Community > General chatter
Buying stuff from Japan and having it work right
Daverost:
Just wanted to share my experience with JShoppers, since I had heard good things here but not-so-great things at some other places around the net.
They certainly hold up their end of the bargain on price. There's no base fee and you get your 5% discount on EMS.
And they're very quick. When they got the package, they sent out an email the next day. I paid same day and the next day they had accepted the payment and shipped the item. They told me it would be 2-4 days and I had it on the second day.
The item was shipped in the original packaging (resealed, since they have to verify they're not shipping something they shouldn't be) and the item was still in excellent condition.
The only snag was between the item leaving the original seller and getting to them: http://i.imgur.com/n7R3L.jpg
As you can see, there were quite a few failed delivery attempts.
Anyway, overall very satisfied. Saved a huge amount of money by buying cheap and using an incredibly cheap and highly efficient forwarding service, and they'll certainly see my business again should the need arise.
Bro:
This might seem like an obvious question, but this is my first time ordering internationally (Always avoided it) and I'd like some help with some... hopefully simple questions.
When ordering from a Japanese site like amazon.jp, is there any way to set it to English?
In the same case, would I need a proxy?
If I pay with a credit card, must it be a Japanese credit card?
Could I use paypal instead?
Is it worth it, with shipping costs and all, just to buy some IM@S swag?
animagic4u:
My first instinct is to always go to Japanese dealers that are already English and use paypal and will ship international.
Vendors like Mandarake, AmiAmi, and Hobby Search. ^^
I wish you well in your hunting.
Check out the iDOLM@STER anime merchandise thread I started for some merchandise links. ;) You can find it under "Derived products, CD albums & anime"
Cael K.:
--- Quote from: Bro on May 12, 2012, 06:58:59 am ---This might seem like an obvious question, but this is my first time ordering internationally (Always avoided it) and I'd like some help with some... hopefully simple questions.
When ordering from a Japanese site like amazon.jp, is there any way to set it to English?
In the same case, would I need a proxy?
If I pay with a credit card, must it be a Japanese credit card?
Could I use paypal instead?
Is it worth it, with shipping costs and all, just to buy some IM@S swag?
--- End quote ---
amazon.co.jp's English capabilities are sorely lacking, if I remember correctly. It really depends on the site, if there's an English page, but many times it's not nearly as good or informative as the Japanese page. If you're really lost, take animagic's suggestion.
Many places will accept foreign credit cards, but your credit card company may charge you a fee for a foreign currency transaction (usually a percentage). Paypal... is only available if that particular seller accepts it, and you may be charged a Paypal fee (around 4% in my case) for the transaction. Unless the vendor states in no uncertain terms that they will ship overseas, I'd assume that all shipping is domestic, and you would need a forwarding service.
As for is it worth it? OFF COURSE THIS'S THE WAY LOLIAMDARAVON
Seriously though, it gets more worth it the more you buy in terms of price, and starts to inflate back out the more the stuff weighs. For example, buying one CD or something might cost you $20 in shipping, but buying five CDs, two T-shirts, a limited edition box, and a figure might get you... say $50 in shipping. When using a deputy service, they can charge some fee per item on top of shipping as well. It's really up to you in the end how much it's worth it, but it's usually better to buy a lot of things at once to cut down on shipping costs.
Heavy items, though... they cost to ship. Manga, I would recommend getting within your own country if possible since paper is heavy. I'm pretty sure that in the States, buying from Kinokuniya is, at worst, about as expensive as buying from Japan and getting it shipped.
--- Quote from: Daverost on May 12, 2012, 03:27:02 am ---Just wanted to share my experience with JShoppers, since I had heard good things here but not-so-great things at some other places around the net.
--- End quote ---
Not so great things? Should I ask?
Daverost:
--- Quote from: Bro on May 12, 2012, 06:58:59 am ---This might seem like an obvious question, but this is my first time ordering internationally (Always avoided it) and I'd like some help with some... hopefully simple questions.
When ordering from a Japanese site like amazon.jp, is there any way to set it to English?
In the same case, would I need a proxy?
If I pay with a credit card, must it be a Japanese credit card?
Could I use paypal instead?
Is it worth it, with shipping costs and all, just to buy some IM@S swag?
--- End quote ---
A lot of these were already answered, but I'll answer again anyway.
- Some sites can be set to English. On Amazon.co.jp, look for a link around the top right of the page that says something about viewing in English. It mostly just sets the standard Amazon browsing buttons and links to English (though still not all of them). Items and descriptions are pretty much always in Japanese.
- If you order from anyone that doesn't ship internationally (and that can even vary within the site by what you're buying, since Amazon will ship books internationally but not software/games), you will need a proxy. It's generally easier to just hit up an import site. Play-Asia and AmiAmi are my favorites for games, personally. Play-Asia in particular has very cheap shipping. Unfortunately, they don't really go down on price much.
- Most sites will accept any card. I don't think I've ever had a conversion fee on a purchase from a Visa, either, though that may just be my particular card. Paypal is usable on a lot of them, but not all of them.
- Whether it's worth it or not depends entirely on you. Japanese games are expensive. Figures are expensive. Books... are generally not expensive, but as mentioned, shipping can be. Shipping can be really expensive no matter what. Some places have cheap shipping (Play-Asia, YesAsia, etc.) and some places force more expensive options on you (AmiAmi, certain forwarding services). It depends on what you're buying, how much you're spending, and whether or not you're comfortable with it. Personally, I've always found importing games to be worth it. I've bought thirteen import games over the years and I don't regret a single one of them. Just knowing that there's not really another option makes it a much easier pill to swallow.
--- Quote from: Cael K. on May 12, 2012, 07:46:35 am ---As for is it worth it? OFF COURSE THIS'S THE WAY LOLIAMDARAVON
--- End quote ---
Lol'd here. Thank you for that.
--- Quote ---I'm pretty sure that in the States, buying from Kinokuniya is, at worst, about as expensive as buying from Japan and getting it shipped.
--- End quote ---
As long as it's shipping from their stateside stores, it's cheap. They use UPS and shipping runs like $6-8 depending on how much you're buying. One book for me one time was $6, four or five books two other times was $8. Never ordered more than that at once from them.
--- Quote ---Not so great things? Should I ask?
--- End quote ---
It was mostly just some stuff I had read here. Mainly about how people weren't sure they could be trusted and about how they had randomly taken the forwarding service offline for a short time. Stupid stuff, in retrospect.
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