So Mandarake made the switch to their new layout and... I have no idea how to navigate it to find modern sofubi. I used to just browse "Art Toy Street Figure" and that'd be most of them, then do a few brand searches, but with this layout I'm clueless!

Any aid?

EDIT: Okay, so on the main page I found a link called "Artist Toys" and that seems to be the new modern sofubi category. The listings are so tiny though and you have to click on them to find pricing.

At the very top of the Home page there is a line of boxes that say Book, Toy, Doujin, ect. Click on the Toy box which will open a line of about 20 choices. Choose the first one "Soft Vinyl" that will open a section of about 79 pages of vinyl toys and all the prices are available for viewing before you click on them. I also found that when you click on something you like it gives you a bunch of other suggestions at the bottom of that page.
Hope that helps a little. Happy surfing.

OK, i might possibly be a daft old bastard but it doesn't seem to wanna search using kanji anymore . . . .
Am i doing something wrong?

I tried that earlier and only got vintage sofubi unfortunately. The old Soft Vinyl section was along the same thread. Looks like they're hiding the modern stuff in some obscure section... that or I need to start searching through related tags.

Has anybody made a purchase on the new site? I had a couple items in my basket and after signing in on the site and with paypal, i hit the confirm button and it kept taking me back to he same page saying that I needed to log into paypal again. It wouldn't let me get to the last page. Bummed too because i missed out on some stuff I had been looking for for a couple of years.

The short of it... new site sucks. The end.

I just bought something last week without any issues. I am not sure if the new site layout was already active then though.

Mandarake posted it knew about the issues with Paypal yesterday. The problems have been resolved per Mandarake today.

I had the same exact problem. oh well, I guess I really didn't need to be buying toys anyway.

I'm starting to think the same.

Any searching I do through here keeps the old layout:

http://www.mandarake.co.jp/en/contents/kaiju/

just bought something today off Mandarake using paypal. No problems here.

Just bought something myself, which I had no problems with. The search for the item was a pain in the ass, though. I was graciously tipped off about an AES Obake Dog(thanks, Charlie) but couldn't find it under 'secretbase', 'secret base' or 'obake dog'. I was then given a direct link to the Dog, which had all three key terms I attempted to search. No idea why it wouldn't come up. Kinda makes me wonder how often that happens and if people will miss out on toys put up there 'cause they're not coming up in searches.

I also can't change the viewing preferences from arrival, descending/ascending, and I there doesn't seem to be an option to view sold out items anymore, either.

EDIT: If I stop the page from fully loading, the viewing preferences windows stays open instead of disappearing. Not sure why it does that, but I found a personal workaround.

They have never tagged their stuff correctly. Real head, real x head don't turn up much of those toys. Some other expensive toy search turns up more real head.

No problem here.

I'm confused, is this only for the English version of the site? My bookmarked searches look exactly the same.

The new site seems to be working better now, I was able to order through the site but it still has issues that come and go, when you encounter glitches its good to email them so they know.

This one fills in those gaps and is still my "1st" go-to for Mandarake searches:
http://www.mandarake.co.jp/en/contents/category/toy.html

Other than that, it's always better to search using the Japanese translation of what you're looking for.

It's like Flickr's upgrade a few years ago . . . it's clunky and makes me not want to use it.

Combined with the new regulations about having to mark the actual declared value on consignments and Mandarake is virtually dead in the water for me (and probably plenty other Brits and Eurotrash who tend to get bent over by customs and import fees).

Thanks guys.

Oh shit, really? I didn't know about that.

To be honest, Mandarake often take the piss with their pricing recently.
I haven't used them as much because of it.

International Buyers - Please Note.
By following Japan Customs Export guidelines, we are not able to undervalue on custom declaration for any shipments.
Customs duty may be charged when the package arrives at the customs in your country.
Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility.
Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying.
Thank you for your understanding.

Anything over ¥2,500 and we're screwed!

Shit, that's news to me too. Andy, do you tend to go for DHL or EMS? I got shafted a couple of times with DHL but never get charged a thing using EMS. Wondering if that's the difference maybe.

I've only been buying cheap minis so always go with SAL (otherwise shipping's invariably more expensive than the actual item).

Up until the recent website update they have been cool marking the cost down.

I've never had anything shipped DHL/ All the couriers have to follow the correct protocols to get packages expedited quickly . . . virtually guaranteeing a HMRC Customs bill!

i ordered a few days ago and just noticed the note for the declared value as well

i thought perhaps i had just ignored it in the past not realizing its their new policy

"As stated on our main page, we are not able to undervalue the customs
declaration form.

If you insist, we will do it for you this time but we will not be
responsible if anything happens to the package, including customs
troubles"

certainly does not bode well for canadians either ($20+ = tax/fee)

sigh thanks for bringing it to my (our) attention