Shopping Haul March 2021: Featuring Kuro's Misadventures in Online Shopping (+ Positives)

Due to covid impacting shipping and honestly not having extra money to buy games anyway, it's been a while since I've actually bought physical copies of games. I used to import quite a bit but with the way prices are now, my wallet just can't take all the extra proxy + shipping fees. 😷 So I thought.. I know a place where I can technically communicate directly to sellers and I'll pay about the same but without the international fees: Let's shop on Ebay!

Ebay was very eghh in my younger days, but it's definitely gotten better now, especially with more buyer protection policies.. Right?

Well...

It's been hit and miss, and apparently I just have awful online shopping luck lol.

Some were my fault, others were not. Oof. 😅 Despite my first couple transactions going not so well, there were some positives from this haul as well!

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UtaPri

I saw a listing for the UtaPri Premium Box Set for vita, which includes things like lots of badges and a poster, for a decent price. I thought.. no way is this really the price? What a steal! I contacted the seller if all of the items normally included in the Premium Box would be included and they said yes, so naturally I had to buy it, and I eagerly waited for it to arrive in the mail.

I came home one day to find it on my doorstep and ripped it open to find.. a much smaller box?? Wait I thought I ordered Premium, which would include things like a poster, can badges, card art, etc. The listing says Premium, and the seller didn't correct me when I referred to it as a Premium Box. I checked the listing again and felt a little foolish because even though it was listed as Premium, it used a blurry picture of the Shining Box. Still, odd...

After some more communication with the seller, it turns out it was an error and it was supposed to be Shining Box this whole time. So that was certainly... a little disappointing. But I got it resolved and now I can play a series I've been meaning to for years, so it's a win-win I suppose lol.

The Fandisc Dilemma

This one was entirely my fault. Otome companies I am begging you: Please give your FDs more creative titles.

I've been interested in KLAP ever since it released back in 2015. Because who wouldn't want to whip some ikemen? 🤤 Especially as someone who played Dialovers for years, now it's my turn to be the Do-S in the relationship lmao. 

However, it was never the right time for me to buy it but I jumped on the chance once I saw it online!

Spoiler: Don't online shop when you're 1) tired and 2) feeling pressured by the "listing ending soon" countdown. I guarantee it will not bring good results.

Less than an hour after I purchased and paid, I reviewed my order again and noticed in horror... that I had actually ordered the fandisc instead of the original game! If I didn't feel foolish enough with my UtaPri mistake, I definitely felt like a fool now. 🤡 In a panic, I quickly reached out to the seller.

Apparently it's still not the right time for me to buy KLAP. But at least the seller was kind enough to cancel my order and refund me lol.

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I had already purchased other items as well, but after that rocky start my brain immediately went "oh no what other bad things could happen now..." But not all hope was lost!!

BWS Merch

Back in 2016 when Rejet announced the vita port of Black Wolves Saga Weiß und Schwarz, I told myself I didn't need it. Why would I? I already have both Bloody Nightmare and Last Hope, the games that were to be ported. Now 5 years later, I am regret.™

Despite being a huge fan of BWS I actually don't have much merch for it, so I was ecstatic to come across a listing for some! The Pearl keychain is a bit of an oldie (but still very cute), and the can badges I believe are from the Stellaworth set for WuS. It's not the complete set of buttons, but I'm glad to finally have some merch I can display! At one point I was worried it had gotten lost since it seemed untrackable at one point, but eventually it arrived safely on my doorstep. 💖

#VitaIsland

After being a Diahell stan for about half a decade and focusing all my time on energy on that, I am finally starting to slowly expand my vita library! I'm very excited to add Zettai Meikyuu: Himitsu no Oyayubi Hime and Trigger Kiss to my collection... where they will sit on my backlog until I make some progress on my other games. 😅

They each came from a different seller but I had zero problems and they arrived super fast~ 👌 I ordered these before the rumor of the vita digital store closing this summer, but I hope to buy more vita games before the inevitable price hike. Sony may be fully abandoning vita support but that won't make me leave Vita Island just yet!

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Will I continue to use Ebay in the future? Sigh, it's hard to tell. After all these years it's still not really my "go-to" site, and I would much prefer to buy elsewhere. I would probably be wary of buying anything limited edition again in the future. I would also prefer to buy something that's direct from the seller's collection rather than from a supplier's stock. Despite that, a definitely plus is that all my packages were sealed safely and they arrived much faster than I expected them to (approximately within a week of being shipped!). So if the price is right for regular games or merch then I just might buy again from there!

Until next time~