We will be covering the very basics on general places that figures can be acquired. If you are new or unfamiliar to figure collecting, I highly recommend that you read through here first. You can find a listing of specific retailers with reviews in our Network Directory.

Locally
Depending where you live, you might want to try your local cards and comic book shops. If you have a Japantown in your area, that may be a good place to start. In the American market, figures have become more widely available thanks to distribution companies such as AAA Anime Distributors. You can try asking your local comic book shop if they will place a special order, usually most will not charge any service fees. There may also be specialty shops that carry anime products, check there.  
    
Conventions
If you cannot find a decent selection at retailers near you, your other best bet is to try attending an anime convention. There are anime conventions in most countries as well as all over the United States. Try looking online for one that’s closest to you. If you want a better selection, try finding a larger con to attend. At conventions, you can find dealers room where retailers from all over the country visit to sell their goods. Make sure you shop around and check out every the dealer’s first to get the best prices, and to compare the products. Don’t be shy, even though most of them are all behind the booths ask them to see the figure. Since there are so many dealer’s in one room competing, you can try to haggle a bit to lower the price, though results varies from dealer to dealer. I would suggest the best time to try would be nearing the closing time of the dealer’s room or on the last day that it is open. Note that there are registration fees to attend conventions, and it is best that you plan ahead by pre-registering online early, that way you can get a discount.

Online
Online stores can sometime be tricky. Make sure to compare prices with other online retailers as prices and shipping charges varies. Also check that the store is credible by looking at past customer feedbacks.
In the near future, you can click on Network at the top navigation of this site, you can find a list of credible stores that we have confirmed through our personal experiences. We also will be implementing a store rating system so you the users can rate the stores yourselves.

eBay
eBay is a great place to find those rare exclusive figures you probably missed. You can often find figures at discounted prices from retailers who are trying to clear their inventory, or collectors who are trying to make room for new figures.
When shopping, make sure you avoid sellers who are listed as being from Hong Kong or China; most of these sellers tend to be selling counterfeit figures.
Be sure that the item you are interested in bidding has actual photos. If not, kindly contact the seller and ask for them.
When bidding on figures that are labeled as new, make sure that it’s listed as “sealed”, if not ask!
You can also inquire about the condition of the box; for serious collectors, we like our boxes as mint as possible which helps in retaining the value of the figure just in case if we want to resell it.  
Aside from what I have mentioned, follow the standard procedures when buying from eBay, such as checking shipping information, terms and agreements, etc.

(Note: Always make sure what you are buying is real. With such a large market to make profits, a lot of counterfeit figures have appeared. I have been to stores and at conventions that had mixed products of real and fake figures. We’ll have a more extensive look into identifying counterfeit figures in another segment)