I wanted to know if anyone has used the proxy service with CD Japan. Basically I want to order a bunch of new volumes of manga, but one volume I want is out of print. Here are my questions:
If I request a quote for an item, is there a cutoff point (e.g. a week later) where I have to decide whether or not to buy it?
Will a quote come with pictures so I can verify the quality is good enough?
Will it ship along with the new items I’m ordering? If it adds a few hundred yen to the shipping price (just as if I had ordered an additional new item) that’s fine, but paying shipping for just one item individually would be ridiculous.
I’ve used CD japan many times, definitely legit, if you’re worried about that.
Those questions are a bit too specific for me to know unfortunately, but I’ve exchanged emails with them before, they do answer, so I’m sure you can ask them for details. Coincidentally, what manga are you buying?
I’ve been using CD Japan for years and just recently tried out their proxy service. Would definitely do it again.
Not sure how long the offer is valid, but for me the entire purchase process took about two to three days: request made > availability confirmed and offer received > payment sent > confirmation received that item was purchased from third party. There’s obviously a risk that the third party sells to someone else in the meantime.
My quote did not come with photos of the actual product, but I’m not sure if that’s always the case. You could try tracking down the actual third-party vendor listing, it might provide info on condition. My CD was listed on Book Off I think, but they used a generic picture. It was in great shape, used stuff from Japan generally is.
I was able to make the final purchase alongside some regular in-stock items, it didn’t seem to adversely affect the expected shipping price (but shipping was obviously delayed). You will still need to pay the various proxy fees.
Does Amazon.co.jp not have the items? I just bought a batch of books from there, shipping wasn’t bad and it arrived in 3 days. No proxy required. No Japanese address or payment methods required.
I can also confirm the proxy service works well though it does cost a little extra. Only used it a couple of times as generally I end up preordering things more often then not. As far as quotes go, not really sure how that works as I just went ahead and knew what I wanted and ordered it. It was a separate order though.
Better yet, the quickest way is take your list of questions and just email it off to cdjapan directly CDJapan Customer Support: info@cdjapan.co.jp
They generally respond pretty quickly and their service is great! It’s a weekend so probably won’t hear until Monday but they will generally respond and you can be more specific in your request to them about the specific items.
===
Oh also haven’t used it much but I do have tenso…so if it’s something you can find on via another store in Japan but won’t ship outside the us…tenso is really convenient …not cheap but depending on what you are buying and how you are doing it… can be cheaper than individual proxy depending on how it ends up breaking into multiple orders.
What was the proxy fee for your order? They don’t give any indication in the FAQ.
The item is literally out of print. They don’t sell new copies anywhere anymore. It’s particularly weird since only the first volume is out of print. I plan to buy the rest of the series new, but would need to complete the set somehow.
Did they list a cost specifically for the service fee in your orders? Just trying to get an idea of the cost.
been a while but as I recall the cost is called out… it’s not the cheapest option for sure…but if it’s something you really want… and you know used Japanese books are just like new almost always… just do it and don’t look back
It’s only money … can’t take it with you !
you made me go back and look at my cdjapan orders … my last proxy order was in sep 2020…so not sure how it is now… but this is how the receipt was broken out for me back then (obviously all fees and shipping now vs then is much higher I’m sure) ordered 3 items
I’d shoot them an email and see what they say…ask for a detailed quote for your items, bet you have something by Mon/Tues
I’ve used their proxy a few times. I don’t believe they send pictures basically if you request an item they’ll just make a listing so you can purchase it, but it’ll just have the name of the item most of the times. If you want them to ship things together you may need to request it since if the other items are in stock and the proxy item will take time to arrive the default would be to ship separately for them. (I’ve had this happen when buying in stock and preorder items in the same order). As for cutoff, not sure on specifics, but sometimes the item will no longer be available since it’s not on hold until you decide. You can also check manga republic to see if they have the first volume. They carry used books and I’ve only ever gotten good quality items. You could also see if someone is selling the book set on mercari jp. (You’ll need to use a proxy like buyee or something similar to order from there though).
In my case I simply added their purchase offer listing to my cart along with the in-stock items I wanted, and it was treated and shipped as one (slightly delayed) order. It sounds like you can even combine proxy orders from multiple stores into one CDJapan order shipment.
Never heard of them before. They do have the first volume in stock for $9 and free shipping. Does make me wonder how that’s even possible given Japan’s customs fees and typical shipping costs though… (They even have a new copy for $37, but that feels a bit overkill since it’s triple the normal cost. )
There are a few other out of print items I’ve been considering just getting digitally, but maybe I’ll use this as an excuse to try out this service.
I use their site frequently and still am unsure how they manage to do their shipping. It’s slightly slower (1.5-2 weeks sometimes) but it’s always worked out great for me. They also like to give out coupons which is a fun bonus since I have a bad book buying habit.
Presumably they just bake shipping costs into their item prices. I did a spot check and they have a new manga volume at $12, which is about 1550 yen. Retail Japanese price is 693 yen, so they have a fair amount of extra to pay for the shipping. They also ship standard airmail, which will be cheaper than the DHL/Fedex Amazon and cdjapan usually use (also no insurance against damage en route and no tracking). It’s possible they make a small loss if you buy a single item at a time; by the time you’re up to 3 items cdjapan etc might even be cheaper overall.
Yeah, I saw the prices are higher and essentially bake in the shipping costs. As you said, at larger volumes this will increase the cost, but at smaller volumes it’s advantageous. For example, ordering a single 680 yen volume of manga from CD Japan would cost a total of 3651 yen (about $28) when you add in the shipping. That same volume costs $12 new on Manga Republic. But buying in bulk on CD Japan is far better. In this case I’m looking to buy out of print items, and given the service fees on CD Japan, Manga Republic might cost similar anyway instead of being more expensive. (And even if it’s a bit more expensive, avoiding the hassle of having to contact CD Japan might be worth the extra money. ) That said, if I do decide to order from Manga Republic, I might also buy one new item even though it’ll cost about twice as much, simply because CD Japan doesn’t have it in stock and I have no idea when it’ll be back in stock there.
The shipping is a little funny because on their website they say orders under 60 are standard shipping, but my orders are always priority shipping with tracking even if its an $8 book. They do put the shipping cost into their item prices. I also do a lot of 1-2 book purchases which is why it works for me. If I’m getting more than that I usually opt for CD Japan or Kinokuniya.
I used CDJapan Proxy to get a second hand CD. It was already marked as available, so I was able to add it to my basket and checked out with the other items.
I got some updates about when it came into stock etc. My order was waiting about a week for it, then it despatched. The item was good.
I haven’t used it in the way of “go find this for me”.
)