Anime/Manga ERA: Is RightStuf's "Got Anime?" subscription worth the $18?

[Deleted member 17627]

Realized I have been buying more and more stuff from them lately with their much lower prices on artbooks, Discotek releases, and manga.

The membership's description looks...vague though. Don't care about figures, not 10% off all things, but -up- to 10% off. And priority order processing which I don't really care about honestly.

In terms of saving money, do y'all that have it think it's worth it?

 

[mrmoose]

I'm actually interested in hearing people's thoughts on this too.

I was a GotAnime member for a long, long time. But my anime buying and even manga buying stagnated due to streaming and I found I was only really buying stuff at the end of the year, when the membership wasn't useful. I'm also always confused on when the discount works and when it doesn't.

I like them a lot, the Dark Lord/ownership is very involved, they pack things really really well and they have always done good by me. Their discounts, especially on manga, are great during studio sales and only really trumped by blowouts on Amazon or Sentai or wherever. And I love Gundam. So I love them.

 

[Zutrax]

I have it, I've bought a ton of stuff off their site and it paid itself off pretty damn fast. I don't regret purchasing it. I went on a spree of buying every season of Gundam on blu-ray and I definitely saved money buying the "Got anime" sub. There's a lot of little rules though, like tons of their deep sales don't really let you use it.

However, I'd say that only really works under the stipulation that you're actually already planning to spend that much on their site, otherwise it's kind of a trick to make you think you're saving money and just spending more than you intended.

Edit: Also to clarify, you are able to see the price a "Got Anime" sub would net you on an item I believe, so just look at all the stuff you plan on buying and tally up the difference. Typically it's a couple dollars if it's a more expensive thing like a blu-ray set, to a chunk of cents if it's something like a manga volume.

 

[Deleted member 9479]

I've haven't subbed to it since before the last price increase, but mainly because my buying habits have changed. But yeah it can definitely be worth it. Used to be I'd wait for a studio sale on one of the big manga pubs, play catch-up and place a big enough order that the sub paid for itself.

and I've been thinking about it again, there area whole bunch of Diskotec releases I've put off and trying my best to move more business away from Amazon.

 

[Gabriel]

It depends on how you are using the site. I was a Got Anime member for maybe 15 years, but let it lapse last year. The discount doesn't apply to "Sale" prices, only normal prices. So if you do all your shopping only on the weekly specials and studio sales...all you are getting with Got Anime is faster shipping and a larger return window. However, if you are doing preordering or buying items when they aren't on sale, then you want to get it. I only buy during sales so it stopped being worth it to me.

 

[KazeSim]

If you purchase from them frequently enough it can definitely pay for itself. This year I probably broke even. I don't typically buy anime so this will be based off manga, if you only plan on getting 5 to 20 books a year it is not worth it.

 

[mrmoose]

It depends on how you are using the site. I was a Got Anime member for maybe 15 years, but let it lapse last year. The discount doesn't apply to "Sale" prices, only normal prices. So if you do all your shopping only on the weekly specials and studio sales...all you are getting with Got Anime is faster shipping and a larger return window. However, if you are doing preordering or buying items when they aren't on sale, then you want to get it. I only buy during sales so it stopped being worth it to me.

Click to shrink...

I thought it worked on some sales (it definitely used to work on studio sales before, but not like the Xmas sales). Does it really not work with any sales anymore?

 

[Gabriel]

I thought it worked on some sales (it definitely used to work on studio sales before, but not like the Xmas sales). Does it really not work with any sales anymore?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it used to work on most of the sales but they changed it at some point. I placed about 15 orders in 2019 with GA and saved exactly zero dollars on all of it. They even have verbiage in the GA description:
*Note: Discount applies only to our everyday low price and excludes specially imported items, gift certificates, items from select publishers, and magazine subscriptions. Clearance items and certain special offers which are already heavily discounted are not eligible for membership discounts.

Maybe there are some sales where the GA discount still stacks but I stopped encountering them a few years ago.

 

[Deleted member 9479]

I thought it worked on some sales (it definitely used to work on studio sales before, but not like the Xmas sales). Does it really not work with any sales anymore?

Click to shrink...

yeah im surprised to hear that. You used to be able to stack it with the studio sales.

 

[KazeSim]

My subscription ran out this past month, I'll re sub and check because I thought the discount was still applicable to books during sales.

Edit: I do remember hearing It didn't work for a lot of anime anymore, though I thought books were spared