#i got the book from Mercari using Buyee!

[ultramarine-spirit]

do you have any advice on how to get the wmmap paper dolls books? or is itsuper exclusive merch? sorry for asking i'm just super curious!

Currently the only way of buying the paper doll book is finding it being sold on a second-hand shopping site. When KW Books' (Carrotoon's parent company) official store had just launched, they put some leftover stock of wmmap's limited editions up for sale. I guess that could happen again, but 1. Going by their wording, it seemed like a "just this one time" type of deal; and 2. You would have to buy volume 3's limited edition, which could be way more expensive than buying the piece of merch individually. Also, wmmap's volumes got sold out in like, a couple of hours.

Anyways, the fastest and safest way of buying any rare merch is keeping an eye on reseller sites. I'm not too sure about the korean scene, since I use japanese sites. My go-to site is Mercari, but there's also Suruga-ya, Yahoo! Auctions, Ebay, etc. I recommend Mercari because it's easy to use with proxy companies that help you out with the buying process, such as Buyee (probably the easiest one to use? but there are others like Zenmarket, Treasure Japan, etc. I can vouch for Treasure Japan and Buyee since I've used them several times). I have seen korean and japanese fans selling the paper doll book on Twitter once or twice, but the person most likely won't ship internationally (I asked lmao).

TL;DR: 1. Search for wmmap on reseller sites (using its japanese, korean, chinese, etc., spelling depending on the site you use). The paper doll book is super rare, but I have seen it a bunch of times, so eventually it should reappear; 2. If you can't buy it directly, use a proxy company as middleman (Buyee is pretty reliable, but depending on your country there might be better options from local stores). That's it!

As for prices, it honestly depends on your luck. Sometimes you'll find second-hand merch at pretty fair prices (for books I think anything around $20 USD is worth it, but this heavily depends on your currency's exchange rate), and other times people will ask for a crazy amount of money. Merch that has been opened, used or that has any type of damage will always be cheaper, so sometimes it's best to buy "not perfect" merch. My advice is to also consider the shipping cost and possible import taxes before making any purchases.

Oh, also, I don't recommend buying from Etsy resellers. They always overcharge way too much and I've heard many cases of people not receiving everything they had bought from them.

Wow, that was a long answer...

[curejiraiya]

For fun; heres all the secondhand KOP merch that is decently priced somewhere on the internet, and ships to the US without a proxy, that I am currently considering buying, but something is holding me back. (it's usually money, but for some it's me knowing I would be upset that I didn't have all 3 members of Over the Rainbow)

Here's me ranting about why I haven't bought some of these

I really want the KakeTai doujin lol but $25 is just more than I can budget 😔 I think it's a fair price too I just would be pissed at myself if I spent that on 4 books in a language I do not read.

I also really want the $10 Kouji and Kazuki mochi's but I'm being held back because the Hiro I have will have a different outfit. I wish I could find Kazuki and Kouji in their Athletic Core outfits.

I'm really eyeing the Pride the Hero soundtrack CD too. I probably won't get it because I'd be mad at myself for buying CDs in 2023

Also the ebay listing for those 7 acrylics for $25 is a steal, I just don't really like the cast of characters it's so random. Same with some of the paper stands, if it had like the strong duos or OTR or Shin Louis or something I'd probably buy, but they're just a random assortment.

In the Mercari stuff the $26 listing has a pin I REALLY want, it's the Kouji cafe pin and I have the Hiro one so it'd make a good set, but I don't really want much of anything else there so I can't see myself dropping that much (A few of those listings have additional shipping costs and that's definitely one of them)

Now that you've read to the end (hi) let me explain that I'm disabled and cannot keep a job and therefore have no income, but I got $90 in a settlement and I plan on spending all of it on merch lmao I just need to be picky because once it's gone I'm not getting any more.

Here's a bonus that I did buy today:

This photo sucks but I got the notif that the seller lowered the price on this one to $25 and I could not help myself oops!

I also almost got the diner amo cafe stuff on amiami but I couldn't decide if I wanted everyone or just OTR and I didn't realize preorders were closing soon so I missed them rip. I don't doubt there will be more up there eventually though, they did just announce a new amo cafe line the day after that one closed, but I'm not big on this new one. it's not on amiami yet though

Also no my biggest merch regret is not getting the Rainbow Live 10th anniversary Over the Rainbow acrylics. I love those outfits a lot a lot but I didn't go for them and it's like . not going to be possible now lol.

I also have like $60 left so realistically I could make a big purchase on Buyee from Yahoo auctions and get what I actually want, but god the fucking shipping is just so much it's disappointing.

I wasn't expecting to write a king of prism merch roundup holy shit I'm sorry have a good day 🤭 let me know if people enjoy this post and would want to see something like this again? or if you want a link to any of these specific items so you can poach them from me (if you buy the doujin I'll cry lmao) they all ship to America for like $10 or less. Also if money isn't as big of a problem for you as it is for me just buy from Buyee or ZenMarket please, if you can handle the $40 shipping you can get a ton of stuff at way better prices

[putschki1969]

My Experience with Japanese Online Shops, International Shipping and Proxy Services

In the last few months I have ordered from many different Japanese online stores and I have made use of a bunch of new international shipping and proxy services so I thought it would be a good idea to sum up my experiences and write a little review so everyone knows what to expect. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Content

tenso

Buyee

WorldShopping

HMV International Shipping

CDJapan

Amazon.co.jp

1. tenso.com

A staple for everyone who wants to register for various Japanese services (e.g. fan clubs, streaming platforms, etc) or enjoys shopping in Japanese online shops. It cannot be said often or loud enough how indispensable tenso is for fans of anything Japanese, their service is a true lifesaver! The H-el-ical// Online store even recommends using them! These days many Japanese sites accept foreign payment methods but one thing that’s still almost always required is a Japanese address. And that’s where tenso comes in. They will provide you for free with a Japanese address and phone number which you can use to register on almost any site. You can have your fan club stuff and purchased items sent to that address (the tenso warehouse) and they will then ship it to you. There are not a whole lot of shipping options available but that’s fine. Air Mail is definitely their best offer but if your package is too big you will end up having to choose EMS (which is quite pricey but typically very fast - not during the pandemic tho, at least not for Austria). A big advantage is the possibility to edit the package description. You can lower the value of your items to avoid import taxes and custom fees in your country. Please note that tenso does require an identity verification which might act as a deterrent but I can assure you, they are totally trust-worthy and reliable. I get a LOT of use out of them. Of course I have all my FC related stuff sent to their warehouse but tenso also came in handy for my orders on Tower Records Online, Animate Online and the Universal Shop/H-el-ical Shop/mu-mo Shop.

※ With the exception of the Universal Shop, I was able to pay at all the above mentioned stores with my foreign VISA.

2. Buyee

Another staple and the very first proxy service I ever used. You will need them in all those places that do not accept foreign payment methods (there are still too many out there unfortunately). Their customer service is impeccable and I have never had issues with them. They have gone as far as to contact Japanese stores on my behalf even though it is not part of their usual service. They offer a very wide range of features and shipping options, their service fees are also not too high (although I will admit that they have slightly increased throughout the years). They operate on so many different Japanese online shops, it’s rare to find a big store that does not collaborate with them. Also, if you want to thrift Kalafina related items, THIS is your go-to service. Be it Yahoo Auctions, Mercari or Suruga-ya, you can use Buyee on all those sites. They even have their own English user-interface for some of the major Japanese online stores and you can take advantage of their browser add-on which makes shopping a lot easier. The only downside is that they will not allow edits to the package value so if you live in a bureaucratic country like myself with very strict tax and custom regulations, you will have to make sure to send your packages wisely or just expect to pay quite a lot of fees. This time I used them to order my Wakana cover album copies from Rakuten Books (I REALLY wanted their tokuten). Since Buyee offers the biggest variety of shipping options, I got these copies before anything else, they were here super fast.

※ It’s funny how I am able to register my credit card for Rakuten Pay in order to purchase music on mora.jp but I cannot use that very same credit card to actually buy stuff on Rakuten.

3. WorldShopping

A fairly new service as far as I know but it seems like they are quickly expanding and trying to give Buyee a run for their money. Their banner has been popping up on almost all Japanese sites I have visited in the past few months but up until recently I wasn’t really feeling like trying a new service (I am always hesitant when it comes to new stuff). At least until I found myself in dire need of the Sofmap store specific tokuten for Wakana’s cover album XD. Unfortunately Sofmap does not accept foreign payment methods and Buyee also does not operate on their site so I took a leap of faith and made my purchase through WorldShopping since their banner looked so inviting. It was surprisingly straighforward since they are providing their own interface on the Japanese sites. I didn’t even have to go to the WorldShopping main page to register or anything before using the service. Their fees are acceptable but not exactly low. I was a little wary because I didn’t have a proper account but they did provide a link in the initial email where I could more or less keep track of everything. It took VERY long for my purchased item to be registered at their warehouse (for tenso and Buyee it takes around 1 day) and I didn’t get a notification email that it had arrived so those are not the best aspects of their service. The only shipping method they seem to offer is EMS (which again, is very pricey). Anyways, at the end of the day, my package arrived unscathed in Austria (including the tokuten) so I am a happy camper. While I will probably not be using their service regularly in the future I can still recommend WorldShopping to you with a clear conscience. But please keep in mind to check your status link regularly!

※ Please note that the WorldShipping interface in Japanese online shops overrides the site’s very own purchasing option so if you want to make an order using your own account with your tenso address and a domestic shipping method (let’s say in the mu-mo shop for example) you will have to deactive all WorldShopping services on the page.

4. HMV & BOOKS Online International Shipping

Another first for me. I had no idea they offered international shipping so when I saw the little button on KEIKO’s Lantana page, I couldn’t resist. Since Amazon.co.jp is no longer an option for me, I was desperate to find other stores that offered international shipping and tokutens. Unfortunately, their international shipping service is not a very good replacement for Amazon.co.jp since it takes VERY long. I registered as a guest and made my order without any trouble. I expected them to ship the item on the release day (or the day prior) but that was not the case. I am almost entirely sure that they use a “hidden” proxy service but still promote it as direct shipping. Which is why the process is taking so long. I think it wasn’t until the fifth day after the release date that I finally received the shipping confirmation. Also, don’t get thrown off by weird phrasing in their e-mails. They kept saying that they had shipped “the first part of my order” when in fact there was only one part. Since they only offered EMS as shipping option it once again took quite a while for the package to get to me even though the shipping fee was very high (please note that EMS is typically very fast but as I mentioned earlier, COVID-19 has changed everything). Overall, I can’t really complain about their service, if you are willing to wait a while, HMV International Shipping is definitely worth a try. HMV always have some of the best tokutens so be sure to check it out.

※ I originally tried to register properly but that turned out to be quite complicated so I recommend registering as a guest just like I did.

5. CDJapan

The first site I ever used to order Kalafina-items. I have never had issues with them. They are very reliable and of course the best thing is that they ship directly to your country. However, these days I hardly ever shop at CDJapan anymore because they rarely have tokutens. Also, items you purchase on their site will not be calculated into the daily and weekly sales data for Oricon music charts so that sucks. As you know, I want to support my girls as best as possible (and that means contributing to their chart numbers). Sometimes CDJapan do offer tokutens so they are definitely a viable option for foreign fans. They have lots of payment and shipping methods to choose from and typically their packages arrive very quickly. I bought Hikaru’s RE of “disclose” (only the LE came with tokutens) and one of my “Lantana” copies (CDJapan did in fact have a tokuten for that. YAY).

※ If for some reason, CDJapan isn’t your cup of tea or doesn’t work for you I think YESASIA is a good alternative. However, I haven’t used their service yet so I am not sure how reliable they are. They offer free shipping if your order total exceeds a certain amount so that’s definitely pretty neat!

6. Amazon.co.jp

Amazon.co.jp has been very reliable for the past few years but this year they have really let me down. Just like HMV they do offer an international shipping service but theirs is actually a DIRECT shipping service and it’s SUPER fast. Also they estimate the import/customs fees of your respective country and they charge a deposit which they can use to pay the customs office to speed up the shipping procedure. If this doesn’t happen, packages will usually end up being stuck at customs for a very long time until they have been processed. Last but not least, they often have some of the coolest and most unique tokutens. These are all reasons why I loved to use them but it seems like the pandemic screwed things up for many foreign fans. When I was logged in and checking the product pages of the Kala-solo-releases, they would either show me that everything was out of stock from the get-go or no longer shippable to my country. However, when I wasn’t logged in and checked the Japanese version of the product page I saw that there were in fact still copies available. Now that the pre-order period is over they seem to have restocked a little bit and some versions have finally become available again for foreigners. For example, I could now technically order the LE of “Lantana” with a tokuten. I really wonder why that stuff wasn’t there when I needed it *grumbles*

※ I am not 100% sure if the pandemic caused all these issues but I kinda hope that was the reason because that would mean that next year things will hopefully work fine again. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

[ultramarine-spirit]

Hi, do you know where to buy manhwa merch and have it reach Latin America? thanks 🥹💕

Hello! It depends on what version you want (I assume you want the Korean volumes. If you want the English ones, you can buy them on Amazon, but I don't recommend this because fuck Amazon).

You can buy the Korean volumes on many sites. The easiest way is to use Harumio, they ship world-wide and for free to some countries (but I believe that's not the case for Latin America, so it can be expensive depending on where you live). The good thing about using Harumio is that you won't need to hire a proxy service to send the books from Korea to your country, so it's a lot less of a hassle. Alternatively, you can buy them directly on a Korean site (such as KW Store (Carrotoon's official store), Kyobobook, Aladin, or Yes24), but you'll have to hire a proxy service because none of those stores ship internationally.

What I did when I got tired of paying Harumio's shipping fees was to find a local manhwa group who does group orders. They charge a lot less, but you'll have to find a trustworthy one, and it might take longer because they usually ship their orders at the end of the month. You should be able to find them on Instagram!

Another option is to buy them second-hand on Japanese sites. Obviously, most of what you'll find there will be the Japanese volumes, but from time to time people sell Korean, or even the Chinese and German volumes. Mandarake and Mercari are really great, and they sell for very cheap, but you'll have to hire a proxy service (I know Mandarake works with Buyee, and they are very easy to use). I explained how to do this here, but feel free to ask me more questions if you have any!

Lastly, you could wait until the Spanish translation releases in a couple of months and they bring it to Latin America. That would certainly be the cheapest option, but it'll take longer, and also- well, it's in Spanish.... Spanish from Spain...

EDIT: I just realized you asked for merch specifically. I would recommend Mandarake or Mercari for that! Or any of the Korean sites listed above. Harumio also has a bunch of things but they are pretty expensive.

Creo que eso sería todo! Espero que puedas comprarlos sin ninguna dificultad. Y si tienes alguna otra duda, mándame otra pregunta con total confianza <3