Buying Chinese books online, shipping to south-east Asia

[bopomofo2]

I've read several threads here about buying books online, but they usually involve shipping to US or China. I live in Indonesia.

I've actually ordered from Amazon.cn (aka Joyo) a few times. The experience has been fine so far, delivery time between less than 1 week to 2-3 weeks, Joyo ships from HK. But the shipping cost is killing me, it's usually 4x or more the cost of the goods. For example, my last order of a few comic books is about Y120, S/H is about Y560, total around Y780. This is a far cry compared to Amazon.com (shipping cost usually only 1/3 of cost of goods).

I think I want to try other websites recommended/mentioned on this site, e.g. dangdang, taobao, yesasia. I usually buy nonfiction or comics, but my taste varies from time to time. Any recommendations, or experience sharing?

[bopomofo2]

Reading this page: http://www.studychineseculture.com/help.asp?id=3#subject2 it seems that shipping from China *is* expensive. So does this mean I'm probably better off in general ordering from a US website?

[skylee]

I've bought things from yesasia and the experience was good.

Another option is the Commercial Press (HK) online store. I have not used it and am not sure if the shipping cost is considered high or not -> http://www.cp1897.com.hk/info_page_control.php?shipping=shipping_rates.htm

[fanglu]

I've bought stuff from taobao using Panli (a remailing service) a few times. Good service and postage is cheaper than Amazon.cn.

[bopomofo2]

Update: I've just ordered from dangdang, this time I'm ordering about the same amount as my last order to Joyo, for comparison. Around Y120 worth of a dozen comic books. The total shipping cost is just around Y108! There's a little problem, though. I'm using cc, and all verification went well but when the browser returned to dangdang.com it said there's a problem with payment. I'll wait and see.

Thanks for the replies.