Volks GL Membership

Does anyone here have this and are there actually any worthwhile benefits to owning it?

 

 

 

The about VOLKS Global Member page is all in Japanese which helps a lot being a membership for customers outside Japan.

Edited April 15, 2021 by AliensOfGold

You get to purchase items that are members only releases, and a points system.
That's it, I think..?

I think it's worth it if you like Volks products. I don't frequent the Volks webstore often, but I still don't regret purchasing a membership to get the items I wanted.
I don't think I'll renew it unless there is an upcoming release of something I want though. So becoming a member just to be a member, nah. Unless you shop a lot to collect points, I think one could hold off until it is "deemed necessary".
But take note that it takes a while (a few days) for it to activate. But Volks gives notice well before releases, so there should be time anyway. 

You'll also need the Global Membership if you're in Japan visiting Tenshi-no-Sato for a special event.  Apparently they used to sell one day passes for international visitors, but now they just want you to enroll in their GL Membership instead. 

1 hour ago, AliensOfGold said:

Does anyone here have this and are there actually any worthwhile benefits to owning it?

Some limited dolls require GL membership to purchase. 

At its current price point I’d say it’s worthwhile if you frequent the site or even want to buy a doll, because the amount of points you get for buying a doll would pay for the membership fee ($5) in points anyway. (That’s why I didn’t bother joining until right before there was a doll release I wanted,  because I wanted to make the point collecting worthwhile) 

It’s pretty lacking compared to Volks VS membership, which gets you more points per transaction, access to special events and free Volks news deliveries the day the news is out, but it IS only half the price of VS membership at least. As stated there are VIP items in Volks News that international members used to have no access to but can now get with GL membership (ie special hand parts, wigs etc) - VolksUSA used to do preorders for this but now they don’t have to because of GL.

all that said, I have to say that it does disappoint me that the perks for GL members aren’t really all that better to the free membership tier for Japanese residents. Free members in Japan get the same amount of points as GL, and free Volks news if they go to a store themselves and request it. I know this is kinda unavoidable given...geography and all, and I absolutely don’t expect them to send out Volks news to GL members (especially because by the time it arrives we’d likely have seen it anyway) but I do sometimes wish we had access to an online version of it. Which I also don’t expect to happen because I know everyone would just screencap everything and post it elsewhere, which would defeat the purpose of anyone paying for it.

Its just a little sad to me that the most mileage we ever got out of GL was during the online Dolpas so I’d like if they did more online things like DCoord or One-off lotteries that GL members can participate in, even if it was just once a year.

Edited April 16, 2021 by Monty

So for someone that uses the store a few times a year to buy shoes and clothes it may not be worth it?

 

How many points do you get for each purchase and what are those points worth?

You get 1 point for every 100 yen.
1 point is 1 yen.

2 hours ago, AliensOfGold said:

So for someone that uses the store a few times a year to buy shoes and clothes it may not be worth it?

 

How many points do you get for each purchase and what are those points worth?

It’s worth it if you want one of the dolls you need GL membership for (which are always clearly marked). Unless you’re also likely to want any of the GL exclusive sales like certain wigs/heads/and parts, and if you don’t use the store regularly, I would hold off buying it until you actually need it for something. Just remember to get it ASAP after finding out you need it - it can take a few days to approve although you usually have plenty of notice.

As said you get 1 point per 100 yen for webstore purchases (so the average DD is going to cover the cost of the membership in points anyway) but if you go to the physical stores in Japan you get more. 

Is the GL membership a recurring thing, or a one time buy? Cause I was actually looking at it for when I buy things for my future DD. I like using extra little points on other sites for small accessories to try out.

1 hour ago, Rilenan said:

Is the GL membership a recurring thing, or a one time buy? Cause I was actually looking at it for when I buy things for my future DD. I like using extra little points on other sites for small accessories to try out.

It's an annual renewal.

So it's similar to AmiAmi where 1 point is 1 yen and if you spend enough over time you could end up with a sizable discount.

 

Might give it a go as I do spend a fair amount on bulk purchases every few months.

Note that points are good for one year.

But have they retired the points system for regular members, and made it GL (and up) only?
Being a regular member gave you the same points (online) as on GL membership.

I also forgot to ask, is the Volks GL limited only to the Dollfie webstore, or would it work also on the hobby one (replica kits, charagumin)?
I couldn't find a clarification on it on the page itself

Edit: I can't find the edit button :c
 but I meant to say if it would work in the US webstores or just the international pages, my bad :c

1 hour ago, Rilenan said:

Edit: I can't find the edit button :c
 but I meant to say if it would work in the US webstores or just the international pages, my bad :c

I believe it’s international only. 

You won’t see the edit button until you are off New Member status.

They’ve posted details about renewal: https://www.volks.co.jp/cs/news/20210521_01.html

 

looks like a price increase (800 yen) and an offer to add volks news for free to your international order are your big changes, along with auto-renewal

 

 

Sorry for an incoming rant but…I really can’t say I’m particularly happy about this. We will basically be paying even more for something that people on the free tier in Japan were already getting?? (Free Volks news with conditions, although the condition for the free tier is just having to go to a store in person to collect it, which is significantly better than having to make a whole order). Volks News honestly is not interesting to me at all except when it’s brand new (I mean the whole appeal is that it’s…news..) and it’s very unlikely I’m going to be buying anything immediately after it drops (I mean…the stuff in the magazine won’t even be available for at least a month after the magazine is out, so by that time I would have seen everything in it anyway, either from leaks or from Volks themselves, and wouldn’t exactly be ‘news’…) The only point would be if it’s a particular issue I wanted to own because I like owning the ones that have dolls I own in them).

I know that paying the 500 yen last year to enter a lottery wasn’t too bad considering the total price of the dolls, but that’s only if you win. I had friends who literally paid 500 yen to not win a doll last year, which still irks me. Paying 800 yen to not win a doll would be ridiculous. (Remember there are plenty of people who only get the membership in order to get a specific doll that requires it and nothing else) 

I’ll be a lot more enthusiastic about this and take back all this whining if they continue to add some more perks for GL members - like i dunno, if we got access to dream choice or full choice even if it was via a short annual preorder period, or more online one-off lotteries… but otherwise we are literally only 200 yen cheaper than all the amazing things VS get that we don’t. And as an ex VS member it’s kinda hard to not be salty lol…

7 minutes ago, Monty said:

Sorry for an incoming rant but…I really can’t say I’m particularly happy about this. We will basically be paying even more for something that people on the free tier in Japan were already getting?? (Free Volks news with conditions, although the condition for the free tier is just having to go to a store in person to collect it, which is significantly better than having to make a whole order). Volks News honestly is not interesting to me at all except when it’s brand new (I mean the whole appeal is that it’s…news..) and it’s very unlikely I’m going to be buying anything immediately after it drops (I mean…the stuff in the magazine won’t even be available for at least a month after the magazine is out, so by that time I would have seen everything in it anyway, either from leaks or from Volks themselves, and wouldn’t exactly be ‘news’…) The only point would be if it’s a particular issue I wanted to own because I like owning the ones that have dolls I own in them).

I know that paying the 500 yen last year to enter a lottery wasn’t too bad considering the total price of the dolls, but that’s only if you win. I had friends who literally paid 500 yen to not win a doll last year, which still irks me. Paying 800 yen to not win a doll would be ridiculous. (Remember there are plenty of people who only get the membership in order to get a specific doll that requires it and nothing else) 

I’ll be a lot more enthusiastic about this and take back all this whining if they continue to add some more perks for GL members - like i dunno, if we got access to dream choice or full choice even if it was via a short annual preorder period, or more online one-off lotteries… but otherwise we are literally only 200 yen cheaper than all the amazing things VS get that we don’t. And as an ex VS member it’s kinda hard to not be salty lol…

Idk... 800 yen doesn't seem too much compared to 1100 yen for VS.  We've only entered a few lotteries, but I'm not in it for lotteries alone.  I like their stuff and tend to buy as often as I can.  VS/VIP have more perks and it does appear they neglect their international members by not offering similar perks.  I mean when I've looked at the VS/VIP vs GL, it is sad to not give your international members a similar experience aside from the in-person stuff they offer at the store (I think they could do all one-off lotteries online tbh).

Their other perk like the Full Choice for SD and Dollfie Dream Choice should be available for GL members during the same duration, as well as, the brown/tan skintone during the April-September period they offer.   I didn't realize the SD Full Choice can take up to 2.5 months depending on what you want.  If I knew that I would have ordered a long time ago.

I think I will probably feel the same way as you when we switch from VS to GL. 

Yeah there is clearly a drop in perks once you no longer live in Japan.  

The most ridiculous thing to me about the GL perks is how they’ve actually added SD full choice and the ability to apply for one offs at tenshinosato if you are in Japan but require in-store pick up.   How is that practical for most global members?  If you’re going to let someone apply for those things because they’re in Japan during the application period, you should allow them to get it shipped out.  Even if you live in a nearby country, where a second trip to Japan is more feasible, it’s still going to more expensive than getting the doll shipped out.  

3 hours ago, abs2891 said:

Yeah there is clearly a drop in perks once you no longer live in Japan.  

The most ridiculous thing to me about the GL perks is how they’ve actually added SD full choice and the ability to apply for one offs at tenshinosato if you are in Japan but require in-store pick up.   How is that practical for most global members?  If you’re going to let someone apply for those things because they’re in Japan during the application period, you should allow them to get it shipped out.  Even if you live in a nearby country, where a second trip to Japan is more feasible, it’s still going to more expensive than getting the doll shipped out.  

My understanding of the new full choice rules for GL members is that they’re incomplete. I remember when they first announced GL they were talking about how around June or September or something like that they were going to make a big announcement about how Full Choice is going to work for GL members…and then Covid happened, and there was an announcement about how that announcement was postponed, and it’s still been indefinitely postponed until we can actually go there.

The current rules they had were bafflingly vague so I hope they’re clearer (and more…logical?) once regular tourism returns to the world. Because like you said, needing to be there for both order and pickup defeats the entire purpose of allowing GL members to order in the first place, given that the original barrier was not having a JP address. (Unless it’s exclusively targeted to the GL members in China and Korea who can get there much quicker, cheaper and easier so two trips in two-three months isn’t too difficult, as I’m sure they make up the majority of the GL membership.)

Edited May 21, 2021 by Monty

44 minutes ago, Monty said:

My understanding of the new full choice rules for GL members is that they’re incomplete. I remember when they first announced GL they were talking about how around June or September or something like that they were going to make a big announcement about how Full Choice is going to work for GL members…and then Covid happened, and there was an announcement about how that announcement was postponed, and it’s still been indefinitely postponed until we can actually go there.

The current rules they had were bafflingly vague so I hope they’re clearer (and more…logical?) once regular tourism returns to the world. Because like you said, needing to be there for both order and pickup defeats the entire purpose of allowing GL members to order in the first place, given that the original barrier was not having a JP address. (Unless it’s exclusively targeted to the GL members in China and Korea who can get there much quicker, cheaper and easier so two trips in two-three months isn’t too difficult, as I’m sure they make up the majority of the GL membership.)

Yeah I don’t know.  Right now I’m going off the information here - https://www.volks.co.jp/cs/members/gl.html

The machine translation is wonky but the original Japanese reads to me as pretty intentionally requiring in store application and receipt.  It also says shipping is not allowed within Japan or internationally.  The only thing uncertain is the start date which they’ve postponed indefinitely (imagine will be once borders reopen).  All in all, feels like like they had a great idea and then decided to shoot it in the foot.  Like you said, fans in Korea and China should be able to use it, though it’s inconvenient.  For anyone else, it feels very close to a non-starter unless you’ve got a pile of money handy.

Edited May 21, 2021 by abs2891

15 hours ago, abs2891 said:

Yeah I don’t know.  Right now I’m going off the information here - https://www.volks.co.jp/cs/members/gl.html

The machine translation is wonky but the original Japanese reads to me as pretty intentionally requiring in store application and receipt.  It also says shipping is not allowed within Japan or internationally.  The only thing uncertain is the start date which they’ve postponed indefinitely (imagine will be once borders reopen).  All in all, feels like like they had a great idea and then decided to shoot it in the foot.  Like you said, fans in Korea and China should be able to use it, though it’s inconvenient.  For anyone else, it feels very close to a non-starter unless you’ve got a pile of money handy.

It sounds like GL members have access to the Beauty Salon, entering Tenshi no Sato, and using the Full Choice.  I think you could ask to have them ship it overseas if you are a GL member.  If you are a VS/VIP they can only ship local.  I thought in one of Archangeli's vids she shipped one of the dolls from the Volk's store.   I don't know if they have anyone that speaks English at the Angel stores.  I only know of someone at the DP Akiba store and he has helped us many times.

8 minutes ago, Shamrock said:

It sounds like GL members have access to the Beauty Salon, entering Tenshi no Sato, and using the Full Choice.  I think you could ask to have them ship it overseas if you are a GL member.  If you are a VS/VIP they can only ship local.  I thought in one of Archangeli's vids she shipped one of the dolls from the Volk's store.   I don't know if they have anyone that speaks English at the Angel stores.  I only know of someone at the DP Akiba store and he has helped us many times.

It does say for Full Choice you should make a reservation ahead and at that time you can let them know the language you need so seems they’ll try to help there.

 

As for the shipping, guess we’ll just have to wait for it to go live/more information.  Right now what they’ve written doesn’t make me optimistic but I’d be happy to be wrong.  

19 minutes ago, abs2891 said:

It does say for Full Choice you should make a reservation ahead and at that time you can let them know the language you need so seems they’ll try to help there.

 

As for the shipping, guess we’ll just have to wait for it to go live/more information.  Right now what they’ve written doesn’t make me optimistic but I’d be happy to be wrong.  

Hopefully they clarify, but with the current state emergency and people calling to extend it... I don't know anymore. 

 

 

Yeah, it’s hard to predict anything right now.  

I have the membership and I will be renewing it. I understand that for most people it might be not worth it - I personally shop often enough at Volks (DDs and resins) that it makes sense to have it (and I am planning to go to Japan, so it might be useful if there is an event). I am also hoping that it will show Volks that there is interest in VS benefits - I would not mind DearSD lottery or Online FCS. I would say it's also rather cheap, so it's not something I mind.