Amazon charges stupidly crazy shipping prices for international shipping. Buying Twinkle Saber Nova 1-3 would have cost 70 dollars... 30 for the books, and 40 for the shipping! There had to be another way. But no other seller online had Nova. This was going to be tough.
I discovered this place online called Sasuga Bookstore. They're an online shop with all sorts of manga imported from Japan. They have two key features: 1. Free International Shipping on orders over 40 dollars. 2. If they don't have the item you want, find the ISBN and they'll order it for you.
I was a little skeptical, trying a new online store and all, but I decided to try it. They provided a website to look up ISBN's at, I found the ones for Twinkle Saber Nova 1-3, and wrote them an email requesting a special order with the ISBNs. They wrote back with links to add to the site shopping cart. I decided to get one more book while I was it, and bought a Japanese Onomatopoeia book. Because... everyone knows my onomatopoeia in Japanese stinks. I need as much reference as I can to translate manga.
Order date: September 29, 2009 (replied with links within a few hours of my email!)
Arrival Date: October 13, 2009
Total time: ~2 weeks.
Order total: ~$70 (free shipping, Nova 1-3 plus a 19 dollar book)
Today, October 13, I recieved all 4 books. Only a 2 week wait, and that included the time they needed to order the books in Japan, and the time needed to ship to me. Not bad at all, I say.
Despite all this, there was only one thing about the order I didn't like.
While their shipping is free, their special orders cost some extra dollars. Nova is about 1000 yen a volume, so I didn't expect to pay 17 dollars a volume. But still, The total was still cheaper than Amazon's shipping. I still ended up paying 70 dollars, but I got a 19 dollar book in the process and ended up getting more of my money's value in the end.
Buying Nova from Sasuga saved me ~20 dollars more than buying from Amazon. ~$50 as opposed to ~$70.
In the end: Sasuga is great. They reply fast, and tell you when your order ships. They'll get you anything you want as long as it's on sale in Japan and give you free shipping... if you don't mind shelling out a few extra dollars.
4 tacos out of 5 due to extra charges.
Sasuga Bookstore Rating:
