Now, this was my first time using a shopping service. I'm always extremely, probably unnecessarily, suspicious of buying anything online, especially when I've never ordered from a site before. I'd say the only website I feel 100% comfortable using is CDJapan. So deciding to use a shopping service was a pretty big deal for me. And plus, let's be honest here, most shopping services are really fucking expensive. Yes, maybe their own service fee isn't too unreasonable, but when you add on the cost of your original items, plus the shipping within Japan, plus the international shipping fee (almost all services use EMS)... you're looking at a pretty big number.
I've already briefly explained the reason why I ended up using the service, but I'll explain again quickly.
There were a couple of things listed on CDJapan from SUPER LOVERS that I'd been really wanting. I was just browsing the internet, and I decided to go to the official SL web store, to see the new seasons items, out of curiosity. It turns out that SL are having a huge sale right now (30~70% off!), to make way for the new stock. I checked out the sale, which is a really fantastic sale and if there are any of last seasons items that you were wanting, buy them now from the web store (http://www.rakuten.co.jp/superlovers/)! Even though CDJapan does have some SL things on sale, they have nowhere near as much as the actual web store. It turns out that quite a lot of the things I wanted were included in the sale, but I was able to narrow it down to two things that I wanted the most. Both were around 50% off. And neither of the two were on sale at CDJapan.
SUPER LOVERS uses Rakuten as their shopping platform, but unfortunately they do not ship internationally. So this is where I was like, dude, I need a shopping service. Now. I wasn't going to let this chance slip through my fingers. Obviously I had seen Tenso through Rakuten, and I had read many a good review of it around the internet. So I looked into it a little more, and I was pleasantly surprised. Their service fee is definitely the cheapest, and most reasonable. Yes, they do use EMS shipping, but they actually stick to the EMS rates! I'm going to go off on a slight tangent here. CDJapan MARK UP THE SHIPPING. A LOT. It's actually extremely obvious if you check the EMS Japan rates table, and then compare it to what CDJapan charge (http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/charge/list/ems_all_en.html). I always thought their shipping was quite reasonable, but the heavier your order gets, the more they mark up the shipping. Back on track now, and long story short, I found that even with using Tenso shopping service, it was half the price of what it would have cost for the exact same order from CDJapan. I had to do it, I would have been stupid not to.
Registration with Tenso is free, and upon registering they'll send you and a Japanese address. That address will have your ID number in it, and you MUST make sure that you include that number when entering the shipping address info. You register with your own address, i.e. the address that you want Tenso to ship your package to once they receive it.
I'm not going to tell you exactly how to use Tenso because it's really quite straightforward, their way of breaking it down and explaining how it works is very clear (here's their guide, http://www.tenso.com/en/guide/flow/index.html). Anything you need to know can be found on their site. The breakdown of costs is also simple. It's just:
- Price of your items (from wherever you order from) + shipping fee (from wherever your order from to Tenso warehouse) + handling fee + international shipping fee (from Tenso to your door)
Essentially, the 'handling fee' is the service fee, and it's a very small fee. Their lowest fee is 490 JPY, and that's with orders up to 1kg. You're gonna need to figure out *roughly* what your order will weigh if you want to calculate the total Tenso charge before ordering, using their Calculation Tool, which is down the bottom of the page. But hopefully that won't be too difficult.
The bit that confused me the most was how to enter the Japanese address, because I can't read Japanese, so I didn't know which part of the address went where. Fortunately, I have a Japanese student who helped me out, and she had to rearrange to address in order for it to make more sense. [UPDATE] So Tenso actually have a page where they show you how to enter your address when shopping on Japanese websites, here is the link -> http://www.tenso.com/en/guide/buy/address.html
Their examples are actually still in Japanese, but if you play around with Google translate and just try to work it out as logically as possible, it should be fairly simple (as told by a friend of mine who recently ordered using Tenso). If you're still have trouble, then I recommend emailing Tenso with your query. They're really friendly and should be able to help you out.
So, go about ordering from the webstore the way you would any other site. When you go to check out, you'll need to use all your own details, like your own name, and payment details (like credit card, PayPal etc). Also, use your own email address. It's just when you get to the shipping address that you put the Tenso address you were given, not forgetting your number. That's all, all other information you enter should be your own. PLEASE NOTE, you pay for this order separately to the Tenso fee, i.e. you pay the price of your items plus shipping to Tenso when you order from the web store. Your payement to Tenso, for handling and international shipping fee, comes later, once Tenso actually receive your package (they will notify you via email once they do). Then proceed to checkout, and proceed to freak out, if you're like me. I joke, I joke, don't freak out. I only did because I'd never used a shopping service before.
You'll get the automatic confirmation email from the web store you ordered from, use Google Translate if you want to double check things. And then you wait! Because the store that I ordered from only accepted credit card or cash payment, not PayPal, I had to wait a while for my payment to go through. But when it did, I got an email from the store that said, with the help of Translate, that my payment had gone through and my order had been posted to my Tenso address. Then, when Tenso receives your package, they'll email you with their fee (handling + international shipping) and you follow the instructions to pay for all that. Don't worry, I know this description is vague, but it will be very easy to follow if you use the service - they'll give you links and everything in their emails to you. Oh, Tenso allows PayPal. Once they've got your payment, they'll email you saying so and that your package is being processed, and then a final email saying that it's been shipped to you. Because they use EMS, you should get your shizz within 3-5 days! And that's it!
So, here's how the pricing, of my order at least, went:
- Item (1) - 3938 JPY
- Item (2) - 2888 JPY
- Shipping (to Tenso) - I forgot, but it wasn't a huge amount. Maybe like 800 JPY?
The total of this is what you pay for first, with your own credit card or whatever. You pay it to the actual store you order from.
Then:
- Tenso handling fee - 490 JPY
- International shipping fee - 1000 JPY. I ordered when they were having a promotion, all international shipping was 1000 JPY, or something.
The total of THIS is the price you pay to Tenso.
So you make two seperate payments.
This is how they packaged my order. (Sorry, the second and third photos are the wrong way round. I'm learning~! Also, sorry for the crap quality... they were taken with my iPod camera x.x;;)
As you can see, there was a small rip on the back of the bag, but luckily it had an internal lining, and no damage was done to my stuff.
My stuuuuff~ It's cute that they sent me the original bag, too.
Alright, I think that's everything covered. Reading back through this, I've realised that some things may not make much sense. I'm really sorry if that's the case, I just can't think of how else to explain/word it. Please, if you have a question, feel free to ask me! I'd be more than happy to help in any way I can. I have only used the service once, so I may not be the most knowledgeable, but I can try to advise and guide you, based on my own experience. ^^
I hope all this is useful to at least one person. If just one person gains something or benefits from this, then I'll be very happy. And I hope this has erased any doubts that you have about using Tenso. Believe me, I understand that you may be wary and that you can never be too careful. Tenso is a reliable and easy to use shopping service, their customer service is brilliant, and I would recommend them to anyone. Seriously. I'll never worry about ordering from Japanese web stores again. I can't say the same for other services, as I've never used any others, but from what I've found, Tenso is your best choice anyway. 10/10 all round. So get out there and get shopping, children!
NP - Recipe by vistlip
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