Week 100 Update: Buying from RightStuf and Amazon US

My university holidays ends this week, which is kinda disappointing, but what can you do? All I can do is just try my hardest and persevere until the next holiday so I can't wait for the next holiday. Anyway, I recently bought some manga from Rightstuf and Amazon since there was a big special. 

Amazon Australia had an Amazon Prime exclusive where there was no requirement for free expedited shipping from the Amazon US store, so I just used my Amazon Prime trial to try it. Amazon Prime usually only offers Free Standard Shipping if you spend at least $49 for Aussie customers, and expedited shipping is a bit faster than this, which is a plus. However, I'm not sure whether the packaging type changes depending on the shipping option, but I got an e-parcel (paper document parcel with bubble wrap layer inside), instead of the usual cardboard packaging that I got last time. Maybe this was due to what I ordered this time compared to last time, but a cardboard packaging would have been better in my opinion (I can recycle the cardboard and the books can't move in the cardboard packaging, whereas the books in the paper document parcel packaging does move around slightly). Nevertheless, my books came in undamaged and it came within the period they advertised it (Probably would have been faster if it wasn't handled by Australian Post when it arrived here). 

As an Australian, shipping prices are ridiculous when buying from overseas, so I usually shied away from American stores that sell manga like RightStuf and Barnes & Noble, even though they got amazing sales. Not only that, but most of these stores do business in USD, and with how weak the Aussie Dollar is right now, it makes buying from overseas even worse. However, RightStuf's birthday sale had some amazing deals and I ordered some sweet goods with Fedex International Delivery. The shipping was expensive, but I made some savings and I get to experience how RightStuf is like. The box was pretty damaged when it came, but the content inside was safe due to protection from the amazing packaging. What's better is that all their packaging was recyclable (NICE!). 

The buying guide that I talked about long time is still in the works. I did a bit during the holidays (it's about 25% done), but I'm thinking of making it as a short guide to tell you where to buy, and I also make another more in-depth guide about my analysis of other stores that sell Manga that Australians can buy from. 

Anyway, I wrote a longer than usual weekly update, but that was because I wanted to share a brief recount of my experience of buying manga from overseas, so that local Australians can explore and compare options to get the most bang for their buck. Furthermore, it's the 100th post and it's almost coming to the 2nd year anniversary of my blog, so I look forward to keeping this blog going.