 Frequently Answer & Question
General
- How does the Japanese manga culture compare to that in the US?
- Do you know where I can get information on upcoming Anime conventions?
- Do you have a printed catalog that you can send me?
- Can you tell me a little bit more about the ThisIsAnime?
- Why should I buy my Anime from the ThisIsAnime?
- Share Point / Policy
- Award Winners
- Write Reviews, or submit Screenshots for a chance to win a free DVD!
Anime and Item Related Questions
- What does OVA mean? What is the difference between an OVA, a Movie, and a TV Series?
- Do you carry Japanese language Import Manga?
- What does region encoding mean for your DVDs? Will they work on my player?
- What do you mean when you say that an item is an 'import' vs. a 'domestic' item?
- What exactly does 'dubbed' mean? What does 'Bi-Lingual' mean?
- Do your Anime DVD's have the same English voice actors as the version that I have seen on TV?
- Are the Anime titles listed on the store uncut or edited?
- What if I want something that is not on Thisisanime.com ?
- Do the prices on items ever change?
Pre-Orders, Backorders, and Item Availability
- I received my order, but one of my items was marked "Out if Stock - No Longer Available". What does this mean, and will the item be sent later?
- I received my order, but one of my items was marked
- 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?
- If I pre-order an item, when would my credit card be charged?
Store Shopping & Searching
- Why can't I place more than one item in my shopping cart at a time?
- How can I tell how much an item will cost in my own currency?
- How do I know if an item I want to order is currently in stock?
- How do I get coupons and special offers?
- How do I search for an item on the store?
Ordering, Checkout, and Payment
- 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?
- 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?
- When I tried to checkout, the store told me that my credit card was declined. Why won't it let me complete my order?
- Do I have to enter my ordering information each time I place an order, or do you have a way to create an account?
- I placed an order, but never received an e-mail confirmation. Did you send one?
- Where do I send my payment to?
- Can I add an item to my order after it has been placed?
- What if I want my order delivered to my work or school address (instead of my credit card's billing address)?
- Can I order by Mail or Fax?
- Do you accept phone orders?
- What forms of payment do you accept?
- Why haven't I received an order confirmation email?
- Are there any extra fees?
- I received order confirmation email but why have I not received ship notification email?
- I just ordered something that I don't really want. How do I cancel my order?
- What if my adult material is ceased?
- Do I receive any confirmation on my order? How do I check my order status?
- Can I still order if I do not have a Credit Card?
Order Processing & Shipping
- OK, Priority Mail shipping only costs $4.60, yet your minimum shipping charge is $6.50. What is up with that?!
- I'm in the Military stationed overseas. Do you ship to Military APO/FPO addresses?
- I just placed an order, how long will it take for it to arrive?
- 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?
- How can I obtain a status on my order?
- How do I take advantage of your Free Shipping offer?
- What shipping methods do you use, and what choices do I have?
- About order status
- What is Estimated Ship Date ?
- What is tracking number ?
- How will I know in advance how much the shipping charges are?
- Free shipping with all orders (within U.S. only) over $100
- How soon USPS packages are processed? Is a USPS package secure?
- Some items on my order are not in the package!
- Do you ship internationally? How can I order internationally?
- Do special shipping rules apply to FREE SHIPPING OFFERS?
- How will I know in advance how much the shipping charges are?
Damaged / Defective Items, Returns, and Technical Problems
- If I don't like an Anime that I purchased, can I return it for credit?
- I'm having trouble playing a DVD on my PS2 Game Console or DVD-Rom drive. Is the disk defective?
- I'm having trouble with a DVD. Is my problem a common problem, or is the DVD just defective?
- My order arrived, but one of my items is damaged (or defective). What should I do?
- What is your return policy?
About Shopping cart
- Estimated Ship Date
- Tracking Number
- Order Status information.
Special Orders and Items That Are Not Listed on the Site
- 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?
- Can you special order a Japanese CD or DVD for me that is not listed on the store?
General
| How does the Japanese manga culture compare to that in the US? |
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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' 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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| Do you know where I can get information on upcoming Anime conventions? |
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Check our Anime Convention page for a comprehensive listing of upcoming Anime cons and events.
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| Do you have a printed catalog that you can send me? |
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We carry lots of titles, new ones and classics and it would be difficult for us to make printed catalogues on all of them.
 , our title hunter got this job because he is constantly on the look out for more titles to satisfy our animaniacs.
Titles come and go fast and catalogue is just too slow and expensive.
This is Anime do our best to keep our website as current as possible and the price down.
So check out our website often and let us know if you are looking for something that is not listed on website.
will hunt for you.
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| Can you tell me a little bit more about the ThisIsAnime? |
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Where to begin??!! Actually you can find information about our mission and our history on our About Us page. :-)
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| Why should I buy my Anime from the ThisIsAnime? |
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We are a group that can be described as the Tanukis (Miyazaki's Pom Poco) or the champloo in Samurai Champloo. (By the way, great titles)
This is Anime works together to bring you animation in all its different forms. There is a great anime for everyone and THISISANIME will bring you just that!!! We carry numerous titles, hot and recent, masterworks and classics, Goth and angelic, robots and folktales. We also understand having a passion for anime can be costly so we constantly throw in great deals and promotions that allow everyone a chance to enjoy this wonderful form of story telling.
At Thisisanime, we all take pride and great passion on what we do but passion doesn't mean no mistakes. We understand that very well so we promise you that we will always be here to help you. Titles, ordering, shipping or website questions, just drop us a note, mail, e-mail or call us. We will be polite even if you are not an animaniac because we have good faith that you'll be one soon.
There is an anime or a film for everyone but how do you know which one is the right one for you? This is Anime is very proud to be able to bring you an on-line library of anime and Asian films. You can now see trailers, listen to soundtracks and see screen shots before you click on the buy button. The decision is entirely yours but This is Anime believes that if our customers are better informed they would be more likely to enjoy it and enjoyment is what this is all about. Anime is happening and This is Anime wants people (animaniacs from all over the world) to see it and enjoy it.
This is Anime, we hope you'll find YOUR anime,
Ban-Sai, Ban-Sai
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| Share Point / Policy |
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Our point keeping is to reward our animaniacs and give anyone who's interested a chance to see why anime and manga is such a wonderful and creative entertainment. This Is Anime hopes to create a casual and friendly environment where people can share their anime experience with each other. Before going on and on about how great anime is, (It really is) here is what we are going to offer.
This Is Anime will keep points or score for any of our member that posts wall papers, music, screen shots, trailers or share your opinion by writing a review on any related products.
We will give out 10 pts for any new member when sign on. Make a post and you get 5 pts each time. (Please don't try to duplicate postings) These points are actually store credits. (Eyes open wide!) The more you post, the more point you harvest. The harvest day is when you've accumulated 100 pts. Or more. Each point is worth 1 cent of store credit. It doesn't sound a lot but all animaniacs have their unique collections and when you start posting there can be no end.
-Share your experience and check out what other people have to say then save on your next purchase and post more. If you found a great piece, post it, let people see it, hear it, and enjoy it. Animation is an extremely large realm, no limitations! (This will make the creators of all the amazing characters and the story writers happy then hopefully give them more reason to make better ones¡¦right¡¦you get the point¡¦anime is awesome.)
-We know most of our members are animaniacs or just really likes cool flicks, but once in a while people get too excited and too creative. Strange pictures and reviews start to appear. To keep the sharing ground informative and entertaining for everyone, our administrative eye is always on the look out. We don't want to censor but it is called for sometimes. Just think of it as the Great eye, sees all¡¦If the Great eye found an unrelated, irrelevant or irresponsible posting it will deduct 10pts. from the file's sender. This sounds very much like a video game but we are very serious about our sharing ground.
For all the Anime lovers and Friends of This Is Anime,
Yo-Lo Se Gu
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| Award Winners |
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Free DVDs and other promotional items will be given to the winners as an award.
Plz contribute Reviews and Screenshots for your chance to get a Free DVD.
All winners will be noticed via email or phone. plz contact us at customerservice@thisisanime.com for your Free DVD.
Thank you.
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| Write Reviews, or submit Screenshots for a chance to win a free DVD! |
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Plz make sure you log in before leaving any reviews or screenshots, as points will be given to you everytime you contribute.
Obviously, you have better chance to win when you have more points.
Winners will be contacted via E-mail or Phone number on your member information, and will be given a chance to choose the DVD wanted.
There will be 20 winners every month.
Good Luck!
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Anime and Item Related Questions
| What does OVA mean? What is the difference between an OVA, a Movie, and a TV Series? |
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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.
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| Do you carry Japanese language Import Manga? |
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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 does region encoding mean for your DVDs? Will they work on my player? |
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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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| What do you mean when you say that an item is an 'import' vs. a 'domestic' item? |
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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).
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| What exactly does 'dubbed' mean? What does 'Bi-Lingual' mean? |
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'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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| Do your Anime DVD's have the same English voice actors as the version that I have seen on TV? |
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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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| Are the Anime titles listed on the store uncut or edited? |
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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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| What if I want something that is not on Thisisanime.com ? |
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We do our best to carry all possible titles, however, due to the international and domestic laws some items may not be available in our site.
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| Do the prices on items ever change? |
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Yes. Price will be changed periodically, as we are constantly having promotion going on.
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Pre-Orders, Backorders, and Item Availability
| I received my order, but one of my items was marked "Out if Stock - No Longer Available". What does this mean, and will the item be sent later? |
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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 'Out if Stock', it is no longer available and, unfortunately, cannot be backordered. Such are the fortunes of the Anime world.......
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| I received my order, but one of my items was marked |
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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 ThisIsAnime 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 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? |
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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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| If I pre-order an item, when would my credit card be charged? |
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You will not be charged for the item until it actually ships out to you.
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Store Shopping & Searching
| Why can't I place more than one item in my shopping cart at a time? |
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This problem with our cart is almost always caused by one of these two things on the customers side:
- Your browser is not set to accept 3rd party cookies, or has it's cookie feature turned off.
- Your internet firewall software is blocking 3rd party cookies.
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, Norton, Zone Alarm, etc.) 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. The only way we could solve this problem of cookie blocking on our end would be to implement server side session ID's, and that would be a much less secure way to track your shopping cart.
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. Zone Alarm firewall software in particular causes a great deal of problems with our cart, because at the default settings it blocks almost every third party cookie to your browser. For those folks running firewall software, we find that disabling it during your shopping session usually solves this problem.
If you still need help, please feel free to contact us at .
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| How can I tell how much an item will cost in my own currency? |
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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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| How do I know if an item I want to order is currently in stock? |
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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 20,000 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 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.
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| How do I get coupons and special offers? |
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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.
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| How do I search for an item on the store? |
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That's easy! Just click here. You can search the store by any keyword, by format, even by genre.
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Ordering, Checkout, and Payment
| 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? |
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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 write the 'hold ship complete' in the comment 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 write the 'hold ship complete' in the comment box on the order form, you are authorizing us to charge you for the order if we need to before it actually ships.
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| 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? |
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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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| When I tried to checkout, the store told me that my credit card was declined. Why won't it let me complete my order? |
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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.
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| Do I have to enter my ordering information each time I place an order, or do you have a way to create an account? |
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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 ThisIsAnime, 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.
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| I placed an order, but never received an e-mail confirmation. Did you send one? |
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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 'customerservice@ThisIsAnime.com', or all e-mails from our server side address of 'mail.thisisanime.com' or IP address 38.118.212.83. This should prevent future e-mails from being filtered out and make sure they show up in your systems inbox.
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| Where do I send my payment to? |
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All payments should be sent to: ThisIsAnime 2038 Bay St. #2 Los Angeles CA 90021
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| Can I add an item to my order after it has been placed? |
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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.
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| What if I want my order delivered to my work or school address (instead of my credit card's billing address)? |
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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.
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| Can I order by Mail or Fax? |
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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: Best buy anime 2038 bay st #2 Los Angeles, CA 90021 USA You can also fax your order directly to our warehouse 24 hours a day at: 1-213-626-7708 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.
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| Do you accept phone orders? |
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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.
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| What forms of payment do you accept? |
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We currently accept the following forms of payment:
- Visa & Visa Electron
- Mastercard
- Discover
- American Express
- PayPal
- Debit Cards (as long as they have the Visa or MasterCard Logo)
- Money Orders (Payable from a US Bank or Financial Institution Only please)
Currently, we are often asked, but we do not accept:
- Money Order, Check, or Cash Payments in a Foreign Currency (other than US Dollars)
- 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)
*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.
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| Why haven't I received an order confirmation email? |
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This may be due to the fact that your email's SPAM filter is ON or set on high. Please check your 'trash bin' or the 'bulk folder' in your email box. If you still do not receive our email, you may check here for status, or send us an inquiry by pointing your mouse on 'Contact Us' on the top right corner of our website.
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| Are there any extra fees? |
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There are no extra fees other than the sales tax for California residents.
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| I received order confirmation email but why have I not received ship notification email? |
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You may check the status of your order here.
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| I just ordered something that I don't really want. How do I cancel my order? |
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Please send an inquiry to 'order cancellation' in customer support form immediately. Please notice that if the order has already been processed, there is no way we can stop it. You may opt to refuse the delivery. Shipping fees will NOT be refunded.
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| What if my adult material is ceased? |
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Thisisanime.com is not responsible for the customs ceasure of adult products. Though all shipments are in plain boxes, customs does check packages. Please check with your local government before ordering adult products.
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| Do I receive any confirmation on my order? How do I check my order status? |
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Immediately upon placing your order, you will receive an order confirmation email from us. Please review and save this email. If you do not receive an email within 24 hours confirming of your order, please check your trash bin in your email account, your SPAM filter may be too high. If problem persists, plz contact us at customerservice@thisisanime.com
Then your order will be processed within 48 hours and will receive a tracking number (except for USPS Airmail shipping methods).
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| Can I still order if I do not have a Credit Card? |
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Sorry. We are not taking Mail-in payments.
Please do not send unauthorized mail-in payments to our address as your payment will be sent back or discarded.
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Order Processing & Shipping
| OK, Priority Mail shipping only costs $4.60, yet your minimum shipping charge is $6.50. What is up with that?! |
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This is a question we get occasionally via e-mail, but I wanted to spend some time and explain in detail how we come about our shipping charges. First - Priority Mail is not $4.60 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, and we get a great deal of positive feedback from customers who appreciate it since most of our order shipments weigh over 16 ounces. Second - Even a parcel weighs less than 16 ounces shipped Priority Mail costs us quite a bit more to send to you than just the $4.05 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 ThisIsAnime, 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'm in the Military stationed overseas. Do you ship to Military APO/FPO addresses? |
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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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| I just placed an order, how long will it take for it to arrive? |
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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 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? |
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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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| How can I obtain a status on my order? |
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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.
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:
Orders shipped via US Postal Priority Mail and EMS can be tracked here:
http://www.usps.com/shipping/trackandconfirm.htm
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| How do I take advantage of your Free Shipping offer? |
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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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| What shipping methods do you use, and what choices do I have? |
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Please see our ordering and shipping page for more information on the shipping methods we offer.
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| About order status |
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We have 9 steps for order processing.
1, Unconfirmed
You submited your order but we don't open your order yet.
We manually go through each of our customer¡¯s order to get better acquainted but before Kazu or Itsuki has the chance to it is stored in our order box. When your order has not made contact with the half human half anime Kazu and Itsuki, it is unconfirmed.
2, Confirmed, Now we're securing your items.
This is the word everyone likes and IT means that Kazu and Itsuki is giving each of the items you order a personal touch. We love our anime products but sometimes they need to be hunted down and Kazu is the best hunter around but some time is required. If your status remains in ¡°confirmed¡± for more than 2 days Kazu is not sleeping. Please be patient and Kazu will make you proud.
3, Shipped
It¡¯s all up to the eagles to finish the job. We will most definitely provide you with a tracking number which you can paste on www.USPS.com for instant update, faster than ramen noodles.
4, Ship N Cancel
The ugly word cancel is taking up space next to your status because you have ordered items that is slippery ~ Kazu says silently but really he tries and it would take awhile before the item show up. This is Anime can¡¯t leave our customer hanging but you are always encouraged to check back with us. Kazu is addicted to hunting and he will be more than happy to do any hunting you ask.
*If a title is out of stock under our import section you may want to try under the domestic or vice versa.
5, Multi Ship
This is to guarantee you that Kazu has blood shot eyes and having has fingers tap dancing on keyboard. It¡¯s ok, by staying in front of his computer he can save gas money and neglect his other duties. We all love him at This is Anime and from his hunting record he knows that you love him too.
*We make charges on items shipped and backorders and incase Kazu ran out of time you will receive refund for the missing items.
7, Cancel
Cancel is the most devious word out of the status family. Well, when this comes up it means that Kazu ran out of time and he has to live on beans and rice for a month. OK, not really¡¦but he did try very hard but ¡°we regret to inform you that your order has been cancelled because it is out of stock¡± SORRY¡¦
There is also another possibility if this frustrating word comes up. Sometimes the payment provided to us did not pass our security filter for lots of different reasons. Kazu and Itsuki will always be here to help but our system will automatically cancel orders that did not pass security. If there is any question on payment transaction, please feel free to contact us.
*If a title is out of stock under our import section you may want to try under the domestic or vice versa.
*We make charges on items shipped and backorders and incase Kazu ran out of time you will receive refund for the missing items.
Hope all this reading will lower some blood pressure, enjoy your product from This is Anime.
MI-NA-SAN ARIGATO GOZAIAMASU!
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| What is Estimated Ship Date ? |
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Our shipping days are about everyday that we send out your package(s) to our customers.
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| What is tracking number ? |
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it is the number that can get you the information of your package. in which it is being shiped to you. you the scan location of the package
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| How will I know in advance how much the shipping charges are? |
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We offer the following shipping methods,
| Shipping Type | Cost | Transit Time* | Tracking Number | Insured | Special Instructions | USPS Priority | $6.50 and up | 2 - 4 business days | Yes | No | This is our standard shipping option. Only method that reaches Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Samoa, Puerto Rico, PO Boxes, and APO/FPO addresses | | Free USPS Priority | Free | 2 - 4 business days | Yes | No | Default for orders totalling $100 and more. | | USPS Airmail | varies | 14 - 21 business days | No | No | Optional. International only. Temporarily unavailable. | | USPS Global Priority Mail | $14 and up | 4 - 6 business days | Yes | No | Recommended. International Only. Temporarily unavailable. |
* These are estimates and in no way a guarantee from Thisisanime.com. All shipping transit time estimates are AFTER they are shipped from our warehouse. Please allow 24 to 48 hours to process your order.
* International shipping temporarily unavailable.
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| Free shipping with all orders (within U.S. only) over $100 |
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Thisisanime.com is offering free shipping on all orders over $100. (Before shipping and tax is added)
You have to be signed in as a member to qualify for this promotion, so if you are not logged in now, plz do so right away.
This offer is only available for orders within U.S. only.
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| How soon USPS packages are processed? Is a USPS package secure? |
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Orders are processed daily and 95% of all our orders are processed within 24 business hours from the time you made your order, unless some items in your order are backordered. All our packages are picked up everyday by the shipping carriers.
Please understand that USPS packages are not insured. Thisisanime.com is not responsible for lost or stolen orders shipped via USPS.
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| Some items on my order are not in the package! |
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We might have shipped the available items first, if some of your items are Backordered. Backordered items will be sent seperately upon availability.
On the contrary, if this is not the case, please contact customerservice@thisisanime.com
Please note that posters and wallscrolls are shipped separately due to their irregular shapes.
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| Do you ship internationally? How can I order internationally? |
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International shipping is temporarily unavailable. We will notify everyone when it becomes available.
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| Do special shipping rules apply to FREE SHIPPING OFFERS? |
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Yes.
- Order must total $100 or more.
- You must be a US resident living in the contiguos 48 states.
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| How will I know in advance how much the shipping charges are? |
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We offer the following shipping methods,
| Shipping Type | Cost | Transit Time* | Tracking Number | Insured | Special Instructions | USPS Priority | $6.50 and up | 2 - 4 business days | Yes | No | This is our standard shipping option. Only method that reaches Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, Samoa, Puerto Rico, PO Boxes, and APO/FPO addresses | | Free USPS Priority | Free | 2 - 4 business days | Yes | No | Default for orders totalling $100 and more. | | USPS Airmail | varies | 14 - 21 business days | No | No | Optional. International only. Temporarily unavailable. | | USPS Global Priority Mail | $14 and up | 4 - 6 business days | Yes | No | Recommended. International Only. Temporarily unavailable. |
* These are estimates and in no way a guarantee from Thisisanime.com. All shipping transit time estimates are AFTER they are shipped from our warehouse. Please allow 24 to 48 hours to process your order.
* International shipping temporarily unavailable.
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Damaged / Defective Items, Returns, and Technical Problems
| If I don't like an Anime that I purchased, can I return it for credit? |
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No, we cannot accept a return for this reason. Anime, it is bought at own risk. that is why we ask our customers to buy responsibly.
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| I'm having trouble playing a DVD on my PS2 Game Console or DVD-Rom drive. Is the disk defective? |
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We get reports of this sort of problem every once in a while. While your disk may indeed be defective, it may also be experiencing a compatibility problem with your PS2 game console or your computers DVD-Rom drive. 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.
All exchanges should be made within 10 days or it becomes invalid.
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| I'm having trouble with a DVD. Is my problem a common problem, or is the DVD just defective? |
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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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| My order arrived, but one of my items is damaged (or defective). What should I do? |
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- Contact us at customerservice@thisisanime.com
- We will email you a 'Return form' which you must completely fill out and re-send.
* You must COMPLETELY fill out everything for your request to be processed.
- We will resend your 'Return Form' with a confirmation number on the bottom of the page.
- Print the email that contains the confirmation number, put in your packaged and ship.
Note: 'Return forms' that does not contain the confirmation number WILL NOT be processed and will be returned back to you at your own shipping cost.
This rule applies to everyone and will be STRICTLY reinforced meaning there are NO EXCEPTIONS.
- All exchanges is given a grace period of 10 days only.
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| What is your return policy? |
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If you are not satisfied with any of our products, you have the following options: Full Refund, Partial Refund or Exchange. FULL REFUND. Granted for unopened items only (except shipping and handling). Return shipping fee will not be reimbursed. PARTIAL REFUND. If the items are opened, there will be a restocking fee between 15% to 30% depending on the condition. We will not accept opened items after 10 days of purchase EXCHANGE. For the same item only if item(s) is/are defective or received the incorrect title(s). All defective items and incorrect shipments must be reported and shipped back to us within 10 business days from the date of receipt. You must write to us and an RMA number will be generated for you. We reimburse MEDIA return shipping only (which should be no more than $3.00) Anything above that will not be covered for. We will not accept any packages without a clear RMA number on the package. Please write and attach a brief note inside the package explaining the problems you are experiencing. (PLEASE, DO NOT RETURN ANY MERCHANDISE BEFORE YOU ARE CONFIRMED TO DO SO, WE WILL NOT PROCESS SUCH RETURNS AND IT WILL BE DISCARDED)
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About Shopping cart
| Order Status information. |
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We have 9 steps for order processing.
1, Unconfirmed
You submited your order but we don't open your order yet.
We manually go through each of our customer¡¯s order to get better acquainted but before Kazu or Itsuki has the chance to it is stored in our order box. When your order has not made contact with the half human half anime Kazu and Itsuki, it is unconfirmed.
2, Confirmed, Now we're securing your items.
This is the word everyone likes and IT means that Kazu and Itsuki is giving each of the items you order a personal touch. We love our anime products but sometimes they need to be hunted down and Kazu is the best hunter around but some time is required. If your status remains in ¡°confirmed¡± for more than 2 days Kazu is not sleeping. Please be patient and Kazu will make you proud.
3, Shipped
It¡¯s all up to the eagles to finish the job. We will most definitely provide you with a tracking number which you can paste on www.USPS.com for instant update, faster than ramen noodles.
4, Ship N Cancel
The ugly word cancel is taking up space next to your status because you have ordered items that is slippery ~ Kazu says silently but really he tries and it would take awhile before the item show up. This is Anime can¡¯t leave our customer hanging but you are always encouraged to check back with us. Kazu is addicted to hunting and he will be more than happy to do any hunting you ask.
*If a title is out of stock under our import section you may want to try under the domestic or vice versa.
5, Multi Ship
This is to guarantee you that Kazu has blood shot eyes and having has fingers tap dancing on keyboard. It¡¯s ok, by staying in front of his computer he can save gas money and neglect his other duties. We all love him at This is Anime and from his hunting record he knows that you love him too.
*We make charges on items shipped and backorders and incase Kazu ran out of time you will receive refund for the missing items.
7, Cancel
Cancel is the most devious word out of the status family. Well, when this comes up it means that Kazu ran out of time and he has to live on beans and rice for a month. OK, not really¡¦but he did try very hard but ¡°we regret to inform you that your order has been cancelled because it is out of stock¡± SORRY¡¦
There is also another possibility if this frustrating word comes up. Sometimes the payment provided to us did not pass our security filter for lots of different reasons. Kazu and Itsuki will always be here to help but our system will automatically cancel orders that did not pass security. If there is any question on payment transaction, please feel free to contact us.
*If a title is out of stock under our import section you may want to try under the domestic or vice versa.
*We make charges on items shipped and backorders and incase Kazu ran out of time you will receive refund for the missing items.
Hope all this reading will lower some blood pressure, enjoy your product from This is Anime.
MI-NA-SAN ARIGATO GOZAIAMASU!
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Special Orders and Items That Are Not Listed on the Site
| 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? |
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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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| Can you special order a Japanese CD or DVD for me that is not listed on the store? |
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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, or refundable. You will be charged for the special order item at the time the order is placed.
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