A few questions

Hi,

I just bought Moe on the US website, not realizing it would have been much cheaper to buy on the Japan website  So my first question is, is it easy to buy from the Japan website? I did make an account, but I would imagine the shipping is more expensive, and the ship time would also be longer? I would also expect the exhange rate fees would drive up the price as well (paypal charges 4.5%, and I would need to use my paypal credit to make an order, so I don't think I can avoid that). So my second question is, with all that added in, is it still a better deal to order through Japan? In that I mean, does the extra costs still make it that much cheaper? I don't want to order and find that with all the fees and extra shipping, it isn't worth it.

I am looking to buy a Karin (yes, I know I have been saying for YEARS I want a Karin, and one day I WILL get her) and she is $504 on the US site and on Japan site they have two, one is on the F3 body for 50,380 yen ($318) and one on what they list as a DDS Base body for 46,200 yen ($292).  So my third question is, is the F3 body very different from the base body? I think all the DD's/MDD's I have owned were on the f3 bodies, but I could be wrong, it has been a while, so I am not 100% sure. I know $26 doesn't seem like such a huge difference, but in the end with shipping costs and fees, it all adds up. I just want to be sure that buying the cheaper one won't be a mistake down the road.

Thanks for any help you can give me

Edited June 19, 2024 by CrazyDollPerson

Ordering from the JP site is incredibly easy!  It's very straight forward and any browser with an auto translate feature will get you along in the process quite swimmingly.  I have ordered twice with no problems.

For international orders, the VolksJP site includes a 5% handling fee, and their expedited shipping is roughly going to be $25-40 depending on the weight of the package and fluctuations in currency conversion.  You can make carts on both sites and compare to see which is more cost and convenience efficient for you in the end.

EMS/DHL expedited takes anywhere from 2-5 days to arrive from Japan to the US in my experience over the years if you aren't ordering during holiday rushes.

 

5 minutes ago, mmmuguet said:

Ordering from the JP site is incredibly easy!  It's very straight forward and any browser with an auto translate feature will get you along in the process quite swimmingly.  I have ordered twice with no problems.

For international orders, the VolksJP site includes a 5% handling fee, and their expedited shipping is roughly going to be $25-40 depending on the weight of the package and fluctuations in currency conversion.  You can make carts on both sites and compare to see which is more cost and convenience efficient for you in the end.

EMS/DHL expedited takes anywhere from 2-5 days to arrive from Japan to the US in my experience over the years if you aren't ordering during holiday rushes.

 

Thank you! I have just added a bunch of things to my cart because the prices are so much less. I am picking and choosing which outfits to get, I kind of want to get everything in one shot if I can. The only other thing is my address, it shows my zip code before my street address, not sure if that is just their formatting, as it had its own box for the post code, and everything else went on one line. So hopefully I should be good to go. They have more in stock on the JP site than the US site, but I will do what you said and compare. I didn't think to do that, I guess I just need to add like 10% for PP fees and their transaction fees and double for shipping roughly. Good to know!

1 minute ago, CrazyDollPerson said:

The only other thing is my address, it shows my zip code before my street address, not sure if that is just their formatting, as it had its own box for the post code, and everything else went on one line.

Don't worry, it'll look normal on the actual shipping label!  A lot of JP sites that do international orders will request the zip separate like that, but it's input regularly on the actual package.

Already just having the doll on the US site is almost as much as the doll plus the 9 other items in my cart on the JP site!

 

$749 before shipping on the US site for the doll plus 6 items (the other 3 (which are full sets!) aren't on the US site) and the JP site for the doll and 9 other items is 88,605 Yen ($560.99) and that is with all the shipping and fees...PP will add more fees once I check out but holy moly it IS a big savings! I could have saved almost $200 buying Moe on the JP site. She is sold out on there now, not sure if she was when I bought her last week though.

Update: I bought everything from the JP site and PP added $26, so that isn't bad at all. Finally, after all these years I am getting a Karin!

Edited June 19, 2024 by CrazyDollPerson

7 hours ago, CrazyDollPerson said:

Already just having the doll on the US site is almost as much as the doll plus the 9 other items in my cart on the JP site!

 

$749 before shipping on the US site for the doll plus 6 items (the other 3 (which are full sets!) aren't on the US site) and the JP site for the doll and 9 other items is 88,605 Yen ($560.99) and that is with all the shipping and fees...PP will add more fees once I check out but holy moly it IS a big savings! I could have saved almost $200 buying Moe on the JP site. She is sold out on there now, not sure if she was when I bought her last week though.

Update: I bought everything from the JP site and PP added $26, so that isn't bad at all. Finally, after all these years I am getting a Karin!

I think Moe has been sold out on the JP site for some time, so it's great you were able to pick her up from the US site! Congrats on your new Moe and Karin! ♥️