Buy Gundam Models
While Gunpla is a portmanteau of 'Gundam plastic model', this subreddit is dedicated to the practice of building all mecha models. Posts of pictures/videos of your kits, reviews, tips, and gunpla news are most welcome! NZ Gundam Store, New Zealand, Gundam, Master Grade, Read Grade, Perfect Grade, High Grade, Gunpla product, Gundapla,Sandpaper, Gundam Online Store. Gundam Zerachiel (HGBD) (Gundam Model Kits) Bandai 1/144 HG Build Divers,027 Gundam Dynames (MG) (Gundam Model Kits) Bandai Master Grade,1/100 MG Gundam 00 Gundam AGE II Magnum (MG) (Gundam Model Kits) Bandai Master Grade,1/100 MG Other Gundam.
Stop overpaying for Gunpla. Here's how I find it for cheap.
Don't buy locally unless you have a coupon or an item is on clearance.
If you have a problem with the above statement, then this guide is not for you. Go ahead and close the tab. Your case has already been made in the comments below; we agree to disagree.
Otherwise, read on! :)
Try to avoid paying Japanese MSRP for kits before shipping. I say try because if a kit hasn't had a production run in a while (like a Perfect Grade), you might have trouble finding it stocked below MSRP.
Always order at least 2 kits at a time. The savings for both, more often than not, will offset the increased shipping costs you'll have, which saves you money. The more kits you ship at a time, the greater the effect of any savings from the price of the kit. This is why HLJ is so popular.
Look for the kits you want every single day. Due to how product distribution works, kits are often restocked even if they haven't had a Bandai production run in months. Check every site every day for the kits you want that are most difficult to find at a reasonable price.
If you can, compare carts. This is often complicated or impossible due to lack of stock, but it's the best way to know if a given purchase is actually saving you money or not.
One of the most important tips is to simply buy from the right shop. Here are the ones I use.
eBay. I don't order from here often, but they pretty much have every single kit in stock. This is how I got a PG 00 Raiser for $275 ($200 for the kit, around $75 for EMS shipping from Japan, which is still the best deal I've seen on the kit anywhere in several months). I wouldn't recommend this for anything other than somewhat expensive kits, simply because you'd be hard-pressed to find multiple cheap kits from the same seller, so you would end up losing money due to shipping. I'd recommend this site on a case-by-case basis, but especially for PGs.
Banzai Hobby. This site wins for typically having the lowest prices on Gunpla of any other, while also being fairly easy to navigate. They also have relatively cheap supplies; their Gundam Markers, for example, are about $1.60. They allow SAL (to an extent) as well as EMS shipping, and let you accurately estimate the price of your order with their cart system. The downside to BH is that their stock is super-low. If you want a new kit, you have to order it within a couple of days of it being restocked. They do sometimes restock kits outside of Bandai's schedule, though. This is where I got my PG Unicorn + LED unit for $270 shipped. I also got a PG Strike here for $120 shipped.
KenBill. This is one of my favorite sites to order from. They have new kits available immediately when restocked from Bandai, and also frequently restock outside of that schedule. They seem to rarely run out of stock. Similar to BH, every kit they sell is at least 20% off Japanese MSRP from day one. They carry plenty of P-Bandai kits at Gentei-like prices, even long after their most recent print run. They have a decent selection of supplies. $1.50 Gundam Markers. They have PGs in stock like nobody else. You can still buy a PG Unicorn here for around $200 shipped, and it's almost always in stock. They also have Gundam Decals available at market rates. Pretty much the only downside is that KenBill is mostly a domestic Japanese online retailer, so foreigners have to put a little work into actually placing an order. I wrote a guide on how to do that here. Also, they only ship via EMS, so if you just wanna get some HGs from them, you might not save as much money as you would like due to the shipping costs (unless you buy quite a few).
HobbyLink Japan. They have a system that lets them hold your items for up to 2 months so they can all ship in a big box, and that translates to savings on shipping. I haven't used it myself yet, but I'm seeing multiple reports in the comments below that they actually consistently undercharge for shipping when you use their private warehouse feature. Since their prices are so similar to Banzai Hobby and Kenbill, they might actually have the best deal in most cases (though I don't think they carry P-Bandai kits).
Honorable mentions:
Amazon. Things are randomly on sale. Sazabi ver Ka for $52 shipped, off the top of my head, is about as cheap as you can get it in the US. Aside from those kinds of random sales, though, I wouldn't use it most of the time. Even the Japanese vendors often bake American prices into their kits, and you end up overpaying even if you have free shipping or Prime. Don't be fooled by Prime, by the way; you get free 2-day shipping, but EMS can work out to be cheaper and only takes a week to arrive. I got a PG Zeta from here for $154 shipped.
YesAsia, AmiAmi, and Hobby Search. These sites are generally a waste of time to check, because they tend to have lower stock and higher prices than my mainstays. They'll still beat Amazon, though.
Barnes and Noble. Watch the Gunpla.USA Facebook page to find out when things are on clearance. B&N apparently sends coupons out every week on its newsletter, but I only just signed up, so I haven't gotten any yet. With those coupons (and maybe seasonal general discounts), they can sometimes have reasonably-priced kits. Their selection is generally very low, though.
modelgrade.net. Their paint prices are very reasonable. Their selection seems low, but I've been told that they will special-order paints on request.
Hobbywave. Their paints are a little more expensive than Model Grade's, but they have a much wider selection on-hand, and their flat rate shipping might make it work out cheaper if you place a big enough order.
Edit: Removed the dumb rant, because this post is about buying gunpla on the cheap, not about building or maintaining a local gunpla community. That is a different problem to worry about. If you think it's your responsibility to buy locally or whatever, then this guide obviously doesn't apply to you. Just please don't bother preaching to the rest of us.
Cheap Gundam Models
Where do you guys buy your gunpla? online.
Like the title states where do you guys purchase your gunpla online? New to the hobby and currently working on my third HG kit. Local shop here sells a few but the selection is very limited. Looking for more HG models and eventually Ill take a stab at MG. I'm just wanting to hear some feedback about sites you guys shop from or whatever really.
Here are ones ive found but havent ordered from yet http://www.gundamplanet.comhttp://www.hlj.com