April Edition of Eye of the Vortex

I’m not sure how much press this is getting, but the April edition of Eye of the Vortex is available to download or view on Issuu, at this link right here. This month, I go over an old review with The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and check out Yen Press’ Black God. We’ve also got game suggestions, reviews of some new suppliments for White Wolf Entertainment’s World of Darkness d10 system, as well as a look at Privateer Press’ new collectible miniatures game Monsterpocalypse. It’s an excellent edition, and I hope you will all take the time to look at it.

Expanding the Collection During Recession

Wow, it’s been a while!

In these uncertain economic times, everyone has had to cut back; this especially true for comic connoisseurs like manga fans, especially those who follow more than one series at a time. It’s almost impossible for me to purchase books for all the series I follow as soon as they come out, and there are plenty of manga that I’ve yet to be able to read.

My solution? eBay.

eBay is great place to buy manga; despite all the nasty things that you typically hear about the place, and the people selling you their books, the fact remains that eBay is one of the easiest ways to get your hands on multiple books for cheap, esepcially if they’re older series. However, bidder be warned, eBay is full of tricks, and auctions you want to steer clear of. Here are a few of my tips to help you save money and still keep up your manga obsession this spring.

1) First thing’s first; look at the books. If you type manga into the search bar at eBay, you will undoubtedly see all sorts of neat things, half of which, of course, are not manga. They may be posters, tea cozies, dog t-shirts, buttons, cosplay clothing, figures, and all other manner of otaku based goods, but they aren’t the comics you’re looking for. Make sure you filter your search so that you only end up looking at books. It’ll keep you away from anything tempting that would impede upon your manga budget.

2) Stay away from single books. Most sellers are going to try and sell you a book and make you think it’s a good deal; they post the initial price of the first bid at around 3.50. You think you’re getting a good deal, but take a bit of a closer look. They’re probably charging you $5+ for shipping, which can make it even more expensive than the book was originally, if you’re purchasing one of Viz’s 7.99 books. Be careful not to get charged by these tricksters. (If you’re looking for individual books, check out the Amazon or Border’s Marketplace for used copies that cost you around 4.50 (with shipping included).

3) Check out the big lot offers. Sometimes, you’ll have fans clearing out sections of their libraries to make room for more manga, and they’ll sell a large quantity of books in one fell swoop. These situations are key, and recognizing the deals when you see them might be tricky. You’ll look at a lot of 40 books for 50 dollars plus 12 dollars shipping. At first, that seems expensive, but do the math. $62 for that lot means you end up paying approximately $1.55 per book. That amount of money could only probably buy you 5 books at the local Barnes and Noble.

4) Stay away from Buy It Now. The caveat to my previous statement are the Buy It Now auctions. Many of these auctions are for entire sets of manga, but they sell the books at list price. If you look at them carefully, you’ll see they even charge extra for the shipping, so you’re ending up doing worse than you would if you went to the store and bought them. That’s not the point of using eBay.

5) Don’t be afraid of auctions that contain books you already own. Especially if the auction has a lot of books you want, but a few you already own, take a chance on it. You can always sell those books back on eBay, give them to your local library, or give them to friends. Extra copies of xxxHolic make great presents for your otaku friends.

6) Don’t spend more than you want to. Your manga budget is important. Don’t get sucked into the hyper-aggressive oneupmanship of heavy bidding right before the item ends. If the lot goes above your budget, forget it, even if it has some amazing stuff in it. That doesn’t matter. You’re trying to save money here, not throw it around. Be patient, and you’ll get some amazing deals.

Hopefully these tips have helped – even if you don’t decide to bid on manga on ebay, remember that, it’s always on display, and you can wait for that special deal just for you. With patience, and if you tone down your desire to get new manga immediately, you’ll be able to save a lot of money without that much work.