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Post by Branjita on Nov 25, 2013 10:57:41 GMT -6
Credit goes to king for this, but I've edited it a bit: How to use Mandarake (Pronounced: Mahn-Dah-Rah-Kay)ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/1. Make an account, I don't think i need to show you how. 2. Begin searching. Because Mandarake is a Japanese site, you have two ways of searching: the first way is just plain Roman characters/letters (For example: Yamcha) and the second would be using the Japanese characters/letters, which you can copy and paste from myfigurecollection.net or the DBZ Wikia. (For example, Yamcha is: ヤムチャ). If a character or series had a name change for an english release then it helps to search the original name (Ex: Hercule = Mr. Satan = ミスター・サタン). Many people might just want to search Dragon Ball, which is ドラゴンボール. 3. On the search section on Mandarake, do one of the searches and you will get a list of stuff. You can sort it by price lowest first, and as a general rule, figures are rarely below the 400-800 yen range (about $4-  so you can scroll straight to that. 4. If you want to see what sold already that you missed out on, look at the "show all including sold out items" link. 5. You have to order items from the same location such as Nakano and Gran Chaos, because if you do not then they will charge you more shipping for each location. Also, your purchase must total 5000 Yen or else there will be a handling fee of 500 yen (King says he usually just takes the fee unless he actually wants other things or he's 300 yen off of 5000 yen in which case he'll just grab some random stuff). So once you have finished adding stuff to your cart, make sure everything is from the same store and that you are spending 5000 minimum, and select "Cancel the order if this item is out of stock" for all of the items you care about in the order. Why? Because once an order is made you CANNOT cancel it, and if you do cancel it, you have the potential to be banned. Mandarake is very strict, especially with newer members. 6. Click next, and I would suggest paying with Paypal but you can also use a credit card. 7. You need to choose your shipping method: SAL: cheap but slow (no customs charges) EMS: fast but expensive DHL: a private worldwide courier service company that now offers a special rate at Mandarake Nakano store. It's the fastest, and most expensive 8. From there it will take your order and you will need to wait 1-4 days for them to send you an invoice with your total shipping. Once you pay it, you are done. To Canada, it usually takes 2-4 weeks SAL but EMS can be as little as 3 days. To get an estimate of what your shipping would be use this www.mandarake.co.jp/en/information/ship.htmlRemember that Mandarake only has one of each item (usually), and read the description!
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m5jagdragonpanzeriv
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Post by m5jagdragonpanzeriv on Nov 25, 2013 11:03:02 GMT -6
SAL = no custom charges Also just search ドラゴンボール (Dragonball in japanese)
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Post by Branjita on Nov 25, 2013 11:23:13 GMT -6
Does EMS have custom charges?
I'll add those details to my post.
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Post by king on Nov 25, 2013 13:50:35 GMT -6
Awesome job with the edits, you really improved the original (i tried looking through google cache myself when i noticed it was gone but couldn't find it). some minor things that i was actually going to ad when i noticed it was missing SAL and EMS do not usually have shipping charges (my belief into why is because the courier is usually too lazy to convert YEN into $, but some Mandarake stores will also undervalue the package) but both are still eligible for them, so dont be surprised if you get one (how much varies on country and price you paid before shipping, i usually get charged 10-15%) you need to make sure the item you are ordering isnt too big or heavy or else Mandarake will force you to use EMS as long as you "attempt" to make an order of 5000Y then mandarake will NOT charge you the 500Y fee. so if they send you the invoice saying something like you are being an item was out of stock and you were at 5000y exactly then they wont charge you, it will just be the price +shipping EMS is actually only about 1000-2000Y more expensive than SAL if you are ordering alot of stuff (5 items or more i find) this is because there are actually two types of SAL and they choose whichever one they can use based on your order so its usually worth it you can perform a search from only a specific store if you select said store from the dropdown menu on the left While browsing Mandarake i HIGHLY advise turning safe search on when prompted because they do sell porn as well and not only will turning it off save you time searching (some stores post almost nothing but books and usually its all porn) but japan has a VERY low Age of Consent (13) so it's safer to have the safe search on there is no way to view previous orders other than the emails you receive so keep them somewhere Mandarake does not accept AOL,free.fr or Hotmail email addresses if the item was sealed then its buyers risk, mandarake will not cover factory defects Mandarake now requires customers to input their Credit Card info or sign in with their PayPal account when placing the order, for authentication purpose only. No informations will be stored or shared. Credit card payments may be billed the following month rather than immidately Mandarake BLog is here for any major info such as delays, holidays etc... mdken.blog42.fc2.com/if you want to try and be sneaky to avoid the 500Y shipping fee there IS a risky way and it doesn't break their rules Click on the current date for newly arrived items and change the number in the search bar from 0 into a high number like 378 ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/search.do?action=whatsNew&doujin=all&displayDate=-378this number represents how many days its been since the listed items were posted, the higher the number the more likely it is the item will be out of stock and the key here is that as long as you "attempt" to make an order of 5000Y then mandarake will NOT charge you the 500Y fee. so choose a random item (or items) but make sure its one you would be willing to own because if it is in stock then you ARE buying it
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m5jagdragonpanzeriv
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Post by m5jagdragonpanzeriv on Nov 25, 2013 14:14:07 GMT -6
Yeah EMS have custom fees, at least at some countries. that's why i use SAL from japan and hong kong.
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Post by aussiedcfan on Nov 25, 2013 16:51:26 GMT -6
There are no custom charges when using EMS to Australia. BTW nice job on retrieving the thread Bran.
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Post by riserax on Dec 14, 2013 0:17:18 GMT -6
Might be a n00b question, but eh. Does Mandarake share the same listings as Yahoo!Japan? Or is it it's own entity?
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Post by king on Dec 14, 2013 1:09:20 GMT -6
Might be a n00b question, but eh. Does Mandarake share the same listings as Yahoo!Japan? Or is it it's own entity? it is its own private business, they do sell on Ebay/yahoo and amazon as well though
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m5jagdragonpanzeriv
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Post by m5jagdragonpanzeriv on Dec 14, 2013 13:29:39 GMT -6
Mandarake are listings items from the inventory of 12 collectibles stores in Japan
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Post by aussiedcfan on Jan 28, 2014 1:59:43 GMT -6
What does this mean about a product on Mandrake? (box resealed/not used/ box severely damaged) I also did a translation of the listing (after ordering of course  ) and it said broken. Have I purchased a broken figure?
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Post by king on Jan 28, 2014 8:10:49 GMT -6
What does this mean about a product on Mandrake? (box resealed/not used/ box severely damaged) I also did a translation of the listing (after ordering of course  ) and it said broken. Have I purchased a broken figure? it means exactly what it sounds like, someone opened the box for a look inside and didnt use it but taped it closed again, box severly damaged since they usually exaggerate would mean that it is ripped in a few places and crushed, give me a link to what you bought, just post it here
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Post by aussiedcfan on Jan 28, 2014 16:22:01 GMT -6
What does this mean about a product on Mandrake? (box resealed/not used/ box severely damaged) I also did a translation of the listing (after ordering of course  ) and it said broken. Have I purchased a broken figure? it means exactly what it sounds like, someone opened the box for a look inside and didnt use it but taped it closed again, box severly damaged since they usually exaggerate would mean that it is ripped in a few places and crushed, give me a link to what you bought, just post it here Here is the link.. ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/item_s-501228.html
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Post by king on Jan 28, 2014 17:15:47 GMT -6
should be fine
"Please find your translated text below:
[Nakano Store] (robot spirits) evangelion バンダイ ロボット魂 052 エヴァンゲリオン2号機 / エヴァンゲリオン新劇場版:破(box resealed/not used/ box severely damaged) (Japanese) [Nakano Store] (robot spirits) evangelion Bandai robot spirit 052 two Evangelion / Evangelion: fracture ( box resealed/not used / box severely damaged ) (English) "
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Post by aussiedcfan on Jan 28, 2014 17:25:09 GMT -6
should be fine "Please find your translated text below: [Nakano Store] (robot spirits) evangelion バンダイ ロボット魂 052 エヴァンゲリオン2号機 / エヴァンゲリオン新劇場版:破(box resealed/not used/ box severely damaged) (Japanese) [Nakano Store] (robot spirits) evangelion Bandai robot spirit 052 two Evangelion / Evangelion: fracture ( box resealed/not used / box severely damaged ) (English) " So the fracture doesn't mean it is broken then? EDIT: Just looked and fracture is part of the series name. Stupid Google Translate had it as broken instead of fracture.
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Post by king on Jan 28, 2014 18:14:09 GMT -6
yeah, thats what i forgot to mention. lol
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Post by aussiedcfan on Jan 28, 2014 22:42:04 GMT -6
Ok so everyone do not use Google Translate to work out what the Japanese says in the listing 
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Post by Branjita on Mar 26, 2014 13:50:53 GMT -6
Even though these were ebay purchases I'm talking about, I wanted to post this somewhere so others might benefit.
I've purchased several small figures from Japan in the last few months, and these are how many days they took to get to me. Many Japanese sellers on ebay say that SAL takes 3 to 5 weeks, some say 2 to 4 weeks.
Japan to US via SAL:
-29 days -17 days -7 days -20 days -10 days -9 days
Overall, pretty crazy how much it varies. I did check, and all of these were definitely sent SAL.
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Post by aussiedcfan on Mar 26, 2014 17:31:15 GMT -6
Something Australian buyers should know is that the only shopping option we have now from Japan is a EMS or DHL.
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Gonstead
Rank: Super Mod  
/人◕‿‿◕人\
Posts: 2,451
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Post by Gonstead on May 26, 2014 5:37:28 GMT -6
When a listing for an item says "please expect minor stain/damage on both package and contents", most of the time this doesn't tend to be as bad as it might seem. Most, if not all of their items are second-hand and so were most likely handled by someone else before you.
So when ordering, keep in mind that you are ordering a second-hand item, don't keep your hopes too high for a super mega-mint item at bargain bin prices. At least expect something like one of the box flaps being a bit crinkled.
Don't be scared of thinking "Too good to be true" for the prices they list either. Their items are as legit as it can come from a Japanese company that sells merchandise. The only bootleg item I ever came across (If it counts) was a BEST OF DBZ Super Saiyan Goku.
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Post by king on May 26, 2014 10:50:10 GMT -6
When a listing for an item says "please expect minor stain/damage on both package and contents", most of the time this doesn't tend to be as bad as it might seem. Most, if not all of their items are second-hand and so were most likely handled by someone else before you. So when ordering, keep in mind that you are ordering a second-hand item, don't keep your hopes too high for a super mega-mint item at bargain bin prices. At least expect something like one of the box flaps being a bit crinkled. Don't be scared of thinking "Too good to be true" for the prices they list either. Their items are as legit as it can come from a Japanese company that sells merchandise. The only bootleg item I ever came across (If it counts) was a BEST OF DBZ Super Saiyan Goku. I believe i mentioned the damage exaggeration somewhere in the main post. as for bootlegs, they do get them but very rarely
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