Surugaya-a-too :how reliable are they on orders?

[ProfessorProfessorson]

I was just wondering. I am placing a order with them. They seem to be moving rather slow on communication back and forth, and I still do not have a shipping/final price quote yet. While looking them up on google I came across people on anime forums laying out accusations that Surugaya-a-too randomly rips people off on stuff, not including items in their package and blaming it on postal theft, or poorly packaging things like figurines that end up broken in shipping, or selling item slisted as new that were used with no package. Due to all of that I was wondering who all here has ordered from them, how long did it take, the entire process i mean, and did the stuff arrive in good condition, etc?

[Ji-L87]

If you mean Surugaya-a-too, then I've done business with them through Rakuten and generally been pleased. Haven't done much back and forth communication with them, only confirmed orders etc but they do take a while to respond and ship out sometimes. Maybe up to 2-3 days?

That said, mostly bought games/books/LDs and not more fragile things like figures etc. There have been times where I've ended up getting loose games, but those times I haven't read the description properly, or Rakuten's automatic translation done a poor job.


If we're talking about the same shop, they do only offer EMS shipping, to my knowledge at least, so be prepared for those shipping costs.

[SignOfZeta]

I've ordered dozens of LDs from them with only one snag. Communication is extremely slow, expect a week wait for a shipping quote. Overall I totally LOVE this place and I'll cry when they run out of shit for me to buy.

[Ji-L87]

I've ordered dozens of LDs from them with only one snag. Communication is extremely slow, expect a week wait for a shipping quote. Overall I totally LOVE this place and I'll cry when they run out of shit for me to buy.

Totally, their LD prices are hard to beat.

[ProfessorProfessorson]

Yeah sorry for the misspell. I copy pasted their name off some search and did not notice it was spelled wrong. At any rate yeah the prices on stuff looked great, but descriptions of items do seem basic so that had me wondering about completeness. It has been since last saturday evening when I initiated a order, and so far only got one reply from them apologizing for taking so long with the shipping quote, and that they would get back to me when they are ready. I ordered 7 cd based games, so I figure the shipping for EMS will run me between $30-40 bucks off the top of my head. I knew they only ship via EMS and I actually prefer it that way.

[Tatsujin]

Deadite got a fakeler akiyama from them once. But nobody could have known.

I never used them so far, but prices are uberrad at some parts.
I guess I just like to by stuff life in real shops

[SuperDeadite]

They are fine to deal with.  But they don't really speak English, so issues can happen if you don't speak Japanese.  Of course being local, the few issues I have had they have been quick to fix.  It's basically a warehouse and the person that gets your order has no idea what anything is.  Condition is a crapshoot, again it depends on who works on your order.  For gamers they are fine, not recommended for the anal collector types though.

[SignOfZeta]

With the LD's I've ordered condition was essentially perfect, but that's probably mostly due to LD collectors, Japanese LD collectors even, usually being super careful with their shit.

With some games condition has been good and sometimes not so great. I got one copy of a game that was loose and they never said it was, but on the other hand I ordered four SuFami Turbo games and they all came complete which actually kind of surprised me.

Description is the stumbling block for a lot of people. Some of the issue is the language barrier (I get the impression they have an English-speaking guy that only comes in once a week to answer emails) but a lot of it is just that that's the way they do shit in Japan. Your average American eBay listing is miles long but your average Yahoo Auction Japan auction is quite short. You're just expected as buyer and seller to trust each other and it seems to work for them.

There are some descriptions I've figured out though. If it says "case theory" or "box theory" then they are talking about the box and it not being there (ie: the game is lose). When they say the "game is blue" they mean that its sun faded (sun fading destroys reds and yellows more than blue, tinting the game blue).

One time my bank declined the transaction for some random reason and all I got was a very short message in Japanese only that I couldn't quite figure out so I had to do some lengthy correspondence on that one. Eventually it shipped. Another time I ordered an 8 disc set and all I got was disc 8! Of course, I only payed $1 for it, but what do I do with disc 8!?!

I've since, with some hesitation, ordered that same set again (Gundam Master Grade movie box) and I'm curious to see what actually arrives. Maybe just discs 1-7?

[ProfessorProfessorson]

Has anyone asked for pictures of the items or condition description upon request before paying, and if so, did they provide it?

[SignOfZeta]

Not me.

EDIT:

I should clarify that when you receive the shipping total they will give a brief description of any flaws. They will say something like "case and dick has scratch", which is what they said about my Holmes box set. The outer box was kinda tore up, the "scratch" was irrelevant since it was outside of the data on disc/dick 1. They will often times mention even the most minor flaw. If they say nothing its usually perfect.

However, this isn't %100 reliable. When they shipped only disc 8 of the Master Grade box they said "certificate is missing". Its true, it was missing the certificate, as well as the outer box, photo CD, and discs 1-7!

If you don't like the description of anything then tell them to leave those items off.

[ProfessorProfessorson]

Good to know. I sent them a email request for either pics or a description of the condition of the items when they give me a total due quote. Figured I should ask just in case.

[SuperDeadite]

They do not like sending pics.  Typically they will respond and ask you not to ask about condition.  lol.  How it works is you order, and then they tell you if something is bad and give a discount.  But this totally depends on who is doing your order, it's quite random and no set process.

[SuperPlay]

If you mean Surugaya-a-too, then I've done business with them through Rakuten and generally been pleased. Haven't done much back and forth communication with them, only confirmed orders etc but they do take a while to respond and ship out sometimes. Maybe up to 2-3 days?

That said, mostly bought games/books/LDs and not more fragile things like figures etc. There have been times where I've ended up getting loose games, but those times I haven't read the description properly, or Rakuten's automatic translation done a poor job.


If we're talking about the same shop, they do only offer EMS shipping, to my knowledge at least, so be prepared for those shipping costs.

Also worth remembering as they only use EMS and state the actual purchase price of the item I got shazammed! with import duties here in the UK!  Not only with import tax but I also got whacked with a flat handling fee levied by the uk postal service as they handled an insured EMS parcel. Around £19 in changes for £45 of goods!

As this was the first time I have been hit with import changes for a good while it has put me off using them again.

However the items came perfectly packaged and as described on the site.

[Ji-L87]

Also worth remembering as they only use EMS and state the actual purchase price of the item I got shazammed! with import duties here in the UK!  Not only with import tax but I also got whacked with a flat handling fee levied by the uk postal service as they handled an insured EMS parcel. Around £19 in changes for £45 of goods!

As this was the first time I have been hit with import changes for a good while it has put me off using them again.

However the items came perfectly packaged and as described on the site.

Interesting. I haven't had too many import duties placed upon EMS from Japan. Bigger sendings from the US on the other hand always seems to guarantee some extra charges.

[Arkhan]

I like using Celga for all my Japanese purchasing since they respond to e-mail within hours usually. (Sometimes within minutes), and they are pretty friendly and alright with you ordering 9000 things off Yahoo auctions.