Don't forget that if Mandarake opened a store here, it would be subject to loads of Australian govt. import taxes, levies, duties -- that's why a lot of import stores are so expensive, many of which have now closed down in recent years. 10 years ago, Sydney had a good number of specialist import stores, now there's what? Two? Most likely because it's always been cheaper to directly import toys privately from Japan; and I guess with the increase in online shopping, most specialty import stores just haven't been able to compete.

I've never ordered anything online from Mandarake, but I have purchased from their stores in person, and I found their service to be pretty good. One thing I quite like is their honest policy about the nature of the toys; each toy has a sticker on it which tells you the condition of the toy. For example, I got my Alternity Convoy there for about 3000JPY; I was wondering why it was so cheap, and it was because it wasn't sealed. It had been opened and resealed, but never actually transformed or played with... so it was in loose mint condition. And while I personally don't agree with them selling unlicensed toys (incl. counterfeits), at least they do label them explicitly telling you if the toys are fake. So I've had pretty good experiences with their in-store shopping, but no experience with their e-shopping so I can't comment on that.