Believe it or not, Right Stuf, one of North America’s largest anime and manga specific retailers, started out as a business focused on the buying and selling of telescopes. It’s thanks to the 1960s Astro Boy anime that the company turned its attention elsewhere. In 2012, Right Stuf celebrated its 25th anniversary as a publisher, distributor, and retailer not only of anime, but of manga and related merchandise as well. Since I discovered the existence of Right Stuf, it has quickly become one of the primary vendors I use to acquire new manga and anime. As one of my favorite retailers, I’d like to share a few tips on finding and buying manga through Right Stuf.

If you know exactly what you’re looking for, the best way to search for manga on Right Stuf is by title. For newer manga you can also search by the thirteen digit ISBN (without hyphens) since it is what Right Stuf generally uses for the item code. For the most part, there is no author or creator search which I find disappointing. But to make up for it, Right Stuf has one of the most easily browsed catalogs that I’ve encountered online. Right Stuf also has one of the most complicated and comprehensive advanced searches that I know of, and I am a huge fan of it. The advanced search includes options for genre, publisher, age rating, year of creation, price range, and more. Just remember to check the boxes for any of the options you want to search.

One of the many options available in the advanced search is product availability. Each item page includes this information. If you need a particular item in a rush, you’ll want to take note of its availability status. If something is listed as “In Stock and Available” you should be good to go since it will be able to be shipped immediately. Other possibilities which take longer to ship are “Pre-Order, Not Yet Shipping,” “More Arriving Soon!,” “We’ll Get It for You!,” and “Special Order.” Each of these are still expected to be fulfilled within a certain period of time. (More information can be found here.) Product availability is updated on an hourly basis and will affect how quickly your complete order will be shipped.

Right Stuf has a ton of ways to save on manga. In addition to any current sales that are going on (and there’s always a sale going on), the store has Daily Deals, Weekly Specials that are updated every Thursday, multiple Bargain Bins, and special Bargain Bundles that are only available through Right Stuf. Even if something isn’t currently on sale, Right Stuf generally offers at least a 25% discount off of the cover price for manga. Out-of-print and hard-to-find materials are often in stock at Right Stuf even after they’ve long been gone from other retailer’s inventories with absolutely no price gouging.

Larger sales, generally based on a particular publisher, usually overlap by one day. I like to place my orders on that day in order to take advantage of both sales at once. It makes it even easier to reach the $49 needed for free shipping within the U.S. (An order of $250 is currently necessary for free shipping to Canada.) Right Stuf also ships internationally and is currently investigating ways to offer better and cheaper shipping options to overseas customers. Currently, international orders require a credit card. Domestically, purchases can be made with a credit card, check, or money order.

There are several different methods I use to stay informed with what’s going on at Right Stuf and what’s on sale. If you’re on Twitter, the Right Stuf account can be found at @animetoday and is updated regularly. Right Stuf also sends a weekly e-mail newsletter to those who sign up for it. There is even an option to receive press releases. But my favorite way of keeping track of Right Stuf is to regularly check the Recent Changes page. In addition to items with price changes, the page also lists newly added items and items that have been removed from the inventory. Following the newly added items allows me to stay on top of any preorders that I’m interested in. It’s also a way to learn about licenses that I might have missed. If something is removed from the inventory, it’s a good sign that it has gone very out of print and that you should find a copy sooner rather than later if you want one.

Another great way to save money is through the Got Anime? purchasing club. Right now, a yearly membership only costs $12. Once I started regularly purchasing manga and other goods from Right Stuf, a Got Anime? membership was one of the first things I bought. The membership provides an additional 10% off of almost everything that Right Stuf carries and stacks with other coupons and discounts. If you think you’ll spend at least $120 at Right Stuf over the course of one year, a Got Anime? membership is a must. In addition to the 10% discount, you will also receive exclusive coupons, special promotions, and an extended period for returns should you need it.

The final thing I would like to mention about Right Stuf is its customer satisfaction team. Right Stuf has the absolute best customer service that I have ever worked with. The team members are prompt, courteous, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful. On different occasions I have contacted Right Stuf by phone, Twitter, e-mail, and through the online contact form and have been very satisfied with the service that I received each time. During business hours, live chat is also available. The team is more than happy to answer general questions about the store’s inventory. They also take suggestions and requests, and go above and beyond to find solutions to any problems encountered with an order. Seriously, in my experience, the customer service at Right Stuf has been amazing.

Quick Tips for Finding Manga at Right Stuf
1) Pay attention to product availability when ordering.
2) Time purchases to take advantage of multiple sales and offers.
3) Keep an eye on the Recent Changes page and weekly newsletter.
4) If you buy enough, consider getting a Got Anime? membership.
5) Have a problem or question? Don’t be afraid to contact customer service.

JULY 2011 UPDATE: Borders is currently undergoing liquidation and all Borders stores are expected to close by the end of September 2011

 As I write this, it is no secret that Borders is in some trouble. The most recent developments include Diamond—the largest comic and manga distributor for North America—suspending shipments to the stores. (You can read more about this at Robot 6: Diamond puts Borders on hold.) Daniella Orihuela-Gruber at All About Manga has already written an excellent post called Get Thee to a Borders! about why you should consider buying at Borders (especially right now) and so instead I’m going to discuss a bit about how to most effectively buy at Borders.

I love Borders so I’m hoping they pull through, work things out with Diamond, and stick around for a while longer. Yes, it’s a chain (albeit a locally based one for me), but it’s also one of the few remaining physical bookstores that I have available to me. And with careful coordination of rewards and coupons, Borders easily has some of the best deals (20%-50% off on a regular basis), frequently beating out even Amazon, especially when it comes to buying manga. Borders stores have a great selection when it comes to manga and they’re not afraid to stock more obscure or mature titles. Most things you can’t find on their shelves can be ordered for you or can be ordered from them online. Lately, almost all of my new manga purchases have been from Borders stores.

Borders currently has two rewards programs—Borders Rewards and Borders Rewards Plus (A quick breakdown and comparison of the two can be found here.) If you spend $195 or more a year on books, manga or otherwise, you should definitely sign up for the Borders Rewards Plus program which costs $20. If you spend less than that in a year, you should probably just stick with the free Borders Rewards program although the Plus program might still be worth considering. What I love most about the Plus program (yes, I signed up for it as soon as I could) is free shipping on all online orders and the fact that I automatically get 10% off my book purchases in addition to any other coupons and discounts I might use. And even if you’re not using the Plus program, you can always get free shipping by having your order shipped to a local store and picking it up there.

One of the features of the Borders website is that it allows an inventory check of stores which indicates the stores near any given zip code that should have a particular item in stock. And once you’ve located a book you want at a store you want you can place an online reservation and have it held for you. I use this feature all the time when I’m in a hurry and won’t have time to browse in the store myself or if I’m worried they might sell out before I can get to the store. One word of advice: when searching the Borders database by ISBN, make sure to remove all hyphens, otherwise the search results returned will not be accurate. Searching by title or author usually works pretty well.

In addition to being an online retailer, Borders also has physical stores. This means you can actually see, sample, and touch the books, something that you can’t do very well or at all when browsing online. The potential for serendipitous finds it much higher, too. All off the Borders stores that I have been in have a pretty decent manga section and selection. If you’re having trouble locating the section, most of the stores have placed the manga and graphic novels near the teen/young adult department. Many stores have also started shelving anime near or with the manga. Light novels are sometimes shelved in amongst the manga but sometimes you’ll find them in the fiction or genre sections of the store. Generally speaking, manga at Borders is shelved by title although if you can’t find something you’re looking for, check under the creators’ names, too. You probably won’t see a lot of older titles (although there are exceptions), but most new releases and popular series are readily available. And as I previously mentioned, if you can’t find it in the store, you can order it online and still take advantage of most discounts.

Quick Tips for Finding Manga at Borders
1) Sign up for one of the Borders Rewards programs
2) Take advantage of inventory searches and online reservations
3) Remove hyphens when searching ISBNs online
4) Browse shelves by titles first, then by creators
5) Can’t find it in the store? Order it online and still get a great deal.

My first ever online purchase was made through Half.com and ever since then the site has been one of my favorite places to buy used and out of print books. (I also happen sell manga and other books through Half.com, although that’s a little beside the point.) Half.com was founded in 1999 and was purchased by eBay in 2000. Currently, Half.com requires the buyer to have a credit card in order to make purchases.

When it comes to comics, graphic novels, and manga, Half.com‘s product database leaves a bit to be desired. Often, titles do not exactly match up with their appropriate ISBNs; this is particularly problematic when dealing with a series where the individual volumes are identified by number rather than a unique title (which is usually the case for manga). Fortunately, the database has improved over the last couple years, but it’s still not perfect.

When I buy manga on Half.com, I always search by ISBN since it tends to be correct more often than the listed title. In my experience, sellers are also more likely to list a book by its ISBN rather than its title. If I don’t know the ISBN of the book I’m looking for, I usually pull the information from the publisher’s website or Amazon.com, which has a better (but still imperfect) database.

Half.com takes the condition ratings of items very seriously and will crack down on sellers, so you can be confident that a book listed as “like new” actually is like new. However, it is still a good idea to read any comments a seller has made about a particular listing. It is also a good idea to look at a seller’s feedback. While Half.com is very good in helping settle disputes, it’s always better not to have to deal with a bad situation or seller to begin with.

One of my favorite things about Half.com is that it automatically grants combined shipping rates for multiple purchases made from one seller. The site recently introduced the Buying Wizard feature which makes finding these items even easier since it does the legwork for you. It’s still in beta, but in my experience it has been very accurate in most cases and saves a ton of time (believe me, I know.)

Half.com can be a great place to find out of print titles for reasonable prices, which is what I usually end up buying through the site. The best manga prices on Half.com are generally going to be for older and out of print materials as well as for super popular series. Once you take into consideration shipping, newer manga will usually end up costing cover price or more. If you’re looking for new releases, I recommend buying through a local brick and mortar store first and online stores second to better support the creative teams and let the publishers know what’s selling.

Quick Tips for Finding Manga at Half.com
1) Search by ISBN
2) Read the comments about a listing
3) Pay attention to seller’s ratings
4) Take advantage of the Buying Wizard
5) Don’t forget to account for shipping