I have had it.

I have ordered many soundtracks from otaku.com, and I as a US Citizen am getting really tired of this seller BREAKING THE LAW by putting down incorrect value amounts on the soundtracks that I purchase.  The US Customs value that Alex at Otaku.com usually puts down is about one fifth of the actual value, and therefore important customs taxes are missed that help our nation.  This is against the law and I feel customers who purchase from him should be aware HE IS BREAKING THE LAW.

I have already reported him to the US Postal Inspector and I have attached his address which is:

Alex McLaren
2-23-27 Kamejima,
Nakamura-Ku, Nagoya,
453-0013, Japan

I hope that other US Citizens can help out and do the same so he takes care of this.

Please go to http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/ and follow the links for Mail Fraud > File a Mail Fraud Complaint

I have said my peace.  Good day.

So you want to pay custom taxes? What the hell is that. :D But what ever, not gonna try even shut down Otaku / Alex. Why should I try to harm such a good guy.

But somewhat nice try to troll / do some harm to guys. Or are you the infamous customspecialist? :O

LMAOxLMAO, Alex is trying to help YOU out. Obviously this is more benefitial to someone in say Europe, but if you feel so bad about it though, go pay the government more taxes than you already do.  Oh yeah that's right, no one would ever be dumb enough to do that.  Wow, some people these days are simply amazing.

Hahahah best thread ever.
This person is obviously on drugs.
Later,

Alcahest

Well the OP is right, as silly as it may be.

-Joshua

Maybe the OP is really the customspecialist guy, trying to make some sort of comeback here on this forum. =p

HA! HAHA! Yeah, like we're going to file a complaint about a trusted and respected seller because some douchebag (who is interested in purchasing VGM wholesale him/her/itself) told us to. Nice try, fuckwad.

Thank you for Alex's address, but I already have it on file from our previous (and excellent BOOTLEG FREE) business transactions.

I was just thinking about how underdeclared customs was going to bring the US to the brink of insolvency.  Who knows how many trillions of dollars in unpaid customs duties our great land is missing out on? 

Seriously, if you are that ticked off about it, why don't you ask him to fully declare all of your items when he sends them to you?  Since you say you have had multiple transactions with him, ask him to beef up the declared values so that you can pay your fair share of taxes.  By the way, personal shipments up to $200 are duty-free, so unless you're buying a lot of stuff at once, your point is moot.

[From my experiences, Alex is a great guy.  In fact, I might just have to place an order with him this week to help make up for the HUGE amount of business he is sure to be losing from the OP.]

If everyone did fully declare their shipments, and customs were properly collected, that extra money would go to fund some superfluous government project that you don't like.   Pro-life?  Then that money is being used to open abortion clinics.  Pro-choice?  Then that money is being used to close down abortion clinics.

No.

Interesting.

My spidey senses are tingling.

This guy also started this thread over here -

http://altpop.com/stc/forums/viewtopic.php?id=2032

When I first saw that thread, I thought "heh, I wonder if that customspecialists goob has the balls to come here and try to talk to us as "one of us" "

...but... the majority of us focus on collecting soundtracks that are rare and out of print, instead of selling "wholesale" (what the hell is that, wholesale import goods, unless you're a huge outfit like play-asia.com and can afford to buy thousands of units in bulk?)

Anyway, to stay on topic, otaku.com is "one of us" and his actions are perfectly reasonable.  He's not breaking any laws, and if he were, unless he were killing puppies, I don't think any of us would bat an eyelash.

You scratch my back, I scratch yours kinda thing.

*watches the nerve sway back and forth*

It's finally teh day the TeddyBears have their picnic and eat it too
( :

Hehe... funny

Thank ya kindly, D.

man if you were the customspecialists guy, I'd almost have to congratulate you for being ballsy enough to make a move like this.

Regardless of who you are, Alex McLaren is a personal hero to me, and you sir are a flaming sack of shit.

In conclusion: Customspecialists will die before Otaku.com even takes a scratch from ppl like you.

Ramza

I registered on this forum - of which I've been a lurker and have found sound advice and good OST gems along with Gamingforce Audio, Cocoebiz, and Final Fantasy Shrine aiding my search - just so that I can speak up in defense of Alex McLaren and his operation otaku.com.

Having been burned by initial purchases of bootlegs by fradulent illegal sellers on Ebay, otaku.com was the first and not the last legal source I turned to to buy my favorite soundtracks. Time and time again, I've bought from him (everything from OSTs to artbooks to game guides) and he's always delivered. He's reliable, his stuff is always mint, and his shipping recently has been astonishingly quick (a record 4 days for me to receive my order). A swift ID check on all my items count them as legit and that makes me happy.

It is for that reason that I'm not going to aid you in shutting down otaku.com. Along with Play-Asia, Yesasia, VGM World/Cocoebiz, Squaresound, and many others, he is one source that I can truly count on. As for taxes? We pay them back on our annual tax days, all right. Your electronic TurboTax actually asks you to pay a 10-15% tax on all Internet purchases, which I always count to the last cent. So in the end, you're still giving your duty taxes to the government and not robbing them.

And if you are the customspecialists guy, I've always had a wary eye on your bogus collections on Ebay. After educating myself on Chudah's Corner and several helpful forums, I can sniff out a bootleg easily. If those were legit CDs you were selling, a box set of anywhere from 10 to 20 CDs should cost around $280 to $560, and not the measly $70-100 you're asking for. Also, there's a reason why you're not including the official boxes - they have the official catalog numbers.

I hope to God that you're not that guy, because like these other members, I'm willing to drive your bootleg operation out of luck because you're robbing many game composers who deserve the money they worked so hard for. To this day, 100% of my VGM collection is legit - all of my bootlegs have been replaced. I'm sure Yasunori Mitsuda, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and many others would like to know if their work is paying off through legal means and not black marketed ones.

Done with my rant...whoa...

holy crap im glad i use taxcut software instead...

Wow! Thanks for all the messages of support.
It's very kind of everyone.

With the never ending flood of fake Game Music CDs on eBay and elsewhere
and dirty tricks the sellers
use to sell them, it's easy to get depressed.

But then I put some great music on and remember why I do this.

Thanks again!

Alex

ps, If any of you are ever in Nagoya, call in and say hello!

Hey, I didn't realize you were in Nagoya... totally could've stopped by when I went to the Aichi Expo... wow, two years ago?

what your saying is totally bogus, Alex has always come through for me... and shouldn't this topic be in the "retailers discussion" section of the forum? Post your lame messages in the correct section of the forum next time! It's pretty obvious you posted in this section to garner more attention.

Don't worry, if you are the customspecialist guy I'm sure enough uniformed/mislead people are buying you false products to begin with... attacking an honest seller with legit items is just a class act. I rather people download the music for free than buy your junk.

I always buy my soundtracks at Otaku.com - fast shipping and great support. Plus the bonus system which is great for us customers.

Just a question for alex: When are you going to take preorders for the FF11-premium box that is release this march?

And here I thought this was going to be a thread asking for help against an effort to shut down otaku.com. Boy, was I wrong! ^_~

Hahaha I love that, the perfect opening line for a tv commercial
( :

Hahaha ^^
His prices are excellent in Europe, the best deals.

Good on Alex is all I can say - he's been superb with anything I've ever ordered and any issues I've had, he's been brilliant in resolving.

Have bought from him on and off over the years and cannot fault the pricing or his system.

If you feel the need to pay more tax then go screw yourself.

*giggles*

oh god look what I found...

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:uh … cd=7&gl=us

careful, link may not be work-safe, but it's the google cache, so any ads are mostly blocked.

This fellow is also in Austin...
whaddya think he's our man?

All other google results for that username kinda point to the same thing. 

I laughed.

*runs away*