Welcome to the
official Anime Corner FAQ for answers to questions that we are frequently asked!
Here we have compiled our best answers to the most common inquiries we've
received over the past 7 years, and we will continuously be adding and updating
to this section to ensure it is up to date, and reflects the latest things that
you need to know.
Of course, as
always, if you cannot find the answer to your question here, please feel free to
e-mail us - your question (and
answer) might even end up being published on this page!
Enjoy your
Anime!!
General
- Why should I
buy my Anime from the Anime Corner Store?
- How do I subscribe/unsubscribe
to the Anime Corner Newsletter?
- Can you tell me
a little bit more about the Anime Corner Store?
- Do you have a
printed catalog that you can send me?
- Do you offer wholesale
accounts? Can you tell me who your suppliers are?
- Are the products on the
Anime Corner Store site bootlegs or the real thing? (This is Our Bootleg
FAQ)
- Where are you located? Do you
have a retail store or only sell Anime online?
- I love the Anime Corner girls!
Can you tell me more about them?
- Do you know where I can get
information on upcoming Anime conventions?
- How does the
Japanese manga culture compare to that in the US?
Anime and Item Related
Questions
- Are the Anime
titles listed on the store uncut or edited?
- Do your Anime
DVD's have the same English voice actors as the version that I have seen on
TV?
- What exactly
does 'dubbed' mean? What does 'Bi-Lingual' mean?
- What do you
mean when you say that an item is an 'import' vs. a 'domestic' item?
- What does
region encoding mean for your DVDs? Will they work on my player?
- Do you carry
Japanese language Import Manga?
- What is the
difference between a Japanese Import Music CD and a Domestic Music CD? Are
the songs on a domestic CD in English? Can I play Japanese CD's in my CD
player?
-
Some of your items have age
ratings, some do not? How do I know what age an Anime is appropriate for?
-
What does OVA mean? What is
the difference between an OVA, a Movie, and a TV Series?
-
Can you recommend some Anime
titles to me? What would you consider the Anime 'A' list of must see titles?
Trade Ins / Selling Your
Used Anime
- I
heard that you allow trade ins of used DVD's, CD's, and Manga. Is that
correct?
- How can I trade
in my used
Anime for store credit?
- Do you sell
used DVD's and CD's on the store? What do you do with items that are traded
in?
Store Shopping &
Searching
- How do I search
for an item on the store?
- How do I get
coupons and special offers?
- Do you offer
Gift Certificates?
- How do I know
if an item I want to order is currently in stock?
- What currency
are your prices listed in? How can I tell how much an item will cost in my
own currency?
- Why can't I
place more than one item in my shopping cart at a time?
- Why don't you
guys show the retail price of the items on the store? If you did, people
would better understand how good your prices are!
-
Do you offer
discounts or free items to Anime Clubs, libraries, and other non-profit
organizations?
-
Do you offer a
price matching policy if I find an item selling for a lower price at another
store?
Ordering,
Checkout, and Payment
- What forms of
payment do you accept?
- Do you accept
phone orders?
- Can I order by
Mail or Fax?
- What if I want
my order delivered to my work or school address (instead of my credit card's
billing address)?
- Can I add an
item to my order after it has been placed?
- Where do I send
my payment to?
- I placed an
order, but never received an e-mail confirmation. Did you send one?
- Can I pay for
my order when it is delivered (i.e. COD)?
- Why don't you
accept PayPal as a form of Payment? You used to, what happened?
- Do I have to
enter my ordering information each time I place an order, or do you have a
way to create an account?
- When I tried to
checkout, the store told me that my credit card was declined. Why won't it
let me complete my order?
- I live outside
of the US and would like to place an order, but I do not have a credit card.
How can I pay for my order?
- If there is a
pre-order or backordered item on my order, can I request that the order be
held until everything is available to ship together?
Order Processing &
Shipping
- What shipping
methods do you use, and what choices do I have?
- How do I take
advantage of your Free Shipping offer?
- I am an
International Customer, and when I placed an order, the store did not
calculate the shipping charge. Why? How do I know how much my shipping
charge will be?
- How can I
obtain a status on my order?
- How can I track
my order?
- I tried to
track my order on the US Postal Service site, and it says that they only
been notified electronically. If the package has been sent, why hasn't the
tracking been updated?
- I just placed
an order, how long will it take for it to arrive?
- I'm in the
Military stationed overseas. Do you ship to Military APO/FPO addresses?
- OK, Priority
Mail shipping only costs $3.85, yet your minimum shipping charge is $6.00.
What is up with that?!
- I selected
Super Saver Shipping on the order form, however, when my pre-ordered item
shipped later, I was charged shipping. Why is this, I thought shipping was
free?
- I selected
Super Saver Shipping, however, when my order came I found out that I was
charged for shipping anyway. Why did I have to pay for shipping, I thought
all orders over $99 shipped for free?
- I ordered a
Wall Scroll and another item - why I was charged two separate shipping
charges?
- For UPS 2nd
Day and Overnight Air shipping where the shipping charge is based partly on
the number of items I order, does a 6 DVD bundle count as one item or six
items?
Pre-Orders, Backorders, and
Item Availability
- If I pre-order
an item, when would my credit card be charged?
- I want to
pre-order an item, but I do not have a credit card. What other payment
methods do you accept, and when would I have to make payment?
- I received my
order, but one of my items was marked "Backordered". When will I
get it? Will I have to pay additional shipping when it is sent?
- I received my
order, but one of my items was marked "Sold Out - No Longer
Available". What does this mean, and will the item be sent later?
Special Orders and Items
That Are Not Listed on the Site
- Can you special
order a Japanese CD or DVD for me that is not listed on the store?
- I'm looking for
an 'Anime' series, but I do not see it listed on the store. Do you have it
or can you get it for me?
Damaged / Defective Items,
Returns, and Technical Problems
- What is your
returns policy?
- My
order arrived, but one of my items is damaged (or defective). What should I
do?
- I'm
having trouble with a DVD. Is my problem a common problem, or is the DVD
just defective?
- I'm
having trouble playing a DVD on my PS2 Game Console or DVD-Rom drive. Is the
disk defective?
- If
I don't like an Anime that I purchased, can I return it for credit?
Still Need Help?
- Please e-mail our Customer
Care Center. Thank you very much!
-------------------------------
General
- Why
should I buy my Anime from the Anime Corner Store?
Hmmmm.....I
could give you many reasons, like great prices, fast shipping, awesome
selection, excellent customer service, only licensed products, etc. but
I'm not going to say those things (aren't I?.......). This question is
probably best answered by our
customers, rather than by us. Their voice is the one that counts.
We know why we do this, and
you know why you are here. We simply strive to be the very best Anime
store anywhere. It's all for the Anime my friends. That's what we are
about. That's ALL we are about. Nuff said. :-)
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- How
do I subscribe/unsubscribe to the Anime
Corner Newsletter?
I'm glad you asked, because
we publish one of the finest, most comprehensive Anime e-newsletters in
the industry (much more than just a list of ' what's new ' :-). You can
sign up for our bi-monthly newsletter and special reports right
here. And don't worry, there is no obligation, and every mailing we
send out has an un-subscribe link right at the end of the mailing, so you
can opt-out at any time.
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-
Can
you tell me a little bit more about the Anime Corner Store?
Where to begin??!! Actually
you can find information about our mission and our history on our About
Us page. :-)
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- Do
you have a printed catalog that you can send me?
The expense of a printed
catalog in the internet age is prohibitive, so we no longer offer a
printed catalog. This helps us keep our prices down, and allows us to
spend more money on bringing you the best service and support in the
industry.
We realize that a couple of
our competitors still offer a printed catalog, but you can clearly see the
expense of printing it is subsidized in their higher overall prices, and
we don't feel that a printed catalog offers enough real value to our
customers that they would be willing to pay higher prices for it. In the
Anime industry, a printed catalog is usually already out of date to minute
it rolls off the presses, while our web catalog is updated on a daily
basis.
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- Do you
offer wholesale accounts? How do I get
started in the Anime business? Can you tell me who your suppliers are?
We do offer a limited
number of wholesale accounts to retailers with legitimate store fronts or
large already developed internet businesses that have at least 2 years
experience selling online. We do not offer accounts to new businesses or
startups at this time. E-mail Robert
with your request - please include your business and credit information
(we will need a minimum of 2 years financial statements for open credit
terms), a brief description of your business, your FIN, DUNS #, and your
State Tax ID number to see if you qualify.
Personally we're tickled
with how many people e-mail us and ask information about how to start or
run an anime business, or ask who our suppliers are. We probably get 1 or
2 e-mails every day asking this question. Sometimes they are very cute and
creative: for instance, it seems there are an endless number of people who
are doing a 'project' for 'business class' at school, and want all kinds
of information about how we run our Anime business. Some claim to be doing
a project, but then are not interested in anything except our vendor list
or other business critical information. We always get a chuckle out of
these requests, and I guess we can't blame them for trying. We have spent
many years in this industry establishing relationships and learning the
Anime business, so of course, we cannot divulge that kind of information.
Finally, if your
store sells any sort of bootlegs
or other unlicensed material, please do not contact us. We will NOT
do business with you!
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- Are the
products on the Anime Corner Store site bootlegs or the real thing? (Everyone
should read the answer to this!!)
As one of the
largest dedicated online anime stores on the web, we don't carry bootlegs,
pirates, or unlicensed merchandise!
Here at the
Anime Corner, you will NEVER FIND lower quality knockoff CD's like those
produced under the labels SonMay
(SM), EverAnime, Alion, Archer Records, Miya Records, or Golden Diamond
Music. CD's with these
labels are reproductions of the original Japanese CD's made by Taiwanese
firms who copy these works without license and without paying royalties to
the original Japanese artists.
You will
also not find any illegal or bootleg anime DVDs, VCDs, ArtBooks, Wall
Scrolls or any other kind of illegal merchandise at the Anime Corner
Store.
Period.
These items
have no place at any legitimate Anime retailer,
they degrade the industry as a whole,
and you will never find them here at the Anime Corner Store!
Does this revelation have
you in shock? Have you checked your Anime lately?
If you've been taken in by
a so called 'import' CD, DVD, or other Anime product at a store with a
price tag that seemed too good to be true, then chances are that you've
been duped. Don't get us wrong, the CD or DVD may play fine and the
packaging may seem authentic, but the simple fact is that many of your
hard-earned anime items are more than likely bootlegs from Taiwan, China,
or Korea. These illegal items seem to be showing up everywhere, and the
following will explain further the reality of Anime bootlegs, and how you
can spot them.
In the past, the problem
with bootlegs has centered mostly around music CD's (which I will describe
in length below). Recently though, there has been a rash of all kinds of
bootleg products showing up, especially DVD's, VCD's, and Wall Scrolls.
Be wary of any Anime DVD's
that are presented as 'imports' that have Chinese or Cantonese writing on
the DVD packages, and/or Chinese or Cantonese subtitles. These are almost
always low quality, unlicensed pirates from Taiwan or mainland China.
Currently I know of no legitimate manufacturers that produce Anime on VCD
format, so if you see Anime VCD's being sold, you can be assured that they
are almost certainly illegal bootlegs.
DVD products produced
by the following companies are all pirates:
- Animation International
- Animation Japan International
- Anime Cartoon
- Anime Cartoon International
- Anime Studio
- Another DVD Company
- Digital International
- DVD Ani
- fx
- Indian International
- K
- Manga International
- Video Animation
- To name a few.....
Currently, Great Eastern is
the only company that is producing licensed Wall Scrolls in the United
States. All Great Eastern products have part numbers that begin with 'GE'.
If you see wall scrolls that have part numbers that start with 'Z', or
something other than GE they are almost certainly pirated merchandise
produced in the far east.
For CD's, just look at the
spine of your CD's jewel case for the manufacturer part number. Authentic
Japanese Imports all have a four letter company name, followed by a dash,
and then a four or five digit number.
Some examples of the major legitimate
Japanese companies that produce Anime and J-Pop CD's are:
- COCC = Nippon
Columbia
- POCX = Polygram
- PICA = Pioneer
Entertainment (Japan)
- APCM =Appolon
Inc.
- VICL = Victor
Entertainment
- KICA = King Records
- AVCA = Avex Mode
- PCCB = Pony Canyon
- And Many, Many
More legitimate Japanese companies...
For Taiwanese companies,
the company name consists of only two or three-letter words which are
usually followed by a three digit number. The majority of the time, the
first release is marked with 001 in a similar fashion as the Japanese
imports to make them look more authentic.
Bootleg CDs may have items
numbers that look like this:
- SM/GGG/GA=SonMay
- A8=Ever Anime
- There are several
more Taiwanese bootleg companies...
SonMay Records LTD, Ever
Anime, Alion, Archer Records, and Golden Diamond Music (to name a few)
have been dealing in music CD's for several years, producing copies of
Japanese CD's - copies that are legal to sell only in Taiwan. Why is this?
Taiwan is not a signature member of the International Copyright Agreement
(the Berne Convention, something you've probably never heard of), which
requires each signing country to abide by worldwide copyright laws.
Because if this they can freely produce copies of licensed CD's from other
countries without regard to royalties, licensing agreements, or copyright
laws.
In recent years, large
quantities of these CDs have been poured into foreign countries (mostly
through gray market distributors) with expanding Anime markets, especially
the United States. These CDs are, in many cases, being sold as originals
at many pop-culture retailers, comic dealers, and especially online
stores. It's not uncommon for the distribution companies to pretend they
don't know where their products are going since they don't personally sell
them overseas, and for the local and online stores to deny any knowledge
of the origins of these CD's. The reality is that they become illegal
bootlegs the minute they leave the shores of Taiwan.
If
your CD's have these logos, they are not authentic Japanese music CD's - they
are bootlegs:
How is this possible? If
they were really illegal, wouldn't the original companies sue them for
copyright infringement and shut them down?
No. Because Japanese anime
producers historically haven't cared much about markets outside of Japan,
and western anime licensors are mostly independent companies without the
legal resources of the giant movie cartels, so there is an abundance of
unlicensed illegal anime CDs and DVDs available.
Still, how is this
possible? If they were
really illegal, the shipments would not pass customs, right?
Wrong. It may surprise you
to know that US customs only actually physically inspects less than 1% of
total ocean cargo coming into the United States. Even if they did inspect
more, US Customs is not responsible to enforce copyright laws, they have
orders of priority more important things to worry about. 10 cases of
pirated CD's or DVD's are exactly the same as 10 cases legitimate CD's or
DVD's to customs, they are just 'DVD's' or 'CD's'. Bootleg importers have
no problems with these products passing customs.
So what are the real
cost of these bootleg CDs?
This will make you mad -
any dealer can buy bootleg CDs in quantity for around $2.50 to $3.00 per
CD. What?? How can they be that cheap? These are just mass production
products - in other words, they are really just some fancy-looking CDRs.
(The real crime is when some unscrupulous dealers try to sell these CD's
as legitimate for $10, $15, even $20 per disk.) As an example of the lower
quality production, some Taiwanese CDs use gold-foil discs to record on
instead of the audio CD standard silver-foil discs. Though this becomes
harder to distinguish as CD-R and CD-RW becomes more high profile, this
can lead to production defects. That said, many of the bootleg companies
have been trying to improve on CDs' quality over the past few years, with
almost the exact look and the side slips that Japan imports always have,
making these CD's harder to distinguish from the legitimate Japanese
counter part.
But the real cost of
bootlegs is in higher costs for the licensed releases, or delays and even
cancellations of high quality licensed dubbed and subtitled releases of
some titles. If you've ever wondered why XYZ anime is not out on DVD yet,
it might be because a company is having second thoughts going to the
expense in releasing it due to heavy infiltration of bootlegs of that
title already on the market.
Beware of eBay and Amazon
'Marketplace'. Due to recent court rulings finding eBay not liable for the
trade of Bootleg goods on their website, it is strongly advised to use a
reputable legitimate retailer for your Anime needs rather than purchasing
goods from eBay and similar online auction and trading sites. The sale of
pirate merchandise seems to be on the increase on such venues and they are
usually uncooperative when people complain about pirate goods being sold.
Currently eBay seems to remove only really obvious pirate items from their
auctions. Many people have tried and failed to get eBay to remove pirated
Anime DVDs, CDs, and other goods from their listings, so be wary of any
products you see with prices that are 'too good to be true'. While
Amazon.com only carries legitimate licensed merchandise, many of the
private sellers on Z-Shops and Amazon Marketplace list pirated merchandise
under the same headings as the legitimate products, and they even use
pictures of the legitimate licensed products in their listings.
It is rather disconcerting
for us to see so many other retailers falling into the trap of increased
profits by selling these bootleg CD's and DVD's. For us at the Anime
Corner, as a legitimate retailer of Japanese CD's, it's easy to see why
other retailers cannot resist taking shortcuts. They do not have to deal
with all the hassles and complexities (that we do) of importing authentic
Japanese CDs and DVD's, such as:
- Creating good, reliable
long term vendor relationships in Japan
- Putting Tens of
Thousands of Dollars into stocking inventory (a dealer can stock
bootlegs for a small fraction of the cost)
- Arranging freight
services for overseas shipping
- Arranging customs
inspections and import licenses
- Paying the high cost of
duties, taxes, and customs fees to import authentic Japanese Audio and
Video products
A good external site for
more information about pirated Anime merchandise is the Pirate
Anime FAQ.
In the end, you don't
have to worry about any of the products we offer at the Anime Corner
Store. We simply won't sell these items, and are taking a stand among
other increasingly profit minded retailers who don't seem to care what
they sell, where it comes from, or what the quality of the item is. Even
if it attractive, out of print in Japan, or something we can't obtain
anywhere else, we simply won't carry anything except licensed, legitimate
products. It's part of our standard of excellence - enough said.
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- Where
are you located? Do you have a retail store
or only sell Anime online?
Our
fulfillment warehouse is located in Ranson, West Virginia USA. We are
about 70 miles north-west of Washington D.C. We are about 1 mile from the
horserace track which Charles Town has, unfortunately, become so famous
for. :-) Because of the tiny Anime fan base in this area, we decided
a long time ago that while it would be great fun, it would not be prudent
to try to operate a retail store in this area (at least for now).
For this reason, we do not
currently have retail hours at our warehouse either, mostly because it is
a warehouse, and people would probably not get a great shopping experience
shifting through hundreds of cartons of DVD's on flow rack, or having to
get on a rolling ladder to get to a certain statue or toy.
It is interesting to note
that while we are located 'out in the boonies' so to speak, the Washington
DC suburbs are getting closer and closer and we are considering several
future retail locations in the DC area, but for now, we are at your
service through the Anime Corner Store site online.
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- I love
the Anime Corner girls! Can you tell me more about them?
Indeed, the Anime Corner
girls are a very special creation of the Anime Corner, and they run the
show on the website. It surprises many people to find out that they all
have names and unique personalities, challenges, hopes, and dreams. They
are all conscious of their public image, though, and most of them try to
keep much of
their lives private - except for Noemi, who takes this Anime stuff a
little bit too seriously if you ask me. She is the one who appears, with
no coaxing, on every front page top banner, greets you on every
information page on the site, and she seems to have at least a cameo
appearance in every ad we run. She even got her face on our corporate
seal, though I cannot remember how she talked us into that, she is very
persuasive!
Currently on the front page
for the store, from left to right in the first row appears Aya, Momo,
Asagi, and Enuko. On the second row appears Raina (who is our resident
expert on J-Pop and Anime music), Uehara, Himiko, and Kuni. They, along
with the others, offer friendly guides through the site and make it easier
to navigate your way to where you need to go.
We are currently working on
a bio section, that we will post in the near future so you can get to know
them even better!
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-
Do you
know where I can get information on upcoming Anime conventions?
Check our Anime
Convention page for a comprehensive listing of upcoming Anime cons and
events.
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-
How
does the Japanese manga culture compare to that in the US?
One could say that the only
similarities are that both American and Japanese comics use images in a
certain sequence to tell a story. Beyond that it's entirely different.
Japanese comics and characters are owned by the artists (unlike famous
characters like Superman and Spiderman, which are owned by their
publishing companies). Japanese comics are read by everyone, male and
female, young and old; even Japanese people who say they don't read comics
actually do read them...but the comics are in the form of instructional
brochures, owner’s manuals, how-to books, and short features in
magazines. Comics are so pervasive in Japanese culture; people read them
without knowing it. America has a long way to go before that happens.
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Anime and
Item Related Questions
- Are
the Anime titles listed on the store uncut
or edited?
This is a very common
question. The answer is that unless it states specifically otherwise in
the item description, all the Anime that we carry is completely uncut
and unedited. Generally, the studios include all the content on the DVD
version that have to be edited out of the version shown on TV. Any
edited versions will be clearly marked 'edited' or 'TV Edit' in the item
description, and when there are two versions available, we always carry
the uncut version.
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- Do
your Anime DVD's have the same English voice actors as the version that
I have seen on TV?
Yes indeed. Because we
only sell the official licensed release, we carry only the DVD or VHS
versions produced by the same studios that put the Anime on TV.
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- What
exactly does 'dubbed'
mean? What does 'Bi-Lingual' mean?
'Dubbed': Most of the
people that still ask this question are probably really trying to make
sure we are not carrying some Hong Kong dubbed bootleg, which of course,
we don't. :-) 'Dubbed' simply mean that the original Japanese language
dialog has been redone in English language dialog by professional voice
actors. Keep in mind though, that not all dubs are created equal.
'Bi-Lingual' is the best
of both worlds, and means that the DVD contains BOTH an English Language
track, and also the original Japanese Language track with professional
English text subtitles, and you get to choose to watch it in either or
both languages. This is the great thing about releasing anime on DVD in
that you can have multiple spoken language tracks on the same disk. A
few disks even come with Spanish and French language tracks, in addition
to English and Japanese, which is awesome!
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- What
do you mean when you say that an item is an 'import'
vs. a 'domestic'
item?
Most of the items that we
carry in the store are the licensed domestically produced (made in the
USA) versions, however, to fill in the gaps of what is not available
here in the US we import many items directly from Japan. This is
especially true with Anime Toys, Music, Art Books, and a few DVD's which
simply are not produced here in the US.
In the case of Anime
music, the majority of our items listed are direct Japanese imports (we
bring them in from suppliers in Tokyo and Osaka), and the few licensed
domestic CD releases that exist are sprinkled in among them. Sometimes
there will be both an import and a domestic release of the same CD, and
we carry them both ways so you can choose (some collectors only want the
Japanese import version, even though they are more expensive).
Some stores carry illegal
bootlegs from Taiwan, China, or Korea and call them 'imported' items
(to make them sound more legitimate, or to confuse people into thinking
they are real Japanese produced items). You won't find anything like
that at the Anime Corner. When we say an item is 'imported' we mean it
is the real thing brought over directly from Japan.
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- What
does region encoding
mean for your DVDs? Will they work on my player?
Unless otherwise stated
in the item description, all of our DVD's are encoded for play in at
least Region 1 (sometimes 2 & 4 also), which is the North American
DVD region. We do have a few Japanese import DVD's that are encoded for
Region 2, which is Japan and Europe. Also, all of our DVD's are NTSC
video format, as opposed to PAL format commonly used in Europe.
If you are in the US, all
of our DVD's will work just fine in your DVD player except for those few
imports that are region 2. To play them, you will need a multi-region,
or region free DVD player. The same applies to our customers outside of
the US and Canada, who will need a multi-region or region free DVD
player to play our Region 1 DVD's. Customers in Europe will also need a
DVD player capable of playing the NTSC format, however, most new DVD
players sold in Europe are now capable of playing both NTSC and PAL
formats.
Complete information
about region encoding and the DVD format can be found on our DVD
Primer Page.
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- Do
you carry Japanese language Import
Manga?
We used to, however, so
many Manga titles have now been licensed in the US and printed in
English that demand for imports fell to nearly zero a couple years ago
and we no longer carry them. Rest assured that if you are looking for a
manga series that is not out in English yet, it will be soon and we will
have it!
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- What
is the difference between a Japanese
Import Music CD and a Domestic
Music CD? Are the songs on a domestic CD in
English? Can I play Japanese CD's in my CD player?
Here's a question that we
get a lot, and I always get a chuckle when I answer it! :-)
Japanese Import Music
CD's are produced in Japan, and we import them directly from Japan.
Domestic music CD's are produced under license in the US, and are the US
released versions of the original Japanese CD. This does not mean that
the music on a domestic CD is in English, on the contrary, usually the
domestic version is the exact same as the Japanese version, and contains
the original Japanese music content, except with English labeling and
usually a lower price due to the CD being produced locally.
Of course, there is no
region encoding for CD's (thank goodness!), and any CD will play in any
CD player, no matter where it was produced.
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-
Some
of your items have age ratings, some do not? How do I know what age an
Anime is appropriate for?
Age ratings are actually
a recent phenomenon in the Anime industry, and are long over due.
Unfortunately, there is no standard age rating system used by the US
Anime studios. Some studios use a home video version of the Motion
Picture Association content rating system, and other studios have chosen
to use a version of the system currently in use for video game content.
Some studios do not provide age ratings at all. We are currently
building in suggested age ratings on all new titles, and are working
back through our catalog to provide age ratings that we feel are
appropriate to our older titles. Occasionally, if we have seen that
Anime, we may set the age rating a bit higher than the studio if we feel
that the content is not appropriate to that particular age group.
Personally, I've always felt that the MPAA, ESRB, and other
organizations tasked with rating content set a minimum standard at best,
so we won't always agree with them.
Also keep in mind that
these ratings are just suggestions, and we recommend that parents who
are concerned about what their children are watching (that should be all
of you!) should preview the title first to ensure that they feel the
content is appropriate. Some titles that are fine for a 15 year old, may
not be suitable for a 13 year old. Also, remember that many of the
titles that are shown on TV are heavily edited, and the DVD releases
often are original uncut versions and include content that may not be
suitable for the same age group watching the TV version. For instance,
there are no swear words on the TV version of DragonBall Z, but there
are plenty in the uncut version released on DVD.
If you are a parent of an
Otaku, here is an excellent database maintained at Anime Cafe's site
called 'A
Parent's Guide to Anime'. It's worth a look if your not sure if the
content of a particular anime might be suitable for your son or
daughter.
If you do have any
questions, please feel free to e-mail
us and we'll help you as best we can with this.
~ Back to
Top ~
-
What
does OVA
mean? What is the difference between an OVA,
a Movie,
and a TV Series?
In Japan, there is a very
large direct to video market (more so than here in the US, though that
is slowly changing). Many Anime series start life as an OVA, or Original
Video Animation, and are released directly to the home video market.
Sometimes it works the other way when a popular TV series will be
followed on or continued by a shorter OVA release.
Tenchi
Muyo is a great example of a series that has seen production in
every format. It started off as a 36 episodes OVA series (but only 13
episodes were ever made), released directly to video and not shown on
TV, then 2 complete TV series where produced (another one is coming),
and finally 3 high quality theatrical productions that appeared in
Japanese movie theaters.
As a rule of thumb, an
OVA is usually a higher quality production with better animation and
music (since it is not produced to the rigorous time constraints that TV
products are), but will be shorter than a TV series, usually from 2 to 6
episodes (sometimes more). This is not to be confused with the popular
13 episodes TV series shorts that are popular in the later time blocks
in Japan. Movies, of course, are generally to highest quality, but
shortest productions.
Note: Some people have
Americanized the term OVA as OAV (Original Animated Video), but we
prefer to use the original Japanese terminology at the Anime Corner
Store. :-)
~ Back to
Top ~
-
Can
you recommend some Anime titles to me? What would you consider the Anime
'A' list of must see titles?
I have to admit, that the
answer to that is much bigger than the question. If you ask 10 Anime
fans this question, you'll get 11 different answers. There are so many
different Anime titles, and there are so many diverse tastes that it's
almost impossible to recommend titles to someone, but we've gotten
together and compiled a short list of our favorite titles that might
help you out.
This is NOT a
comprehensive list by any means, it is listed in NO particular order (on
purpose), and many of MY personal favorites (like Orguss 02 for
instance) were left off. In order to be included on this list EVERYONE
here had to agree that it was a title they would recommend, so we hope
this list is helpful to you - it's a good place to get started anyway:
~ Back to
Top ~
Trade Ins /
Selling Your Used Anime
- I
heard that you allow trade ins of used DVD's, CD's, and Manga. Is that
correct?
We will happily take your
use Anime DVD's, Domestic CD's, Japanese CD's, or Manga in trade for
store credit. See #2 below for instructions.
~ Back to
Top ~
- How can I
trade in my used
Anime for store credit?
Trading
in your excellent condition previously viewed Anime DVD's, CD's, or
Manga for store credit is now very easy.
We will pay the following
for Anime trade ins:
-
Previously
Viewed Anime DVD's in Excellent
Condition:
$3.00 per disc
-
Previously
Viewed Anime DVD Boxed Sets in Excellent
Condition: $3.00 per disc
(Example:
Boxed Set of 8 DVDs - $3 x 8 discs = $24)
-
New
Factory Sealed Anime DVD's in Brand New
Condition:
$4.00 per disc
-
New
Factory Sealed Anime DVD Boxed Sets in Brand New
Condition: $4.00 per disc
(Example: Boxed
Set of 8 DVDs - $4 x 8 discs = $32)
-
New or
Used English
Language Manga in Excellent
Condition:
$1.00 per book
(English
Language Graphic Novels Only - No 32 Page Monthly Comics Please)
-
Used
Domestic Anime CD's in Excellent
Condition:
$1.50 per CD
(Licensed
US Releases only - no SonMay, Alion, or other Bootlegs
Please)
-
Used
Japanese Anime or J-Pop CD's in Excellent
Condition:
$2.00 per CD
(Licensed
Japanese Releases only - no SonMay, Alion, or other Bootlegs
Please)
You can
trade in any number or combination of the above items, from 1 item to
100 or more at a time. We will take trade in of a single item or an
entire collection. When you are ready to trade in your items, there is
no need to contact us first or obtain an authorization number, simply
pack-up your items and ship them via regular mail to:
Robert's Anime Corner
Attn: ANIME TRADE INS
P.O. Box 932
Ranson, WV 25438-0932
USA
Or ship them
via UPS or FedEx directly to our warehouse at:
Robert's Anime Corner
Attn: ANIME TRADE INS
308 South Buchannan Street
Ranson, WV 25438
USA
Please
include the following information when you ship us your trade ins:
- Full Name
- Address
- Phone
- E-Mail Address
- List of the items you are trading in
Make sure to
write 'Anime Trade Ins' on the outside of your box.
Once your
trade in arrives in our warehouse, we will inventory and inspect them,
tally up your trade in credit, and e-mail you a store coupon for the
amount of the trade in credit that you can apply towards your next order
here at the Anime Corner. Please allow 7-10 working days from the time
your trade in arrives in our warehouse for your coupon to be issued.
Trade In
Terms & Conditions:
We will only
accept items that are in excellent condition for trade ins. That means
that all items must be in their original packaging, and contain all sleeves
and/or inserts that original came with them. DVD's and CD's will be
tested, and those with scratches, defects, broken cases, or play-back
problems will be rejected. All trade in DVD's must be Region 1 (North
American) releases. Books must be in excellent condition and cannot have
bent corners, missing pages, torn spines, etc. We do not currently
accept Japanese Language manga for trade in. Items that are shipped to
us that are not in excellent condition will be rejected and returned to
you without credit. We will not accept non-licensed
anime releases or bootlegs for trade in credit, and will return them
to you at your expense. If you are not sure if your DVD or CD is a
bootleg or eligible for trade in, just check
the store to see if we carry it. If we carry it, it's legit and we
will accept it for trade in credit. We recommend using a trackable
shipping method when sending us your trade in item, and for you to
consider insuring your shipment. We cannot be responsible for any items
shipped to us that are lost or damaged in transit before they reach our
warehouse.
Please be
sure to e-mail
us if you have any questions regarding trading in your used Anime.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Do
you sell used DVD's and CD's on the store? What do you do with items
that are traded in?
Many times we are asked
"Once you buy my used DVD's, what do you do with them?".
Currently, we do not resell used or traded in DVD's or CD's at the Anime
Corner Store. We dispose of your used anime through secondary market
channels (though I must admit, a few of them end up in the personal
collections of some Anime Corner employees, who will remain
nameless.....-_^). We provide this as a service to you, rather than some
additional means to make money.
~ Back to
Top ~
Store
Shopping & Searching
- How
do I search for an item on the store?
That's easy! Just
click here. You can search the store by any keyword, by format, even
by genre.
~ Back to
Top ~
- How
do I get coupons
and special offers?
We currently do
offer some great coupons and special offers from time to time, but only
to our Newsletter subscribers. If you'd like access to these offers,
make sure to sign
up here. We send it out about once every 2 weeks, and it's chock
full of news, new release info, reviews, and lots of other good stuff.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Do
you offer Gift Certificates?
Absolutely, they are
delivered via e-mail and they make
the perfect gift! <Click
Here>
~ Back to
Top ~
- How
do I know if an item I want to order is currently
in stock?
Rather than have an
incredibly expensive web integration with our inventory system, we
simply strive to keep every item listed on the store in stock and ready
to ship at all times. This is what it means when an items says
"Stocking Item" - unless that item is currently backordered
from the manufacturer, we should have it in stock and ready to ship in
our warehouse.
Of course, we deal
directly with over 40 major manufacturers, studios, and Anime producers,
plus over a hundred minor manufacturers, vendors, importers, and sales
agents for the over 7,000 items we carry. They all have different
policies and procedures, and some of them can get a little quirky at
times, which is why we frequently see Bob in his office doing a juggling
act on the phone when something doesn't come when it's supposed to....
-_^
The nature of some items
also makes this a little harder to always keep them in stock, like
Import CD's which have long lead times (usually a few weeks). Some
domestic Manga also comes to mind, because in the US comic book business
many publishers are tiny little companies with limited resources, which
is why some titles can go into 'reprint' statues for weeks or months at
a time. Other items like apparel or toys which are only subject to one
production run and then discontinued. Items like that will be listed as
in stock while we have them, and then changed to 'Backordered' (if we
think we can obtain more at some point) or 'Sold Out' (if it's gone
forever and we're probably SOL) status once they are gone. While we
update the status on these items every 24 hours, it is inevitable that 2
people will occasionally order the same item in a 24 hours period when
there was only 1 left. In that case, the item is first come, first
served, and the item will be marked as backordered or sold-out on the
other customer's pick ticket.
~ Back to
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- What currency
are your prices listed in? How can I tell how much an item will cost in
my own currency?
Our prices are always in
US Dollars. If you'd like to know how much something costs in your home
currency, you can use this currency
converter.
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Top ~
- Why
can't I place more than one item in my shopping cart at a time?
You may be blocking or have disabled the
"Cookies" function on your browser or you have a software
program (like a personal firewall program from Mcafee or Norton) that is
blocking the shopping cart cookie, and you must have cookies enabled
for our shopping cart to function properly. This is actually safer
and more private than if our software stored your shopping cart on our
side. We use Yahoo's ultra secure server side solution to host our
store, and the shopping carts of all 120,000 Yahoo stores on the web
work this same way.
If you don't know how to enable "Cookies"
in your browser, please do the
following:
How to enable cookies:
- For Microsoft Internet
Explorer, choose "Tools," then "Internet
Options," then " Security Tab," then
"Internet," and finally choose "Default Level".
- For Netscape browsers,
choose "Edit," then "Preferences," then
"Advanced," and finally choose "Accept All
Cookies".
- If your are using
AOL's or Apple's browser, please contact their customer support to
find out how to enable cookies for your particular version.
If this does not resolve the
issue, you might still have your browser security settings set too high.
You can solve this problem without altering your security level settings
by setting our store are a 'trusted' site in your browser
software and/or in your firewall software so the software will allow the
store to set our shopping cart cookie within your browser.
If you still need help,
please feel free to contact us at <customercare@animecorner.com>.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Why
don't you guys show the retail price
of the items on the store? If you did, people would better understand
how good your prices are!
This is a subject that
Robert is particularly vocal on! :-)
The vast majority of the
items in our store are priced at a 20-40% discount to the retail price,
with some being priced even lower. We believe that Anime consumers are
some of the most .Net savvy consumers around. You know what things sell
for, and you know a good deal when you see it without being having to be
told. The 'Retail' price of an item is mostly irrelevant, because no one
pays that price anyway (unless you're standing in a Suncoast...
-_^), however, many stores base their overall pricing structure on an
'X' discount off retail, and then like to promote how much you are
saving:
For example: Retail
Price $29.98, Our Price $26.98 - You Save 10%
(hmmmm, not really though.....)
This is the type of
pricing structure you'll see at stores like AnimeNation and RightStuf
(even Amazon!), but those prices are misleading in that while they want
you to believe you are saving 10%, you may actually be paying 15-25%
MORE than you would if you bought the same item here at the Anime
Corner. We've always felt that Anime consumers are too smart for that
kind of approach, and we don't use that methodology.
For import items, posting
the retail price is also not very relevant, since the original Japanese
price would be in in Yen, and the dollar price would vary widely
depending on the currency conversion at the time. Still, we do post the
retail Yen price for Japanese import CD's to give customers a frame of
reference when shopping around, they can see that many other sites
charge MUCH MORE than the converted Japanese retail for import CD's,
again taking advantage of the fact that consumers may not know how much
these items actually cost in Japan.
Finally, retail price is
not very important at the Anime Corner Store because we price our
products based on our cost instead of a discount off retail. This is why
prices in our catalog vary from studio to studio, and it allows us to
keep our pricing as low and, more importantly, as fair as possible.
Other stores will cut a little in one place, and make huge profits in
another place because they know the consumer doesn't know that they pay
far less for some products than others. We've always felt that this was
a rather dishonest and gimmicky way to price products, and we don't do
it. We hate gimmicks!
~ Back to
Top ~
-
Do
you offer discounts or free items to Anime Clubs, libraries, and other
non-profit organizations?
We try to
keep our everyday prices as low as possible for everyone, however, we
can offer discounts for large purchases made by libraries, non-profit
organizations, and legitimate established Anime Clubs sanctioned by an
accredited College or University. We sometimes can also provide
promotional items to Anime Clubs in exchange for endorsement of our
store to their membership. E-mail
Robert with your request, information, and description of your
organization to see if you qualify.
~ Back
to Top ~
-
Do
you offer a price matching policy if I find an item selling for a lower
price at another store?
Currently we
do not offer a price matching policy with other stores, and there are
two primary reasons for this....
You can
always count on the Anime Corner to have some of the best pricing on
popular items, however, it not in our best interest, nor in our
customers best interest, for us to always try to be the 'cheapest' or
have the 'lowest prices' as this would dampen our commitment to service,
and would not be a fair or ethical way to do business. Some companies
will sell certain items or product lines at low or no margin as
promotions or devices to attract customers into the store, when overall
their pricing structure may be quite a bit higher than ours. Instead of
using these sorts of pricing strategies, we try to price fairly for ALL
of our Anime items across the store.
A price
matching policy is also unfair in that if we were able to offer an item
for a lower price to one customer, then ethically we should offer that
item at that price to ALL of our customers ALL of the time. This is what
drives our currently pricing policy - to make sure that we offer the
very best prices possible to ALL of our customers in the most fair and
ethical manner possible. Regardless of whether you agree with this or
not, Robert simply won't have it any other way. Our commitment has never
been to be the 'cheapest', it has always been to offer the best possible
everyday prices and selection without compromising the great service you
have come to expect from the Anime Corner Store! :-)
~ Back
to Top ~
Ordering,
Checkout, and Payment
- What
forms of payment do you accept?
We currently accept the
following forms of payment:
- Visa & Visa Electron
- Mastercard
- Discover
- American Express
- Optima
- JCB
- Debit Cards
(as long as they have the Visa or MasterCard Logo)
- Money Orders
(Payable from a US Bank or Financial
Institution Only please)
- Personal Checks
(Payable from a US Bank Only Please)
- Cash
(US Currency Only Please - We do not
recommend sending cash through the mail, but we will accept it as
payment)
Currently, we are often
asked, but we do not accept:
- Money Order, Check, or
Cash Payments in a Foreign Currency (other than US Dollars)
- PayPal (Why
not? Click Here)
- BidPay
(though we can accept mailed money orders from BidPay)
- Bank Wire Transfers*
- Western Union Payments*
(though we can
accept mailed money orders from Western Union)
- COD Requests
*While it is our
general policy not to accept Bank Wire Transfers or Western Union Money
Transfer payments, we do recognize that sometimes these may be the only
payment option available. Please e-mail us if you are placing a large
order, but are only able to make payment this way and we will try to
work with you as best we can.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Do you
accept phone orders?
Because there is not enough
demand for it to make it cost effective, we currently do not accept phone
orders. We have repeatedly considered this and done customer surveys, and
the vast majority of our customers are just not interested in contacting
us by phone. In fact, many customer place orders specifically request we
do not call them about orders, but contact them only by e-mail.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Can I
order by Mail or Fax?
Yes indeed!
Simply print out the
shopping cart from our online store system, or write up your order on a
piece of paper and mail it in to:
Robert's Anime Corner
Store
Attn: Order Processing
P.O. Box 932
Ranson, WV 25438-0932
USA
You can also fax your order
directly to our warehouse 24 hours a day at:
304-725-3587 Fax
When you send your order
in, be sure to include your name and address, e-mail address & phone
number, list if items you are purchasing, and your payment (or payment
info). Don't forget to add the appropriate shipping
and handling charge before sending in your order.
~ Back to
Top ~
- What if
I want my order delivered to my work or school address (instead of my
credit card's billing address)?
This only applies to credit
card orders, and is usually not a problem. Just let us know in advance or
on the order form why you want it delivered to an address other than your
CC's billing address. Your order will be briefly reviewed by our security
dept. prior to processing, and we will contact if we need any more
information.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Can I add
an item to my order after it has been placed?
Yes, if your order has not
been processed for shipment, we can usually amend it. Just E-Mail
us as soon as possible with any order changes or additions.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Where
do I send my payment to?
All payments should be sent
to:
Robert's Anime Corner
Store
Attn: Order Processing
P.O. Box 932
Ranson, WV 25438-0932
USA
If you want to send us your
payment via Fed Ex, UPS, or DHL please send it too:
Robert's Anime Corner
Store
Attn: Order Processing
308 South Buchannan Street
Ranson, WV 25438
USA
~ Back to
Top ~
- I placed an order, but never
received an e-mail confirmation. Did you send one?
If
you checked the confirmation box on the order from when you placed your
order, our store automatically sends you a confirmation e-mail a few
seconds after you complete the checkout process. The store will also send
you another e-mail confirmation with tracking info when we tell it the
order has shipped out.
If a confirmation is not
delivered to your e-mail box within a few minutes after placing your
order, one of three things has probably happened. You may have typed in
your e-mail address incorrectly. If you think that might be the case,
please send us an e-mail
letting us know. The confirmation e-mail may also have been caught by
either your local or your ISP's spam filter software. We especially have
problems with this when folks use 'hotmail.com' and other free e-mail
service addresses for their order communications, or are using AOL and
have their browser security settings set to a very high level. Finally,
since our confirmation e-mails are electronically generated, some e-mail
programs will assign them 'bulk' mail status, and you may find your
confirmation in the 'bulk mail' folder of your computers e-mail program.
If you think either of the
last two might have happened, you can set your e-mail client to accept all
e-mails from 'customercare@animecorner.com',
or all e-mails from our server side address of 'st124.store.yahoo.com' or
IP address 216.136.225.124. This should prevent future e-mails from being
filtered out and make sure they show up in your systems inbox.
~ Back to
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- Can I
pay for my order when it is delivered (i.e. COD)?
Currently, we do not accept
payment via COD (collect on delivery). All order must be pre-paid before
they can ship.
~ Back to
Top ~
- Why
don't you accept PayPal as
a form of Payment? You used to, what happened?
No, we no longer accept
PayPal.
Enough people still ask us
this that I thought we should finally add a detailed explanation here.
In the beginning, PayPal
was PayPal and was a great new alternative form of online payment. Very
user friendly and efficient, and we happily extolled it's virtues and
accepted it here as a form of payment at the Anime Corner for over three
years from early 2000 until the Summer of 2003. Somewhere along the line
though, PayPal became a part of E-Bay, and that is when things at PayPal
went terribly wrong. After E-Bay took over, the paypal transaction fees
started to increase, and within a year PayPal became the most expensive
form of payment for us to accept, with fees running in excess of 3% per
transaction. Still, we regarded PayPal as an important alternative to
credit card transactions, and continued to accept it as a convenience to
our customers.
Then, on July 7th 2003 we
received an automated notice from Paypal that a stolen credit card may
have been used to fund a transaction into our account, and they requested
documentation be faxed to them on the order and transaction - which we
gladly provided for their fraud investigation. Being online for so long,
credit card fraud is nothing new to us and we have seen many attempts at
fraudulent transactions with us over the years, almost all of which our
internal security screenings catch, so we didn't think anything out of the
ordinary with the Paypal inquiry, but this is where the trouble
began.
On July 10th we received
another automated e-mail from PayPal saying that our account had been
placed on 'limited access' status due to a fraud investigation, and that
the account would no longer be available for use. This was quite a shock,
since we had approx $18,000 in the account at the time that we were now
unable to transfer or withdraw. We had been accepting Paypal for years,
and had done hundreds of thousands of dollars in transactions through
them, enough so that we had been assigned a dedicated account rep at
PayPal (named Paul). I immediately called Paul on the phone and asked what
was going on, and when our account would be released. The answers I got
from Paul were shocking. Due to the fraudulent transaction (which was no
fault of ours), our account, along with several others that the fraudsters
has hit had been essentially frozen along with all the funds in it at the
time. We would not longer be able to accept payments, process refunds, or
access the funds currently held in the account for a period of at least
180 days (6 months). Yes, that's right, 6 months. I was dumb struck, and
asked Paul if there was anything we could do. We did get one appeal, which
we immediately submitted and it was immediately denied (within hours, via
another automated e-mail). After that, there was no further action we
could take through PayPal (and believe me, we tried, and tried, and
tried....).
Paypal had just arbitrarily
frozen our account for no fault of ours, and seized our funds for a period
of 6 months or more, which they justified by explaining they have to do
this in case more fraudulent transactions are reported and they have to
make additional chargebacks or refunds against our account. Remember that
up to this point we had literally done thousands of PayPal transactions
with no problems at all.
I don't know if anyone has
ever actually read PayPal's 26,000 word user agreement (TOS), but if you
had and could interpret the legalese you'd quickly realize that by
accepting PayPal's user agreement (which changes frequently) you are
basically waiving ALL of your rights to the funds in your account, your
right to pursue legal action against them if there is an issue with your
account, and you are giving PayPal authority the freeze and seize your
account anytime they want for any reason with no recourse or
penalty.
After investigating the
matter for a few weeks, we found that these issues were not uncommon, and
PayPal has tens of thousands of users that they had done exactly the same
thing to.
I recommend everyone watch
this recent CBS
News Report about problems with PayPal.
There is also a good
site here full of information for people that have had similar issues
with PayPal.
After 7 months and repeated
letters and communications, in February 2004 we were finally able to get
PayPal to refund most of the money that they had locked up in our account
(but not all of it). This was very little of a victory considering the
time and trouble it had cost us, and the inconvenience to our customers
for which we could no longer accept Paypal as a form of payment. I
personally consider the matter closed, and will not be wasting our time
pursuing the matter further. We'll chalk up whatever monies we lost in the
matter to experience, we will probably never accept PayPal again as a form
of payment, and I advise everyone to take a good look at what they do with
Paypal, and if you want to continue to use the service at their own risk,
only ever keep enough money in the account that you can afford to have
locked up for some indefinite period of time should something go wrong
with the system. Whatever funds you currently have in your PayPal account
is not protected by US or international credit card or banking laws.
It's really a shame, but
that's what happens when a big company runs out of control.
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Top ~
- Do
I have to enter my ordering information each time I place an order, or do
you have a way to create an account?
We are always working to
make your shopping experience as fun and convenient as possible, but with
security a high priority as well. While our store software includes the
capability to allow customers to create 'accounts' and log into the site,
we have chosen thus far not to incorporate this feature into the store.
Your privacy is very important to us, and well as the security of your
personal information. Sites that allow customers to create accounts must
store that customer's personal and payment information on a web server
that, no matter how secure, has the potential to be hacked. When you place
an order here at the Anime Corner Store, your personal information is
transferred securely from your desktop to a closed system that is not
accessible to the outside world, preventing any threat of theft of your
personal information. We feel very strongly about this matter, and we
apologize for the slight inconvenience of having to enter your info each
time you order, but we think that until someone invents an unhackable
system this is the best way to do things for now.
~ Back to
Top ~
- When
I tried to checkout, the store told me that my
credit card was declined. Why won't it let me
complete my order?
Our order processing system
performs real time authorizations on all orders placed using a credit
card. If your are getting this message it means that your credit card's
issuing bank is declining the charge for your order, and you need to
contact their customer service dept. directly to find out why the charge
is being declined.
~ Back to
Top ~
- I
live outside of the US and would like to place an order, but I do not have
a credit card. How can I pay for my order?
By far, the easiest way for
overseas customers to pay for an order is with a major credit card. If you
do not have a major credit card, we can accept cash (US Currency Only),
postal money orders (made out in US Currency Only), and bank money orders
or bank checks as long as they are drawn off a US bank. We can accept
Canadian personal checks as long as the account is a dual currency account
and allows you to make the check payable in US Dollars. If you have a
BidPay account, you CAN use their service to send us a hard copy money
order in US currency, however, we CANNOT accept a money transfer from
them.
Currently, we are often
asked, but we DO NOT accept:
- Money Order, Check, or
Cash Payments in a Foreign Currency (other than US Dollars)
- PayPal
- Bank Wire Transfers*
- Western Union Payments*
- COD Requests
*While it is our general
policy not to accept Bank Wire Transfers or Western Union Money Transfer
payments, we do recognize that sometimes these may be the only payment
option available. Please e-mail us if you are placing a large order (over
$2,000), but
are only able to make payment this way and we will try to work with you as
best we can.
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- If
there is a pre-order or backordered item on my order, can I request that
the order be held until everything is available to ship together?
Yes, we will happily hold
your order until it can ship complete, but you must request this on order form when you place the order. Just
check the 'hold ship complete' box on the order form and we will
wait to ship your order until ALL items on it are in stock and can ship
together. There is also a
situation that comes up from time to time with 'ship complete' orders when we will need to charge your
order now, even though it might be shipping at a later time. This occurs
when there is a limited edition or some other item on the order that may
no longer be in stock by the time the order ships, and allows us to
physically set aside a copy for you while we do have it in stock to ensure
you get everything on your order. When you check the hold ship complete
button on the order form, you are authorizing us to charge you for the
order if we need to before it actually ships.
Order
Processing & Shipping
- What shipping
methods do you use, and what choices do I have?
We offer several
different shipping methods so that you can choose how quickly you want
your order delivered, and how much you want to pay for shipping.
Currently for US domestic orders we offer 2-3 day Priority Mail service
as well as UPS or FedEx Ground (each have their own advantages). We also offer
FedEx 2nd Day Air, and FedEx Next Day
Air shipping for those of you that need your anime in a hurry.
International customers can choose from economical Air Mail / Global
Priority mail, faster EMS or FedEx International Priority, and ultra fast DHL
International Priority to have your order shipped.
Please see our ordering
and shipping page for more information on the shipping methods we
offer.
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- How
do I take advantage of your Free Shipping
offer?
All orders over $99
do not necessarily ship for free. In order to take advantage of our free
shipping offer, make sure to read our Super
Saver Shipping terms and restrictions, and make sure to select the Super
Saver Shipping option when you checkout! Remember that super
saver order may not ship immediately and take longer to be delivered,
but we know the savings is probably worth the wait. :-)
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- I am
an International Customer, and when I placed an order, the store did not
calculate the shipping charge. Why? How do I know how much my shipping
charge will be?
Because of the complexity
of international shipping, the variety of services available, and the
broad range of product types that we carry, our store does not calculate
shipping on most international orders (except for orders going to
Canada). We will add and bill actual shipping costs (based on the method
you choose) to your order after it is placed, and you can request a
quote via e-mail prior
to placing your order. See our shipping
and ordering page for the international shipping methods
available. Your final total including your freight charge will appear on
the invoice included with your order.
Rest assured we are
experts at shipping orders overseas, and have shipped thousands of
orders to customers in nearly every country in the world. Here is a
little more information regarding overseas shipping:
Calculating international
shipping costs depends on the following factors in this order:
- Destination Country or
Worldwide Zone (some freight companies refer to them as 'lanes')
- Shipping Method
- Weight
- Physical Size of the
Parcel (known as the 'DIM' factor or dimensional Weight)
- Value
Weight is very important
in the calculation. Orders for manga will inevitably be more expensive
to ship across all service classes than orders for DVD's, since manga
are books and will be heavier, even though the value of a DVD order
might be much higher than the value of a book order. Size is also very
important. Certain shipping classes have size and weight limits. For
example, we can use air letter post class for Airmail up to 4lbs,
however, orders over 4lbs have to ship air parcel post, which is usually
more expensive per pound. Global Priority Mail also suffers from weight
and size restrictions.
For commercial services,
like DHL or FedEx, shipping rates are often calculated by the volume of
the parcel. There is a flat rate for shipping in one of the 4 or 5
standard sized boxed that they provide, but all other shipping carton
are rated by volume (DIM), which means that if we are shipping DHL and
your order will fit in a flat DHL box, the rate would be determined by
actual weight, but if your order needs to be shipping in a larger brown
box, the rate would be calculated by the volume of the box. A great
example of this would be if you were to order 8 individual DVDs, it
would ship in a flat box and would ship for the 4lb rate. If you ordered
8 DVD's in a boxed set, it would still physically weight only 4
lbs, but would have to ship in a 12 x 12 x 8 box, which would ship at
the 7lb rate because of the volume of the box.
As you can see by this
simple example, it can get quite complicated to correctly calculate
international shipping rates, and it is very difficult to setup a matrix
that will tell our website server exactly what sort of shipping carton a
particular combination of products would best ship in, unless we wanted
to setup a matrix that will overcharge customers 20-40% of the time for
international freight, and we won't do that.
So, bottom line, if you
want to know the shipping rate for a certain order, just e-mail
us and we'll run a calculation for you. :-)
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- How
can I obtain a status on my order?
The order confirmation
e-mail that you received when you placed your order contains a status
link that you can use to check the status of an order. Of course, you
can also e-mail us
directly and we will provide your current order status. Please
include your full name and/or order number when e-mailing us to help us get
back to you as quickly as possible.
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- How
can I track my order?
If you have received a
shipping confirmation and tracking number from us via e-mail, you can
track your order at one of these sites:
Please note that Airmail,
Global Priority Mail, and most APO/FPO shipments are not trackable, and
we cannot obtain a delivery status on them once they leave our
warehouse.
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- I
tried to track my order on the US Postal Service site, and it says that
they only been 'notified electronically'. If the package has been sent,
why hasn't the tracking been updated?
This is actually normal.
You see, USPS does not have a real tracking
system like UPS or FedEx that tells you the scan location of the package
as it moves along the system. USPS only has 'delivery
confirmation'. When we upload our tracking ID's to USPS the day the
parcels are shipped out, that update is usually all the tracking will
say until it is delivered a few days later. So don't worry, your parcel
is on the way, even though USPS may not say that exactly on their
tracking site! :-)
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- I
just placed an order, how long will it take for it to arrive?
We get this
question a lot, and the answer is not as easy as many people think.
Delivery time will depend on what you order, how you select to have it
shipped, and where you live in proximity to our warehouse. Please see
our shipping
and ordering page for more information.
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- I'm
in the Military stationed overseas. Do you ship to Military APO/FPO
addresses?
Yes indeed!
Everyday. We pride ourselves in serving the Anime fans in all of our
military services.
For orders shipping to APO or FPO addresses, enter your shipping address
exactly as it has been assigned to you by your overseas duty station.
The shipping country you should choose is the United States, regardless
of where your actual duty station is overseas or aboard ship. APO &
FPO orders always ship via Priority Mail to the designated Army Post
office (AP) or Foreign Post office (FP) here in the US, and then they
will forward the package to you at your duty station overseas. For our
part we treat these orders just like a regular orders shipping inside
the US, even though the AP will be sending the parcel to you at your
overseas duty station. Mail to US soldiers serving abroad, no matter
where you are, is considered domestic US mail.
And don't worry, we will package your order very well to ensure that it
arrives safely wherever you are, even if you are deployed to a forward
area or on a ship at sea. Unfortunately we can't track APO or FPO
shipments once they have arrived at the Army or Foreign post office, but
these orders are usually delivered in a timely manner. Depending on
where you are, we usually expect APO or FPO shipments to be delivered to
you within about 2 weeks. Please allow more time if you are deployed to
a forward area and are moving around a lot as it can take the mail
longer to catch up with you. If you've been in for awhile, you already
know how 'snail-mail' is.... :-)
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail
us!
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-
OK, Priority Mail
shipping only costs $3.85, yet your minimum shipping charge is $6.00.
What is up with that?!
This is a question we get
occasionally via e-mail, and it always makes us chuckle a bit, but I
wanted to spend some time and explain in detail how we come about our
shipping charges.
First - Priority
Mail is not $3.85 except for shipments less than 16 ounces. Over 16
ounces, Priority Mail rates are determined by zones, and can vary quite
a bit from one place to another. Our rates are fixed so that someone in
Alaska does not pay any higher shipping charges than someone living 10
miles from our warehouse. Robert believes that this is a very fair and
simple way to deal with shipping charges, and we get a great deal of
positive feedback from customers who appreciate it since most of our, even small, order shipments weigh over 16 ounces.
Second - Even a
parcel less than 16 ounces shipped Priority Mail costs us quite a bit
more to send to you than just the $3.85 shipping fee. The order has to
be processed, pulled, written up, boxed, labeled, and confirmed.
Shipping and packing materials have to be used. We actually make very
little or no profit at all on a small $10 order, due to the backend
costs involved with processing that order (which is about the same as
processing a $100 or $200 or $500 order), yet we have set the minimum
order on our store at only $5 because we want to serve ALL Anime
customers, not just the ones that can afford to spend $100 or more every
time they shop here.
Like everything else at
the Anime Corner, we try to keep our shipping and handling charges as
low as possible, while still providing you the best and fastest shipping
services possible. This is why we don't use cheaper less reliable
services (like cheap but unreliable media mail). Unlike other stores, we also try to give you many different
shipping options so you can choose how and when you get your order. We
think this is very important, and spend a great deal of time working to
give you the best possible value for your shipping dollars.
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- I
selected Super Saver Shipping
on the order form, however, when my pre-ordered item shipped later, I
was charged shipping. Why is this, I thought shipping was free?
Super Saver Shipping only
applies to your in-stock items. Pre-order items have to ship separately
at a later time and are considered a separate order, therefore, we have
to charge shipping for pre-order items. Please see our Super
Saver Shipping rules for complete information.
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- I
selected Super Saver Shipping,
however, when my order came I found out that I was charged for shipping
anyway. Why did I have to pay for shipping, I thought all orders over
$99 shipped for free?
Not all orders currently
qualify for Super Saver Shipping. In order to offer you the best
possible service, but not loose too much money on our free shipping offer, we had
to implement a few restrictions.
Orders shipping to AK,
HI, PR, PO Boxes, or the APO/FPO addresses are not eligible for free
shipping because we have to use USPS Priority mail to ship to these
addresses. To qualify for free shipping, please make certain to give us
a street address within the continental United States so that we can
ship your order via a ground delivery service like UPS or FedEx ground.
Pre-Order items do not
count in the calculation for Super Saver Shipping because pre-orders are
not yet available from the manufacturer and must ship separately. To
illustrate this, lets say a customer places a $200 order for in-stock
items, and selects free shipping. Our cost to ship that might be $8-$10.
Lets say another customer places a $200 that contains eight pre-order
items. Our cost to make 8 separate shipments on this one order might be
$40 or more. So you can see that because we already try to keep our
prices a s low as possible, but still offer you the best possible
service, we had to exclude pre-orders from our Super Saver Shipping
offer. As a rule of thumb, pre-order items are handled on this end as
separate orders. You can request that we hold your order until it can
ship complete, or you can order your pre-order items on a separate
order, but your shippable total for any one shipment must be over $100
for your order to qualify for free shipping, so please keep this in mind
when you place an order that contains pre-order items. If you still have
questions about this, please e-mail
us!
Please see our Super
Saver Shipping Rules for complete information.
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- I
ordered a Wall Scroll
and another item - why I was charged two separate shipping charges?
In most cases, wall
scrolls, posters, rolled Japanese calendars, and a few other type of
items have to ship in a separate mailing tube due to their odd size,
unless of course you request that we saw them in half prior to
shipment..... -_^ When you order one of these items we will
automatically recalculate shipping and add a small additional shipping
fee to cover sending 2 parcels.
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- For
FedEx 2nd Day and Overnight Air shipping where the shipping charge is
based partly on the number of items I order, does a 6 DVD bundle count
as one item or six items?
For shipping calculations
bundles and boxed sets count as 1 item. This is a good thing. :-)
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Pre-Orders,
Backorders, and Item Availability
- If I pre-order
an item, when would my credit card be charged?
You will not be charged
for the item until it actually ships out to you.
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- I
want to pre-order an item, but I do not have a credit card. What other
payment methods do you accept, and when would I have to make payment?
You can pre-pay for a
pre-order item, however, we will not reserve a copy for you until your
payment actually arrives. For this reason, you need to send us your
payment as soon as possible after you place your order, just like you
would for an in stock item. This is especially important if your
ordering a special or limited edition item. If you place an order with
multiple pre-order items shipping on different dates, we will e-mail you
and let you know how much additional shipping we will need to cover all
the separate shipments, and give you the option to perhaps batch some
items together to save shipping charges.
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- I
received my order, but one of my items was marked "Backordered".
When will I get it? Will I have to pay additional shipping when it is
sent?
We do our very best to
keep all the item listed on our site in stock, but with over 80 major
vendors providing items to us from all over the world, it's sometimes
not possible to account for manufacturer stock outs, distributor mis-shipments,
or items that temporarily go out of production.
If you have a backordered
item on your order, don't worry, we'll do our best to get it out to you
as soon as possible. And, of course, backorders at the Anime Corner
always ship freight free so you never have to worry about additional
shipping charges because an item is out of stock.
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- I
received my order, but one of my items was marked "Sold
Out - No Longer Available". What does
this mean, and will the item be sent later?
As is common in the
Japanese Anime market, many licensed Anime items (like statues, toys,
and t-shirts) or are produced only once, so we are unable to re-order
them once we sell out. There are also times when, for instance, and
manga or CD may go out of print for longer than we feel comfortable
holding a backorder for it. While we update our website every 24 hours,
it is inevitable that from time to time an item like this will sell out
before we can update it's status.
If you have an item on
your order marked 'Sold Out', it is no longer available and,
unfortunately, cannot be backordered. Such are the fortunes of the Anime
world.......
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Special
Orders and Items That Are Not Listed on the Site
- Can
you special order a Japanese CD or DVD for
me that is not listed on the store?
Yes, we can special order
any Japanese CD or DVD that is currently in print. Special orders can take
6-12 weeks for delivery, and we require payment in advance
for any item that we special order for you. Special orders are not
cancelable, and special order items are not returnable. You will be
charged for the special order item at the time the order is placed. Please see our special
orders page for complete information.
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- I'm
looking for an 'Anime' series, but I
do not see it listed on the store. Do you
have it or can you get it for me?
We carry every
domestically released Anime and Manga title, so if you don't see it
listed on the store more than likely it's not yet released, or is out of
print. Even so, please feel free to e-mail
us if your looking for a particular title or have a quest and we'll be
happy to check into it for you.
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Damaged /
Defective Items, Returns, and Technical Problems
- What
is your returns policy?
We try to keep our costs
down by limiting returns and we ask all of our customers to order
responsibly so that they will not need to return an item. In exchange
for your understanding, we immediately advance replace defective items
and in most cases* provide postage paid mailers for the return of the defective
items (*U.S. Customers Only). Return of any item to us requires an RA number be
issued in advance. If you return an item without an RA number, we will
not credit the return and the item will be shipped back to you at your
expense. Please see our returns
policy for more information.
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- My
order arrived, but one of my items is damaged (or defective). What
should I do?
E-mail
us immediately and we will
replace the damaged or defective item with a minimum hassle to you. It's
as simple as that.
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-
I'm
having trouble with a DVD. Is my problem a common problem, or is the DVD
just defective?
Most of the time problems
playing a DVD indicate a defective disk that we can exchange for you.
Occasionally though, DVD's will have a problem from the manufacturer
that can effect some or all the DVD's in that production batch. If you
are experiencing a strange problem with a DVD you purchased from us, be
sure to check our DVD
Technical Bulletins Page to see if we have posted info about it, and
be sure to inform us
of the problem. When we receive reports of the same problem from several
customers, we will pass the information along to the manufacturer so
that they are aware and (hopefully) take corrective action on the issue.
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-
I'm
having trouble playing a DVD on my PS2 Game Console or DVD-Rom drive. Is
the disk defective?
We get reports of this
sort of problem from time to time. While your disk may indeed be
defective, it may also be experiencing a compatibility problem with your
Play Station game console or your computers DVD-Rom drive. Alas, many of
the major Anime studios do not test DVD's on game consoles or DVD-Rom
drives when they are being authored, and while they will work in those
devices most of the time, there is no guarantee of compatibility.
Bandai, for instance, generally will not consider a DVD defective if it
fails to play on a PS2 machine, but does play OK on a normal DVD player.
If you do experience a
problem with a DVD playing on your game console or DVD-Rom drive, please
test it on a normal DVD player (if possible) before you report it to us
as a defective disk. If it does not play on a regular DVD player, or has
the same problem, it is probably defective. If it plays OK on a regular
DVD player, then the disk probably has a compatibility issue with your
external device that may require you to upgrade the software or hardware
on your game console or DVD-Rom drive. You can also check our DVD
Technical Bulletins Page to see if any announcement has been made
regarding your particular problem.
Because of the scope and
breadth of DVD player hardware on the market, we cannot accept returns
for DVD's that have issues playing on peripheral devices, but will
always exchange DVD's that are problematic playing on regular DVD
players. If you experience such a problem, please be sure to inform
us so we can at least report it back to the manufacturer.
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- If
I don't like an Anime that I purchased, can I return it for credit?
No, we cannot accept a
return for this reason. Anime, like most other things in life, is
somewhat of a gamble.
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Still Need
Help?
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