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I only collect MP's for for new release masterpieces nippon yassan. Cheapest prices, many shipping options, fast and well packed.
For the odd MP's i go to ebay. Various Taiwanese, HK or Korean sellers i find are very reliable.
I find the popular stores like BBTS or RK far too expensive. Like the markups on rarer MP's from these stores are utterly ridiculous.
For Japanese product:
Hobby Search (http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/) are excellent, although they tend to charge a bit more than HLJ. Had a problem with a missing piece from a premium figure, sent them photos, they sourced the out of stock item and sent me the piece.
Mandrake (http://ekizo.mandarake.co.jp/shop/en/) is a second hand series of stores located across Japan that often have older MISB and MIB items for sale. They can be good for finding rarer releases. Excellent customer service too.
Nippon-Yasan (https://www.nippon-yasan.com/) are kinda similar to Anime Export. They can be cheap but if you have a problem they will ignore you until they hear from PayPal.
As far as getting the best price goes you just have to goto a shop in the country the product is from. No use complaining about American sites prices on JP and HK figures. They have to pay a middle man, shipping and import taxes. Best just to order Takara products from Japan, Hasbro HK products from HK and Hasbro US products from the US.
Does OCTA count? :D
I know that this isn't quite the right response but my best TF purchases for the year have come from the fine folk on this site. As everyone is a collector, everything is in great nick and at good prices. :)
I'll generally use BBTS to pre-order popular Hasbro releases that I think I'll have trouble finding elsewhere. And some 3rd party stuff that isn't too expensive. PoL feature is the key here.
Amazon I use for as much as possible too. Insanely good prices and shipping costs. I don't care about packaging or box condition of new stuff so it's ideal for me.
I would also like to suggest http://www.actionrobo.com/index/ for 3rd party and Asian releases. I've used them once and they were good.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys - have updated the list in the threads first post :D
I have the following comments to add to the below stores:
Amazon - www.amazon.com/
Pros
Big range of new figures. They service lots of stores so you can usually but not always find what you want. Shipping generally reasonable
Cons
Many of the stores they service do not ship to Australia which you do not find out until you go through the checkout. Quality of shipping has been atrocious in some past cases (i.e shipping Platinum Edition Predaking with it's own box as packaging)
Anime Export - http://www.anime-export.com/
Pros
Fairly easy to navigate. Ok prices. Preorders reasonably competitive
Cons
Not a massive range of TF’s. All prices given in Yen so you have to convert. Usually one of the last online stores to recieve/ship stock. Terrible customer service is there is a problem with your order (they basically just ignore you).
BigBadToyStore - http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/default.aspx
Pros
Huge range of stock including official, 3rd party and old stuff. Pile of Loot option with no time or size limit can be a great saving for getting stuff shipped to Australia. Easy to navigate site. Edit: Trent reckons there is a 6 month limit now . They deal with customer complaints quickly and professionally
Cons
Their estimates for products arriving can sometimes be WAY off (still waiting for a ‘The Tick’ figure that was supposed to come in last December ). Sometimes they lose a POL item you’ve had sitting there for a while (AM Unicron and Alternators Skids for me ). Prices can range from very good to charging top dollar, especially for imported stuff from Japan.
I used BBTS when i first started buying bulk transformers from there but now i use Chimungmung for those 3rd party buys and sometimes they have good specials
For me it goes like this:
eBay
Transformerland
Captured Prey
BBTS
RobotKingdom
Special mention to our own forum here. Bought a fair bit of stuff from my fellow members over the years and its been even better when I have met up with them :D
is the postage from transformerland good? eg how much would the postage for small to large figures be?