Stressing Over Prices

Wednesday, 28th January 2009 03:00

I've been moaning about the current exchange rate on and off for sometime now, mainly in reply comments to posts, but it's not until today that I've realised what a complete pain in the arse the value of the Pound is again the Yen.
Having made a number of purchases this week, I've noticed the increasing price. And today when I arrived home from work I had one of them annoying letters from the lovely people at Parcel Force saying that they have my items and I need to pay the import costs and handling charges. With an additional £20 being added onto the cost of these items it's knocked it up to a whopping £85. I guess you're thinking that I must of bought a hell of lot to have such a high total, well let's see. Buono's single co. no. mi. chi, Ayaya's album Omoi Afurete and lastly Gakisan's Alo Hello 2. Not exactly a great deal is it? Admitidly the overall price includes shipping and the extra costs, but totalling it up and splitting it three ways each item comes to £28 each.
In CDJapan's favour they have had added additional rewards to compensate for these high prices adding an additoinal 3% of points to order over ¥5000, but obviously they involve me coming back and spending even more money.

The high cost of this is slighlty my thought as I totally forgot to take into consideration the import and handling charges, I was originally going to order these items through YesAsia but with the costs being slighly higher I thought I was actually doing myself a favour by ordering at the lower rate, but when thinking about it now although I would have had a longer wait for the items using YesAsia I wouldn't have had to pay the additional £20 due to how they're shipped.

At the end of the day it's fairly pointless to moan about something I was more than willing to do and it's really only this annoyance of having to pay the additional handling costs, but I guess the thing that really gets me worried is what happens in the future as there's no way I can continue to pay this sort of money. Sure I can be a little bit more picky on what items I buy and hunt around more trying to find the store selling it at the lowest cost but at the end of the day there's not going to be any massive differences in price and H!P are going to continue churning out the releases, I'm guessing even more so with the graduation of the Elder CLub members drawing closer and closer. The real question I'll be asking myself is will I be skipping on releases because of the cost and will I start downloading releases instead? On the downloading side of things, I'd like to think that I wouldn't because I'm still of the view that it's best to buy and support artists this way. But this may not be an option if I want to listen to H!P.

Another quite concerning thing is eBay stores. Ohta's eBay Store has always been a great source of merchandise (it still is) but even here we're seeing the prices increase, and I know from the past couple of tour merchandise that they're items I would normally buy but have passed on simply because this increase in price. With this it's not so much missing out on the merchandise, obvioulsy I'm a fan of the shirts but I have plenty to keep going and I can always buy the odd one, my main worry is what happens if everybody reacts in a similar way? Could this effect what items Ohta sells, could this possibly that due to a loss of sales that prices will go up again?

It's late and I'm probably stressing over nothing, I just need sleep. I imagine that when the items turn up on Thursday (maybe tomorrow if I go and collect them) then I'll totally forget about the cost, much like I usually do, and just marvel at the greatness of Gaki's smile and the Ayaya's really amazing and beautiful voice.

TAGS [ Ayaya Buono! Gakisan Stuff ]
Posted Wednesday, 28th January 2009 03:00 | 3354 Reads

Comments

Comment by BladeMaster on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 04:47
Blame the economy! Everyone is worse off, I'm just glad we still have jobs.
When all are said and done, I'll buy heaps next month, with Erina's PB, MM singles, MM concert dvd (end of this month), etc, regardless of the damn exchange rate.


Comment by Specktakus on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 06:09
We appear to be following a similar path. I'm starting to worry about the falling Dollar->Yen rate as well, but it hasn't slowed down my H!P purchasing (yet). In fact it actually increased quite a bit this month mostly due to two Ohta shipments. But, for the first time, I've started picking up some items on eBay (CD/DVDs that I wouldn't normally buy on the release date anyway).

My last batch of new items was ordered from YesAsia instead of CD Japan due to the high shipping costs (about US $50), I can wait a couple extra days. Your import tariffs are horrible, I've never had any questions asked (or money requested) at my local post office.

For sure I won't be skipping any Berryz/Buono/Momusu releases (CD or DVD), but some C-ute might be eBay.


Comment by Rick on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 06:38
Times are tough all over. I have normally taken two trips to California for a couple of different sci-fi conventions. With the economy in the crapper and the car in need of replacement, I can barely afford to pay attention.


Comment by solo-kun on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 11:12
I've somewhat restricted myself to only buying Chinami merchandise, rather than going for all of the Berryz and the occasional C-ute pohotoset or whatever. Hmm, maybe that's not much of a sacrifice, lol. I've kinda got a flexible budget, but ya, things are getting tough for the USD as well.


Comment by Zendra on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 11:18

I'm cutting down a bit but certain items are just irresistable like Buono's new album. CD Japan's extra points help a bit . I have heard a rumour that Japan may do someting about their exchange rate soon - its making their exports too expensive


Comment by Luwana on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 11:50
Well, I've already restricted myself to the Albums, the two H!P summer & Winter dvds and maybe one individual group concert dvd; which will be c-ute's spring tour:)! It's too expensive to get the singles. Although since most of this will come out of money I asked for, for christmas, i might be able to get a couple this year, but the albums are much better vaule.


Comment by bulmasman on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 11:53
I totally agree with you here Paul. I still haven't picked up my copy of MM's latest album for the sole reason i just can't spare that amount of money for a CD right now. I'm still planning to pick it up, but i don't know when :(. To see how fast the pound has fallen is really annoying to importers especially... We're now paying near enough double the price it would cost us for a CD in the shops here.

As for downloading, i think it may be ok to do it a little bit... buy the one's you really enjoy, delete the one's you're not too fussed on. It's nice to support H!P etc... but we have to eat and live aswell sadly :(


Comment by bulmasman on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 11:54
it looks like my comment got cut off.


Comment by Matt_D on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 15:28
lol - I learn't not to use triangluar brackets lol, the site doesnt' clean them up.

Anyway, I ain't buying nothing till the exchage rate gets back to 160 yen to the pound. But we just have to live with the fact that comrade brown has devalued the pound so much 160 may be the best we ever see again.

What's really worrying is that I fully intend on getting a 1st 3 row ticket when I go back, that's like 80,000 yen... and at the moment that'd be like £700 - harsh. But Reina will see the blue boilersuit even if I die from exhaustion.

I'll always buy Momosu and Berryz concert shows. Don't care for the albums or singles though.

But hey ho these are the things we do.


Comment by Morningtime on Wednesday, 28th January 2009 21:46
There's so much stuff coming out that I just can't afford. Justifying the prices is difficult. At the moment I'm tending to wait until YesAsia get the overseas versions of cd's in. This doesn't always work. With Resonant Blue they were only a few weeks behind but with Pepper Keibu (and the Cover Me album) there's still no sign. I ended up getting the Keibu pb single through ebay.

Of course this only works anyway on things that have an overseas version. For stuff like photobooks or related dvd's (like Rika's new dvd Most Crisis) there will only be the Japanese version. So it's spend £30 on a pb and £27 on a dvd or don't bother. At the moment I can't afford those kind of prices.

I did make an exception for the Nacchi and Yuko mega bests but otherwise for cd's I can't spend £25 like I'd have to for the Cover Me cd or the new C-ute album. At least the mega bests came with full length dvd's for added worth. With pb's or dvd's I'll only buy ones my absolute favourites release. Therefore although I'd love Rika's new releases I'll not buy.

I only ever use YesAsia as I've noticed that recently the likes of cdJapan are only very slightly cheaper and once you factor in the postage they are way dearer. YesAsia deliver from within the UK as well which is an added advantage. They aren't always that slow either. It took 8 days from ordering to receiving Yuko's mega best and the 3rd C-ute cd. Okay they weren't brand new releases but even so that's decent speed.

I guess I'm quite lucky this month though. The majority of things I'd like to buy I can't get anyway. Like the Yaguchi and Yui birthday shirts. Well either that or the stuff I thought I'd want I changed my mind on when I saw them. I was expecting to want loads of concert goods from the Elder Club graduation but so far the way they have grouped people together I'm not so bothered anyway.


Comment by Rogre on Thursday, 29th January 2009 00:15
I'm feeling the pain of the low exchange rate too! When I saw how much it was going to cost for °C-ute new album and Buono!'s Album plus single (110US) I about shit my pants and that's with a 800yen discount coupon. I mean I want to support the Artist but that a lot for 2 albums and a single. I guess where all in the same crappy boat, I just wish I still had a job! Things were looking really good I was planning a trip to japan next year but that is out the window now. Sorry about the rant I feel better now,lol


Comment by Gina on Thursday, 29th January 2009 14:12
I think I must be incredibly lucky that I've never had to pay any extra cost, and I use YesAsia as opposed to any other site since there's free shipping when you spend over a certain amount of cash, plus there's the $5 coupon that occasionnaly comes in handy. And what MorningTime said, the amount of other stuff I normally want to buy (I really want Mari's birthday shirt but luckily/unluckicly it's sold out) I can't, so I at least save some cash.
This is where the disadvantage of being in school comes in, I need a job but I've still got the rest of Year 11 to do, damn exams and stuff lol.


Comment by paul.thomas on Thursday, 29th January 2009 21:12
BladeMaster, with the amount of people being made redundant and the like it's still great that we're all still in jobs and on the plus side my work doesn't seem to be dying down any which is great...although I could do with some sleep, lol! I've actually bought way more this month then I do usually mainly branching out into other artists, but I get the feeling that if the exchange rate doesn't sort it's self out I'll def have to cut back. Erina's PB is really tempting however, I'm so curious as to what the shots will be like.

Specktakus, I haven't been keeping track of the Dollar to Yen, I'm guessing it's going a similar to the pound? Even Pound to Dollar has dropped a lot, everything has become so much more expensive gone are the DVD bargains you could pick up on US Amazon and ship to the UK. I've actually passed on quite a few Ohta purchases that I would have liked to have made, the shirts are becoming really expensive, I'm thinking that if a quite couple of weeks come in of H!P releases then I might treat myself to a shirt or something.
Im still battling the CDJapan and YesAsia question, I had quite a few CDJapan vouchers so have been using them lately but with them running out things have become that much more expensive, but with the added 3% on points and me only needing another 1000 yen to get 700 yen off im thinking i might get my next purchase from there and then move back to YesAsia as there's no hassle with import tax or anything with them. Yeah importing into the UK sucks at times, extra costs and delays, no fun at all.

Rick, cars...don't you hate them at times! Mine needs a bit of work on it, plus MOT and insurance, March is never a good month for me as thats when it all needs doing!...Lol, at the moment my gear tracker (I think that's what it's called, I'm useless with cars) is only working because I've taped it up, probably not a good thing.

solo-kun, LOL!! And who can you blame you! Chinami is a awesome girl, you're going to to love the post I'm going to make on Saturday! I'm quite glad I went on a C-ute blowout photoset session at the start of the year, that was a good fix, lol!

Zendra, the albums are something I don't think I could ever pass on, especially Buono's you just know it's going to be amazing! It'd be so good if something happened to low the costs it really is just becoming so expensive.

Luwana, the singles are really expensive aren't they, I can kind of warrant paying a lot for an album as you get a ton of songs, but with 2 songs and 2 instrumentals it does make you wonder if it's worth it, even the Limited Editions make me wonder, more worth becuase of the additional DVD or packaging, but still.

Bulmasman, sorry about that I keep fixing that issue only to reupload an older version of it later on when I make another change and only notice the problem when someone types in the pointy brackets, I'll sort it as soon as I get the chance. Someone was saying to me the other day that Friday was the lowest the Pound had been against the Yen ever 119yen to the pound, not to sure if that's true or not, but 119 to the pound makes me want to cry! I guess on the downloading front I hope that iTunes starts to get more H!P releases on there. Lol, eat?...I've been on a kinda diet the past few weeks, I so want to eat lol!!

Matt_d, that's just so depressing! 160, lol it makes me feel really grumpy! I've even noticed the change in price in the Japan Centre bought the latest issue of Kindai the other day (well I didn't Chris did for me, lol) and it seems each month the price is going up by another pound, coming it at £11.40, makes me wonder if I'll keep buying it?
With the concerts I can understand where you're coming from. When I finally sort out my next visit the price of the tickets won't be an issue, I'll have to grab a couple and will be willing to pat whatever the price. It's just such a great experience watching them live, it's so worth the moeny!

Morningtime, yep justifying the price is a real pain and it's got to the point where I'm not even trying lol. I bought a few things this week and pretty much each time I just stared at the cart looking at the total thinking "too much money" then before I could do anything just clicking on the buy button lol. The prices of a PB are going to scare me I think, Manoeri's and Aibon's are ones that I'm really tempted to buy, but with shipping added on they'll just be so expensive.
The Mega Best CDs are a really great purchase I completely agree on the DVDs adding great value to them, I bought Melon Kinenbi's one, but I've yet to watch the DVD, I'm getting such a huge pile up of DVDs to watch.
Lol, yeah the birthday shirts looked great but as always are so hard to find and getting them from Yahoo! Auctions is just going to be so costly I don't even want to think about it. I'm a a little surprised that they didn't go all out and have a ton of individual member shirts for the concerts, I would have really jumped at the chance at getting a couple of them.

Rogre, lol rant away it's the whole purpose of this post ;p It must be really sucky not having a job in the current state of things. Yeah that's an extrememly high price for such a small amount of items. I hope you manage to get everything sorted and you head out to Japan!

Gina, YesAsia are really good when it comes to shipping, it takes a little longer to get to you but the fact that you don't have to pay shipping or import costs really do make up for it, especially as you say if you've got one of the $5 vouchers! Yeah, exams and work are never a good mix.



Comment by James on Friday, 30th January 2009 23:39
I know what you mean. I've been putting off buying somethings because the Aussie dollar ain't that great. It is annoying having to pick and choose exactly what you want, and not just getting it. Although, I have just spent £50 = $115 AUD on three items the other day. The hand just doesn't listen to the mind and by the time you realize what's going on you've bought something. That's it for this month though. I was going to be getting some stuff from Japan soon, but with the exchange rate the way it is I don't think so. The shipping would KILL me! I had no idea about the import costs in the UK. I haven't had anything like that here *starts feeling nerves*

And for downloading, I use to download H!P stuff............. but now I just buy what I want. I've only recently gotten a job, so I actually have money (which is a very novel experience. Nice feeling too). Although sometimes I do cave in and get something on-line (I buy it when I have the money though :D I feel really guilty when I do it) I don't think I could download from iTunes, I like the packaging to much.


Comment by Rick on Saturday, 31st January 2009 05:09
just got home from Kinikuniya in Seattle(after a side trip to the theatre to see Gran Terino so totally amazing) My Upto Boy came in, and I picked up Friday, and Flash(thought I grabbed two different Fridays). Couldn't find Kindai. I asked about it while paying. One of the very nice ladies helped me find it(last one, or only one not shure) to prevent that from happening again I subscided to that as well. To be fair Already payed for UTB, the cost of the Kindai came out of the subscription, and I used a free movie ticket I earned through the Regal crown club card. But yea, thats mee trying to save money. Also, While checking the cd collection there, I noticed they had Best of Berryz ltd. The only other time I've seen H!P cds has been a couple of MM cds and that compilation H!P cd that has the different artists.


Comment by nono-chan on Saturday, 31st January 2009 15:25
te economy's the only reason why i havent gotten any H!P goods...(i_i) but there is one good thing out of all this... NONO'S GOT A BLOG~! X33333

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