Big piece of advice when importing into the uk do not mark anything as a GIFT, sadly the uk import threshold for gifts is only £39 as it hasn't been upped in years so by marking it as a gift you woul expose yourself to a higher amount of fees. But great video as always! The reason using amiami points to adjust the price doesn't work is the parcel needs to be insured to full value so you could claim money back if anything went wrong. Also try using Solaris on certain figures as their import slider at checkout can adjust the package value!
Also no alcohol, no take out including coffee, no driving when you don't need to, no eating out all the time, no subscriptions, cheapest phone plan, list goes on. You don't have to avoid spending any money, you just have to give yourself a budget and not do it all. I abide by the things I listed off, but I also spent $1500 on figures and vintage games during my Japan trip at the start of the year, and will do it again before the year ends. Weigh your joys in life.
Thanks! Great advice! I'd also add that, and this might only apply to US shoppers, but Good Smile US has amazing labor day sales, like 40% off on so many really incredible figures. In general though, AmiAmi is going to be much cheaper most of the year, and even on some figures during the labor day sale. So sometimes, if the price doesn't seem to be budging, it pays to be patient
Thanks! Lucky the US folks have such sales and hopefully majority of collectors are aware. 100% agree with you that patience is key most of the time, just need a strong will and believe the figure won’t get sold out
I saved some money buying figures in Spain and Germany 😂 like getting some figures on sales and others by a price cheaper than figure + cheapest shipping
@@otakuoverlordx well in Spain there is shop called global freaks, it’s online shop as well. And overall small anime shops can have good sales on their figures.
+1 on the "don't pre-order" tip if you're really tight on money. I bought 1/8th scale fate lancer alter (third ascension) figure recently for the original price of ~66,000 Yen.. Lo and behold, it is now ~46,000 Yen.... also don't ask how much i paid DHL to ship the damn thing since it's classified as an oversized package thus driving the price up to the moon. ... that being said... i pre-ordered the latest Aegir from Azur Lane a few months ago..... don't follow my bad examples
Oh man that’s a massive drop! That figure fate is epic btw so I know why you would preorder it, I wouldn’t want to miss out either! Both the Agir Azur lane figures look great too, I’m a fan of the ACTOYS one, did you get that or the one by AniGame?
@@otakuoverlordx I was very tempted to; however, I actually don't have any more real estate to realistically fit more figures. When the Agir figure arrives next year, i m definitely going to be questioning my previous self why I bought it.... My favorite Azur Lane character is definitely Musashi though so whenever a scale figure of her gets released (apparently there are two in the works?) it's over.
Mate the Musashi WINGS figure looks epic! And as for the other one, it’s done by Alter, it’s going to be good…doesn’t help the situation, I think you might have to build new shelves unfortunately, space is an issue for me too
Same!! Some figures I can’t risk to not have them, like the Alter Schwarz, luckily even after 6 months it’s still not reduced so I made the right decision there. But most figures just drop in price these days…
@@otakuoverlordx yeah overall I believe your advice and tips in the video is great for new and old collectors :D was able to get a handful of my figures for a great deal preowned
@@polymerase541 thanks for the nice feedback! Glad to know this video will help, after all it’s an expensive hobby haha. I plan to do a video on how to buy Chinese figures from TaoBao and Superbuy next
@@otakuoverlordx A video on buying from TaoBao and Superbuy would be great! I always get lost navigating through them. Always wanted to get Chinese figures for MSRP and get the preorder bonus from those sites.
If you really want one, like you think will eventually get it no matter what, pre-order it always, otherwise don't. Some lines of figures should always be pre-ordered though, Pop Up Parade for example. Cheap to begin with but after release they just go up and up.
Big piece of advice when importing into the uk do not mark anything as a GIFT, sadly the uk import threshold for gifts is only £39 as it hasn't been upped in years so by marking it as a gift you woul expose yourself to a higher amount of fees.
But great video as always! The reason using amiami points to adjust the price doesn't work is the parcel needs to be insured to full value so you could claim money back if anything went wrong. Also try using Solaris on certain figures as their import slider at checkout can adjust the package value!
Damn I didn’t know about the gift thing! Thanks for the info! Definitely need to checkout Solaris as well
I believe the best way to save money it's not to buy one
Definitely the 100% sure method
Also no alcohol, no take out including coffee, no driving when you don't need to, no eating out all the time, no subscriptions, cheapest phone plan, list goes on. You don't have to avoid spending any money, you just have to give yourself a budget and not do it all. I abide by the things I listed off, but I also spent $1500 on figures and vintage games during my Japan trip at the start of the year, and will do it again before the year ends. Weigh your joys in life.
your videos always have such high quality!
Thank you so much!! It takes a look of time doing the lighting and editing
Thanks! Great advice! I'd also add that, and this might only apply to US shoppers, but Good Smile US has amazing labor day sales, like 40% off on so many really incredible figures. In general though, AmiAmi is going to be much cheaper most of the year, and even on some figures during the labor day sale. So sometimes, if the price doesn't seem to be budging, it pays to be patient
Thanks! Lucky the US folks have such sales and hopefully majority of collectors are aware. 100% agree with you that patience is key most of the time, just need a strong will and believe the figure won’t get sold out
I saved some money buying figures in Spain and Germany 😂 like getting some figures on sales and others by a price cheaper than figure + cheapest shipping
Nice! Was there a particular shop that sells them or did you buy online?
@@otakuoverlordx well in Spain there is shop called global freaks, it’s online shop as well. And overall small anime shops can have good sales on their figures.
Nice thanks! ill check them out next time I visit Barcelona
+1 on the "don't pre-order" tip if you're really tight on money. I bought 1/8th scale fate lancer alter (third ascension) figure recently for the original price of ~66,000 Yen.. Lo and behold, it is now ~46,000 Yen.... also don't ask how much i paid DHL to ship the damn thing since it's classified as an oversized package thus driving the price up to the moon.
... that being said... i pre-ordered the latest Aegir from Azur Lane a few months ago..... don't follow my bad examples
Oh man that’s a massive drop! That figure fate is epic btw so I know why you would preorder it, I wouldn’t want to miss out either!
Both the Agir Azur lane figures look great too, I’m a fan of the ACTOYS one, did you get that or the one by AniGame?
@@otakuoverlordx I was very tempted to; however, I actually don't have any more real estate to realistically fit more figures. When the Agir figure arrives next year, i m definitely going to be questioning my previous self why I bought it.... My favorite Azur Lane character is definitely Musashi though so whenever a scale figure of her gets released (apparently there are two in the works?) it's over.
Mate the Musashi WINGS figure looks epic! And as for the other one, it’s done by Alter, it’s going to be good…doesn’t help the situation, I think you might have to build new shelves unfortunately, space is an issue for me too
@@otakuoverlordx rest in pieces future me and future me's wallet.
*salutes* have fun collecting!
Thank you so much ❤
No problem thanks for watching!
to pre-order or to not pre-order - my greatest dilemma! I'm always scared my figure will be out of stock Dx
Same!! Some figures I can’t risk to not have them, like the Alter Schwarz, luckily even after 6 months it’s still not reduced so I made the right decision there. But most figures just drop in price these days…
@@otakuoverlordx yeah overall I believe your advice and tips in the video is great for new and old collectors :D was able to get a handful of my figures for a great deal preowned
@@polymerase541 thanks for the nice feedback! Glad to know this video will help, after all it’s an expensive hobby haha. I plan to do a video on how to buy Chinese figures from TaoBao and Superbuy next
@@otakuoverlordx A video on buying from TaoBao and Superbuy would be great! I always get lost navigating through them. Always wanted to get Chinese figures for MSRP and get the preorder bonus from those sites.
If you really want one, like you think will eventually get it no matter what, pre-order it always, otherwise don't. Some lines of figures should always be pre-ordered though, Pop Up Parade for example. Cheap to begin with but after release they just go up and up.
Bought a B grade item from amiami but when I got it the figure was still sealed, but man amiami grading his so strict
That is very strict! Maybe they ‘suspected’ it was opened before, but that’s good news for you though!