Forum - View topicNEWS: Imported Manga at Borders and Waldenbooks
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lemharth
Posts: 18 |
|
|||||
|
At a Borders store in WA I saw them selling an import Masamune Shiro artbook for about $30 USD.
|
||||||
|
||||||
hkrok76
 Posts: 118 |
|
|||||
|
for a shirow artbook, sounds cheap.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Haiseikoh 1973
 Posts: 1590 Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas. |
|
|||||
Huh? I can't even get my Borders to get Intron Depot Books without breaking a few skulls!!! |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Michi
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 741 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
|
|||||
That's... just... wrong. o______o; Artbooks maybe, but manga volumes? They're like 300-600 yen each! That doesn't even amount to over $7. The Japanese manga I used to always buy in San Francisco's Japantown was about $5 each. o.o |
||||||
|
||||||
|
amarythia
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 14 Location: New Jersey |
|
|||||
|
[quote="Michi"]
Now, *that's* reasonable. I've been using Bk1 for about 4 years now and have never looked back. (http://www.bk1.co.jp/) I pay the retail price in yen--400 yen for an NPB size volume. And then I pay for seamail, which if you make a large order, ends up being about 100 yen a book. If you figure that the Japanese exchange rate has not yet hit 100 yen to US $1, I'm paying LESS THAN $5 per manga volume. Though I live within an hour of Sanseido in Edgewater, I NEVER buy manga there--more expensive than importing myself. And there's NJ sales tax to consider. No way I'm gonna be buying NPB size manga from Borders for $12.99 each. Not everyone can head off to the nearest Kinokuniya, but pretty much everyone who lives in a country that allows imports from Japan can buy from Bk1. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Sword of Whedon
Posts: 683 |
|
|||||
That's the thing. Borders has access to worldwide wholesalers, and they're sure as hell not paying $3 to ship each book. What they've done is take the lazy route, probably buying through Kinokuniya at full retail and marking it up the usual 35% Again, all these people are assuming that pretty much all Borders are going to be doing this. They're not. The peopel in the flyover will still be screwed |
||||||
|
||||||
aoie_emesai
 Posts: 52 Location: Necessary? |
|
|||||
|
-To keep you peoples from complaing anymore. Manga can be viewed from the comfort of the seats of Walden's or Border's before they are bought.
-Even the shrinkwrapped one will most likey have opened ones. Look at them and if you dont enjoy them and like them, don't buy them. -No one is pointing a gun into your head and making you buy them at 12$ a piece. You can always stick with the translated ones that DelRay and such released. -The price (USRB) of one manga can only be changed thru the manfacturers and the lack of profit from the consumers. And special coupons and rebates that the store have. -You can always find coupons online. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Haiseikoh 1973
Posts: 1590 Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas. |
|
|||||
But the "intellegent" folks don't wanna take the effort anyway!! |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Blues of Hadal
Posts: 34 Location: america |
|
|||||
i have nothing to add so i didn't want to post this, but i find it hard to belive people didn't notice this idiotic statement. It was needless to begin with and really had no bearing, its neither sound nor valid in what it says. It should be obvious that supporting whatever brings the material cheaply while given due to the artist is all well and good, not to mention the fact people no matter what people often pay double its original price(often not always). Anyway thats all i wanted to add, sorry if its out of place. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
midori kou
Posts: 469 |
|
|||||
|
I think the marketing for manga has become way overboard. It's nice to have translated manga, sure... But having imported manga sold domestically is really farfetched. The major language here in the US is English and English is now being spread worldwide in the business and economic world. To be frank, not everyone who decides to study Japanese stay dedicated for it. Many Californian universities like Long Beach State do not have many students to been with studying Japanese and at times, those classes are cancelled for the semester or maybe permanently. And that's only one flaw about this.
Another thing is why charge 12 bucks for a manga book when local Japanese bookstores in the US would sell manga at $6.05. The ones at Waldenbooks are the small manga volumes for series like Spiral and School Rumble. It's ridiculous. Saying that the price is high because it's import is fallible. If that was the case, all Japanese stores would follow that trend. All in all, I think it's going to fail. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
hkrok76
Posts: 118 |
|
|||||
|
man...you guys keep saying this is a mistake...you don't know til you try. They are trying. If it fails, it fails. This is a test. Market research is needed in business. If you don't want to buy it, then don't. There's someone out there who might. Not only that, the high price is because of the lack of a demand. Some people don't have a japanese bookstore near them. Some people are willing to pay the extra bit to go to neighborhood store and buy it there and then. Some people don't like buying stuff online. Some people are different. Deal with it and stfu.
Well, people that sit in the store reading really bug me. Seriously, don't do that in the store. Buy the damn thing if you're willing to actually read the hard copy. Looking at them though, I have no problem with. In the Japanese bookstores, you have to employ certain technigues due to the shrink wrap...and people that open the shrink wrap bug me too. That's just bad show. It's disrespecting the store, and the product. Ofcourse, my little grief won't stop people from doing it, so whatever. I completely agree with your third point though. Unfortunately some titles don't, or won't have domestic releases. |
||||||
|
||||||
Erufu
 Posts: 191 |
|
|||||
|
[quote="Sword of Whedon"]
Well, when I said not available, I meant as readily available as manga is today ie you can walk down to Waldens, Borders, etc and pick up manga instead of having to order it offline. Plus, back when, major stores didn't carry them, and, even now if they don't carry them in their store, they carry them on their online store.
Yes, and back when when I was a kid, running to mommy and daddy who were the only ones capable of writing a check to place in the mail and asking them to order manga was far harder (and near impossible) than dragging them to the mall. And, I'm also referring to the mid 90s when there weren't that many online shops and it still wasn't trusted to order online and without that, you had no idea where to order stuff like that from. (living in a "white supremist everyone must bow to our ways" town) |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Sword of Whedon
Posts: 683 |
|
|||||
You keep missing the point. This is stupid market research, because they didn't do their homework, they're charging 3x Japanese retail, and despite the "people who don't have a Japanese bookstore near them", the stores they're selling in ARE in areas where there are asian bookstores near them. If you enjoy getting ripped off, fine, but that is still not the issue here, which is the fact that these books aren't going to show up in Peoria, and that they're ludicrously overpriced.
If that'd happen to me, I would've walked to the convienience store and got a money order. This is also not the mid-90s, this is 2005, when Borders is starting their test, and so we must use only current market conditions to analyze it. I don't have any Japanese bookstores near me, and we'd drive 2.5 hours to Yaohan(Mitsuwa) plaza to do our shopping. All the tools were there at the time, and far more are there now. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Haiseikoh 1973
Posts: 1590 Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas. |
|
|||||
If you bothered to look back at the various posts of others, you kinda notice the meaning of the post. But since you obviously didn't bother to, your post is redundant. While some of these folks would be quick to defend the US Anime Distributors when someone proudly says "Oh, I downloaded some Anime offa http:///www.bootleganimeforfree.com.org.gov and I love Naruto, it is the 5u[k0rZ!!!" by telling them "Pay the $25 Bucks at DDDVD to get the damn DVD ya Cheapskate!!" now they decide to turn when "*gasp* Borders is selling Untranslated Manga for $13?? Fah, I can get it for $5 at XXX Bookstore!!!" When you factor in where the bookstores are, cost of S&H, or even how much gas you burn to get to the place, the prices go up to what Borders is selling them for, where their stores are conviently located in a Big Mall or Strip Mall. Hell, I decided to look at where some of the Japanese Bookstores are, many of them aren't in Big Malls, but in either Industrial Parks, off major streets, in Office Buildings, etc. Not exactly "easy to get to." Also, I am sickened by some folks complete lack of insight into the matter. Nobody sees Borders attempt as a way to draw more folks into Anime/Manga or to learn about Japanese Culture Raw and not "Bastardized" by Stateside Companies (I'M LOOKING AT YOU TOKYOPOP AND 4KIDS!!!). Perhaps Borders Test run has a silver lining perhaps? Say some kid comes in, buys maybe a few of those "Imported Manga," and also buys maybe a Japanese/English Dictionary, or hell, Japanese in Manga Land. He learns a few new things, wants more. Borders selection is weak, only maybe a few titles. So, he goes online, and finds retailers that has wider selections. He buys more via these folks. If all goes well, he buys more. Soon, he manages to grasp some understanding of Japanese Culture. His grades improve, he's a wiz in Japanese Class, and whatnot. Perhaps instead of Demonizing Borders for doing something, perhaps you should see it as a chance to get people more aware of Manga and Japanese Culture. Or are we still liking the fact that not too many folks in the World hates such Isolationist viewpoints of the USA? |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Haiseikoh 1973
Posts: 1590 Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas. |
|
|||||
Okay, please name 5 Japanese Bookstores in MAINE. Or Mississippi. Besides, the article only lists people who bothered to report the stores that have them. How do we know that stores in Honolulu have them? Nobody has fessed up that info yet. Or San Fransisco? L.A.? New York? Chicago? Unless we have a huge list from various sources, your arguement is moot right now. Your basing your info on scant info and a Statement from some PR Person at Borders. AND MY POST FROM THE RETAIL FORUM. Ofcourse, if you really want to prove your point, give me $1,000 so that I can fly to Oahu via Aloha Airlines, and go to Book-Off and buy Untranslted Manga for cheap prices. |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group