Inexperienced Figure buyer
Hi!
Being a little inexperienced in figure buying (only bought 2-3 so far), I so far relied on big sites like AmiAmi and Hobbysearch.
However, these sites do not offer this figure anymore: The ALTER 1/6 KOS-MOS Swimsuit Ver.
Back when it came out, I couldn't affort Pre-ordering it. Now that I have money, the figure is sold out. I've looked around a bit and there seem to be sellers on places like ebay and amazon.com, but I'm hesitant. Ever since I had a lot of trouble with a bootleg figure, I have become slightly paranoid.
Do the experienced Figure Collectors have any advice? I am intrigued by the amazon.com offer, but with just 99USD + Shipping, it seems suspiciously cheap for a sold out figure.
I really want this figure, but I don't want to go through the whole drama I had last time with the bootleg (I didn't even get my money back, nor did I have a figure in the end).
Do you know any good/reliable sites for these kind of figures?
I don't really expect anyone to willingly part with this beauty, so it was no surprise to me that getting it second-hand (at least at a price I can affort) seems near-impossible... But mint ones still being sold these days seems just a weird and suspicious to me.
try Yahoo Japan acutions or wait for someone on figure fm to sell this figure
YJA sometimes also have bootlegs so becareful there also.
Even though a figure is sold out in Japan, the US market might have plenty in stock. If you just do a google search or look for it on thefind.com, you'll find that the average price for this figure is around 100USD. If you do not feel comfortable buying a used figure, Toylet has it for 100 new. You'd also save money on shipping if you buy from a reputable US seller.
http://toylet.net/201659.html
If Toylet has it in stock, I recommend buying from them. I've ordered many times and been happy with all my purchases and their customer service.
Agreed, checking the US market is a good idea. You'll often find figures sold out in Japan are available in some US based dealers.
:) the $99 option should be fine as bootlegs or counterfeits of this figure are not known to exist ^__^
there is an anime collectors site called www.myfigurecollection.com and they have a page for almost every figure that has ever been released.
This is the page for this Kos-Mos figure:
http://myfigurecollection.net/figure/3227_kos_mos
it gives you lots of pictures of the figure and details about it, also on each page there is a "counterfeit" option. if it says YES in red then one of the thousands of members of the site has come across a bootleg, almost all of the time if it doesn't say yes you will be 100% fine as if there are bootlegs then one of the thousands of members will have reported it ^__^
i hope this helps!!
if you join the site add me as a friend ^__^
http://myfigurecollection.net/profile/bethykins
Besides the US market, you can also check out MyFigureCollection/Tsuki-board. They have a Sales section where people can post unwanted figures. Often times you'll find figures brand new in a box. The great thing with them, you can add figures to your wishlist. When a figure on your wishlist is put up for sale, you'll get an email. You can do the same thing for comments with the monitor, so if someone posts a URL of where the figure is available, you can find out through email.
Rest assured. I bought mine from amazon :] Just read the details about the seller before you purchase.
Get it from a reputable US retailer if you can. At least you will save yourself the headache/worrying over if it's real or not. Ebay works but you gotta know or get use to what to look for. Bascially if the seller is in HK (not all HK seller are bootlegs but a lot) or it's too cheap too be true compare to everyone else then most likely it's a bootleg.
Oh, also email Toylet. Sometimes they are oos and forget to update the status on the pages.
I'll agree with the above posts= toylet.com has my vote if I want to get anything else. I got seriously peeved at treasure island sports for how long it took to ship an "In Stock" item! (and very glad it wasn't a bootleg after I received it) I'd stay away from the less popular sites ir e-bay/yahoo auctions, you just can't tell....... good luck!!
o.O
"ir" = or. (fatfingerz needz moar coffeez!!)
O.o
well I don't think they have her in stock but for future purchases you can also consider Otaku Fuel. Their in the US, and have reasonable to good prices. Bought my nendoroid kagami miku cosplay for $42.00(total) which was the cheapest it could get in the US new.
Toylet has good prices, but the shipping is a killer($14 to ship to florida for 1 kagami summer uniform figma O.O)
I've only bought import games from them before, but ToynJoys currently have her in stock.
http://www.toysnjoys.com/xenosaga_figures.html
Remembered I bought a domestic release game and an anime DVD from them before, too.
Though one word of caution. From the description of some of their anime and the number of episodes per disc, it would seem that they might be burning fansubs to a disc and selling them, i.e. some of the Bleach DVDs they sell. It also mentions that they're region free.
A Hawaiian store, I would be somewhat paranoid for the fact it's at a hot place. :p
I just wanted to thank you all for your help and suggestions. I feel a lot better about buyin her now, let's hope I won't get screwed over again like last time (but that my own damn fault, I admit).
Only thing I wanted to add is that I'm on in the US, so shipping will still be expensive as hell (though not as expensive as from Japan).
ありがとうごさいます！
on in the US = not in the US
Typos all over this thing. Time to go to bed.
You could try Mandarake. They have pretty good prices on hard-to-get figures and their service is fast. Ordered Exelica on Saturday morning, got her on Monday afternoon.
They seems to have a few in stock.
Just to inform you since you are an inexperienced figure buyer, the pictures you used are from the decoration master which is made from high quality resin and is often used to advertise and prototype the figures. The mass produced figures are made from PVC and ABS and will not be as detailed as the one you see in the photo.
So keep that in consideration when you do obtain one and notice it isn't the same quality of the one in the picture.
Thanks, I only used these pictures though because I didn't want to steal any from any reviews (I looked very thoroughly at different reviews, they ultimately convinced me to look for her again now that I have a bit of money).