I mostly buy used manga online I can get for cheap.

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"We can not resort to simplistic or extreme solutions which substitute myths for common sense." ― Jimmy Carter

I don't buy used; the only used books I've read are ones I borrowed from the library. There are no manga in our libraries, and barely any in our stores, so what few physical manga I have (some volumes of Get Backers, some Samurai Deeper Kyo, and the first 2 vol.s of Zombie Loan, to be precise) I bought from Amazon.com. And it was so expensive I vowed to never do it again.

Now that I come to think of it, I have bought 1 volume from a local bookstore: it was the first part of one of the cases from the Kindaichi Case Files series, the second part for which I never found, either locally or online.

Don't mean to take the moral high ground here, but as a librarian, I feel have to say something. And that something is this: Please, please, please, please, please don't steal from libraries! Especially ones that are publicly funded! We generally don't have huge budgets and lose literally thousands of dollars each year due to patron theft. (And I've seen the numbers -- they are far from pretty.) And while it may seem like you "always managed to get away with it," depending on when you committed your acts of theft (i.e. five years ago as opposed to fifty), you may find you no longer have access to those public libraries, or any library affiliated with them, or libraries unaffiliated with them but within the same geographic location. It may seem easy to walk out with books and never return them, but we DO keep track of thieving patrons(if you actually checked the books out), and until they pay their dues or return the stolen materials, their access to libraries all over the state is completely cut off. No library wants to lend materials to a thief, after all. (We've even had a police detective come in before, criminally investigating one such patron.)

Alright, I'm done being a librarian.

In response to the actual poll, I don't buy much manga anymore, but when I was younger, I mostly bought mine from large retailers. Ever since Borders went under, I've been buying less altogether and very rarely from actual stores. (By which I mean, I don't really impulse buy anymore.) These days, if there's a manga I want, I usually get it somewhere online, wherever I can find it cheapest.

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"Now, everything is... just..."

writer | librarian | critic

I never check books out. I'd be dumb if I did. That would be like announcing to the library that you have their stuff.

And you may say that libraries have been succumbed to stolen properties. But I am positively sure that the scales of stolen manga/comics are easily the smallest occurrences (at least during the times I stole them) due to them not being much seen in libraries.

I don't know too much about financial loses in other countries, states, or cities - but I do know that the libraries I've stolen from have been given/granted donations of over 350 millions of dollars from a group of senators, politicians, higher-class citizens, and even some local celebrities who happened to be raised near those parts or regions.

Those libraries I've stolen from seem like those unbelievable retro-styled England/Roman designed mansions with no end of ever stop growing. But just knowing that a librarian is a fellow mangaupdates comrade does ignite regret/guilt into me - for stealing from these libraries.

I will repent for my actions somehow.

Most of my current collection comes from Kinokuniya. Anything I can't order through them I get from Amazon Japan or a friend that lives in Japan (especially if it's secondhand). My English manga used to come from Borders/Barnes Noble/Waldens (the older shoujo and shounen stuff from Viz and Tokyopop anyway).

At first I bought my manga from a small local store that was specialized in stuff like manga and figures and fantasy games. Then when the publishers starte translating manga to my language I started to buy those from normal stores and supermarkets. All this was before anyone used internet to buy ANYTHING. But after manga became available online (like BookDepository) I've bought all my manga from online retailers.

Atm it's about 50% local small retailer / 20% normal supermarket's magazine stand / 30% online retailer

Ebay>Rightstuf>Amazon.

Amazon is my go to for buying novels so I don't usually buy mangas there

I obtained probably 80% from ebay because most are OOP or amazingly low and great deals

I regularly check Rightstuf for sales

I used to use the library but that was before I went to college when I could keep a book way past the due date and not have to pay a fine for it (minors) but now that I'm in college, I don't go to the library since most can also be found online scanlated.