51 replies to this topic

[ensorcelledAubade]

^I can't say my parents were pleased about me going off on my own. My father expressed while drunk afterwards that he was not happy at all... Tokyo is the perfect place for iol things, but since so much exists the temptation is huge, that way Idol Swap is better since it is easier to limit yourself.   Amazon says the albums will arrive on Thursday, I am 99% sure they will be wrong. 

I'll try to get to Japan once I can get a job I just don't know when i'll find one    And the temptation is huge but tbh if I were to go I would wait until I had saved up lots so I could buy alllll the stuffs (maybe)

And ahhh Amazon and eBay always seem to have the wrong dates ;o;

[Fluffis]

^Having a lot of money with you would be the best advice I can give you. ebay is usually good in my case, but it is my first time with Amazon so I guess I will see how that goes. I hope I will like the albums but more than anything I will be relived that I can store my photos in something better than a box under my bed that is bursting because it is so filled with Zukki towels and such! 

[hanawopun]

Amazon owns the planet.  Their shipping is outstanding.  I'm an Amazon Prime member which means I get free shipping on all orders.  The membership is only about a hundred dollars a year and with the amount of stuff I buy from Amazon, its SO worth it.  Now Amazon Prime also provides their own streaming service with free movies & shows on top of it. Cool stuff.  You'll get your stuff in time, worry not.

Thanks for the Idol!Swap tip, I didn't know that existed.  Maybe there I can swap my Angerme poster for a different signature.  Anyway, looks like this thread was worth starting, for me anyway

[Zabieru]

^It is not a stupid question, I had no images at all before I went to Tokyo. A lot more than I perviously knew while being there. I can't answer for the top images but I can let you know some basics if you wish. First have a look at this image and what has been written below the images: 

Spoiler

DC Factory: The images with this label have been sold on the e-lineup and at concerts. With the Lilium images having this lable I guess they sold them at the e-lineup and most probably also at the musical venue as well. I picked up my image at Zukki's Budokan, but you could also grab them online. On the e-lineup you find concert goods such as towels, kingblades and t-shirts. 

 

Hello Project Official Fanclub: Limited images for fanclub members to buy. Often related to special things such as Birthday event pictures + dvds and event v dvds. You can order them on the site if you are a member or buy them at the event. The image in the picture was from Zukki's last fanclub event and the image was bought at the event.

 

Hello Project Official Shop: Sold in a hello project store. There are several and I have only visited the one in Akihabara (Tokyo) and the one in Nagoya. In the stores there are hundreds of pictures to buy, you can use a store site to see what they have in stock and prices before you go. You can also use a different site to buy the things online. The photos sold in the H!P shops are not the same as the ones on the e-lineup, but they do sometimes have the same theme. 

 

Odyssey Books Inc: This one is a little special. I got it as my bouns when I bought Ogata Haruna's greeting photobook. You had three images to chose from and you can only get them by buying the book. I guess that it has the same label as the phopobook printer, but I can't say for sure. The e-lineup also sold the book but I am not sure if they used the same pictures.

 

International fans can order from the e-lineup and there are ways to buy things on Yahoo auctions. Most fans who want photos join Idol!Swap, a facebook group where people sell mostly photos but other H!P things too. It is run by Alita who lives in Tokyo and goes to venues/H!P shops to buy things and orders things from all the sites. Fans also have auctions of old things such as dvds, photobooks, old photos and more. 

Ah yes I remember when Miki and Aika did that tutorial of the e-lineup website, I've never looked THAT much into it because I can't read Kanji all that well lol. Although going to a Hello! Project official shop would be one of my dreams come true I don't think they're that accessible to me. I will make sure to check out e-lineup, and the tutorial video to navigate it. Thankyuu

Amazon owns the planet.  Their shipping is outstanding.  I'm an Amazon Prime member which means I get free shipping on all orders.  The membership is only about a hundred dollars a year and with the amount of stuff I buy from Amazon, its SO worth it.  Now Amazon Prime also provides their own streaming service with free movies & shows on top of it. Cool stuff.  You'll get your stuff in time, worry not.

Thanks for the Idol!Swap tip, I didn't know that existed.  Maybe there I can swap my Angerme poster for a different signature.  Anyway, looks like this thread was worth starting, for me anyway

Amazon, huh? Sounds convenient, I don't know why but I never thought of looking there. I thought about going on Ebay but I didn't want to take the risk of getting crap or damaged merchandise. Are there any specific or official retailers I should look for on the site?

[Fluffis]

Ah yes I remember when Miki and Aika did that tutorial of the e-lineup website, I've never looked THAT much into it because I can't read Kanji all that well lol. Although going to a Hello! Project official shop would be one of my dreams come true I don't think they're that accessible to me. I will make sure to check out e-lineup, and the tutorial video to navigate it. Thankyuu

You're welcome. I can't say I am a master of navigating myself on that site. They have had a special section for Meimei's and Kanon's grads. (Those are all gone now) but it goes not take a genius to guess where I have nee hanging out. Not sure if the sorting system is new but if you go to e-lineup.com and look at the left colum in the site you will see a an index. Select "アーティスト名" and you will be taken to a page where you can sort by acts. I have never used Aika's and Miki's tutorial since there are e-lineup runs on Idol!Swap several times per month. It is much easier for me because I can't read kanji at all. There you just paste the itemn details you want into a google spreadsheet, comment on the fb picture with the sheet link that that you have added itemns and send a payment via paypal before the stated deadline and comment again when you have sent your payment. It is fairly straightforward and I find it very easy. 

 

Amazon owns the planet.  Their shipping is outstanding.  I'm an Amazon Prime member which means I get free shipping on all orders.  The membership is only about a hundred dollars a year and with the amount of stuff I buy from Amazon, its SO worth it.  Now Amazon Prime also provides their own streaming service with free movies & shows on top of it. Cool stuff.  You'll get your stuff in time, worry not.

Thanks for the Idol!Swap tip, I didn't know that existed.  Maybe there I can swap my Angerme poster for a different signature.  Anyway, looks like this thread was worth starting, for me anyway

Intresting! I never knew much about Amazon, perhaps I should do some digging into it. Sounds much bigger than I thought! I am glad you found it worth it, because I felt a little bad for derailing the thread. But if you and Zabieru found it useful then it is all good. 

[ensorcelledAubade]

Thanks for the Idol!Swap tip, I didn't know that existed.  Maybe there I can swap my Angerme poster for a different signature.  Anyway, looks like this thread was worth starting, for me anyway

If you join you should check out Gracie's shop I heard it's the best

 

I use Amazon for more regular things like clothes or games but I prefer getting CDs from eBay because they seem to be cheaper ;P

[hanawopun]

Amazon, huh? Sounds convenient, I don't know why but I never thought of looking there. I thought about going on Ebay but I didn't want to take the risk of getting crap or damaged merchandise. Are there any specific or official retailers I should look for on the site?

 

 

Nothing specific really - if your'e buying from 3rd party vendors they have a rating/history just like Ebay but the general consensus is buying via Amazon is more secure and reliable than Ebay.  Hence prices tend to be a tad higher but its rather convenient if you have your credit card/shipping data stored in their system.  Also note that if any item says "Prime" it means even 3rd party vendors had their items already shipped & stocked at Amazon and will be handled by Amazon.  Their return process is super easy too.  I even buy soap/shampoo, just anything from them since the shipping is free.  Saves me a trip to the store and it's just a mouse click.  But enough on Amazon, point being you can certainly find photo albums there.

 

As for Idol!Swap it's by invite only but Facebook groups seem pretty simple to join generally, so I now wait...

 

 

They have had a special section for Meimei's and Kanon's grads. (Those are all gone now) ...

 

 

Speaking of Meimi Tamura's graduation items, if you simply type "Meimi Tamura" on Ebay, there are a some items there.

[Fluffis]

^I grabbed everything I wanted since I knew they would be gone soon, so I am good. But thank you and I did find a Zukki signed B2 poster of Utakata... So tempting and I have recived my salary too... But it is slightly about 300SEK which means I will have to pay fees for it. I will think about this for an hour and see what I will do. I now see what you mean, Amazon is fantasic! I will need to contain myself from going on a shopping spree. Do you know if they mark shipped items as "gift" on the customs form by the way? 

[hanawopun]

^ That I do not know, since I typically buy from Amazon which is local to my country.  I've purchased some items from both Amazon.uk and Amazon.jp before... shipping was more expensive of course, but since they're a major corporation I doubt they would mark anything as "gift."

[Fluffis]

^So amazon US (and UK) has H!P things too? I get custom fees if I go over a specific amount, but that amount is larger because of the EU, so if the UK one has the things I want I should just use that one instead. 

[hanawopun]

Take a look and you'll see.  Of course Amazon.jp will have TONS of H!P.  The UK & US will be much more sparing and actually overpriced.  It's a trade off, as in the products will be cheaper via Amazon.jp, but the shipping will hit you harder (depending where you live, of course).  Plus there are sometimes restrictions if you're trying to buy items (typically used) via the Amazon Marketplace from Japan or any country outside your own since some marketplace sellers are shipping directly from their homes and don't want to ship outside of their country.  Just read all of the fine print.

[Fluffis]

^I did and you are right, the UK ones don't really have many of the items I want either and oddly enough it seems some will be shipped form Japan in the first place? I guess shipping will be affordable as long as I buy bit by bit and make sure I stay under the custom fee limit. If I donät go nuts and buy everything I see in one go (which is unreasonable in the first place) then I think the Japanese version is fine. How will you know if a used item can't be shipped internationally from the fine print? Is it a kanji I have to look for or do they include that information in the delivery? I have seen that some have "domestic shipping rates" and others have "International & domestic shipping rates" in the delivery information.  

[Fluffis]

I got my photobooks yesterday. Turns out Amazon is not good to use in my country. Sadly I have been exhausted every time I get home from work, so I have no pictures in the albums and one of them is still semi-sealed. I hope I can organize some photos tonight or on Thursday. 

[Fluffis]

A few days late but here they are. One L album that stores 312 pictures  and one L2 album that stores 80 pictures. The albums both come with a an outer protector, which is removed on the second picture. Little did I know that I pretty much managed to buy around 72 L2 pics in Japan! I did not realize that they were that many! I will need to buy another one next year. I think I will be able to fit 2 Prism photos and 3 Zukki grad pictures in it but after that it will be full. The L album still has a lot of room and I have free space in the first few pages for Zukki's graduation dress photos. I think I should have room for around 100 more photos, so it will be fun to see hw fast I will fill it up. 

For the L2 album I tried to organize it so that the matching pictures are next to each other. Since I usually have 2 of each kind it works most of the time. The L one was a bit harder so I try to color code and place "the odd card" in the middle. Sometime I am lucky and have 3 of of each, but that is not always the case.

[hanawopun]

^ Nice find!!  I like these better than mine.  Can you provide a link to where to buy them in case I need them in the future?  Thanks for sharing!

[Fluffis]

^Thank you, they were pretty cheap and for you who has premium I bet you will like them. They were both on sale when I got them. The blue shades does not match, but I still find them nice. They don't have any other colors that go along together except black and white. I will probably buy black ones next time. 

L album

2L album

[oily]

pictures? hahaha

[Fluffis]

I have come to think about something. Does anyone have a smart way of storing trading cards? The size I want is pretty much the MM card size, but possibly a few millimetres bigger. 

[hanawopun]

pictures? hahaha

 

They're models.  Models have their photos taken.  What's so funny, or do you just like to troll?

[Fluffis]

I did it! I finally found a way to store my H!P trading cards (some kpop cards from mostly Japanese singles work too.) I bought the Ultra Pro 9 binder. It has 360 slots so filling it will be a huge challange. I only have around 80 cards right now. Finding H!P trading cards in Japan is pretty easy, so I will easily get more on my next trip.