If only I had knew about this as it existed since last year... ARGH I HATE MYSELF!!! You're welcome, Japan economy haha *sob*

Hey, welcome back. Okay, before we start, I promise you that this is THE LAST ORDER of buying used bromide photos FOR THE YEAR. I PROMISE. May I be struck by lightning if I do this again. (uh oh) (haha) Also, new goods do not count lmao these are used ones it's different hehe *phew*

So, if you wondered how fast I did to click on these stuff, think again. I was very fast. *laughs* So without further ado, let me talk a little more about what SHOULD have been the PUSS back in April where I did indirectly shop on THE SAME STORE which only delivered 3 items after 6 rounds of cancellations *sigh*




THE ORIGIN
It all started, with this:

This banner. When I was window shopping around the actual Japanese site of Suruga-ya, one of the only few places that openly sell these bromide photos online. Normally, if you visit Japan (which I have never, but my friend did lol and bought me some back then because he knew) (of Minase Inori, FYI) (Inorin!!~ lol) you will visit those Anime stores? Yes, and among some of them, they sell used goods, from figurines to CDs to posters to... yes, these. Again, this is technically illegal because they are not for re-sale (you can see that on the photos themselves), but you know, this is also the only way to (1) catch back in time to get older ones and (2) get rare stuff like those involving fanclubs. As you can see in recent posts I have made an effort to buy them in tandem with releases from magazines to live event goods as much as I can to compensate for this... piracy haha (hey I did spend money on this), but yeah, the truth is, buying them directly when it's actually released even if it comes with as a special for a magazine, is still more worth it than this.

BUT WHY

Let's talk about ALL the advantages about this specific package. Firstly, it's the shipping rate. International shipping rate. At this point, flat rate of 1050yen. No joke. They even offer shipping discounts (at this rate btw) with minimum purchase from 10000yen (which of course I did not do and I COULD HAVE haha). And that's it. For comparison I pay more international shipping buying a CD directly from a Japan store eg. HMV Japan, and thank goodness that previous package was void of shipping which was about 3000yen? Yeah, now you wonder why I was so dumb half a year ago. Then, it's the direct shopping service I get from this approach. Considering this website is more updated on stock compared to the nightmare I experienced for a month going through Rakuten as described in the first PUSS 2020 post (lol), this one was surprisingly easy to deal with. Out of stock notices are easily seen (even if there isn't a filter on search which is fine I can't read the Google Translate from Japanese anyways lol more on that later), as you can see their service is fast because I ordered on Tuesday (yes, ie. 1st September 2020) and it arrived today, and their charges for this service is only - you heard it right - 500yen flat. Yes. For comparison the previous "scam" was 500 PER ITEM. F**K haha

This will be the closest to me actually shopping on the store in Japan without going there btw

There are still disadvantages about this though, like the limited availability of certain newer items because all the popular ones are already sold out the moment they are posted (or even claimed in shops in Japan since at this point people can leave their houses), but still. Also, if you see the unboxing below, you'll also notice their approach to shipping: one big box, but without any padding. Yeah. Then again, there isn't much to protect besides from scratches so this isn't much of a dealbreaker. More importantly, there are missing items in this order, as you can see above. Okay, not that they screwed it up, calm down, but they are likely out of stock by the time I wanted to order them and they did not update the website (*wink* find some deja vu there?) so at this point it's about a 10% miss rate. Out of the 30 items that you will see below, 3 items were missing and probably were the ones I wished had shipped I mean I used sphere to pad the order I'd rather those not ship haha

In summary because I did not do up a table for this unlike last time (lol), for a total of now 27 bromide photos which consist of: 5 from Kaburagi Atsushi/Aki Yuki/Yuuki Aoi (yes only the last one is correct), 4 from Minako Kotobu/Kotobuki Minako, 2 from Natsukawa Pie/Natsukawa Shiina (lmao), 3 from Tachibana Rika, 3 from Satou Satomi, 2 from Fuchigami Mai, 1 each from Kido Ibuki, Tomomi Okubo/Ookubo Rumi and Numakura Manami (Aimi Numakura), and 5 from SPHIA/sphere to pad the order. Again, it's all for the purpose to bring up some of the people in my photo library so far. You know, playing catching up considering some are either just rare now or have no future plans to release more photos... yeah haha

Yes, that was on purpose lol. So overall, because some items were missing, instead of refunds they amended the final payment to be 7830yen, from the 9170yen (~110 SGD if I'm not wrong I forgot already) initial purchase from... I saved even more money thanks to my sis' new debit card which charges directly in yen based on the best exchange rate I can get from here. "For testing purposes", by the way. *laughs* So man, by now it's already within 100 bucks so heck, remember the previous big package was 600, for 30+ photos? Yeah, I could've bought 5 more times from this shop haha. Then again, there are rarer stuff from that one compared to this, so whatever. You can't buy Akarin and Ajuju (Waki Azumi) from this store just because so that's kinda sad haha

UNBOXING TIME!!! Haha just a little on first impression outside the full display above-

In terms of quality, some may have been too old on the shelf already (Satomi-chan's bromides are as old as from like, 2011 haha) so there are visible damages, maybe a little more stains here and there, but not as bad as the actual first time I did this back then I think in 2016 with that Aki-chan one I showed which that one was coffee stain level big; it can never get that bad, because these are literally displayed on a shop, so first impressions matter. (That Aki-chan one was from an auction site, from some random guy who lied lol) Other than that, if age is not a concern as I try to choose the newer ones besides those to up the numbers (Aoi-chan, Fuchigami Mai, Rika-sama), so most of them are in good condition. Again, I did actually get my hands on 3 of them  back then in April and I know o f their quality so this isn't too far away by comparison- Hey it IS 30 items in the end after all!! *laughs*

In conclusion, I felt much lighter. Like, in burden. From the burden of money spent on shipping, and from the burden of waiting for them to arrive. This hype could not be more higher than this. Well, if I did not do this for the... 5th time this year? 6th, I should include those from my birthday haha. So yeah, but I really promise for used items this shall be the last. At least for the year. But probably as I mentioned, I would just buy the latest from now since they are easier to obtain and also more hype because you can actually get Akarin bromides now haha, but yeah, I love burning money. Not paper money though I'm not actually involved in Lunar 7th Month from where I live apparently. (lol) Cya guys next time then, and until then... excuse me while I scan all this into my PC again haha why do I love to torture myself last year it's photobook interviews now this

TL:DR; I was so bored on Saturdays I know this one will arrive EXACTLY on the time where I can't think of anything to do over the weekend haha thanks past me ugh

P.S. I need to find alternatives for forwarding services haha this is mind-blowing of a reminder on how much money I could have saved