Welcome to Part 2 of my 'Japanese Proxy Sites Comparison: K-Pop Merch Edition'.

Not going to keep you waiting, let's get started.

It has been a very long time but I won't take up too much time as this post is going to very long and detailed so buckle up and get some writing material. We're going to class for:


Before we continue, let's clear the air for those who might be confused.

What exactly is a 'Proxy' site?


There are possibly hundreds of proxy services out there that will allow you to purchase your desire goods from Japan, South Korea etc. I thought that I could take the lessons I learned from my experiences of the past year using a few of them to assist anyone who is new to using proxy sites and help them narrow down their choices to make an informed decision when picking a service.

Please keep in mind that my list was chosen after narrowing down a much longer list of choices thanks to other lovely people on the internet who shared their experiences. At the end of this entire post I will put the resources and people I used to make my choices and any other proxy sites that I have heard about but have not used myself.

One thing to remember: always do extensive amount of research before plunging straight into ordering from any of these sites as this can cost you extreme frustration and money. I learned the hard way. It might take some time but patience is virtue. Alright, let's start.


I started using proxy sites around late 2017 after seeing a video on YouTube giving a tutorial on how to purchase out of print K-Pop albums through proxy sites. I had gotten a pretty decent job and was being to start my K-Pop physical album collection. However, the albums for most of the groups I love either had been out of print for years or disbanded or both. I was honestly heartbroken until I learned about Proxy service late 2016. At that time I was kinda snobby and didn't want anything second hand. That changed when I started collecting. That tutorial led me to being to now own a lot of the albums for my dear groups that I couldn't purchase when they were initially released.

NB: proxy sites are not only for K-Pop or J-Pop merchandise. They can be used for almost any purchase (these sites also let you know what items are prohibited or not for purchase).

The sites I have and continue to use are FromJapan, Buyee, ZenMarket, Japonica (Mercari). For this first part of this post I will be talking about FromJapan and Buyee, the first and second sites I used respectively.

To start of the New Year I will be sharing a short but hopefully detailed review of my first order with AmiAmi. Let's get to it.


Item Name: Love Live! Sunshine!! - Rubber Strap Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai? 9 version pack box



Order date: May 5th, 2017
Initial Cost: 4,130 Yen
Shipping Method: EMS
Payment Method: PayPal
As of that date payment was not submitted yet. Basically you are putting in a request for the item before you pay for it. Also, the shipping amount is not included. Only the method.

May 6th: email received with shipping amount and total order cost. Also informed that I had until the 13th to submit payment or order will be canceled.

NB: they send payment reminders via email.

Payment submitted: May 9th, 2017
Shipping: 2, 000 Yen
Cost: 6, 130 Yen

NB2: Costs are in Yen/JPY

Item shipped: May 10th, 2017

Sadly, I lost all the pictures I had taken on my work phone of them. I will try to update this with actually images of the items sometime soon.

Pros:
+ International availability of items (a lot of the series I want to purchase merchandise from are 'Ship within Japan Only' so I'm really happy Love Live items can be shipped overseas)
+ Numerous Shipping methods/ Choices for Shipping Method
+ Large range of Merchandise

+/- User friendly site: this is an iffy for me as initial ventures to this site confused me to no end. But I have since gotten used to the site but still need to master it.
+/- Shipping time: honestly, I'm neutral on this. I don't go out of my way to get a purchase instantaneously nor at snail's pace. To get speedy shipping you gotten pay a bit while cheaper shipping is slower it is also risky due to company's not taking responsibility for lost packages and sometimes damaged packaging. As long as I can get my packages in 2 to 4 weeks from shipping date I'm cool.

Cons:
- Shipping fee initially unknown: this is the biggest annoyance for me. When you place an order, you only have an idea of the price of the item based on the Shipping Method page info they provide and/ info gained from previous purchases from AmiAmi or anything purchases from Asian merchandising sites.
- 'Shipping within Japan only' Availability: this one is something that I have no choice but to accept. That is just how the industry in Japan works. I know there are ways to order these types of items i.e. via proxy services or having someone with a Japanese address to order and ship them to you (personal/business requesting) but I'm personally not comfortable with those kind of services yet.


Overall Rating: Recommended

I would continue to order from AmiAmi for any Anime merchandise but I do suggest doing proper research on any and all (or as many you can find) anime merchandise selling store since each has their own pricing, shipping, range of products and international shipping availability.

If there is anything that you would like to know that I did not mention, don't hesitate to ask.

Hope this was helpful and has made your journey to ordering from AmiAmi easier.

Till next time!

Take care and May the Lord God keep you through 2018!

Chibi J

All the items together!!

It was in 2010 that I started to watch the anime (after putting it off since it's release). I watched it fully till the grand magic games, where it went on a hiatus as it caught up with the manga. In
2011, after the series went on a break, I decided reread the manga from the beginning. This was due to the fact that I had previously started the manga and got bored, then later after seeing fan art of character pairings that had me like "what!" made me want to investigate. Now I'm obsessed with series even with it's obvious imperfections and annoyances. After finding more fan art and their respective artists I stumbled upon Grace's tumblr account. From that moment, I have been a solid and firm fan of her work. She is constantly working to improve her art and it definitely shows.

The items I purchased were key chains of a good chunk of the Fairy Tail cast including the Dragons for the Dragon Slayers. I bought the complete set of key chains totaling 28 (excluding the 3 Dragons making it total 31). They were purchased on her Storenvy page (which can be found below). I used Pay Pal to buy them (I won't be going into detail about the purchasing process on Storenvy nor Pay Pal as this review is only for the products themselves. I also believe that there's instructions for using them on their respective sites for newbies).

In cases (+ extras)

Out of cases

Grace packaged them like it was the end of the world! Hahaha! Something I'm very grateful for as I know that nothing was getting in or out of the package. The key chains are very well made and the illustrations are clearly visibly without any blemishes. Whoever Grace got to produce these key chains are an A+ in my books. My one nitpick is the actual hooks for the key chains. About a few of them were slightly beginning to peel but that is nothing serious. Like I said, it's only a slight nitpick.







I also got 3 illustrations from her as well. I squealed like I had just met my K-pop bias or something. I was so happy to get them. When her had store reopened last year I had tried purchasing them before but had problems with my Pay Pal and missed out on the chance to pick the illustrations I wanted. Now look here, I got some.

Illustrations

I want to talk a little bit on the contact and service that was offered. Whenever I had a question or concern I would just shoot Grace an email (you'll get an address after your order is confirmed) and most of the time get a quick response between 30 minutes to 24 hours depending on the time (remember, those who live in the West, she lives in the East which is approximately 12 hours ahead). It took less than a week to arrive. However, due to the fact that the tracking site was in Vietnamese I got a little confused after it seemed to stop updating but I got the package surprising on time it seems.

Overall I'm pleased with my purchase and the service provided by Grace. I plan to purchase from her in the future (wanted to this month but unfortunately can't :( ). I hope you give her store a look one day and support her. To keep to date with the openings and closings of her store I suggest following her tumblr page (at this point in time she's on an indefinite hiatus).

Business cards

Inside of case

Handwritten note from Grace

Case that I also bought

 








[P.S To Grace (if you ever read this): Thank you so much for your work in the Fairy Tail fandom. I have been a fan since I found out you were the artist behind some of my favorite Fairy Tail fan art. I have seen some the negative responses to your art (especially for crack pairings like Bixanna, which I'm personally a fan of and thank you for it!) and to see you not only handle them with such maturity and rightful hurt but to rise above that and continue to strive and grow. I, and your other supporters, will be waiting patiently for your return because you are a wonderful person and deserve the love and support that you get. Take care of yourself. Jasmine]


Thank you to those who read and take care.
May the Lord God continue to keep and carry you through this life.

Jasmine

Yay! It's my first site review.
Oh my gosh! I'm seriously nervous and excited.
Here goes nothing........

This review would be on the items that bought and received, and the process I went through.

The site I purchased from is called CDJapan (www.cdjapan.co.jp), which is known for merchandise ranging from CDs to anime paraphernalia and much more from Japan (hence the title of the site). I learned about this site almost 4 to 5 years ago but with no credit/debit card to my name I decided to wait patiently till it would be my time.


My time arrived and I didn't waste a second. I picked out what I wanted for the time and to just test out how the site works. I bought 4 CDs: Kavkanize [Regular Edition] by Shishido Kavka (1st full length album), THE IDOLM@STER (Idolmaster) MASTER ARTIST 3 01 Haruka Amami, THE IDOLM@STER (Idolmaster) MASTER ARTIST 3 02 Hibiki Ganaha and THE IDOLM@STER (Idolmaster) MASTER ARTIST 3 03 Makoto Kikuchi.