The ordering, shipping and arrivals thread

Since everybody loves a little merch, I think we should have a thread solely for discussing our AKB orders. I also know most people (including myself) get quite excited when they have merch coming, get quite pissy when things are shipped on time, and would like advice on good places to purchase their AKB48 merchandise. This thread is for all of that.

When your merch arrives, you can go pimp it in the collections thread! Any questions about where to get certain items can be asked here also, as opposed to the Q/A thread. This thread if for orders from stores, and not the STAGE48 shop forum. Oh yay? Oh yay.

We want to try and keep our discussion of auctions and auction services on a low (for various reasons), so we're going to be discussing it in a slightly more private part of the forum, the premium gallery.

So, please use this thread for retail merchandise, and go to this thread (depot access needed) to discuss auction merchandise.

 

i've used YesAsia.com for my previous orders, but on Japanese calendars, Ai-chan MM merchandise, but i do plan on ordering some AKB48 stuff on there soon.
I suppose i will do a search on YesAsia to see what specific AKB items are available.

more rare uncommon AKB48 merchandise, where do you find them at online? CDJapan? i hear they are expensive, shipping costs..
Has anyone on here used Ebay to order any AKB rarer items...autographed photos, shirts, etc?

 

I've wondered where to get merchandise (besides just the CDs/DVDs) online as well... It's a lot harder to find AKB48 merchandise than Momusu stuff. ;o;

 

YesAsia is good, but they inflate the prices of everything above the yen price. Depending on what you order, CD Japan can only be a bit more expensive or about the same. I use both, but I use CD Japan whenever possible because they let you know if you are getting first press or not, and are much faster. YesAsia is good if you are ordering larger things, but don't care when it arrives. YesAsia can be terribly slow, and their free shipping is even slower.

As for eBay, I've used it to find some out of print stuff, but I stay away from most of the posters and such because they are mostly bootlegs and promotional posters ripped off the streets of Japan. That's not to say all of it is, though. Just be careful.

 

i heard that CDJapan, has higher shipping costs than YesAsia. YesAsia is slow...i ordered some MM stuff there last year, and an Ai-chan photobook, it took a month from ordering online to my doorstop, didn't help that it was around xmas, and one of took longer, the order didn't ship right away, since it was temporarily out of stock and more to come.
I just hope i can find some of the AKB items, like photobooks, cd's, dvd's, etc..online, cause it won't be until next summer when i go back to japan. I know of a good poster place in Nakano, but i didn't see AKB stuff there. Ebay...i should look into that, but i never ordered yet thru ebay.

 

Ebay rarely has akb48 stuff Any good stuff at least They usually just have a couple CD's on there.

 

I've been using CDJAPAN since 2003, and that's mostly where I get my CDs, DVDs and sometimes posters. That's pretty much all they sell, I used to get magazine subscriptions though.

But then I discovered Play-Asia, and they have free shipping to my country, so I've started ordering from them more. Really, any place with free shipping is good for me, because it's the shipping prices that hurt my wallet. My package still hasn't arrived, so I can't comment further, but I will as soon as it's here.

For other merchandise (like posters, official pictures, etc) I get from Yahoo! Japan Auctions. You can find everything there, and what's great is that when you don't get a chance to bid on a certain item, they always come back and you can try bidding again.

Amazon Japan is pretty much where I just get my photobooks.

 

I would consider Yahoo auctions, but i don't really understand Japanese, well not enough to read it...
do you need to know kanji to use amazon Japan...i would think so...guess i can't really use that one either. If they did have an online store for AKB48 items, it would be all in Japanese. We'd be lucky to have access to some of it.

anyways, thanks for the info. I will most likely either use YesAsia and/or CDJapan.

 

Amazon Japan has a button you can click on the item's page where all the ordering and account things will be in English. You'll still have to get around and find your stuff on the Japanese site, but all your account data and ordering buttons will be in English. Amazon Japan can be a little slow, though, so don't expect warp speeds when waiting on stuff.

 

ah...thanks for the information, i will consider it, and look into those websites before ordering.

only thing i heard is that, ordering thru cdjapan is higher in shipping costs....and yea Yesaisa is slow on deliveries...i would expect the others to be slow somewhat too...since it is international.

 

I adore Play-Asia, even if they don't always have everything I want. I order from them the most.

I would order from CDJapan, but I don't know, I really don't like their order form. It weirds me out. D: It's a shame, because their stock is the best, but oh well.

 

ok, saw most of AKB48's latest cd's...and even one of their earlier pb's on YesAsia...

does YesAsia.com have the latest dvd, AKB48 1St Concert 2007 - Haru no chottodage Zenkoku Tour - Madamadaze AKB48! ?? i didn't see it on there, unless i missed out on it..


where have others bought their concert '07 dvd from?

is CDJapan's order form complicated? i never ordered from them yet, but i hear their shipping costs are higher than Yesasia's.

 

I bought mine from HMV. It arrived two days after it got released.

I think their shipping costs is about the same as CDJapan's though. I'd personally pay the extra money instead of waiting forever like I use to when I ordered from yes-asia

I don't think CDJapan's order form is complicated... maybe a little time consuming but that's about it

 

YesAsia is still 'searching for suppliers' on my AKB48 Blu-Rays... what's taking so long?

Is anyone else getting these?

 

Yes asia does have the latest dvd. Just look a little more carefully then u will see it there. Thats -where i order my dvd and bingo cd from. They both should be coming in the end of this week or early next week.

 

i thought i saw it on the 2nd page, eikeibi fo thieitofa sutokonsa toaitakattahashirahanaizeinnihonseinenkanshaffuruba dvd, release date 7/17, but i read it wrong, and i think it hasn't appeared on the first page....or has it?

edit: ok ok...i found it on the first page, my bad....going to order it, along with Bingo and a few others, i will probably order it via YesAsia and wait.

thanks for your help in helping me locate the dvd.


*** edit update ***
sorry i didn't want to double post, and i just put in my order. My first AKB48 merchandise order!!! online

I just put out an order for AKB48 items:
-Haru no Chotto dake Zenkoku Tour DVD (Japan Version)
-Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru (Normal Edition A) ( Japan Version)
-Bingo! (single+dvd) (First press limited edition) (Japan version)

 

I actually found CDJAPAN's order form quite straight-forward actually, had no problems with it at all. And they give away 'points', which I find really nice.

The more points you have, it means the more money you can deduct from your total order.

 

Totally agreed. The price differential is actually not as much as you think(with the exception of large items) and when I order from CD Japan, I know my order will be here a few days later. With YesAsia, it could be a week or a month. It's a crap shoot. Plus, on occasion with YesAsia, a CD will come and the case will be cracked or something, and one time a DVD had come loose in the case. Never had that happen once with CD Japan. Also as ameki said, CD Japan has a nice points program and they give you 500 points on your birthday! They also have coupons once in a while. Great site, I swear by them.

 

i am beginning to think that CDJapan is better from reading your posts, nonetheless, i opt'd to go with my recent order with YesAsia, since i have ordered from them on several occassions and overall been happy. I might look into my next order via CDJapan, and see what they have available. There are some other cd-singles and some photobooks that i may be interested in purchasing soon.

 

I recently ordered some stuff from CDJapan, and even though I requested expedited shipping, it's already been a week, and my order still hasn't arrived! Maybe I'm being a bit impatient, but when AKB48 merch is involved, I think it's ok! ^_~

Also, for a lot of rarer stuff (like photos, posters, autographs, things you can only buy at the concerts) I recommend using Rinkya (www.rinkya.com). They didn't used to have an AKB48 category, but now they do (after I requested one).