Ordering Japanese DVDs
07-16-03, 10:50 AM
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07-16-03, 02:08 PM
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CD Japan ships incredibley fast and has great customer service as well. (at least in my experience) I get my discs within 3-5 days once I've placed the orders.
07-16-03, 02:55 PM
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CDJapan:
Upside:
- Large catalouge of titles
- Full english design/customer service
- Take special orders
- More shipping options available
Downsides:
- Don't discount, and frequently pad the prices of all items
- Not customs friendly
- Frequently lie about the in-print status of items to cover the fact that their distribution network is less than ideal
- Extremely slow at sourcing out of stock items, even with very recent titles
- A huge chunk of what is listed is not in stock, no indication as to what is in stock
- Don't know their product very well, and will often claim items don't exist.
- Handling charges
- Credit card authorizations are done as soon as you place an order, tieing up funds for 5-10 business days.
- Tons of inactive SKU's on thier site which are listed as active.
HMV
Upside:
- Real time inventory: Inventory is often accurate to within 1 unit
- Discount top selling titles
- Full english layout/customer service
- Fast, trackable shipping via Fedex
Downside:
- Not customs friendly
- Limited pressings tend to sell out early
- Handling Charge
- Don't stock a number of items which they should...
- Only ship fedex
Amazon Japan
Upside:
- Accurate inventory, item availability usually accurate and out of print items listed properly
- Large selection
- Occasional coupons
- Top selling titles often discounted
- More shipping options available
- Amazon layout is the same as all sites
Downside:
- Limited English support at best.
- Not customs friendly.
- Handling Charges
- Take a while to source not in stock items
- Express shipping is via DHL for North America...yuck
Of the 3, I'd recommend HMV or Amazon if you are ordering non-preorder items, while CDJapan is ok for pre-orders if you book well enough in advance. Since CDJapan has no more customs friendly service, there's really no incentive to order from them IMHO. If you are ordering limited pressings, I'd stick with one of the three above. If not then let's introduce the newest competitor:
Yesasia has recently started stocking Japanese releases.
Downside:
- Titles are often romanized, so say a movie is called Red Tape, you might see it listed as reddo-têpu.
- The search engine on their Japanese releases really needs a fair bit of work as it tends to omit items on their site.
- Also since they source their discs overseas, it's harder to nail down how long it will take them to obtain an item.
- No indication as to which version of a release they stock, ie: is it a first pressing?
The upside:
- Basically sold at list price or very close to it.
- No retarted handling charges (I don't think I need to pay anyone an extra 5-10% to pack a box just because it isn't a domestic delivery)
- Free shipping over 49
- Occasional coupons
Soooo if you are looking for the best price and are patient, chances are Yesasia may be a very good bet. They're also reputed to be customs friendly, of which all of the above companies are customs hostile as they declare the full value of all merchandise. My first order just shipped, sourcing an in demand recent release from Japan within 3 days...not bad.
Upside:
- Large catalouge of titles
- Full english design/customer service
- Take special orders
- More shipping options available
Downsides:
- Don't discount, and frequently pad the prices of all items
- Not customs friendly
- Frequently lie about the in-print status of items to cover the fact that their distribution network is less than ideal
- Extremely slow at sourcing out of stock items, even with very recent titles
- A huge chunk of what is listed is not in stock, no indication as to what is in stock
- Don't know their product very well, and will often claim items don't exist.
- Handling charges
- Credit card authorizations are done as soon as you place an order, tieing up funds for 5-10 business days.
- Tons of inactive SKU's on thier site which are listed as active.
HMV
Upside:
- Real time inventory: Inventory is often accurate to within 1 unit
- Discount top selling titles
- Full english layout/customer service
- Fast, trackable shipping via Fedex
Downside:
- Not customs friendly
- Limited pressings tend to sell out early
- Handling Charge
- Don't stock a number of items which they should...
- Only ship fedex
Amazon Japan
Upside:
- Accurate inventory, item availability usually accurate and out of print items listed properly
- Large selection
- Occasional coupons
- Top selling titles often discounted
- More shipping options available
- Amazon layout is the same as all sites
Downside:
- Limited English support at best.
- Not customs friendly.
- Handling Charges
- Take a while to source not in stock items
- Express shipping is via DHL for North America...yuck
Of the 3, I'd recommend HMV or Amazon if you are ordering non-preorder items, while CDJapan is ok for pre-orders if you book well enough in advance. Since CDJapan has no more customs friendly service, there's really no incentive to order from them IMHO. If you are ordering limited pressings, I'd stick with one of the three above. If not then let's introduce the newest competitor:
Yesasia has recently started stocking Japanese releases.
Downside:
- Titles are often romanized, so say a movie is called Red Tape, you might see it listed as reddo-têpu.
- The search engine on their Japanese releases really needs a fair bit of work as it tends to omit items on their site.
- Also since they source their discs overseas, it's harder to nail down how long it will take them to obtain an item.
- No indication as to which version of a release they stock, ie: is it a first pressing?
The upside:
- Basically sold at list price or very close to it.
- No retarted handling charges (I don't think I need to pay anyone an extra 5-10% to pack a box just because it isn't a domestic delivery)
- Free shipping over 49
- Occasional coupons
Soooo if you are looking for the best price and are patient, chances are Yesasia may be a very good bet. They're also reputed to be customs friendly, of which all of the above companies are customs hostile as they declare the full value of all merchandise. My first order just shipped, sourcing an in demand recent release from Japan within 3 days...not bad.
