Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I wish Mandarake would open a store in Australia, say in Sydney as it's flagship, I think it would do well, I mean the market is there, we have the big nerd conventions Oz wide now; the closest I have seen in terms of a pop culture superstore is Minotaur in Melbourne. Mandarake having their roots in Japan would have access to items that many of us would snap up in a minute.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I buy stuff from there quite regularly. It just depends as the stuff is displayed in-store as well so if someone physically buys it before they read and process your order, well that's the name of the game.Originally Posted by Megatran
It also depends on which store the item is in as some are better then others.
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain
Rank 3 - Basic Member
Whilst I think it would be great as a consumer, I think it wouldn't be a great idea from a business perspective.
My understanding is that these stores trade exclusively in used goods (correct me if I'm wrong), so you'd require an existing pool of consumers selling their goods to start up and be sustainable. Japan has this because the market for anime and pop culture is huge over there, where as here, it's a comparatively smaller (but very vocal) market.
Also, this is just my assumption, but I would think there'd be a larger "collector" market in Japan, with more adults owning these types of figures. So then in terms of the second hand market, the condition of these figures would be of better quality as well (and fit for resale).
If they did ship goods from Japan, it would be an added cost they don't currently bear (as we pay shipping costs), which they'd either absorb or pass on to customers.
Lastly, I would think that they'd essentially be a "cash converters" but for a very niche audience, an audience I would guess would be more savvy than the regular person. I can't imagine anyone here going to a cash converters to offload some of their stuff over an ebay or gumtree (unless time was an issue), because you'd be low balled to make a margin. A local mandarake style store would surely have to do the same.
I think they should try and increase their online presence to reach the AU market more, because even this forum (which is by no means a measure for the Australian market as a whole) only has a few threads talking about them, none of which reviewing the online store (a few have people talk about using them).
Anyway, one can only hope! (I certainly would love to see the figures before buying them)
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
Not hard, get out from the station, is just there actually unless I am wrong.
This isn't the best place for MISB collectors. But they do sell sealed condition occasionally.
My only critic is that EMS is the only method they be using if not DHL.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
I love going to Mandarake! I go just about everytime I'm in Japan. But I've always felt that Mandarake prices are a little high on a lot of TF stuff. And they occassionaly (not always) have KO stuff listed as originals (saw a full set of MISB G1 KO Dinobots listed as originals.) Granted, it's hard to spot them these days, but you still need to keep an eye out. But they have a lot of cool stuff! I spend hours checking everything out
Rank 10 - Admin
Study the map on this page (ignore the food sections), as the first map has Mandarake noted as red 1... and make sure you visit the other two stores noted as red 2 and red 3.
(sorry, lots of photos on that page... but if you save a copy of that map and print it out, or have on your phone, you can find it fast from the train-station as it is a bit of a maze of tall buildings)
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
The Akihabara one shouldn't be hard to find. It's a big black building on a street corner with multi-level pop-culture madness.
The Shibuya store is in the basement of the BEAM mall, however keep a lookout for the sign/logo on street level.
The Nakano stores were a pain in the arse to find as they were inside a mall and up on the 3rd floor or something. However it was closing time and I was in quite a rush.
There's better stores in Akihabara but most will take effort to find, which may not be fun if you're travelling in a group.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
The Nakano store was the easiest to find I thought
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
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.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
I don't want to badmouth Mandarake too much, but they have sold KO's marked as vintage on a few occasions. Things like US TF's Dinobots and the Decepticon cassettes have been spooted in their stores. Granted - I don't think they label them as vintage to deceive buyers, but it doens't change the fact that they are there. So you should still be cautious.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.
Don't get me wrong - I love Mandarake, and I will shop there everytime I visit Japan. But just because they mark it as vintage, doesn't mean you shouldn't do your homework first.
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