron cards anymore. Right now I rely on a japanese proxy agency, Crescent-Shop, who basically buy stuff in my place from japanese stores or auctions on Yahoo Japan. Of course, they don't it for free and charge a percentage of the value of what you're buying, but sometimes I surprisingly end up spending less than expected because I find a lot of things in Yahoo Japan Auctions (artbooks included) to be extremely underpriced.

I've also found out about Otaku.com recently and they're a good online store. I rely on them when I can't find what I am looking for on my other sources.

Discovered any new online stores?
I just tried out mandarake and benippon. I'll come back and say more when my exam is done >_<
I'm just trying to see if I can unlock more threads XD

Has anybody here besides Nat used deputy services?

I've ordered twice from Mandrake now and a few times from benippon. I haven't use deputy services. benippon has had its site updated. I found yesasia's site difficult to navigate unless I'm looking for something specific.

So ... I'm browsing benippon and I come across this and I couldn't believe how much they were asking for it! Used even! It better have gold trimmed pages or be better than new condition, which I doubt. Whats with the price gouging on used stuff like this anyway? Is there actually some one out there that will pay that price? I suppose if I am willing to pay $50 for a small artbook (thought I didn't realize it was that small) some one will buy that book for that price.

Wow, that's extra funny considering you can still buy it new on Amazon for cover price. Maybe it's a mistake, or it had a limited first print, then the show came out and it ended up getting re-printed :B

And yeah, someone's always willing to pay whatever price is asked :D