>it's becoming cheaper to buy from domestic online retailers

>>5939900
cool

That's why I've started going through bbts for a lot of stuff.

>>5939993
That's why I cancelled Getter on HLJ, BBTS costed out cheaper. Shit's fucked. Did the same thing with Mega Man, HLJ was more expensive after shipping than Crunchyroll.

Yeah its getting to be that way less amd less reasons to order from japan. I just prices out something from mandy and it was cheaper to get it slightly scalped on amazon. Plus i get it in 2 days. Its the yen exchange rate thats really killing things.

>>5940125
Actual yen prices on figures have been climbing pretty steadily all while the exchange rate was good so they could break even. Now that it's suddenly even, shit's gone crazy. The ems hike didn't help things either, add in shipping and I'm basically just skipping most imports now.

Most of the shit I import doesn't seem to get brought over due to licensing issues.
Fucking RIP.

what service do you guys recommend for repackaging/forwarding? so far I've looked at tenso, leyifan, zenmarket, goody-japan, buyfromjapan...can't really tell shadow companies from real ones.

i cancelled most of my orders from japan. most companies raised prices during the lite recession they had so you're paying almost 3x now

>>5939993
bbts takes ages to fullfill preorders. no thanksss

>>5940336
>ems hike
Yeah. HLJ used to still be worth it if you're doing a group order but now it just starts at $25 and scales linearly by about $10 per item.

>>5940969
It's really a matter of what you have more of: patience or money.

I've been ordering more stuff from amazon recently if I can get the "fullfilled by amazon" and the free shipping. Pricing has been getting competitive on their and I can usually find a couple of good deals for slightly newer stuff.

>>5941002
EMS was a godsend for a good period, but the balancing act of item cost + shipping weight/dimension cost is truly collapsing in every sense. It's not beyond reason that in no time we'll be jumping back to the days of $60 costs for run of the mill items.

>>5941073
Yeah, this. I can afford it, but I feel like it's beginning to push me into autist territory with how much it's costing out. Despite being able to afford it, just looking at the total cost I need to spend to maintain my purchasing standards from 2015 is making me feel like a spazlord and chilling me on the hobby.

>>5939993
You american, bbts is best place for you. HLJ is best option for us asians. Bbts too expensive for the asians.

>>5939900
EMS prices got jacked a month or two ago. SAL went up a little too. And of course, the yen is stronger in general, so there's that too.

>>5939993

I swear I'm not a new fag but what the hell is bbts?

Maybe I dont know since I'm not american

> tfw canadian

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>>5944017
fucking holy hell me too.

It used to be for me buying things in yen was OK, buying things from the USA was hell. Now they are about even and both hellish. So now it doesnt matter to me if I'm buying USD prices or yen
>;___;

>it's becoming cheaper to buy from domestic online retailers than import shops
Depends on the release but yeah it's definitely true to an extent. Especially because AmiAmi is taking away discounts on a lot of things and HLJ discounts weren't great to begin with. I mean shit, the recent wave of Bandai stuff is CHEAPER at HLJ and HLJ has cheaper shipping. I remember when AmiAmi was a good $10-15+ cheaper than HLJ now they are price matching HLJ on a lot of stuff.

The Bandai stuff basically used to be 27-29% off, the recent wave of stuff was 15% off. The only thing 25% off was that FA-78 Gundam which HLJ has an abnormally good discount on and is cheaper than AmiAmi by 50 yen. So yeah, that shit isn't helping at all combined with the shit exchange rate.

>>5944008
big bad toy store


dotcom

the $150 scales that should be $100 at most are bad enough, but the fucking $60 figmas are off the charts ridiculous. I'm passing on literally every figma I want that's coming out between now and next summer purely because the prices are batshit bonkers. If I can't get them for reasonable prices on the aftermarket, I won't get them at all.
Look at the original figma Samus vs the zero suit version. Almost twice the price for significantly less plastic and way fewer pieces. They couldn't even be fucked to include a baby metroid toy or anything.

>>5944156
I would say Link DX is a pretty good bargain. Will be about $60 shipped and comes with quite a big load out of stuff. Of course he'd probably of been $50 a few years back. Some releases are definitely ridiculous as fuck though in terms of pricing.

>>5940969
>bbts takes ages to fullfill preorders. no thanksss
I consider that an advantage. You get time to look at all the reviews and then cancel if it turns out the figure is a piece of shit.

>>5944156
The inflation is why I sold off half my collection and decided to focus on 1-2 lines. The inflation on stuff like SAS for example became too ridiculous to even bother collecting (also retarded release schedules), and after collecting toys for 6 years or so, stuff just appealed to me less and less.

I'm glad I never liked Figmas that much to begin with because it seems like they've really gone up, but it feels shitty having to pay fucking 7500 for a Figuarts Gatack because Bandai is going full Jew with exclusives now.

>>5944205
Only the most recent SAS have gone way up in price. You sold off all your decently priced ones because half a dozen new ones cost too much? Or am I reading what you said wrong?

>>5944227
Oh, I just worded that kinda wrong. I was just using SAS as an example of inflation gone really bad.

I did sell them all off though, but that was mainly for other reasons.

>>5944205
>because Bandai is going full Jew with exclusives now

Yeah, everything being a web exclusive these days is getting old. If it were the US, full of poor people that wait for clearance sales on everything, I'd understand. Fuck, though, does this meant he Japanese market is collapsing too? Where are we going to get decent quality stuff if Japan goes under?

>>5944713
>if Japan goes under
They won't. Their toy industry survived (and thrived, to an extent) under much more severe exchange rate conditions in modern history

>>5944713
Japan isn't going to go under for sure, but the industry isn't the most healthy either. Japan, too, is bitching about the increase of costs.

Less people buying figures per month + oversaturation isn't helping, either.

>>5945466
>people buying less figures per month
Fixed

>>5939900
It's naive to think the domestic prices won't go up as well, but for sure, enjoy as long as it lasts.

>>5945472
>It's naive to think the domestic prices won't go up as well, but for sure, enjoy as long as it lasts.
Some domestic prices are only cheaper due to HLJ/AmiAmi/etc lowering store discounts and EMS shipping increasing in cost. The closer to MSRP Japanese stores get the more it makes sense to buy locally to get much much cheaper shipping.

BBTS for 4 figma = $10 shipping
AmiAmi for 4 figma = $35+ shipping
HLJ for 4 figma = $30 shipping

So for example...Link DX is being locally distributed at $56.99. The final costs are as follows:
BBTS = $238 shipped for 4 Link
AmiAmi = $238 shipped for 4 Link
HLJ = $258 shipped for 4 Link

What about figma that aren't locally distributed at MSRP? Figma Celty is $60 at BBTS which is $10 above MSRP, here's what happens:
BBTS = $250 shipped for 4 Celty
AmiAmi = $207 shipped for 4 Celty
HLJ = $230 shipped for 4 Celty

This is of course assuming the exchange rate doesn't worsen. So there is still some advantage to buying from Japan but only for things not being locally distributed at MSRP.

>>5945149
>They won't. Their toy industry survived (and thrived, to an extent) under much more severe exchange rate conditions in modern history
That was when the yen was too strong. Strong yen = more buying power = cheaper toys = more volume of sales. What's happening now is the complete opposite. Yen has less buying power so prices are going way up, volume of sales are going way down and exchange rate is fucked due to currency investors trying to strengthen the yen again so international sales will also go way down.

>>5945466
>Japan isn't going to go under for sure, but the industry isn't the most healthy either. Japan, too, is bitching about the increase of costs.
This. There are amazing figures ending up in the bargain bin and that NEVER would have happened before prices went up locally. Japanese collectors can't afford the equivalent of $70-80+ figures when they were paying the equivalent of $25-40 before. Some of the most prolific Japanese toy reviewers have huge gaps in their collections now. Nuu and Shishioh didn't even buy figma Satsuki and they used to buy damn near every figma release. Skipping her is indicative of a huge problem.

Things are BAD. Will Japan survive? Probably but it's not good right now and it's only getting worse. Hell, the only reason Link DX even got the full load out he got at the price he's at is because the global sales will make it possible to make a profit with those smaller profit margins. Other more niche figures are going to cost a fortune comparatively because the global sales won't offset things and this is also the reason for the increase in web shop exclusive parts and figures with various lines.

>>5945774
I'm curious how bad it could get until sales are really suffering.

Or we could just expect more exclusives that rely on the hardcore collectors.

As poorfaggy as this sounds, especially as somebody whose dollar is pretty weak, there's just no way I could buy something that isn't on sale or pre-owned anymore. I'll gladly PO stuff like SHFSS because you kind of need to, but otherwise I'll just wait a few months.

>>5945818
>I'm curious how bad it could get until sales are really suffering.

Well, it was really telling a few months ago when most of the stuff I preordered at hLJ went into deep discounts. Made me more frugal this second half of the year, and its paid off.

>>5945818
>I'm curious how bad it could get until sales are really suffering.
The sales are already suffering and that's why prices continue to go up. The adjustment to factory production costs already happened a while back. The price increases now are a result of less units being sold and so profit margins have to be increased to turn a profit.

Exclusives will become more common because they can sell a figure for full MSRP and don't have to share 50% of the revenue with retailers. They are also made to order so there is no risk of over-production and having to unload tons of stock at deep discount. This is why Bandai has went nuts with exclusives and GSC is starting to make more important accessories into webshop bonuses. They MUST drive people into these web shops to remain profitable.

It's also why SAS prices are getting out of control (see: 7,800 yen for Rohan Ver 3 with barely any stuff) because not enough units are selling and they need to raise prices to stay profitable. Medicos has no web shop and I think they are in very real danger of going of business unless their attempts to move into new lines (RWBY, Tokyo Ghoul, Drifters, Parasyte, Ajin, Baoh, etc) works out for them. Very few are willing to pay $80 for a bare bones JoJo release and if things continue like this we could be seeing $100+ bare bones releases soon for that line.

Finally, we will see much more emphasis on global properties like Nintendo, Star Wars, Marvel, DC and other western friendly properties. They need to drastically increase sales or they are in very real trouble. If Link DX doesn't sell the kind of units they expect it's going to hurt them because they priced him low in order to incentivize collectors to buy him up.

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>tfw you want to cut down on collecting but the only lines you have any passion for are all Japanese products

I want to keep collecting toku stuff, but shit's getting so expensive nowadays. The average MonsterArts figure is like $70-150 and I can't even use Mandarake because the exchange rate and shipping is fucking stabbing me in the thigh.

Why the fuck are Godzilla and Ultraman not fucking Star Wars huge, I want good toys for cheap prices without paying out the ass for shipping.

It's been like this in Australia for a year or so now.
I hate paying $70 for an S.H. Figuarts from HobbyCo. in Sydney but it works out to be about the same with SAL shipping from Amiami.
It's just more convenient to buy in person than waiting 2 weeks.

>>5945999
>The sales are already suffering and that's why prices continue to go up...
That's what my post was in response to.
Majority of your post was just repeating what people have already said, in fact. Good effort post, but really not necessary.
>>5946010
>Why the fuck are Godzilla and Ultraman not fucking Star Wars huge, I want good toys for cheap prices without paying out the ass for shipping
To be fair, Star Wars Figuarts isn't the cheapest stuff either. They're SHFSS priced, depending on the release (and Kamen Rider sells very damn well in Japan as well). Unless you want Black series equivalents for Godzilla (NECA?) and Ultraman stuff.

If there's a reason to want Godzilla and Ultraman to be more popular, it's the increased variety. I want shit like SHMA Baragon, and Ultra-act Zearth and Dark Mephisto, man.

>>5945641
All I'm saying is, you don't just get things for cheaper than where they're made, they'll eventually rise the price in the US too to adjust.

On top of the obvious figure price increases, I'm just so fucking frazzled with the state of shipping costs coming out of Japan. We're at the point where a large group of toys is better off being sent individually/2 per box via RSAL to get the insurance coverage rather than sending everything in one big EMS shipment.

The fuck? Isn't that the point of EMS? That, along with faster delivery time, you also get a good chunk of savings over SAL the closer you get to medium sized boxes? It's going completely backwards now.

>>5946280
There's just almost no savings in shipping several figures together with EMS. As soon as that box gets as big as a Unite Warriors set, the price goes looney toon. I'd ordered 3 peoples' Computrons together thinking we'd save a few bucks but I think that shipping bill was north of $100.

>>5946129
>All I'm saying is, you don't just get things for cheaper than where they're made, they'll eventually rise the price in the US too to adjust.
The prices in the US already reflect Japanese MSRP and there will be no further price adjustment. Local partner shops with GSC are charging Japanese MSRP. Bluefin supplied shops selling Bandai stuff are charging exact Japanese MSRP. BBTS isn't an official partner shop so they charge $10 above MSRP on most figma.

Anime Island is an example of a GSC partner shop, pretty much all the recent pre-orders that have went up are only $3 more than MSRP or less. They have a 10% off pre-order sale going on right now that totally eradicates any savings you'd get using AmiAmi and makes it significantly cheaper than HLJ. Hell, it's $4-6 cheaper than AmiAmi. Figma Shielder would be $56.69 shipped instead of the $60+ it'd cost at AmiAmi.

So what's causing this? Simply put AmiAmi used to have higher discounts on figma at about 23-26% off and have since lowered them to "20% off" but it's actually only 14.7% off. AmiAmi is adding Japanese sales tax to the base cost on the English site to make you think you're getting a better deal knowing full well foreigners don't pay the tax. Those recent Bandai pre-orders listed at 15% off? Yeah, those are only 9.7% off.

>>5946044
I absolutely hate the American-produced Godzilla merchandise because it's so goddamn half-assed. NECA is taking their good-ass time to release the damn things. It's been one Godzilla a year and at that point, you may as well invest in old vinyl figures or SHMA. Plus, Godzilla only which means essentially zero variety.

A Black Series Ultraman line would be fantastic, but the series is dead in America and has been since the end of Tiga.

That's why I started to collect Transformers, they're domestic and usually very easy to buy online or in stores. But, they've essentially tripled in price since I've started and all the better looking toys are, of course, Japanese imports so we're back to square one. I've put about a third of my collection on sales forums but that's a waste of time as well because nobody will buy them unless they're dirt cheap. At that point, it's not even worth the effort.

Toys fucking suck, man. Wish I lived in Japan so I wouldn't have to deal with this shit. Just head down to fucking TRU and pick up an Ultra-Act or SHMA without the shipping hassle or exchange rate.

>>5946280
>>5946287
EMS is only useful up to a certain point. I would say about 7-9 figures is the hard cut off before the prices get stupid as fuck. Here are a few orders of mine to give you an idea:
5 figma, 1 SHF, 3 SAS = 6380 yen for EMS (would cost 6880 yen now)
3 figma, 1 SHF, 3 SAS, 1 HI-METAL R = 6100 yen for EMS (would cost 6600 yen now)
Price comes out to about 710-762 yen per figure which definitely matches SAL. Current pricing it'd be about 764-825 yen per figure, still pretty good. I forget the exact weight of the items but I think it was around 2kg without padding/shipping box factored in. Obviously stuff with huge boxes will fuck you over so this only applies to figures with reasonably sized boxes. Hope that helps some.

>>5946337
The additional 10% off from anime-island is what made it cheaper than amiami. Without it Amiami would still be cheaper since Figma Shielder is $51 before shipping.

at amaiami you will get the figma at least 2 month earlier and no upfront payment needed.

That's just 1 figma at similar pricing but there are many others that amiami is still cheaper.

But at the end of the day just pick and choose which is the cheapest route you would like to use.

I use HLJ, Amiami, Bigbadtoystore, otakumode, etc.

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I just shipped out my PW from HLJ last week. Shipping by EMS cost 9060yen
I'm pretty sure it will cost more getting all these items domestically, there were some big and heavy items too.

>>5946410
I wish you the best of luck. HLJ isn't great with protecting big heavy orders so I will pray for you and hope you don't go through what I did.

>>5946415
it's all good, everything arrived in 3 days without a dent.
you are right, HLJ's normal packaging really is just stack nicely in a box, not like amiami that paper or bubble everything. But I never really had any issue with them, not yet .

>>5946436
Glad to hear it. To be fair it looked like my order was abnormally abused but I still believe had it been shipped from AmiAmi less things would have been damaged by virtue of more padding plus thicker boxes. My biggest gripe with HLJ is when they have ZERO padding between the figures and sides/corners of the shipping box. The toy boxes should never be touching those corners because they're the first thing to get crushed in during shipping. I'm not paying full price to get damaged figure boxes that kill any resale value should I choose to sell something.

We're almost at $1:103Y, so that's... an improvement?

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I thought Mandarake Nakano was supposed to have a deal with DHL.

>>5952685
Holy fuck bruv, what shithole do you live in to get charged that much?

>>5952767
I'm in the US. I've never been charged that much before. I already paid because I'm stupid, but I think I'll email them to see if they made a mistake calculating the shipping costs.

>>5952685
>picking DHL over glorious EMS

>>5952791
I usually use EMS, but Mandarake lied to me!

http://www.mandarake.co.jp/en/information/dhl.html

>>5952806
You trust the Japs? After they dropped an atom bomb on the american navy at the battle of Little Big Horn? You deserve it

>>5952685
Turns out DHL ships by size and not weight, unlike EMS. What a load.

>tfw europoor

Physical retailers ask ridiculous prices, same with online shops.
The yen can go a long way and it'd still be cheaper..

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I found an S.h. figuarts Harley Quinn marked at $165 dollarydoos in Bowral the other day.

>>5946360

Dumbass gaijin. TRU doesn't sell Ultra Act or SHMA. Enjoy your Anpanman vinyl sofubi.

Shit sucks in JP as well now. Full retail + 8% tax = assblasted pricing as well.

>>5958295
TRU in Japan does carry those things.

And I don't get how you think importing figures is cheaper than buying domestically, despite the fact that they have access to much more shit similar Mandarake without needing a middleman, direct stores that offer discounts on the MSRP, Amazon.co.jp, etc.

> Miss out on Jigen.
> Instantly jumped to $100 after release.
> BBTS has him listed at aftermarket for preorder a month late.

Am I just not getting something here?

>>5958385
Yeah, you're never getting Jigen, fucking lol bro I got hard after making that joke

>>5946410

I just got torn up by HLJ in shipping too. It's the Zyuoh whale minipla and it cost just as much as the item to ship. Daylight robbery

>>5958450

Somewhere two drums and a symbol fell out of a tree.

But nah already ordered him for slight markup from a jap shop, I'm just not seeing all this money to be saved by using a shop that scalps imports before release and a month late at that.

I've been slowing down my orders in recent years, at least buying new. I got in to this hobby when $40 shipped was the mid-high end and I'm not really comfortable with where things are going.

I think I may just sell or piece out my collection over the next year and move on to a new hobby.

>>5958385
>buying from bbts

>>5959000

I never believed in bbts shills before but I'm starting to buy it.

>>5959000
>buying jap toys from bbts

Fixed. Every time something that's marked like 40 dollars above amiami sells out just boggles my fucking mind.

>>5959170

Most of the jap shops match their exclusives to aftermarket value after they release for obvious reasons but what bbts is doing is on a whole different level of wallet rape.

>>5959170
6 month pile of loot timeline and ~$5 shipping with at most 10 business days delivery versus 2 month private warehouse timeline and wildly inflated EMS costs/way the fuck slow RSAL (that has barely enough insurance to cover 1 figure, let alone 4+).

HLJ dies in shipping, especially in large orders, if you actually took the time to cost it out beyond the obvious. Doubt anyone wants to send 8+ RSAL packages just to try and price match.

>>5959477
If you're seriously waiting 6 months to ship a toy, you never really wanted it.

>>5959477
Hmm yeah this sounds like a good idea let me check out BBTS
>SHF Jango is $80 before shipping and isn't even in stock yet.

Oh.

Kek of course you patriotic pigfats would love BBTS. Its got everything you Mart-sharters love, Big-ness(gotta be HUEG, not like tiny Nip shit, right?), Bad-ness(ANGRY AS FUCK, just like "Murrican Kirby), and its a Toystore, not a collectible shop, TOYS.

>>5959494
Yeah, as soon as you order one or two more import figures in a two month span, it becomes a joke to use BBTS. Jango cost me a little under $50 at BBTS, plus I bought Black getter(as in the one in the OP), some tamashii stands, TF LEgends Blurr, and a figma or two. The shipping was only about $32, about what it'd cost me to get Jango alone, not even factoring shipping, from BBTS.

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>>5959494
Okay. I put 6 of the first in-stock figmas I could find into a BBTS cart, all of which are higher cost than on HLJ. Pic related.
>product total: $378.69
>shit shipping (5-10 business days): $6.00
>Fed-Ex Ground (3-5 business days): $9.74
>Total: $384.69 or $388.43

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>>5959506
Forgive me on the last post, Link is basically identical priced.

Now for HLJ.
>product total: 44814 JPY ($435.41 USD according to HLJ)
>shit shipping: n/a
>EMS (2-7 business days): 4820 JPY ($46.83 according to HLJ)
>Total: 5255.41 JPY, or $49634

This isn't me spurging, this is me being upset at the state of things. All this means is that everything I collect is fucked so bad that BBT fucking S is now the cheapest route.

>>5959494
They certainly got the BAD oart of their name correct, right fellas!?

>>5959509
Wait, I fucked up, I had 2 Hulks in the HLJ cart, I'm an idiot, and an honest idiot at that. Subtract 11111 JPY from that total.

>33703 JPY ($327.46) + 4260 ($41.39) = 37962 JPY ($368.85)

HLJ wins by $16, however, the EMS insurance coverage is about $100 less than the total item price. Feel free to moc becausek I deserve it for the oversight, but a measly $16 difference between the two should be a wake up call to how fucked we are.

>>5959522
>>5959509
>>5959506

Yen's fucked, Japan's exporting is fucked. Suck it, importers, it's now better to just buy from someone who did all the work for you.

>>5959522

There's no reason for even that little of a difference if you factor in time plus EMS is essentially international next-day, literally 2-3 days on the east coast so it's pretty nutso that the premium cost doesn't make a larger difference.

Do a comparison again but with exclusive with a $50 markup and you'll see even worse results though.

The problem is since you have to do these types of comparisons with every thing since there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason, making bbts pretty unreliable and a lousy choice for imports.

>>5959522

Wow so even after nearly a $50 shipping fee the domestic shop is still more expensive for literally no reason.

>>5959530
Like I said in my autismo posts, who we are getting it from isn't the issue. The issue is that we even are having this discussion and now people can unironically say BBTS might be a good option for imports. Especially when you plan out the long term and save even more by having 6 month purchases in your shipments. Each 2 month large shipment from HLJ is going to be $40, whereas BBTS will always win on shipping and it can be spread over 6 months.

>>5959533
See comment above. It sucks shit that they're roughly equaling out the same, and that the math proves it. At this point I'm feeling upset that they're even in the same league, shit's massively fucked and who knows when it will get better.

>>5959539
Considering the fact that all of BBTS's items are already imported in once by them and they still make a profit on wildly inflated costs, it's troubling that it's only a measly $16 difference. This isn't something to come away with happy or make a smug comment over, it's something that should wake you up.

>>5959546

Even with in-stock and non-scalped comparisons bbts looks like shit. No smugness here anon you did good.

>>5959494
This, what some of you don't seem to realize is that BBTS has to import these things the same way we do. If a stronger yen raises prices for us it raises prices for them too.

>>5959572

The shills abandoned this thread pretty hard already.

>>5959581
Can't say I blame them. It's pretty clear cut and indefensible.

>>5959509
your calculations is does not work since that's not how people buy their stuff. They don't just buy the first 6 in stock items. The Nurse was onsale on HLJ and many stores many times for arond 2500 yen. Angela Balzac was recently on sale for around 3600 yen. Even the Hulk was on sale for 9999. So if you factor those in then you'll save over $50 by getting them from HLJ instead of BBTS. And for any preorder stuff you will get them months earlier at any import store.

you can save much more than $16 when you get them from japan. It also depends on what you are buying along with size and weight. If there's us distribution then you can normally get it in the US for around the same or cheaper, but then you have to wait 2 to 3 months more. There' are stuff I buy in the US and stuff i buy from japan.

I just ordered a GFF Metal composite Unicorn Gundam Final war version for 15,000 and EMS shipping is 4100. total 19100 yen ($185.34)

BBTS has it for $244 before shipping , and it's not even in stock yet.

But on the other hand BBTS has 3 of the other metal composite on clearance, so for these it's cheaper in the USA than japan.

-GFF Metal Composite Banshee Norn-$134.99

-GFF Metal Composite - Unicorn Gundam Destroy Mode - $127.89

-Gundam Fix Figuration Metal Composite RX-0 Banshee $123.11

So at the end of the day you shop around like what you always do.

>>5959791
>They don't just buy the first 6 in stock items
It was an example, BBTS has limited supply of imports compared to HLJ so I just grabbed the first figmas that were in stock on both BBTS's listings and HLJ's. And using special sale prices is disingenuous because it's not a consistent price. It's like using BST thread prices to judge the value of domestic figures.

>>5960368
How can you not factor in sales prices from the store , especially the sale lasted weeks ended on 09-30-16. Hlj have sales pretty offen so does AmiAmi. If you want only consistent price then the only way to do that is msrp only , no preorder discount , no sale discount, no clearance discount .
If you are going to do that and then toss some random figures then what's the point . Are you telling me you don't buy toys when it's in SALE? That's when tons of stuff get brought . Do you like paying late comers tax for sold out toys ?
every person shops around, and some can take a good guess on what needed to be preorder and what can wait for sales . Shop smart .

You don't use BST to judge the value because it's a private sale.

>>5960413

So basically

> It's becoming cheaper to buy from domestic online retailers than import shops... except when it's not, usually never.

>>5960413
>How can you not factor in sales prices from the store
Because it's disingenuous. If something is X price for 46 weeks out of the year, why would you consider Y price that last for 4 weeks the going value? It's idiotic, especially because as soon as that 4 week period is over, they go back to X price. Does that mean EVERYTHING on HLJ is a ripoff, until it goes on massive sale? You can't really spin it in a favorable light.

>>5961008
Don't need no spinning , even with your 6 figure example , when it's normal Hlj price you will still save $16 . And if you get it when it's on sale you will save around $50. . Either way it's cheaper than getting it here domestically.

>whole argument starts up again when I proved definitively earlier in the thread that AmiAmi is cheaper than HLJ and HLJ is cheaper than BBTS except in cases where BBTS is getting things at MSRP in which case they match AmiAmi but never go lower
Do some of you just choose not to read the thread or what? Obviously if you're utilizing sales at any of these sites it will change the outcome. Also those who order much less will probably save money at BBTS by virtue of being able to hold 180 days worth of items vs 60 days at HLJ and 30-ish days at AmiAmi.

>>5961174

Because that gets away from the original premise of it supposedly being cheaper to order imports at domestic shops a bit.

I'm sure you can make everything cheaper by reducing your shipments to twice a year.