12 Days of Christmas 2025 – Shipping Update
December 10, 2025 · 16 comments
Hi everyone! As we move towards the end of our Christmas Sale promotion period, we’re understandably starting to get a lot of questions about order shipping and how things currently stand, and so we wanted to take this opportunity to give all of you an update on things. A shipping forecast if you will, but there’s no German Bite or South Utsire here…
First of all though, we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported and shopped with us at our AllTheAnime.com store throughout this year, including those of you have placed orders during our Christmas sale. It’s been incredible and uplifting to see your excitement for all of the deals we’ve been able to muster for you this year, and watching all of you sharing recommendations and what you’ve ordered has been a joy to watch. So again, thank you so much for your support, it means the world to us.
Read on for our full update.
Where we stand
There are always some new challenges and considerations for us during this busy time of year, and this year has been no exception.
Foremost amongst our considerations is the number of high-profile titles that we’ve released over the course of December – we’ve had our Perfect Blue Deluxe Edition, Arcane: League of Legends Season 2 Collector’s Edition (our biggest selling web shop product of all time, incidentally), Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Devilman Crybaby and BLEACH Part 9 to name a few.
As I’m sure you’ll all appreciate, shipping these products to customers has been our number one priority and focus as stock of these titles has arrived, and so over the last week or so we’ve shipped – and continue to ship – a large number of orders daily pertaining to these products.
While we’ve made a lot of progress with shipping all of these titles, you can probably imagine that this has consumed a lot of our shipping capacity thus far in December. This has also been compounded with various other logistical issues outside of our direct control – stock delays due to courier hold-ups, illness contributing to stock being shipped to us late, and other administrative issues with the receipt of stock at our fulfilment warehouse (which is a specific issue that we’ve already taken on board to look at changing our own processes to mitigate and improve things next year).
What this means
As things currently stand, we expect to be able to shift our focus to the shipping of Christmas sale items soon, and eventually this will become our core focus right through until our fulfilment house shuts down for the festive period from 5PM on December 23rd.
However, at this time it’s difficult to make any guarantees regarding shipping ETAs for any specific order, or whether it will or will not ship over Christmas – sale orders are prioritised using a complex matrix of considerations to maximise the bandwidth of our fulfilment centre and their staff, so it isn’t as simple as “order x will ship before Christmas and order y won’t”, which is why we don’t want to commit to any specific promises that we can’t guarantee can be kept. However, it is safe to say generally speaking that we unfortunately won’t be able to ensure that all orders are shipped before the Christmas postage cut-off period for domestic shipments.
Ultimately, this is why we’re writing this post, as we know that transparency is important to all of you who have purchased from us during this sale period, and we understand that some of you will have placed orders as Christmas gifts for others, and that it’s easier to make alternative plans with more time to consider your options. We realise that the lack of specifics isn’t ideal for this, but we’d rather raise the uncertain nature of which shipments will arrive so that you can make any decisions accordingly.
The one thing that we can say with certainty is that all orders will ship to customers, even if shipments slip into January – if you have an order with us, it will be placed and dispatched as soon as possible, without exception. So if you’re happy to wait, you’ll receive all of the amazing items you’ve ordered at these great sale prices.
TL;DR: In short – we can’t give a guaranteed shipping date or ETA for any Christmas sale orders, and some orders are now almost certain to ship in January, but we’ll continue to ship orders as quickly as we are able.
If you need to change anything
Of course, if you need to contact us to make any changes to your order – whether it’s a change of address to factor in potential later shipping, or to cancel an order – you can do so as per usual via our contact form. Please remember to include your order number on any correspondence, otherwise we won’t be able to assist you – it’s the one reliable way for us to find orders in our system.
This is also a good time to remind people that we have an FAQ linked on all of our product pages – this should assist you with any basic questions you might have about our shop and service.
We’d also like to note at this point that we are unable to combine or split orders that have already been placed, nor can we add items to an order that has already been placed – we simply don’t have the facility to offer this.
Our customer service e-mail will be responded to until our team takes a well-deserved break on December 18th, at which point we’ll be back to respond to any messages over the Christmas period in the New Year when we (and our fulfilment partner) re-open on the 5th January and will endeavour to respond to any messages left over that period as soon as possible.
Finally, a note that we’ll endeavour to respond to all customer service requests as soon as possible until that date, but please do remember that this is a busy time so it make take a little longer to reply to your messages, but we will ensure that every request is resolved as best we can. Also, please do remember that our customer service team are humans behind that screen, so please be civil and polite to all of us so that we can help you as best we can!
Thank you all for your understanding and custom, both now and throughout the year – as always, we couldn’t do any of this without all of your support. We hope you all have a great Christmas.
— The Anime Limited Team
Matt
December 10, 2025 2:14 pm
Thank you for the update. Take your time and don’t rush. People are generally patient and accept that delays happen when you’re overwhelmed. Thank you also for such an awesome sale. 👍
Jon Dracup
December 10, 2025 2:36 pm
I do appreciate the post, all of your staff's hard work and efforts, and I know you are doing your best... ...However, I do feel it might have been better to have posted all of this shipping info, at the start of the sale and on the sale website itself - maybe under the FAQ's - so that people knew BEFORE placing UK-orders right at the start, and expecting that you'd then have around 21-days to get their orders out to them, in-time for Christmas. Telling us 14 days before the big day itself, that you may not be able to get orders out to people before Christmas, is not a good thing to learn so late in the day.
sue
December 12, 2025 4:20 pm
I ordered some DVD's a week ago from this company for my son in laws birthday and Christmas, present , he has both within 10 days of Christmas , i really expected them to arrive before Christmas. I. Have to send his gifts to him so needed them to arrive in time for me to send them on. I took it you are based in the UK , so it shouldn't take that long to send on . I agree , you should have some shipping info at the start /point of sale , now it looks like he won't get his Christmas gift from me , one he was really looking forward to . He works really hard and when it's Christmas he has that one chance to sit and fully relax and watch these DVD's . It's not fair to leave customers in the lurch like this . I had a similar problem with a company in China , that said they were in the uk then after the order was sent the. shipping details were all from China. Bit sneaky . Yes , i can understand the rush of Christmas, and all it entails, but you do have to give the customer the info they need up front . I never received this email update in my inbox , so would have been non the wiser of this .
Jon Dracup
December 14, 2025 2:55 pm
We're all sadly in the same boat. Most of us expected that sales orders placed in the first two or three days of the sale, would have had them dispatched within a week, and then they'd be well on their way to their UK customers, in plenty of time for Christmas. Sadly, when this blog post went live on the 10th December, it seems there's no assurance or guarantee that orders are even being dispatched in order of them being placed. People who've placed orders on the 7th/8th December have had them dispatched, with tracking info, whilst those of us who placed order on 1st/2nd/3rd are still awaiting for things to be sorted despite the items being in-stock. I had hoped that my order placed on the 2nd would have been sent out by now, but it's now the 14th, and my order is still "unfulfilled" according to my account! I highly doubt at this rate that my order will arrive before Christmas. This was my treat for myself, but now it looks like it won't happen. Hugely disappointing, and extremely frustrating! Orders should be being dealt with in order of receipt. It seems absurd that orders placed days or a week later, are being sent out before those placed much earlier. To then post this blog notice more than a week after hundreds/nigh thousands of orders will have been placed, is very disappointing. They should have made it clear from the outset that they could NOT guarantee anyone receiving orders in-time for Christmas, not waiting until the sale was almost halfway finished before announcing this news.
Martyn
December 18, 2025 1:29 pm
this was my thoughts exactly. I always order the first day of the sale and get my items within 3 days. after 6 days waiting I thought it was a small delay, but then after 9 to get this update that the items may not arrive (and as we're now at the 18th and last day for shipping guarantee via royal mail is tomorrow they most likely won't) it's very disappointing as they're a Christmas gift if I knew on day one there was a post that said"due to over whelming success of our recent releases, mixed with staff shortages and supply delays, we can't guarantee sale items will arrive before Christmas so please assume a January delivery and if you're lucky they will be sooner" then I'd have still ordered, but been awake I may want to get another small gift too for on the day. instead I thought I had the presents sorted, was pretty chuffed with myself, and then 10 days later found out I actually may not get the gift in time at all being as how I bought mystery boxes, which are full of over stock and clearance items, those items are clearly in stock already so aren't subject to delays in shopping either. so would have expected them to ship as one of the first items for that reason, but still no update. still, I'm happy enough waiting, and would have still purchased if I knew in advance.... but this update on delivery can't have come as a shock, given then they said it was due to the November releases, so should have come out at the start of the sale, not the last 2 days of it.
Trevor W Gratton
December 10, 2025 7:15 pm
I really appreciate this update. As I'm oft given to saying, "Information is preferable to speculation." and so I'm grateful that this update has been issued, as well as your transparency. I've bought a number of your releases over the years, from Cyber City Oedo to Gundam to Violet Evergarden to Wings of Honnéamise and many more besides, and you've never failed in getting my orders to me, even if and when circumstances have conspired against you and have suffered delays. I'm looking forward to receiving my order, but I understand the logistical priorities you face. Many thanks and a Merry Christmas to you all.
Miguel
December 10, 2025 7:53 pm
Thank you for your post. I kinda understand why my order placed on December 2nd is a No Show, but the one I placed yesterday it is already on its way. Hopefully, I will get an update soon. Keep up the work there and the same wishes for a happy Christmas for all of you too.
JJ
December 11, 2025 12:20 am
The candour is appreciated, but it rings a little hollow. At this point, the Christmas shipping delay has occured at least two years in a row. Given the prior commitments you made for priority releases and other issues in the wider market, it should have been apparent that delays to Christmas orders were likely. Charitably, you tried to fulfill all Christmas sales orders before Christmas and only put out the notice when it was no longer possible. Cynically, you delayed the announcement until the majority of Christmas sales orders had been submitted and would likely not be cancelled. Personally, I've had great experiences everytime I've ordered, so the benefit of the doubt wins out. But if this repeats next year (the late message - not the delay itself) then it deserves to be called out. I look forward to hearing about the process improvements if you're able and willing to share them.
Paul V
December 11, 2025 11:42 am
Good to know, as I'm on the other side of the world I'm never really in much of a rush. I hope there is something like a flash sale redux with all the titles (that are in stock back at flash sale prices) at the end of the 12 days. I say that as a few titles I might have liked I couldn't justify it with overseas postage on each, but if I could buy a few at once I can justify it in my own mind.
Rob
December 11, 2025 1:44 pm
Any chance of you guys getting the rights to release Ghost in The Shell 2: Innocence in 4k, Ninja Scroll on blu ray/4k or the original Legends of the Galactic Heroes series and OVA?
Macho McClatchy
December 11, 2025 5:42 pm
Couldn't give a shit, more concerned about where the fuck is a standard edition for The Witch From Mercury? GTFO with HMV exclusive steelbooks!
Andy Hanley
December 13, 2025 5:22 pm
That's a Crunchyroll title, you'd need to speak with them about that.
Andy
December 13, 2025 8:50 am
Echoing others statements of understanding and gratitude for the transparency. The deals are too good to complain, and the customer service and warehouse staff are obviously going to be under a lot of pressure which nobody really wants that at the end of the year when everyone is looking forward to a break. Perhaps just call it the January sale? 🤗
Brendan
December 16, 2025 5:42 pm
Deals being good aren't a valid excuse for such a late announcement, and this really boils down to being told that either the shipping is going to be delayed until the offices reopen, or shipped out with no way to contact the company for 2 weeks over Christmas, which is a real impact on international orders (I personally had an order from AllTheAnime cancelled because they failed to provide customs documentation for exporting my order to Royal Mail, and refused to replace it). As well as this, I actually do call out the "deals are too good" comment on a personal level (I couldn't complete my order for the Evangelion deal because of technical difficulties when checking out, then it was marked as sold out, yet the day after the sale ended the stock was magically restored at the original price), so overall it's just poor customer service to basically refuse all communication for 2 weeks.
Alex
December 17, 2025 5:34 pm
I've "escaped" the Christmas sale unscathed this year (really, I'm too broke for li'l treats!) but could you not have the option for consolidated shipping over the 12 Days sale next year? In the past, I've actively NOT purchased some of the daily flash deals because having to pay a £3.50 postage fee for each one not only eliminates much of the saving, but means your dispatchers have to send out many more parcels, and I/the recipient has to wait in for many more. If I had the option to buy a few items over the course of the sale, have them held on system, and then be able to "send to shipping" or something like that when I was ready, that would be more convenient for me as a customer, and massively cut down on the number of parcels you have to send out, easing your logistics operation. It seems win-win - I'd only have to pay one shipping fee (or perhaps hit the free shipping threshold with a few smaller orders adding up) and would likely buy more over the course of the sale (Garden of Words ALMOST got me this year!), and you'd all have lower costs and far fewer parcels to send out, which would help prevent problems like this in future.
George
December 26, 2025 3:31 am
I'm not as cynical as the "get all their orders in before announcing" and not really upset to get orders in Jan since they were personal buys but I do want to echo the suggestions of more transparency on shipping information when your preorder schedule is likely in place well in advance (not complaining, happy to get my Edgerunners delivery on time). Also the idea of the consolidated shipping, like Hobby Link Japan's private warehouse, would be something I'd love to see as a long time Unlimited subscriber even if there was a small extra fee to facilitate it. I don't mind paying for shipping on most orders but just as an example, I placed an initial order in the sale then two more for flash sales. The big first order hasn't gone out understandably but the two flash sales were bought and arrived one after the other. Similarly ordered 6 pre orders across Sept-Oct time and would've been content to wait til a few within a week of each other were ready. TLDR: Still happy with the service personally but hope there's still room for improvement.