Recently I purchased 6 volumes from them, as I saw they were having a sale on death note and vagabond. Being that I wanted to get into vagabond and needed to round off my death note collection, I ended up getting about $85 worth of stuff for $50. But after looking at some reviews online, it seems like they're really a mixed bag. Either people get their stuff in good condition with reasonable shipping, or it's some horror story of right stuf ripping off the customer or making it very hard to return a damaged product. Personally I'm not someone to return some manga over it having a dog ear or something minor, but I would still like it to be in good condition.
Whats your thoughts on right stuf and of they're trustworthy? I have optimism that it will come in good shape, but I've been put on edge a bit by the large amount of bad reviews. I prefer rightstuf because their packaging is better, and they have really good sales on manga and light novels a lot of the time. But I only order when I'm making a big Order from them because you have to spend $50 to get free shipping if you are in the US. They have weekly publisher sales that are pretty good.
I made like a $70 order during their last seven seas sale. I had a figure arrive with paint issues right out of the box from rightstuf. I waited over two weeks for them to tell me there was nothing they could do (not even an exchange- I didn't expect a refund). Luckily I had contacted the manufacturer at the same time as rightstuf and received a replacement through them. In contrast, I ordered a figure from Big Bad Toy Store not too long ago, and there was paint issues on it.
I contacted customer service and they sent me a free Fedex shipping label to send it back immediately and sent out a new figure after confirmation that my return shipped. Lesson learned, never order figures from rightstuf, they don't care about you. Do another quick Google search yourself just to ease your worries. I have done multiple orders through them and they are very professional and package stuff very carefully, I'm certain they know how particular people can be with conditions. Crunchyroll's and Funimation's stores are glitchy and not very good, in Funimation's case, terrible customer service in my experience. On a few orders I needed to call rightstufanime to change something and I got to talk to a real person who helped me.
They do a lot of sales and you can get stuff for super super cheap. I've made a fair amount of orders with them and I'd say their work is pretty good. Their customer service is responsive and friendly. The main issues I've found are their return policy, which puts the cost of replacing defective items on the customer since they don't provide return shipping labels. They package things very well, but they also ship out defective products which defeats the purpose of that top tier packing since it's still going to arrived damaged.
It's not necessarily their fault the item is damaged, but it's most certainly their fault for shipping it out. All in all I still order from them, but have definitely received a number of LE blu ray sets where the boxes were damaged but not enough to be worth the hassle of returning, which is disappointing. The Anime Corner is your original Anime Super Store online! No clubs to join and no gimmicks to sift though - just a source you can trust for all of your anime needs. You might read that and think, "But the target audience is familiar with light novels," and you'd have a point.
Light novel readers tend to be anime fans, and anime has been widely available internationally for decades. For the past half-decade, hundreds of light novel volumes have been getting published in English every year. At this point, the market has matured enough that the core audience doesn't need content alterations or hand-holding from publishers in order to pick up a translated light novel.
I've had experiences of larger orders from rightstuf being damaged through transit. However, I'm sure this is the case for most if not all distributors. Depending where you live, you'll probably get your package within a week. Their warehouse is based in Iowa, and being from the mid-west, I usually get my package within 3 days (that is if I order on a Sunday/Monday). Though I have found some individual volumes cheaper on other sites, even with a discount code and membership.
I love Nakama Toys particularly because they are anime fans themselves and they have great customer service. In addition to the many different types of anime figures they have available, they also have a selection of Gunpla. I think most who frequent this subreddit probably already know how I feel about RightStuf - I think they have a horrible business model and I will go out of my way now to not do business with them. They do have some of the the best prices, website is one of the best, the packaging is generally good, but I just cannot get over the horrible customer service. I think this is something that most people don't realize until they experience it first hand. I dont get why people have issues with their customer service.
I have returned a few items, and never had any issue. Ive been buying from rightstuf for like 5 years or so. When I first started ordering from RightStuf I'd agree with you about the packaging, but once I had an issue with an order despite their packaging I realized the flaw of their model in dealing with customer service. Certainly people have issues with the constant returns, but at least for me its so dang easy to return it and an acceptable amount of time it arrives just fine I'd rather go with Amazon or B&N.
While they generally package things well, that is only if you buy a few volumes at a time. If you start buying 10+ volumes at a time prepare for progressively worse packaging. This is the theme of rightstuf - everything is backwards. If you buy a few volumes, they will individually wrap all the volumes.
If you spend more money and buy 15+ volumes, they will just dump all 10-15+ in a box and call it a day. Shouldn't they want to please people who buy a lot of volumes just the same as people who buy a few at a time? Nope, the more you buy, the worse the packaging. They immediately froze three orders and indefinitely blocked my account. It's utter horseshit how they won't take responsibility for when they do ship crap, or even when its damaged in shipping.
As Kleckner has said in an AMA, they can't really do loss-leads like Amazon and B&N , so from that I gather they ensure they have consistent profits year-to-year by cutting out the wild card that is customer service. I first heard of Galactic Toys at a con in the Midwest, and was excited to discover their booth. I've since bought from them on many occasions online and have had a positive experience when dealing with their customer service, in addition to the quality of their shipping. When I first began collecting, I had no clue where to begin.
I didn't know where to buy authentic anime figures in the U.S., let alone what sites I could trust. Since I figured there are people out there with the same questions I had when getting started, I decided to make a complete guide to buying anime figures. I'm going to second the vote for reading the light novel. Taking the source away though, the anime looks ugly, they've given me no reason to care about the characters, and honestly it is just not good.
I have no idea how they plan to tell the rest of the story given they didn't bother with any of the foundation work that would be needed to build from but I'll watch it through and just see where this ends up. Sketchy, severely understaffed, pretty bad customer service, but has officially licensed merchandise and that does actually make a huge difference, cause it does show legitimacy. I bought a few things from there and always had a smooth enough experience. If you want to save money on manga and you are buying in bulk, order from rightstufanime. I consider myself to be a patient individual and I am willing to wait for back ordered items, so the amount of time it takes to reach my door doesn't bother me one bit.
I've even had orders come in days earlier than expected. The books are always packaged safely and are 99% of the time in very good condition. If you expect Amazon levels of quickness, maybe you should order from them, but it will cost you. Rightstuf is a top notch company to deal with and their packaging is the best.
That being said their figures are pricey and exempt from the free shipping, the shipping is also pretty absurd (the scale I bought from them was $30 shipping). It's cheaper to order from a Japanese seller with 3-4 day ems shipping then it is to order from rightstuf and you'll get the figure a couple months sooner. I order all the time from Right Stuf, thought for Blurays and DVDs. Their packaging is top-notch but their shipping prices have a lot to be desire. All figures on Right Stuf are exempt from their free shipping over $49 policy, so you are paying $15-$25 shipping per figure. I use Crunchyroll when buying figures in the USA, and I use their free shipping over $75 coupon, SHINJI75.
One positive is that, from my experience, they have some of the lowest prices available. They are constantly running sales and you can stay up to date on them easily if you sign-up for their email list. Their selection is also pretty vast with everything from PVC scale figures to Nendoroids, along with a variety of other anime-related products, merch, and manga. If you don't meet the free shipping threshold, shipping varies depending on the region you are from in the U.S. as well as the amount/weight of the items you are shipping. For instance, I live in the Midwest and shipping for one manga volume would cost me $4.99, whereas something like the Izuku Midoriya King of Artist Ver My Hero Academia Prize Figure was going to cost me $9.03.
Normally I wouldn't take a risk but so many people gave this site positive reviews that I wanted to try. I was so surprised at how well my order was put together, how clean each book was, and the selection available to me. I was able to get books that would cost me $300 in total for $110.
And they were good books, none of them one offs either. I was so impressed by the quality that I immediately placed a new order right away for more, and they gave me a coupon. Now the waiting is long, but it's worth the savings. I think RSA is going to be getting a lot of my business going forward. Just like similar reviews as soon as PayPal found in my favor, RightStuf quickly moved to ban my account.
If only they showed as much enthusiasm in helping their customers? No sense supporting a business that doesn't exist anymore. I'll miss you RightStuf for what you were but certainly not what you are now.
Great customer service is at the heart of customer loyalty but clearly you no longer care. I used to buy my anime VHS tapes from this site, that's how long I've been a dedicated customer. I've only ever had 1 problem with shipping, when a Tenchi Universe box set I bought never arrived. Customer service had a replacement shipped out and at my doorstep within a week.
Sadly the great company that existed back then is no more. The surcharge is to make up for the dimensional weight. I have to keep the lights on, and sending you a 1 lb figure that I pay 12lbs of freight on eats up what little margin I have in the product.
And you would only see the surcharge on items that would be dimensionally weighted. A book or DVD would not have this surcharge, and it would only be if the dim weight applies, which on small figures often doesn't happen. This is generally only an issue in larger figures. They are my go-to manga place and have been for the past 4ish years.
If you buy out of stock manga, you may wait weeks/months for your order to be restocked. There has been slow restock times due to COVID. Rightstuf only ships when all of your items are in stock. They do however put your item on the side and reserve it for you as items are restocked. They may also do partial shipments at their discretion.
Shipping can get pricey if you spend less than $75. I've also heard that if you get damaged manga from them, you would have to pay for the shipping to send it back. I haven't had to do this before as I've been extremely lucky so far.
I've bought exactly one book from them that got lost in the mail. It did eventually arrive and in absolutely stellar condition, but the customer service reps I talked to about a possible refund/exchange were the most dismissive I've ever had to deal with. I'm glad the book did show up, cause given everyone else's experiences, I doubt they'd be very accomodating if it was gone for good.
I also use Amazon and I don't have issues with books coming to me in bad condition, though others do. The positive about this though is you can always ask for an exchange and read the damaged book in the meantime. I've done this one or twice with books but only because one was sliced through and the other was just gashed too deeply and was insanely noticeable. A subreddit for figures from anime and related Japanese productions. Share your collections, post news, and ask questions about the hobby.
Perhaps the biggest positive, however, is that it is easy to cancel if you decide you no longer want an item or made a hasty purchase. You can do so directly in your account with the click of a button instead of having to reach out to a customer service email, like you do when cancelling from sites like Crunchyroll. One caveat however, is that in-stock item cancellations will go onto your account as a BBTS credit, so keep that in mind when doing so. BigBadToyStore has been a go to for me when it comes to buying anime figures. They have items that places less commonly sell, like World Collectable Figures (WCF's) and high-end anime statues, like those from Figurama and Prime 1 Studio.
As concerning as this incident is, I want to emphasize that it does not necessarily reflect a broader trend of censorship within the light novel publishing sector. Seven Seas is primarily a manga publisher, and this case stood out because it's relatively rare these days for manga and light novels to get altered to such a degree. Light novel fans tend to be very particular about that last point. Most light novels with a fan translation have a vocal fanbase that swears by the fan translation over the official one. For example, fans of The Irregular at Magic High School were aghast that the Yen Press translation doesn't keep "Onii-sama" (Miyuki's adoring way of referring to her older brother Tatsuya). Similarly, Overlord fans have a laundry list of complaints regarding terminology translation choices that differ from the fan translation.
