PCEngineFans.com - The PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Community Forum
Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: ProfessorProfessorson on April 30, 2013, 04:03:14 PM
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I was just wondering. I am placing a order with them. They seem to be moving rather slow on communication back and forth, and I still do not have a shipping/final price quote yet. While looking them up on google I came across people on anime forums laying out accusations that Surugaya-a-too randomly rips people off on stuff, not including items in their package and blaming it on postal theft, or poorly packaging things like figurines that end up broken in shipping, or selling item slisted as new that were used with no package. Due to all of that I was wondering who all here has ordered from them, how long did it take, the entire process i mean, and did the stuff arrive in good condition, etc?
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If you mean Surugaya-a-too, then I've done business with them through Rakuten and generally been pleased. Haven't done much back and forth communication with them, only confirmed orders etc but they do take a while to respond and ship out sometimes. Maybe up to 2-3 days?
That said, mostly bought games/books/LDs and not more fragile things like figures etc. There have been times where I've ended up getting loose games, but those times I haven't read the description properly, or Rakuten's automatic translation done a poor job.
If we're talking about the same shop, they do only offer EMS shipping, to my knowledge at least, so be prepared for those shipping costs.
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I've ordered dozens of LDs from them with only one snag. Communication is extremely slow, expect a week wait for a shipping quote. Overall I totally LOVE this place and I'll cry when they run out of shit for me to buy.
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I've ordered dozens of LDs from them with only one snag. Communication is extremely slow, expect a week wait for a shipping quote. Overall I totally LOVE this place and I'll cry when they run out of shit for me to buy.
Totally, their LD prices are hard to beat.
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Yeah sorry for the misspell. I copy pasted their name off some search and did not notice it was spelled wrong. At any rate yeah the prices on stuff looked great, but descriptions of items do seem basic so that had me wondering about completeness. It has been since last saturday evening when I initiated a order, and so far only got one reply from them apologizing for taking so long with the shipping quote, and that they would get back to me when they are ready. I ordered 7 cd based games, so I figure the shipping for EMS will run me between $30-40 bucks off the top of my head. I knew they only ship via EMS and I actually prefer it that way.
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Deadite got a fakeler akiyama from them once. But nobody could have known.
I never used them so far, but prices are uberrad at some parts.
I guess I just like to by stuff life in real shops :)
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They are fine to deal with. But they don't really speak English, so issues can happen if you don't speak Japanese. Of course being local, the few issues I have had they have been quick to fix. It's basically a warehouse and the person that gets your order has no idea what anything is. Condition is a crapshoot, again it depends on who works on your order. For gamers they are fine, not recommended for the anal collector types though.
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With the LD's I've ordered condition was essentially perfect, but that's probably mostly due to LD collectors, Japanese LD collectors even, usually being super careful with their shit.
With some games condition has been good and sometimes not so great. I got one copy of a game that was loose and they never said it was, but on the other hand I ordered four SuFami Turbo games and they all came complete which actually kind of surprised me.
Description is the stumbling block for a lot of people. Some of the issue is the language barrier (I get the impression they have an English-speaking guy that only comes in once a week to answer emails) but a lot of it is just that that's the way they do shit in Japan. Your average American eBay listing is miles long but your average Yahoo Auction Japan auction is quite short. You're just expected as buyer and seller to trust each other and it seems to work for them.
There are some descriptions I've figured out though. If it says "case theory" or "box theory" then they are talking about the box and it not being there (ie: the game is lose). When they say the "game is blue" they mean that its sun faded (sun fading destroys reds and yellows more than blue, tinting the game blue).
One time my bank declined the transaction for some random reason and all I got was a very short message in Japanese only that I couldn't quite figure out so I had to do some lengthy correspondence on that one. Eventually it shipped. Another time I ordered an 8 disc set and all I got was disc 8! Of course, I only payed $1 for it, but what do I do with disc 8!?!
I've since, with some hesitation, ordered that same set again (Gundam Master Grade movie box) and I'm curious to see what actually arrives. Maybe just discs 1-7? :)
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Has anyone asked for pictures of the items or condition description upon request before paying, and if so, did they provide it?
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Not me.
EDIT:
I should clarify that when you receive the shipping total they will give a brief description of any flaws. They will say something like "case and dick has scratch", which is what they said about my Holmes box set. The outer box was kinda tore up, the "scratch" was irrelevant since it was outside of the data on disc/dick 1. They will often times mention even the most minor flaw. If they say nothing its usually perfect.
However, this isn't %100 reliable. When they shipped only disc 8 of the Master Grade box they said "certificate is missing". Its true, it was missing the certificate, as well as the outer box, photo CD, and discs 1-7!
If you don't like the description of anything then tell them to leave those items off.
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Good to know. I sent them a email request for either pics or a description of the condition of the items when they give me a total due quote. Figured I should ask just in case.
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They do not like sending pics. Typically they will respond and ask you not to ask about condition. lol. How it works is you order, and then they tell you if something is bad and give a discount. But this totally depends on who is doing your order, it's quite random and no set process.
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If you mean Surugaya-a-too, then I've done business with them through Rakuten and generally been pleased. Haven't done much back and forth communication with them, only confirmed orders etc but they do take a while to respond and ship out sometimes. Maybe up to 2-3 days?
That said, mostly bought games/books/LDs and not more fragile things like figures etc. There have been times where I've ended up getting loose games, but those times I haven't read the description properly, or Rakuten's automatic translation done a poor job.
If we're talking about the same shop, they do only offer EMS shipping, to my knowledge at least, so be prepared for those shipping costs.
Also worth remembering as they only use EMS and state the actual purchase price of the item I got shazammed! with import duties here in the UK! Not only with import tax but I also got whacked with a flat handling fee levied by the uk postal service as they handled an insured EMS parcel. Around £19 in changes for £45 of goods!
As this was the first time I have been hit with import changes for a good while it has put me off using them again.
However the items came perfectly packaged and as described on the site.
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Also worth remembering as they only use EMS and state the actual purchase price of the item I got shazammed! with import duties here in the UK! Not only with import tax but I also got whacked with a flat handling fee levied by the uk postal service as they handled an insured EMS parcel. Around £19 in changes for £45 of goods!
As this was the first time I have been hit with import changes for a good while it has put me off using them again.
However the items came perfectly packaged and as described on the site.
Interesting. I haven't had too many import duties placed upon EMS from Japan. Bigger sendings from the US on the other hand always seems to guarantee some extra charges.
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I like using Celga for all my Japanese purchasing since they respond to e-mail within hours usually. (Sometimes within minutes), and they are pretty friendly and alright with you ordering 9000 things off Yahoo auctions.
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If you mean Surugaya-a-too, then I've done business with them through Rakuten and generally been pleased. Haven't done much back and forth communication with them, only confirmed orders etc but they do take a while to respond and ship out sometimes. Maybe up to 2-3 days?
That said, mostly bought games/books/LDs and not more fragile things like figures etc. There have been times where I've ended up getting loose games, but those times I haven't read the description properly, or Rakuten's automatic translation done a poor job.
If we're talking about the same shop, they do only offer EMS shipping, to my knowledge at least, so be prepared for those shipping costs.
Also worth remembering as they only use EMS and state the actual purchase price of the item I got shazammed! with import duties here in the UK! Not only with import tax but I also got whacked with a flat handling fee levied by the uk postal service as they handled an insured EMS parcel. Around £19 in changes for £45 of goods!
As this was the first time I have been hit with import changes for a good while it has put me off using them again.
However the items came perfectly packaged and as described on the site.
I'm in the US so customs are almost a non-issue. However a typical order from this shop for me consists of me paying $180 to ship $80 worth of stuff since EMS from Japan for something as heavy as a 13 disc LD box is very expensive. I don't give a crap though because the prices are incredibly low, very close to free in some cases. When you buy LDs from this shop you are basically paying by the pound. The only reason why the shipping is more than the purchase price is because the purchase price is incredibly low.
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I've ordered from them before, the biggest problem is shipping. They have to come back to you with a shipping quote and it usually takes a while. I think I paid 20.00 to ship a 15.00 item at one point :( . It was something I really wanted though so I'm not too upset.
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Yeah this really is a snails pace kind of transaction. It almost makes me wonder if they actually have the stuff in stock all the time, or if they are some business that just buys tons of stuff in from Yahoo Japan auctions and just list the items for sale in anticipation of their eventual arrival. At any rate, its been since Saturday, if I dont hear anything by Sunday I will shoot them one last message then move along to a more reliable seller if I dont hear anything back by a day or two of that. I just want someone to take mah cash and send me games. Shouldn't be this complicated, even for a seller/business in Japan.
edit: if anyone else knows of any other sellers with decent prices on import Saturn stuff shoot me a pm.
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So a update on this, just to dispel any thought that the reason for slow replies is due to language barrier, I sent a short brief message in Japanese asking if order was processed and shipping quote was ready. I made sure to send the email so that they would get it early in the afternoon their time. At any rate, they did not reply, and I'd say if they don't by this evening then their slowness definitely has nothing to do with any language barrier.
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You might as well just forget it then if you're that impatient. They are really really slow but otherwise pretty great. If you need that 15 year old Saturn game to ship TODAY then go to eBay and pay twice as much.
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I've used the Japanese storefront with a proxy for a couple LD ROMs and they looked amazing when I finally got them. The lack of pictures is a bummer, but you kind of have to roll the dice. Also, buy in bulk if you can since the shipping can get kind of crazy on any international stuff.
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You might as well just forget it then if you're that impatient. They are really really slow but otherwise pretty great. If you need that 15 year old Saturn game to ship TODAY then go to eBay and pay twice as much.
One day is one thing, 6 is another. 10 is basically my max limit, and thats with at least some bare bones communication going on. I also neglected to mention I placed a separate order prior to this one that they could not process due to a internal issue between them and supposedly how Rakuten handles customer info. My old Rakuten account info could not be updated with my new address correctly, so ship to and billing info did not match, so I had to make a new account and place the order again which resolved it.
If they don't reply back to the newest email in a day or two with a simple yes or no answer it wont be due to any language barrier, it is simply them kind of being slow/shoddy business ethic, or just not having the stuff actually in stock and not wanting to reply until they do. It reminds me of Rising Stuff really, but with no Americunts at the helm. It's not like I am just ordering a couple of $5 items either, it is a decent order, so you would think they would be a bit more motivated to process it after a few days and get my money.
Also Zeta, no offense, but for you to say they are "really really great" after basically ripping you off on a laserdisc set seems kind of odd, unless of course you like that kind of customer service anyway....
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It reminds me of Rising Stuff really, but with no Americunts at the helm.
FallingJunk!
BEST YEAR EVRRRRRRRRR
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It reminds me of Rising Stuff really, but with no Americunts at the helm.
FallingJunk!
BEST YEAR EVRRRRRRRRR
I liked when they threatened to sue me for slander. BEST YEAR EVRRRRRRRRR
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I liked when they threatened to sue me for slander. BEST YEAR EVRRRRRRRRR
I liked when Alex Wilson acted like he was doing me a favor because he ordered a bunch of untested PC-98s that he didn't even know how to hook up, and expected me to buy one.
Yeah right.
Wonder what that chucklef*ck is up to right now. His Japanese Waifururu is probably beating him senseless with a kendo sword or something for being a failure.
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I've ordered twice from them, and my friend twice. It was always a ~9 day wait. One of my friends was in the $300 range. I don't think the money matters.
Auc-egames ships next day, but their prices are much higher.
I like using Celga for all my Japanese purchasing since they respond to e-mail within hours usually. (Sometimes within minutes), and they are pretty friendly and alright with you ordering 9000 things off Yahoo auctions.
I've been using fromjapan. Comparing fees, It looks like fromjapan comes out a little bit a head, 200 yen + 5% per transaction. Note, the 5% covers the paypal 2.9%. I don't know how Celga deals with that (possibly built into their costs?)
I'm in the US so customs are almost a non-issue. However a typical order from this shop for me consists of me paying $180 to ship $80 worth of stuff since EMS from Japan for something as heavy as a 13 disc LD box is very expensive. I don't give a crap though because the prices are incredibly low, very close to free in some cases. When you buy LDs from this shop you are basically paying by the pound. The only reason why the shipping is more than the purchase price is because the purchase price is incredibly low.
Have you considered using Surface shipping instead?
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Also Zeta, no offense, but for you to say they are "really really great" after basically ripping you off on a laserdisc set seems kind of odd, unless of course you like that kind of customer service anyway....
They credited me for the set.
I should clarify that I've ordered quite a few LDs from them and other that this hilarious exception things have been...pretty much a dream come true. I mean...literally a dream come true. I've actually had dreams about getting LD boxes that once cost $850 for $28 and this place actually has deals like this. The stuff they sell goes for 2-20 times as much money on American eBay if it ever shows up at all.
I've noticed that not every category they sell is as amazingly cheap. I bought an Arcade Card Pro from them for $25 which isn't bad but isn't anything like the prices on their LDs. I got an almost perfect Memories "black box" for $5 from them. It usually goes for $50-80 anywhere else that I've found, original price was about $150. I bought all episodes of Gundam 0083 for prices ranging from $0.60 to $5 each. I paid maybe $30 for the whole set (12 volumes). With deals like that I'll gladly deal with some delays and occasional f*ckups.
I would not buy a game from them just to save $5 or something like that. I've made a half dozen large orders from them over the past year or so and I've never been happier with my purchases.
Have you considered using Surface shipping instead?
Its not an option with them, and frankly I'm cool with that. It takes 3 or 4 days to get to my place from Japan has tracking and its always in perfect shape. Things sent SAL often get used for soccer practice on the deck of the ship, from my experience.
BONUS CONTENT: Regarding disc 8, this is the best disc to get if you are only going to get one disc. The Master Grade box is the three Gundam movies in CAV. The last disc has stuff like toy commercials, high quality versions of the original anime made for the Saturn game, and trailers. Getting just disc 8 isn't so bad. Getting just disc 4 or something...that would be basically useless. As for how anyone could screw up an order that badly, I'm not sure. I don't know how the disc got separated from the set but once it is it looks like a stand alone product. It has the same catalog number on it as every other disc and the set as a whole. To "some guy in a warehouse" (the theory presented above) this wouldn't look any different from any other anime series released in multiple volumes.
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Also Zeta, no offense, but for you to say they are "really really great" after basically ripping you off on a laserdisc set seems kind of odd, unless of course you like that kind of customer service anyway....
They credited me for the set.
I should clarify that I've ordered quite a few LDs from them and other that this hilarious exception things have been...pretty much a dream come true. I mean...literally a dream come true. I've actually had dreams about getting LD boxes that once cost $850 for $28 and this place actually has deals like this. The stuff they sell goes for 2-20 times as much money on American eBay if it ever shows up at all.
I've noticed that not every category they sell is as amazingly cheap. I bought an Arcade Card Pro from them for $25 which isn't bad but isn't anything like the prices on their LDs. I got an almost perfect Memories "black box" for $5 from them. It usually goes for $50-80 anywhere else that I've found, original price was about $150. I bought all episodes of Gundam 0083 for prices ranging from $0.60 to $5 each. I paid maybe $30 for the whole set (12 volumes). With deals like that I'll gladly deal with some delays and occasional f*ckups.
I would not buy a game from them just to save $5 or something like that. I've made a half dozen large orders from them over the past year or so and I've never been happier with my purchases.
Have you considered using Surface shipping instead?
Its not an option with them, and frankly I'm cool with that. It takes 3 or 4 days to get to my place from Japan has tracking and its always in perfect shape. Things sent SAL often get used for soccer practice on the deck of the ship, from my experience.
BONUS CONTENT: Regarding disc 8, this is the best disc to get if you are only going to get one disc. The Master Grade box is the three Gundam movies in CAV. The last disc has stuff like toy commercials, high quality versions of the original anime made for the Saturn game, and trailers. Getting just disc 8 isn't so bad. Getting just disc 4 or something...that would be basically useless. As for how anyone could screw up an order that badly, I'm not sure. I don't know how the disc got separated from the set but once it is it looks like a stand alone product. It has the same catalog number on it as every other disc and the set as a whole. To "some guy in a warehouse" (the theory presented above) this wouldn't look any different from any other anime series released in multiple volumes.
It is good that they refunded you on that set. I have read plenty of post where they did not refund others for short changed orders so that makes me wonder if maybe they have a thief in their employment or wtf is going on there.
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I've been using fromjapan. Comparing fees, It looks like fromjapan comes out a little bit a head, 200 yen + 5% per transaction. Note, the 5% covers the paypal 2.9%. I don't know how Celga deals with that (possibly built into their costs?)
It's built into their costs as well. Celga ends up costing a little more than other places, but the customer service has been excellent with them so I stick with them.
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As stated, it's completely up to who gets your order. And it is a giant warehouse. I have an actual real life Japanese friend who interviewed with them to be one of the foriegn sales people, after the 3 hour interview, he had seen enough and decided to withdraw cause "they have no idea what they are doing."
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Ha!
That's kind of why I love them. It brings back some of old school adventure of buying anime, something that has been meticulously scrubbed away by eBay and Amazon. You never really know WTF is going to be in that box when you get it. :) Its usually perfect though and very satisfying.
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As stated, it's completely up to who gets your order. And it is a giant warehouse. I have an actual real life Japanese friend who interviewed with them to be one of the foriegn sales people, after the 3 hour interview, he had seen enough and decided to withdraw cause "they have no idea what they are doing."
how much of the 3 hour interview was him waiting in a room by himself wondering if anyone knew he was still there?
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As stated, it's completely up to who gets your order. And it is a giant warehouse. I have an actual real life Japanese friend who interviewed with them to be one of the foriegn sales people, after the 3 hour interview, he had seen enough and decided to withdraw cause "they have no idea what they are doing."
how much of the 3 hour interview was him waiting in a room by himself wondering if anyone knew he was still there?
Probably the entire 3 hours.
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In truth he said there were 10 others with him. First it was a 1 hour orientation, then an hour of various paper tests, then more talking about pretty much nothing. Some of the others walked out when they saw the test.
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Making paper airplane test?
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In truth he said there were 10 others with him. First it was a 1 hour orientation, then an hour of various paper tests, then more talking about pretty much nothing. Some of the others walked out when they saw the test.
Sounds like a front for clandestine psychological testing.
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Update: I got a reply back from them in straight Japanese. If anyone here thinks they can translate it better then Google or Babylon hit me up with a pm.
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Often times they send another one in English shortly after.
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Often times they send another one in English shortly after.
Well the basic jest I can get from this one from having it translated through two diff sites is they are telling me they are moving very slow on peoples orders right now, and are busy inspecting inventory. They did not supply any kind of time estimate when they would be ready to contact me again or anything from what I can tell. Like I said, if someone wants to take a shot at translating it if they think they can do better then one of the free translations sites, they can drop me a pm.
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Update, got the confirmation email, so sent a reply back stating I confirmed it. Stated the following to them :
"Yes I confirm the order, and you have permission to process the order. :)
はい。注文が確認された。
私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
Thank you very much! :)
Michael Helgeson"
Hopefully that is all they needed me to state in the reply email to get it processed and get my card charged,etc.
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Usually when I get that far it ships within the day and is at my place in four.
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EMS tends to take a little longer to hit my state. Usually 7 days or so. Not a big deal, as its still faster then registered air mail. If this order arrives as expected in good condition (I dont expect mint awesomeness or anything) then I will place another order right after it arrives.
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Update, got the confirmation email, so sent a reply back stating I confirmed it. Stated the following to them :
"Yes I confirm the order, and you have permission to process the order. :)
はい。注文が確認された。
私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
Thank you very much! :)
Michael Helgeson"
Hopefully that is all they needed me to state in the reply email to get it processed and get my card charged,etc.
FYI, depending on your credit card, you may want to call and per-authorize the purchase. My credit card rejected it.
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私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
(http://www.thegforum.ch/images/smilies/lachen70.gif)
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私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
(http://www.thegforum.ch/images/smilies/lachen70.gif)
...yeah.
Well, one character can make all the difference so I don't blame you there :) Hopefully they'll get what you mean.
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Update, got the confirmation email, so sent a reply back stating I confirmed it. Stated the following to them :
"Yes I confirm the order, and you have permission to process the order. :)
はい。注文が確認された。
私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
Thank you very much! :)
Michael Helgeson"
Hopefully that is all they needed me to state in the reply email to get it processed and get my card charged,etc.
FYI, depending on your credit card, you may want to call and per-authorize the purchase. My credit card rejected it.
That happened the last time I ordered from them, even though I had ordered successfully on the same card several times before. Banks are stupid.
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私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
(http://www.thegforum.ch/images/smilies/lachen70.gif)
...yeah.
Well, one character can make all the difference so I don't blame you there :) Hopefully they'll get what you mean.
Yeah I kind of felt that read off a little awkward and all anyway and resent a message this morning, which will probably read off even more awkward, but figured I needed to specifically state the items on the list checked out ok, which I did not do initially and should have.
"(sending confirm email again just in case I was not as specific as I should have been)
Sorry for my bad Japanese. Doing my best to make communication with your store easier.
Yes I confirm the order, everything looked fine, and you have my permission to process the order. :)
私の悪い日本語のためにごめんなさい.
はい。注文が確認された。
はい。私はアイテムが欲しい。
私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
Thank you very much! :)
Michael Helgeson"
Though in the future I imagine if I find myself in this situation again I will probably say:
すみません｡ 私の日本語が上手じゃありません。
はい。注文が確認された。
はい。私はアイテムが欲しい。
私は悪い日本人のために再度お詫び.
Or I will probably say:
日本に住んでいる私の友人、
タツジン
彼は私の順序の支払をしたいと考えています。
https://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=869
EDIT: They charged my card so looks like what I sent them was good enough message wise to confirm the order.
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Or I will probably say:
日本に住んでいる私の友人、
タツジン
彼は私の順序の支払をしたいと考えています。
https://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=869
:lol: very good.
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Is it normal for Rakuten themselves to send out a kind of automated email completely in Japanese that gives a overview of my order and ship info? Is this also a email I need to respond to directly to Rakuten and Surugaya both, or just ignore it (surugaya was on the CC list of the email they sent me)? I was not sure if this was their way of double checking to make sure I really confirmed the order. Also, do they send you a email with your EMS tracking info once they ship?
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Did a quick search in my mail history, since it was quite the while since I shopped there, but yes, I think that's just a confirmation from their side. Once they've shipped it out you should get another mail stating that it was shipped and your EMS tracking info.
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Did a quick search in my mail history, since it was quite the while since I shopped there, but yes, I think that's just a confirmation from their side. Once they've shipped it out you should get another mail stating that it was shipped and your EMS tracking info.
Cool I am not going to bother replying back to it then. I figured it was just a automated review of the order and all but figured I should ask.
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Or I will probably say:
日本に住んでいる私の友人、
タツジン
彼は私の順序の支払をしたいと考えています。
https://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=869
:lol: very good.
Ha! :D