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noutenki-scans · 5 years

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Jun, do you think you could walk us through how you buy your doujins? I've been wanting to buy some kros doujins FOREVER, and I know there are multiple tutorials/advice online but I want to get advice from someone who's actually gotten their doujins successfully shipped to them! Is there a website you recommend using, or a tutorial online that you follow? Would appreciate it greatly ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

How I order doujinshis online?I’m always happy to help a fellow karaoso enthusiast! I hope you have basic knowledge of Japanese so you can navigate easily. Otherwise chrome automatically translating the site works too I guess.

This post may end up pretty lengthy since I babble a lot. So continue ahead only if you want to.

Many sites don’t do international shipping so you will need to find yourself a proxy service or a freight forwarding site. Freight forwarding is the cheaper option of the two. Tenso is a fan favourite it seems but I use TensoJapan cause the fees are cheaper. You’ll need to provide your ID verification to use either of their services though. As for proxy services. I’ll mention some later below. It seems TensoJapan also provides this service now. ^^

The sites I use varies. If possible I like to support the artist and use the link they provide in their pixiv post for that particular work. (Usually toranoana) However if it’s quite old, chances are that it’s already sold out.

Toranoana A great site to buy new doujinshis. It’s far the easiest site to navigate and has the best range in terms of new books. Most of the products also have the synopsis and a few sample pages as well! The go to place to really support the artist! This post explains really well on how to shop there! Really use that auto translation on chrome to your advantage if you need to! If you are soley looking for KaraOso djs, here has all the instock books for that pair. And here is the full list, although most are out of stock lmao. (good reference when you want to buy second hand books though!)

If you plan to use a freight forwarding service, you need to create a Toranoana account yourself. When you write in the detail, make sure to input the Japanese address that you were given for shipping details. For when Toranoana charges you for your order, it’s quite funny cause they charge you then return the money straight away (I guess it’s to check if your card works) and when your order is ready to be sent, they’ll take the payment properly. They don’t accept PayPal as payment though. So if you don’t have a credit card, you’ll have to use a proxy service instead.

For proxy service, try using the one toranoana is advertising at the moment, AOCS. AOCS creates a toranoana account for you when you register with them and also you don’t need to provide them your ID for verification! At checkout you just need to select the acos option for delivery! from here, AOCS will pay for your goods on delivery and send you an invoice. They accept PayPal as payment. Once that’s all paid up, they will send you your goods. :)I’ve tried it and yes, it’s very simple to use and convenient but the shipping is a lil pricey since they only send by EMS. Fast shipping though!

Pros:

Easy navigation. They have tags for coupling names and filters to narrow down your search.

Free domestic shipping if you spend over ¥9720.

Toranoana is fast with processing your order and getting it to your freight forwarder/proxy service.

Cons:

Once it’s out of stock, it’s gone. You can apply for a re-sell or set an notification alarm if it ever restocks.

A bit pricey because you pay for tax.

They may cancel your order if they notice you are using a proxy. I don’t know if they still do, it’s just what I’ve heard over the years. For sure tenso and tensojapan are in the green though!

Ok, so you really want a particular work by a certain circle, or just their works in general but it’s out of print…Usually this is the case for me when I see all those out of print djs on Toranoana…You can try your luck in 2nd hand stores! Or even Yahoo auctions.

Yahoo auctions would be the last place I’d go for, cause ordering from there can kill your wallet. Especially if you buy from different sellers. You’ll have to pay for domestic shipping on each of the auctions. There are proxy services designed for Yahoo auctions, but the one I have tried is DeJapan. Their service is good and their processing and shipping is fast too! My order came 3-4 days after it was sent! They only send by EMS though. Quite pricey but reliable. if you are still interested in purchasing osmt djs from yahoo auctions, try ‘おそ松さん同人’ in the search bar.

MandarakeSells second hand goods. I like this site a lot! They do international shipping with several options too. So you can skip the whole middle-man business and having the option to choose for the slower, but cheaper postage.The search bar isn’t as friendly but if you know what you are after, or the circle you are interested in, then it’s a lot easier to navigate. Just be aware mandarake has different stores so if you end up getting anything from this site, make sure to check which store it’s in! Try getting all your items from the same store, otherwise you’ll be paying a lot for shipping!! When I make orders I like to at least group 5 djs from each store if I can’t get it all from the same store. But I LOVE their quality!! Their second hand stuff look pretty much brand new! Unless stated otherwise in their listing. I’ve had some djs where it didn’t even look opened!

Pros:

Usually cheaper than buying new.

Can find the older titles here.

Tax free.

Has English support and navigation.

Relatively fast processing time.

They send internationally!

Cons:

No consolidation. Each store=different order=more shipping cost.

Second hand goods. So it’s not brand new.

Price can be ridiculously expensive based on its rarity/popularity even though it’s not a new book. I actually bought 2 titles for 4k yen each when the original price is just over 1k. But I really wanted those books soo….I just bit the bullet lol.

SurugayaA real gem! ♡My favourite second hand store for djs~ Their navi is a lot better than mandarake and has way more items! This is the place to go for any rare goods~ here is the search page for karaxoso.

Did I tell you they have free domestic shipping if you spend over ¥1500?? That’s like $15 lol. They do however have a processing fee if your order is under 5k yen. It’s under ¥300 so still very cheap! Surugaya often have ‘time sales’ and campaigns too! So it’s good to keep an eye out. When you click on an item, there’ll be a red text saying “this product will have a time sale soon” if that’s the case. So if you time it right…maybe you can get it cheaper. But I had many djs go out of stock on me while I waited for a campaign to come (some items sell out within a couple of days) so I don’t risk it anymore if there are items that have only 1 in stock in my cart.

Also this is one of the stores where you can buy without a credit card and use PayPal instead! But if you are buying R18 goods, you can only pay by credit card. They don’t accept foreign credit cards apparently. I did have an order cancel on me when I paid by credit card and I got an email saying I used a foreign card and they can’t accept it. I’m still very gutted about that one. But I’ve also had successful orders using the same exact card…..so it’s really a gamble. PayPal as payment is friendlier I heard! But if you really want to buy r18 goods from here, may luck be on your side and hope they don’t detect your card. (or use a proxy service that allows you to buy R18 goods)

The other downside for this site is the waiting time. Surugaya also has many warehouses and so they have to wait for all the books to arrive in one place before they ship it out to you. But usually with my experiences it takes them about 4 days to complete my order and ship it out. But I did have orders take over a week to process before. As long as you don’t order during the busy times of the year it should be fine.

Pros:

Usually cheaper than buying new. (Most of the time the djs are cheaper than mandarake.)

Best range.

Often have sales and campaigns

Has English support (But they will answer in Japanese)

Free shipping on orders over 1.5k yen

Cons:

Slow processing time.

Like mandarake, some items are ridiculously expensive.

Your card may get declined for being a foreign card.

Note: Previously, I’ve noted you can use debit card as payment…but honestly? it’s kinda weird. From personal experience, make sure you have double the amount of money in your account of what you need to pay for. Until the day it’s ship it. Surugaya likes to take money from you…how should I say…twice(?). Like….how do I explain this…on the day you place the order, money is taken from your card. Your payment will appear as pending on your bank statement. But actually they don’t approve your payment until it’s all ready to be sent to you. On that day, they take the payment from your account again. Like. It’s weird. And if you don’t have that amount available on your card on that day, you get an email from customer service saying they couldn’t go through with the payment. That there was a problem. If you paid by paypal (using your debit card), they will retry the payment if you can provide them evidence that it wasn’t PayPal that made the error. If you paid by using credit card (with your debit) they will cancel your order since the only other option to send the money is by bank. So if you have enough money in your debit card to pay for your order twice, your payment will go smoothly. And that extra payment they tried to make? It won’t even appear on your statement lol. In the end that money isn’t taken from you, so don’t worry about them actually charging you twice for your order.I was so confused why my payments weren’t going through and I only found out by contacting both my card dealer and PayPal. I use my debit card for online purchases so I only put in the amount necessary you see…

Tldr; Surugaya tries to take money from you twice but only one goes through and you need enough funds for both in order for your transaction to go through smoothly if you are using your debit card.

#ask #anonymous #long post #please shut up jun #jun babbles

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