Ryan Ginstrom wrote:

> "Graham Bell" <grabelly@netscape.net.dumb.spam> wrote in message
> news:qRH2b.17$7B5.1430@newsall.dti.ne.jp...
> 
>>I'm not sure how you found it cheaper and faster to order from
>>Amazon.com?
> 
> 
> Markup, mah man, markup.
> 
> For instance, I just looked up "ATL Internals" on the Japanese and US sites.
> 
> Japanese price: =Y= 5,775 (in USD: $49.19)
> US price: $38.47

Well, it isn't always that high, but yeah...


> So that is a markup of over $10. Since shipping from the US only costs
> ~$5.00, you are still paying an extra 5 bucks in Japan.

$5 for shipping on a book? How do you manage that? According to their 
site, expedited shipping to Japan is $8.99 per shipment plus $6.99 *per 
book*

Unless, of course, you're getting stuff shipped to a US base (APO 
address). Which is cheating, really. Most of us mere humans can't do 
that trick.
That's the only way I can think of that you could get such cheap shipping..

> Next, shipping. The Japanese site says it usually ships in 8 to 10 days. And
> since I live in Okinawa, I know I can add a couple days onto their shipping
> date for actual delivery. From my experience, if you order from the US site,
> it *arrives* in 8 to 10 days.

Aha! So there *is* a downside to living in Okinawa..

> 
> Wow, you're right! I hadn't noticed. At first they didn't have any software,
> and I just assumed it was due to amazon's anti-software-export policy. They
> probably found a Japanese supplier for the software, I guess. Thanks for the
> heads up!
> 
You're welcome. I was interested that they actually have some English 
lanuage versions of MS Windows stuff.. and if you're tricky you can even 
find a fair variety of US release region 1 DVDs on there..

Graham