Cheapest place to buy manga?

orphicblue

orphicblue

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Anyone care to recommend a cheap place to acquire some manga? Overstock.com seems to have some good prices but I was wondering if anyone might have seen somewhere else.

Thanks in advance, gang!
 
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hmm..I know this is an old thread, but has anyone ordered from alphacraze lately? It looks like they disappeared off yahoo. I was hoping to get more stuff.

I noticed they still have their amazon zshop, but the prices are higher. That kinda sucks...I don't think I"ll be able to get used to paying full price for manga again.
 
I didn't see alphacraze on yahoo when I checked recently, their website is dead as well.

I might try ordering off Right Stuf, but I think I remember hearing they are slow? I'm looking for Psychic Academy (vols 6+) and Iron Wok Jan (vols 10+). If anyone knows of good deals on those, I'd appreciate it.
 
Alphacraze is still there, just search by ISBN# (as most books arent listed by the series title). They have Psychic Academy 6-11, great series, ending was sad though...

Animenation.com has all their pre-owned manga marked down to $3.99. They're a good company, books have always been in great condition with at most a bent corner. Unfortunately someone bought all the Berserk manga (for $3.99 instead of $14.95retail/$7.53alphacraze would've been a deal...)

http://www.animenation.com/pre-owned.html
 
[quote name='Bezerker']Alphacraze is still there, just search by ISBN# (as most books arent listed by the series title). They have Psychic Academy 6-11, great series, ending was sad though...

Animenation.com has all their pre-owned manga marked down to $3.99. They're a good company, books have always been in great condition with at most a bent corner. Unfortunately someone bought all the Berserk manga (for $3.99 instead of $14.95retail/$7.53alphacraze would've been a deal...)

http://www.animenation.com/pre-owned.html[/QUOTE]

I got a couple used manga from them before that had pages ripped out and were written in so I'm not too trust worthy of them. I didn't bother sending back either because damn, their shipping makes it not worth it anyway. Unless you're blowing $100 at once. :/
 
I just opt for Borders... aside from Coupons, if you sign for the free Rewards thingy, 5% of your totals gets set aside as free money during the holidays.

So, my manga is going to buy someone's Christmas present... kewl.:D
 
[quote name='Koshiba']I got a couple used manga from them before that had pages ripped out and were written in so I'm not too trust worthy of them. I didn't bother sending back either because damn, their shipping makes it not worth it anyway. Unless you're blowing $100 at once. :/[/quote]

Jeez. They're local to tampa, from what ive seen they usually never buy anything thats messed up like that. I guess they werent paying attention. Maybe ill go heckle em tomorrow for ya :p.

Borders buy 3 get 1 free sale is still no match for Alphacraze. Only thing it'd be good for is the books you cant get off of Yahoo Shopping.
 
3 get 1 free borders kinda sucks. But I don't know about Alphacraze.

Dreamlandcomics is pretty good though. Just about all the Manga is 30% off the retail price, little bit more for pre-orders. Then free shipping for orders over $30 i think.
 
Ordered 1-12 of Rurouni Kenshin from Alphacraze (except for 5, since the isbn had an X). $3.81 a book and $0.99 shipping for the whole order. Now I know what's going to be killing my wallet for awhile.
 
[quote name='mkg12']3 get 1 free borders kinda sucks. But I don't know about Alphacraze.

Dreamlandcomics is pretty good though. Just about all the Manga is 30% off the retail price, little bit more for pre-orders. Then free shipping for orders over $30 i think.[/quote]

Ive heard a lot of bad things about Dreamland (also you can read some more bad things in the first few pages of this thread). Supposedly some ppl dont hear anything for two months before their orders are received. Their prices are also more expensive than Alphacraze.

Basically all $7.95 retail (Shonen Jump) is $3.81, $9.95 retail (Tokyopop, most other manga) is $4.79, and $14.95 (Dark Horse) is $7.53. Their shipping prices are low, usually $1 for every 10-15 books you order.

The catch is that they dont have a storefront, so you have to search on Yahoo Shopping, which isnt the most "bug free" system ive seen. Not all the books are listed under the series name and sometimes the search result says the wrong book, but when you click that item it comes up with the correct one. Best bet would be to go to Barnesandnoble.com, search for the books you want, then copy down the ISBN #s and search them on Yahoo Shopping.

Also, the titles in your shopping cart will say something generic (I think a few of the Naruto ones say just "Naruto", and a couple kenshins say "do you still bear the scar"). Dont worry, the books are pulled by ISBN# and not title.

Its a bit of a nuisance at times (especially if you come accross a book with an X in the ISBN >
 
[quote name='Bezerker']Jeez. They're local to tampa, from what ive seen they usually never buy anything thats messed up like that. I guess they werent paying attention. Maybe ill go heckle em tomorrow for ya :p.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it was a bad experience I guess. :( I was really disappointed and I've been afraid to order from them since. But like I said, $100 for free shipping.. I'd prefer it be $50 or something. Ah well. Alphacraze I've had good experiences with so far though.
 
 
So no one has had any serious problems with Alphacraze? I've been waiting for the downside to getting >50% off but there doesn't seem to be one.
 
[quote name='pete5883']So no one has had any serious problems with Alphacraze? I've been waiting for the downside to getting >50% off but there doesn't seem to be one.[/QUOTE]

Biggest problem it seems is the one just mentioned above is that sometimes they dont have in stock what you ordered and sometimes they charge you first.

It seems most of the problems I've read with them are all from a few years ago.
 
[quote name='evophile']Biggest problem it seems is the one just mentioned above is that sometimes they dont have in stock what you ordered and sometimes they charge you first.

It seems most of the problems I've read with them are all from a few years ago.[/QUOTE]


Personally I have used alphacraze 10+ times since I heard about them via Berzerker,and they are great. I have never been charged for a book that was out of stock, they were quick on emails for questions I had and I only had one order where a book was not in stock and they let me know before the others shipped and only charged me for what was shipped. I can't say enough about them, the only draw back I had was they sometimes get books later than other places (ie: Negima 9,everyone had it at the beginning of March, and alpha didnt get it until the end of march) but for the money saved I can wait a bit anyways. So it's no big deal.

Dreamland however is a friggin joke, I had to file two paypal complaints againts them for orders they never shipped and also for never responding to my emails and not picking up the phone. I used em twice before and never had a problem, but the last two times were hell. I will never use them again. Alpha is the way to go for me, they have saved me a huge chuck of change and I also use em for artbooks and also marvel,DC graphic novels too.
 
Yea, the only "problem" i've ever had with them is when they ship my books seperately, a couple of times, i received 90% of my order on one day, then the rest didnt come til a few days later. But when i asked about it, they said that they have multiple warehouses (5 total, i only know of the CT & GA locations). Which does explain it, as it'd take a lot less for GA to FL then CT to FL.

Some of the ISBN's with X's that were coming back as the wrong item have started to be fixed, Blame #3 and Genshiken #5 work now, but Ruroni Kenshin #5 still comes back as something else >
 
You guys are extremely lucky.
EVERY order I placed at alphacraze has been cancelled, and I've placed at least 5 orders.
I've tried to buy many different manga, but they're always out of stock.
Only one order ever showed up, but that was after it was already cancelled and I ordered the books elsewhere, so that was useless.
They have 5 warehouses but they always run out of stock anyway? Give me a break.
Dreamland sucks too. I placed an order there a few months back and it took well over a month to get here,
with no communication after several e-mails.
I'll use alldirect for now, at least they send me what I order, and they do it quick.
 
I finally just placed my first order with AlphaCraze (on Sunday) and everything shipped today.

Order Date: 7/24/2006 Shipping Method: USPS Standard Estimated Delivery: Est. 4 - 18 Business Days

Order Status Ship Qty Order Qty Tracking # Product Title Item # Price
spacer.gif
Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Rurouni Kenshin 1591165636 $3.89 Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Kingdom Hearts 1598162195 $2.93 Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Rurouni Kenshin 1591166691 $3.89 Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Rurouni Kenshin 1591167035 $3.89 Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Rurouni Kenshin 1591167094 $3.89 Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Rurouni Kenshin 1591167124 $3.89 Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Rurouni Kenshin 1591167132 $3.89 Shipped:
7/25/2006 1:05:00 AM 1 1 No Tracking # Rurouni Kenshin 1591167671 $3.89
Click to expand...
 
-I made an order Monday(7/24) for 7 books.
-Choose media mail shipping.
-Didn't get any any e-mails after the initial one, which is fine with me. You can go to their site to and type in your order# to check the status.
-6 of the 7 books arrived today(7/28)(4 days after I placed my order).
-That was pretty damned fast. I will be ordering a lot more from them, that's for sure.
 
After ordering from Alphacraze for months they have finally started to f$%k things up. Their return service is terrible. About 3 weeks ago I sent in 2 books separately for a refund because I ordered the wrong volumes. I made sure to get Delivery confirmation. A couple weeks go by and I get no responce. So I decide to email them and thier customer service is pretty clueless.

I was told that the packages I sent in weren't there. WTF wait a minute. I then checked the DC and saw that one of the packages was delivered on the 15 of this month. I tried calling but they never answer. I emailed again with a little more "force" in my "voice" stating that I can prove they received one of the books and they can't prove they didn't receive anything. DC is my proof. It says something was delivered so something had to be received from me to them.

Damn it. I loved alphacraze. I'm pissed. I wish I knew what could have happened. Someone probably didn't check in my return or somethin n00bish like that.
 
alphacraze.com

But you cant order anything from their website, you gotta go through Yahoo shopping.

Gamehead - They supposedly have 5 warehouses, did you send it to their corporate office? Though i guess if they gave you the address to ship it to, they'd be expecting it...
 
[quote name='Bezerker']alphacraze.com

But you cant order anything from their website, you gotta go through Yahoo shopping.

Gamehead - They supposedly have 5 warehouses, did you send it to their corporate office? Though i guess if they gave you the address to ship it to, they'd be expecting it...[/QUOTE]

Yeah I know that, what I'm saying is, going to yahoo shopping and looking up "Alpha Craze" under "Shop by Store" results in nothing. Same with "Alpha", "Craze", "manga'", etc..

Which is why a link would be appreciated :D
 
[quote name='Cth']Yeah I know that, what I'm saying is, going to yahoo shopping and looking up "Alpha Craze" under "Shop by Store" results in nothing. Same with "Alpha", "Craze", "manga'", etc..

Which is why a link would be appreciated :D[/QUOTE]

Well part of the problem with them is there really is no link other than that...

You just have to search for what you want...do a comparison shop and if alphacraze has it they will show up in the list of vendors, usually at the cheapest price too.
 
The best way to find what they sell is to get the ISBN number for the manga (off Amazon, etc.) and search for the books that way.

(On occastion, the ISBN number search goes a bit wonky, like with Hellsing volume 1. Also, yahoo's setup is screwy, so make sure you're ordering the right item.)

You'll usually get a "compare prices" listing after the search, and then buy the item from alphacrazeshopping.

Which reminds me, I need to order some more soon... :)
 
[quote name='Callandor']The best way to find what they sell is to get the ISBN number for the manga (off Amazon, etc.) and search for the books that way.

(On occastion, the ISBN number search goes a bit wonky, like with Hellsing volume 1. Also, yahoo's setup is screwy, so make sure you're ordering the right item.)

You'll usually get a "compare prices" listing after the search, and then buy the item from alphacrazeshopping.

Which reminds me, I need to order some more soon... :)[/QUOTE]

How long has it usually taken alphacraze to get new releases? I always remember them being pretty timely, but they still havent got any of the new releases from July.
 
[quote name='Bezerker']alphacraze.com

But you cant order anything from their website, you gotta go through Yahoo shopping.

Gamehead - They supposedly have 5 warehouses, did you send it to their corporate office? Though i guess if they gave you the address to ship it to, they'd be expecting it...[/QUOTE]

I returned the packages to the returns address listed in the invoice. I checked their website and it said that RMA#s were not necessary.
 
I guess it isn't a problem anymore. After pestering them enough they have finally caved. I'll get a refund by the end of the week. But I am still confused how all this could happen. I did everythign right.

I still plan to do business with alphacraze. They have the best deals on most mangas and graphic novels.
 
[quote name='evophile']Well part of the problem with them is there really is no link other than that...

You just have to search for what you want...do a comparison shop and if alphacraze has it they will show up in the list of vendors, usually at the cheapest price too.[/QUOTE]

Ahh ok, thanks for the info, makes sense now :D
 
[quote name='evophile']How long has it usually taken alphacraze to get new releases? I always remember them being pretty timely, but they still havent got any of the new releases from July.[/QUOTE]

I usually wait a little over a month. They have never been really prompt for new manga released in my experience.
 
Yea, for some reason i cant find any of the more "popular" july releases. But they seem to have the new Fruits Basket (which is dated for August 2006)...
 
I just placed my first order on Friday and they shipped this morning (at 1:05 AM?) Do they ever give tracking information?
 
[quote name='pete5883']I just placed my first order on Friday and they shipped this morning (at 1:05 AM?) Do they ever give tracking information?[/QUOTE]

They have never given me any tracking information and lately I didn't always get ship confirmations. But it isn't anything to worry about.
 
wow after receiving my books, which was a month ago...
alphacraze just sent me a bunch of confirmation emails yesterday saying they were shipped...
interesting...
 
Made another order on 8/1 for 11 books shipped Media. Recieved 9 of the 11 on 8/4. All in mint condition. Another good experience with AlphaCraze.
 
Quick questions. How are you guys getting free shipping with Alphacraze?

And where are you guys getting these Borders coupons? And is the buy3get1free sale store and online? Or store only or online only?
 
[quote name='mkg12']I am not getting free shipping. I get Media Mail shipping, which seems like a flat rate of $1.29 for an order.[/QUOTE]

they haven't had free shipping for quite a long time. it was 50 cents for awhile after that...now its 1.29, which is still realy ass cheap and really fast considering its media mail
 
Bah. Alphacraze is starting to go through shady business practices with me. As I mentioned earlier I was supposed to get a refund as stated in a email I received from them, but I haven't. Its been two weeks since that and I haven't received anything. I have sent multiple emails and no responce. I also called but the number doesn't work anymore :whistle2:(. All this ish over two books is such a hassle.
 
Hopefully they are out of business. Motherfuckers still owe me $20ish dollars for a return I made during the summer. I got ignored soI have stiooed shopping from them.
 
I just placed my first order from dollarmanga.com, and thought I would post here since I read about the site in this thread. Has anyone else found any cheap places to buy manga online that haven't been mentioned yet? I wasn't crazy about AlphaCraze's site, so I haven't ordered anything from there (plus the horror story outlined earlier here).
 
It looks like Alphacraze actually has a storefront now. Prices seem to have been lowered, not sure about shipping.

Most Shonen Jump titles are anywhere from $3.50-$3.91. Not too shabby.
 
Anyone order from AlphaCraze lately? If so, are they still good? I have ordered from them a couple times, but have not used the storefront.
 
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