STOP BUYING ANIME MERCH ON AMAZON
Seriously, they overchage you, sell you faulty product, and leave out information that makes their product worth less than versions you’ll find elsewhere.
Today, we’re showing you the stark truth behind Amazon’s magical girl anime goods, and giving you some much better alternatives. Please note the prices below are in USD, and are either from the site directly, or converted from JPY. Shipping is not included.
ITEM #1: Go Princess Precure Crystal Princess Rod
At $276 USD, this item is nearl 100x* the average cost of buying elsewhere. Needless to say, this incredible price hike is almost unbelievable, yet of the 5 listings currently available, all fall between 260 and 280 . Yet, the cheapest elsewhere was just $27, with the most expensive being $42.
This wand has been bootlegged, though they’re difficult to find and those that are, rarely use the official stock images and are usually very obvious. @bootlegmagicalwands has a dedicated tag for this item for comparison purposes.
Item #2: Cardcaptor Sakura Frog Dress Figure
At $45, the average price on Amazon is nearly three times the price of the figure elsewhere, coming in at an average of $12. Which isn’t a terrible difference, but hardly a bargain.
What Amazon fails to mention though, is that many Amazon storefronts are resellers of Taobao & Aliexpress items, and this figure is notoriously sold as a bootleg on both. Given the listings all use the same stock images, it’s impossible to know if the overpriced figure you’re buying is the genuine one or not. It’s also such a common bootleg, that many are so similar to the original it’s difficult to tell the difference without an original for comparison, making most positive reviews meaningless.
Item #3 : Doremi Harukaze Nendoroid
At an average Amazon price of $91, this item has the smallest price hike on this list, with the average elsewhere being just $65. It is also notable that Amazon has one listing of this item for $65.85, nearly the average cost elsewhere, but all the other listings were over $90.
This is proof that Amazon absolutely can sell for a reasonable cost, yet most will not.
And, again, this is a commonly bootlegged item, making the Amazon listings difficult to trust.
Why The Bootlegs?
The bootlegs are due to the same stores being hosted on many sites. It’s common for the same business to use multiple platforms to sell the same goods and thus, a bootleg seller on Amazon may be the same as the one selling on Taobao. Because Amazon only removes listings that are reported en-mass, and most use stock photos that make the listing appear official, reporting items as bootleg without purchasing them to first becomes incredibly rare. And with such high prices, few buy them, and so the items stay up.
Why So Expensive?
It’s important to note that, if the store you’re buying from on Amazon stores locally, then they’ve already paid international shipping, duty, and other fees on it. This is then factored into the items cost. However, most of the item, these fees are rarely more than 15% of the items value, so any added cost after that is usually scalping.
Alternatives:
*The following were used to calculate the “average” cost of buying the item from places other than Amazon. We used currently in-stock, new, and original prices only. We have more recommended stores on our SHOPPING tab (here). AmiAmi - largely sells small collectibles and clothes, specializing in preorders, but also sells stocked and secondhand items. Their items are direct from the manufacturer so are genuine. HJL - short for HobbyLink Japan, HJL also largely sells small collectibles and clothes, specializing in preorders, but also sell stocked items. Their items are direct from the manufacturer so are genuine.
CDJapan - Mostly selling Japanese CDs, DVDs, Manga, and Books, this Japan-based retailer occasionally branches out into Anime figures and small collectibles. HobbySearch / 1999. - largely sell Preorder items, but occasionally stock secondhand and stocked items. BigBadToyStore - US-based toy seller and proxy service specializing in popular anime. They have official associations with several popular manufacturers. They’re also one of the most expensive services on this list.
HotTopic & Boxlunch - often collaborate with big-name anime and pop-culture series. All their items are genuine, though are often American-exclusive or English versions rather than the original Japanese.
Mandarake - second hand anime and pop-culture specialist chain located throughout Japan. They also do pre-orders, and occasionally sell new stock. Their items are often checked by the manufacturer, as well as specialists, so are guaranteed genuine - though they do sell fanbooks, which are marked as such.
Proxy Services - Using a proxy service means paying a company or person to buy items in another country on your behalf. All charge a fee, and you may need to pay both domestic Japanese and International shipping, but for many items it is still much cheaper than Amazon. For our averaging, we used the fee+item price only. WE DON’T RECCOMEND BUYING FROM EBAY, ALIEXPRESS, TAOBAO, OR OTHER SITES. Many anime goods are bootlegged, and these sites are the most common sources of bootlegs and scam goods.
And for anyone about to comment “but shipping’ - all the sites we used for the comparative averages ship worldwide, with competitive rates and multiple service offerings, while most of the Amazon listings only ship to North America.
