Reinier a.k.a the Wise Silver Wolf

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I have been watching anime since I was 10 years old and first started collecting figures back in 2002. The first figures that I owned were small sega prize figures about 5-8 inches tall from Evangelion. I started to collect larger figures in 09/2010 and now exclusively collect figures that are 8 inches or taller because I feel they have more detail than smaller figures.

I have only been collecting scaled figures since 09-2010 but I have learned alot of money saving tips since collecting scaled figures is quite an expensive hobby.

My tips for people just starting to collect anime figures are:

1) Check Mandarake often, sometimes you can find really good deals on there and even come across really rare figures. Rare figures usually sell out within hours of being posted.

2) Make sure that you read very carefully the condition of the item before making your purchase on Mandarake because they dont allow more than 2-3 cancellations for the lifetime on an account. Cancelling orders more than 2-3 times will get your account permanently banned from Mandarake.

3) Make sure to tick the "Cancel the order if this item is out of stock" box if you no longer want your Mandarake order to be processed if one of the items from the order is sold out. Canceling the order later on through email request will count as a hard cancellation and will get your account banned.

4) Never buy anything from eBay unless you absolutely have to as a last resort. Check AmiAmi, Hobby Search, HLJ, Mandarake, Jungle and Y! auctions first. eBay is infested with many fake figures from Hong Kong.

5) Check both the English and Japanese Mandarake sites when looking for items on Mandarake because they post up stuff on the Japanese site that isnt posted on their English site.

6) Dont pick EMS when buying only a single figure unless its Polystone or Polyresin. Try to bundle EMS shipments with at least 3 other items you want so that you will save money on shipping. SAL takes 2-5 weeks and it will usually cost alot less than EMS for single figure orders. Registered SAL cost only ¥410 more and gives SAL tracking numbers and a small amount of insurance.

7) When purchasing 1/4 scale or larger figures EMS will be required, try to make the most of it by buying at least 3 other figures from the same store.

8) Dont use SAL during December, it will take 30+ days for you to receive your package because of the holidays.

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Useful Sites:

Riuva <--- Whats PVC,Polystone, Coldcast, and ABS?

Fig instock.com <--- Emails you when figures come back in stock at your favorite sites.

notRipe.com <--- Emails you when an item on Amazon reaches a certain price, and tells you the price history.

mypricetrack.com <--- like notripe.com but it has Amazon.com's direct price included in the data.

Packtrack <--- Track all your packages with one click from this site, uses cookies to save tracking info (USA only).

Time Zone Converter <--- Converts time from other timezones to your timezone so you can know what time it will be in your timezone.

Rainlendar <--- A Free desktop calendar that lets you add events and reminders to a calendar on your desktop. I use it to post my weekly schedule and when Y! auctions will end in my local time.

Mandarake <--- Sells second hand figures for low prices compared to their real value.

From Japan.co.jp <--- My Favorite Y! middlemen service, they charge a 5% comission fee + ¥200 handling fee (instead of a 10% fee like most others). FromJapan lets you bid in realtime or sniper bid. The company lets you cancel sniper bids and withdraw deposits at any time that you want, deposits are automatically refunded after 20 days if not used within that period of time.

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Figure Shop Mini Reviews:

AmiAmi: (10/10) Quick Shipment, they charge you what shipping cost them to send out packages, and have the best prices for figures around. They usually sell out really quick on popular figures and EMS shipments can be alot of money if you only buy one or two figures at a time so its best to combine shipping into one big order to save money. Shipments are mailed out as soon as all the figures you have on pre-order for that month are released.

Figure Haven: (9/10) I have ordered two figures from this shop so far, prices are pretty high sometimes but shipping is a flat $5 for U.S customers. The items I ordered arrived 2-3 days after sending payment and were very well packed with bubble paper, packing paper, and the figures box was wrapped in protective paper as well.

HobbyLink Japan: (7/10) I have ordered from HLJ twice for items that were on clearance, they take 2-3 days to send a payment request and up to a week to ship out items after receiving payment. Their packing is pretty standard, most of the time they will use some inflatable cushions around the items box and place a plastic bag over the figure box to protect it from damage.

Hobby Search: (9/10) I purchased one item so far from this shop. The item arrived in a timely manner with packing paper wrapped around the box and packing paper to fill the box so the item wouldnt move around. I gave this shop a 9/10 because their great but usually more expensive than AmiAmi or BiJ.

Jungle: (10/10) I have made 5+ purchases with this store so far, every time the item was sent out on the same day that I paid or the next. Questions are usually answered within 1 day if you email them. The prices of their items are a little higher than on Mandarake and they charge a 5% handling fee on orders but their extremely professional and quick. Packing is pretty standard with packing paper to fill the box and a plastic wrap around the items box.

Kirinhobby.com: (7/10) A U.S shop that gets their figures from AAA distribution. This shop has alot of older and sold out items in stock but their prices are a little high and they have very limited selection. I purchased from them once and it took them 3 days to ship/process the order then 5 days via Fedex Ground to arrive.

Plamoya: (9/10) I have placed 5 orders with Plamoya so far, they take about 3-4 days to process and ship out the order. Plamoya has great packaging, they wrap a thin sheet of paper around the box along with bubble paper and then fill the box with newspaper. The only reason I didnt score them a perfect 10 is because their prices are usually pretty high unless you buy items on sale.

Mandarake Branch Mini Reviews:

Grandchaos (Osaka Shinsaibashi) Store: (9/10) I have placed two orders so far with this store, their prices are pretty fair and the packages come very well packaged. I contacted customer service the first time I placed an order with them to ask them a question about a product and they responded within 2 days in English. They usually send out payment request within 2 days of you purchasing an item on Mandrake and then take another 2-3 days to ship out your package after they have received your payment. I rated them a 9/10 because while they have good prices, speak english, and process payments quickly they take too much time to send out packages, it shouldnt take 3 days to prepare and ship out something that I paid EMS shipping for and expect in a week or less. DHL shipping was not a selectable shipping option when I bought items with this store, only SAL or EMS were selectable shipping options.

Nakano Store: (9/10) Nakano is one of the larger Mandarake branches and usually the branch that puts items up at the highest prices. Nakano packages their figures with bubble paper taped around the figure box and packing paper to keep the figure box from moving inside of the shipping box. Processing usually takes 1 day and shipping usually occurs within 1-2 days after payment is sent.

Umeda Store (1/10) I ordered a storefront item from them once that was ¥4,800 and a filler item for ¥400 to make the total go over 5,000. Umeda took 3 days to give me a shipping quote after I sent them an email and they canceled the main item that I ordered only to list it back on Mandarake agian after canceling it from my order.