Experience of suruga-ya?

Hi, just a basic question here - wondering if anyone has ordered dolls or Dollfie items from suruga-ya? How did you find the experience, what proxy did you use etc? Any common issues that came up? 

Thanks in advance!

I have A LOT of experience with Surugaya (been ordering from them for years, usually place an order every other month myself without a proxy since I’m in Japan), but what I have to say might not be what you want to hear.

The short of it is that it’s always a leap of faith to order from them because they have a reputation for being problematic in many ways.

Their selection is amazing, even better than Mandarake sometimes, for rock bottom prices, but they don’t list the condition of the item and their idea of acceptable might not match up with yours (or most people’s), so it’s always kind of a gamble when you order, and sometimes you really get what you pay for.

They also take forever to ship—usually about ten days, which is unreasonably long for a Japanese company (and they always email me a few days in to apologize for “failing to send out” my order, which I find so bizarre—like just email me after it’s been sent??), and it’s a huge headache if they screw up your order because you have to contact them within 7 days but they’re seriously understaffed, so they do everything at a snail’s pace and the customer service is not great.

I’m actually going through this right now where they sent me the wrong thing (first time out of years of ordering from them) and I have no idea how it’s gonna turn out. Couldn’t reach them over the phone so I emailed them. They got back to me a few hours later, I explained the situation and they said they would look into it, but that was a few days ago.

I don’t have hope that they’ll send me the item I actually ordered, but I suspect I’ll get a refund eventually. If I wasn’t doing this myself/was doing this through a proxy/didn’t have as much experience with them already, I would be ripping my hair out, but I know how they operate and I knew what I was getting myself into when I ordered from them, so I’m not overly concerned.

I don’t think I’d ever order a doll from them because they probably wouldn’t disclose staining or other issues in the listing, but I’ve ordered practically every Volks outfit I own from them and it’s always been fine. Some came brand new, others came in crumpled bags, most came somewhere in between (but there was never any indication of what to expect). So far the outfits have all been complete, but I wouldn’t put it past them to sell an incomplete set without mentioning it (or even noticing that it was missing some items to begin with!).

The thing is that their prices are super cheap and they often have time sales (every week at least) that knock off an additional 10-20%, usually with free shipping and no service fees. So if you’re not too particular/OCD about stuff then it might be worth it, but given how slow they are and how hard it would be to fix from overseas if they screw up your order, it could end up being a bit of a nightmare situation for you. You would need a really good proxy who could check the condition first and be willing to fight on your behalf if something was wrong.

I’ll second them taking forever to ship.  So far when it comes to doll stuff I’ve only bought a few clothing sets - for them at least they were as described in the listing text below but not necessarily what was in the picture up top.  They tend to use a default product image for photos instead of actual images (unlike manda and dollyteria which use actual photos) so you must read the text description below to confirm what you are getting and if it’s blank then yeah, gotta hope for the best.  Worth a gamble if you really want something in my opinion but overall, not a resale shop with as much experience in handling dolls as dollyteria/doll-up and mandarake so more chance they don’t notice something as noted above. 

Other than the awesome selection, prices, and 7-10 day wait for domestic ship-outs, which was definitely true for me too, I'm surprised to hear some of the other comments about Suruga-ya.  I'm not saying the other posters are incorrect, because their experience is probably more recent than mine, only that I am surprised.  I lived in Japan and ordered extensively from Suru, but back then (2012-2015) they were mostly a Kansai-based company called A-Too, and didn't have to worry about all the new branches that have opened up around the country. Also no pandemic.

Suru was my go-to store while I was living in Japan, once I found them anyway, and I was always really happy with their thoroughness and customer service.  They did a detailed inspection of each item and only listed it under the main listing if it was in A/A condition, otherwise a new separate listing would be created (with a new title) referencing what was missing, dirty, or damaged.  Sometimes photos would be taken of the condition, though occasionally not, but either way there would be description in the text of the listing of what Suru found wrong.  Every order seemed to be inspected again prior to shipment, because I'd have them email me once in a while during packing to tell me that a figure's box had some minor scuffing that wasn't disclosed in the listing, and offer me the option to cancel the item or buy it anyway after getting a partial refund of X yen.  Never had any other store do that.  And then when it arrived, I'd sometimes struggle to find what they even might've noticed, so someone must've had a magnifying glass or somesuch.

For PVC figures, CDs, doujin, merchandise, or games, I'd consider them a trusted source, probably one of the most trusted.

Of course, we're on a dolls forum, so that's what's most germane to the discussion, and ironically I don't think I ordered any doll stuff from them outside of a few brand new Azones. All the Volks stuff I was buying new or from rental case shops, and with the sheer volume of business I did with them there wasn't time for secondhand otherwise (even Manda and Closet Child, outside of browsing). Huh. Well, I do agree that Mandarake and Dollyteria are going to have more experience with dolls and grading them than Suru; I get that same feeling too.  Doesn't mean it's not worth buying from them, though, just depending on what exactly you're trying to get.

Definitely use a proxy though, even if Suru offers to ship internationally from their dot-com address. The packaging they use is perfectly safe for transport within Japan where every package seems to be treated as if it were the crown jewels, but Suru's packaging would get demolished in international transport. A proxy must repack it for you first.  This is true for a LOT of Japanese shops though; I once had Book-Off mail me manga in nothing but a brown paper bag (like an old-time grocery sack), and it arrived just fine. Only in Japan. It's amazing.

ETA: It's worth making an account on Suru's .jp domain even if you're shopping with a proxy from overseas. The reason is for in-stock notifications.  If there's something you want but it's rare and Suru may or may not ever get one in, but you'd want to know the second that they do, you can do that. Search for what you want, turning the out-of-stock dispay on, find the listing, and then save it to your stock alerts list (nyuka list 入荷リスト).

Edited June 4, 2022 by SakuraSylph

10 hours ago, SakuraSylph said:

They did a detailed inspection of each item and only listed it under the main listing if it was in A/A condition, otherwise a new separate listing would be created (with a new title) referencing what was missing, dirty, or damaged.  Sometimes photos would be taken of the condition, though occasionally not, but either way there would be description in the text of the listing of what Suru found wrong.  Every order seemed to be inspected again prior to shipment, because I'd have them email me once in a while during packing to tell me that a figure's box had some minor scuffing that wasn't disclosed in the listing, and offer me the option to cancel the item or buy it anyway after getting a partial refund of X yen.  Never had any other store do that.

I’ve heard they used to do that, but stopped when they began expanding. I’ve personally never experienced it, but I also haven’t had a problem with any of my orders (barring the most recent one). The fine print on their website says they don’t check the condition of items and won’t answer inquiries about it unless you specifically ask when placing an order. They may give you the option to cancel if it’s in bad shape, which seems to be the only way to cancel an order with them now.

They do seem to make entirely new listings for items with broken or missing parts, but I don’t know if you can reliably trust that a “normal” listing is in pristine condition (at least now, anyway). Like @abs2891 wrote, they often use stock photos nowadays, so you can’t really inspect what you’re getting, and the product description for the things I’ve ordered in the past also seem to be the standard advertising blurbs from the manufacturer, which didn’t give me any idea of what to expect for the item’s condition. Maybe this depends on the product.

I do want to clarify that while I’ve received items that actually did have “package damage” and some outfits came crinkled and crumpled, there were no major issues like rips or stains or anything. I’ve been able to get stuff I couldn’t find anywhere else for very good prices, and for that Surugaya is one of my go-to shops.

As an update to my dilemma the other day, they finally got back to me yesterday and do indeed have the item I ordered, so they’ve arranged to exchange it with the wrong item they sent me. Having read a lot of horror stories online, I was expecting the worst, but I’m actually pleasantly surprised with how this has been handled (other than the whole making me wait a week thing).

On 6/1/2022 at 5:01 PM, ragnamuffin said:

I have A LOT of experience with Surugaya (been ordering from them for years, usually place an order every other month myself without a proxy since I’m in Japan), but what I have to say might not be what you want to hear.

The short of it is that it’s always a leap of faith to order from them because they have a reputation for being problematic in many ways.

Their selection is amazing, even better than Mandarake sometimes, for rock bottom prices, but they don’t list the condition of the item and their idea of acceptable might not match up with yours (or most people’s), so it’s always kind of a gamble when you order, and sometimes you really get what you pay for.

They also take forever to ship—usually about ten days, which is unreasonably long for a Japanese company (and they always email me a few days in to apologize for “failing to send out” my order, which I find so bizarre—like just email me after it’s been sent??), and it’s a huge headache if they screw up your order because you have to contact them within 7 days but they’re seriously understaffed, so they do everything at a snail’s pace and the customer service is not great.

I’m actually going through this right now where they sent me the wrong thing (first time out of years of ordering from them) and I have no idea how it’s gonna turn out. Couldn’t reach them over the phone so I emailed them. They got back to me a few hours later, I explained the situation and they said they would look into it, but that was a few days ago.

I don’t have hope that they’ll send me the item I actually ordered, but I suspect I’ll get a refund eventually. If I wasn’t doing this myself/was doing this through a proxy/didn’t have as much experience with them already, I would be ripping my hair out, but I know how they operate and I knew what I was getting myself into when I ordered from them, so I’m not overly concerned.

I don’t think I’d ever order a doll from them because they probably wouldn’t disclose staining or other issues in the listing, but I’ve ordered practically every Volks outfit I own from them and it’s always been fine. Some came brand new, others came in crumpled bags, most came somewhere in between (but there was never any indication of what to expect). So far the outfits have all been complete, but I wouldn’t put it past them to sell an incomplete set without mentioning it (or even noticing that it was missing some items to begin with!).

The thing is that their prices are super cheap and they often have time sales (every week at least) that knock off an additional 10-20%, usually with free shipping and no service fees. So if you’re not too particular/OCD about stuff then it might be worth it, but given how slow they are and how hard it would be to fix from overseas if they screw up your order, it could end up being a bit of a nightmare situation for you. You would need a really good proxy who could check the condition first and be willing to fight on your behalf if something was wrong.

Thank you so much for this info! As I've been in the hobby a while I'm not too obsessive about an item's condition, but it's helpful to be able to gauge what my expectations should be. 

 

 

On 6/1/2022 at 9:48 PM, abs2891 said:

I’ll second them taking forever to ship.  So far when it comes to doll stuff I’ve only bought a few clothing sets - for them at least they were as described in the listing text below but not necessarily what was in the picture up top.  They tend to use a default product image for photos instead of actual images (unlike manda and dollyteria which use actual photos) so you must read the text description below to confirm what you are getting and if it’s blank then yeah, gotta hope for the best.  Worth a gamble if you really want something in my opinion but overall, not a resale shop with as much experience in handling dolls as dollyteria/doll-up and mandarake so more chance they don’t notice something as noted above. 

This is REALLY helpful to know also, as I'd noticed the stock image thing and felt it was a bit dubious, lol. 

 

 

On 6/4/2022 at 6:10 AM, SakuraSylph said:

Other than the awesome selection, prices, and 7-10 day wait for domestic ship-outs, which was definitely true for me too, I'm surprised to hear some of the other comments about Suruga-ya.  I'm not saying the other posters are incorrect, because their experience is probably more recent than mine, only that I am surprised.  I lived in Japan and ordered extensively from Suru, but back then (2012-2015) they were mostly a Kansai-based company called A-Too, and didn't have to worry about all the new branches that have opened up around the country. Also no pandemic.

Suru was my go-to store while I was living in Japan, once I found them anyway, and I was always really happy with their thoroughness and customer service.  They did a detailed inspection of each item and only listed it under the main listing if it was in A/A condition, otherwise a new separate listing would be created (with a new title) referencing what was missing, dirty, or damaged.  Sometimes photos would be taken of the condition, though occasionally not, but either way there would be description in the text of the listing of what Suru found wrong.  Every order seemed to be inspected again prior to shipment, because I'd have them email me once in a while during packing to tell me that a figure's box had some minor scuffing that wasn't disclosed in the listing, and offer me the option to cancel the item or buy it anyway after getting a partial refund of X yen.  Never had any other store do that.  And then when it arrived, I'd sometimes struggle to find what they even might've noticed, so someone must've had a magnifying glass or somesuch.

For PVC figures, CDs, doujin, merchandise, or games, I'd consider them a trusted source, probably one of the most trusted.

Of course, we're on a dolls forum, so that's what's most germane to the discussion, and ironically I don't think I ordered any doll stuff from them outside of a few brand new Azones. All the Volks stuff I was buying new or from rental case shops, and with the sheer volume of business I did with them there wasn't time for secondhand otherwise (even Manda and Closet Child, outside of browsing). Huh. Well, I do agree that Mandarake and Dollyteria are going to have more experience with dolls and grading them than Suru; I get that same feeling too.  Doesn't mean it's not worth buying from them, though, just depending on what exactly you're trying to get.

Definitely use a proxy though, even if Suru offers to ship internationally from their dot-com address. The packaging they use is perfectly safe for transport within Japan where every package seems to be treated as if it were the crown jewels, but Suru's packaging would get demolished in international transport. A proxy must repack it for you first.  This is true for a LOT of Japanese shops though; I once had Book-Off mail me manga in nothing but a brown paper bag (like an old-time grocery sack), and it arrived just fine. Only in Japan. It's amazing.

ETA: It's worth making an account on Suru's .jp domain even if you're shopping with a proxy from overseas. The reason is for in-stock notifications.  If there's something you want but it's rare and Suru may or may not ever get one in, but you'd want to know the second that they do, you can do that. Search for what you want, turning the out-of-stock dispay on, find the listing, and then save it to your stock alerts list (nyuka list 入荷リスト).

I'll definitely consider this, and go with a proxy haha. I have noticed that with Japanese mail! 

I order Azone 50cm doll outfits from Suruga-ya all the time.  They're usually the cheapest store (compared to AmiAmi, Hobby Search, CD Japan, etc.) for the Azone outfits, so I have it sent to a forwarder who combines a bunch of packages over a few week's time.  It saves me a lot in shipping, as I just have it bulk forwarded by Sea Mail (currently about 3 months to the USA).  (I use my own account at Suruga-ya, pay by a US credit card, and ship it to a Japanese forwarder.)

The Azone outfits are listed as "New" or "Used", but if it's just been released, the "Used" options are typically always unopened.  Even for some older Azone doll shoes/clothing, it's typically unopened.  Only a few times have I actually received something that was already opened or not in original packaging.  But for any Volks clothing, you'll probably encounter more opened and used products.  

I did buy a "Used" Azone doll years ago (5+, maybe more like 8 years ago).  There weren't any notes in the description, but sadly when she arrived, her clothes were fraying at the edges (partly due to the how the clothes were made).  I haven't bought any dolls from them since.

I do buy lots of "Used" anime goods from them, and they're typically unopened.  They're usually cheap enough that if I get one or two bad items, I don't really care.  Mini posters I avoid from them, as they don't ship them in a tube.  They often have bends or creases.  They're not very careful in packing things (from my experience when I was visiting Japan and had a package shipped to my hotel.)  Books & doujin I also avoid, as they don't pad them or provide cardboard backing to prevent damage.  They also often place the item "barcode/description/price" sticker directly on the cover of books, and don't have them enclosed in a plastic sleeve.  I have bought a few CDs from them before, and they're not always in the best of condition.  One even had water damage (it was the type of CD case made out of paper with an internal plastic tray).  So I generally avoid CDs from Suruga-ya.  I also avoid buying used figures from them, as I don't trust them to list the damaged parts in the description.  They do sometimes list items as "Rank B", and note a bit of the damage.  But I think they're only noting major damage to items, and not mentioning any minor damage.

As for getting shipped the wrong items-- yes it has happened.  But because I have things forwarded cheaply (without being inspected), there's really nothing I can do, so I live with their occasional errors.  Also, most of the things I buy tend to be cheaper things.

In terms of how long it takes them to ship-- sometimes they can be super slow.  Recently it seems like they have gotten faster.  It also depends upon how many items you order together.

If something is out of stock in your order, they will e-mail you in Japanese and ask you if you want to continue with the rest of the order, alter part of the order, or cancel it entirely.  You click on the link in the email and choose the button corresponding to your choice, and provide your name, order number, and e-mail address (IIRC).  It could be a bit confusing if you're new to it.  

But on the positive side, Suruga-ya has time sales, and buy-a-certain-minimum-number-of-items-from-the-same-category to get a percentage discount that often increases based on how many items.  Plus they discount items over time when they don't sell (much faster than Mandarake).  And spend at least 1,500yen to avoid any handing charge, and spend at least 5,000yen to get free shipping.

As for the Marketplace sellers (other stores) on Suruga-ya, they often have lower free-shipping minimums, and they tend to ship fairly fast. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by nanika

9 hours ago, nanika said:

I order Azone 50cm doll outfits from Suruga-ya all the time.  They're usually the cheapest store (compared to AmiAmi, Hobby Search, CD Japan, etc.) for the Azone outfits, so I have it sent to a forwarder who combines a bunch of packages over a few week's time.  It saves me a lot in shipping, as I just have it bulk forwarded by Sea Mail (currently about 3 months to the USA).  (I use my own account at Suruga-ya, pay by a US credit card, and ship it to a Japanese forwarder.)

This is what I've been doing too as an overseas customer (buying brand new Azone outfits). The shipping fee is nominal (200 JPY) compared to other spots, the cost is the lowest, and the slow shipping doesn't matter much since I'm aggregating multiple orders.