Barnes and Noble
Pros: There's the site and the store. You can either make your purchase online and have it shipped, reserve it to pick up or go straight to the store. If it's not available online, you can do a search to see if a store near you has it in stock. B&N has a decent selection and offers discounts to members. It's also another place to accept gift cards. Shipping is free for orders over $25. If you're a true fan then that number seems pretty low.
Cons: They don't carry everything; mostly mainstream items. The discounts offered aren't much compared to other sites. Customer reviews are sparse and their trusted sellers might not carry the item if they don't either.
Amazon.com
Pros: They carry a good amount of whatever you might be looking for. You can use those Amazon gift cards towards your purchase, some of the books qualify for a 4 for 3 promotion (meaning buy 4 books and the lower priced one is free). If they don't carry an item, you can check out the marketplace to buy from various sellers. Another site where $25 purchases equal free shipping. They sell pocky and other candies but most are listed as bulk purchases. There are customer reviews and some books have a few pages to preview.
Cons: Some items are listed as back-ordered or are out of stock. There's no telling when they might get a new supply. You can only make your purchase online, so there's no immediate gratification from getting it at a store. Some of the marketplace prices can be outrageous if the item can't be found anywhere else.
Everything Yaoi
Pros: If you can't find it anywhere else, they most likely have it. They offer media mail for shipping, but it can take a while. If the amount is over $60, then shipping is free for media mail. The books ship from Nevada, so if you live in a neighboring state, they'll arrive in a few days. They also offer reward points. For every $2, you get 1 point. 13 points gets you the customer reward of the month.
Cons: They only carry yaoi content. The reward points have to be obtained in a single order; they aren't saved and accumulated for later. Not much to complain about here.
Anime Nation
Pros: They are always having a Clearance/Overstock sale. You can find a variety of items on sale for cheap. They sell books, movies, toys, apparel, CDs, live action DVDs, hentai titles, gift certificates and even Blu-ray discs. They also carry import items.
Cons: They don't have a huge stock of items. You might find volume one of a title but not 2-4. They also don't offer free shipping incentives but the shipping prices are reasonable. For a purchase of almost $100 the shipping is about $7.
Anime Convention
I like to peruse around the marketplace area of cons and see where I can get DVDs and books for cheap. At Otakon, I found a table selling books for only $2. I grabbed a handful of titles that sounded interesting or caught my eye. I didn't always enjoy what I bought home, but for only two bucks it was worth it to try. Anything you don't like, just sell it online to someone else who might want it.
Anyone out there have a site or store that they'd like to add? Post a comment below.
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