As of May 2022, our Surugaya proxy shopping service has resumed.
What is Surugaya?
Surugaya is a top Japanese retailer offering a wealth of games, books, DVDs, CDs, trading cards, figures, collectibles, and much more. They stock both new and pre-owned products sourced from across Japan, meaning it is one of the best places to shop for both new releases and rare items on your otaku wishlist. Navigating and purchasing on Surugaya can be a little difficult if you don’t understand Japanese, so we’ve decided to create this guide for the would-be Surugaya shopper. We will show you how to search for items and even how to order on Surugaya without needing a Japanese address or credit card with FROM JAPAN’s proxy service!
How to search on Surugaya
Surugaya’s website may be a little intimidating when you first look at it, so let’s start with doing a basic search using the search bar at the top of the page.
1. In this drop-down menu you can select the category you want to specify your search to. It goes without saying but to yield the most results, it’s safest to leave this selection on 全商品 (All items.)
2. This one is pretty simple – 検索 means search so just click this button when you’re ready to make your search!
3. This button is for those who want to do a detailed search where you can input details like the specific name of the item, manufacturer, year of release and JAN code
Or you can browse through Surugaya’s shopping categories on this side panel. Let’s have a closer look at the フィギュア (figure) category.
On the left-hand side of the figure category, we can see different headings featuring popular series and figure companies so you can find exactly what you are looking for. The top two headings 新作予約 (New Pre-orders) and 新入荷 (New Items）are also a must if you want to get your hands on the latest items!
Depending on the category you are searching in these headings on the left-hand side can vary so to get the most out of your shopping it’s best to use an online translator in order to get a basic idea of what the page is. Our Customer Service team is also here to help you here with any Japanese language problems.
Now let’s take a closer look at Surugaya’s Love Live! figure section.
We recommend that you take a look at the three headings listed in the top menu. Here you can filter the results based on 中古 (pre-owned items), 予約 (pre-order items) and 新品 (brand new items). These three headings will also appear as icons next to the product search results, with pre-owned being orange, pre-orders being pink and brand new items being blue.
Click through onto the item you want in order to view the product listing. It will look like the picture below.
The little icons noting the type of product are in the top left corner on this page too. Here we can see this Honoka Kosaka Nendoroid is pre-owned. We recommend that you always check the 備考 (notes) section of the page too as that is where the condition of the item will be listed. Google translate is your friend, but if you have any questions about a particular item let our Customer Service team know. We can’t stress enough how important it is to check the item description thoroughly before going through with a purchase in order to avoid any surprises.
Surugaya domestic shipping and handling fee price guide
Surugaya has a unique way of calculating domestic shipping, based on your order total. To make things even more confusing, in November 2018 Surugaya changed their domestic shipping fees and introduced a 216 yen handling fee for all orders below 5000 yen. For a breakdown in the changes of the domestic shipping fees, take a look at the table below.
How to buy on Surugaya with FROM JAPAN
Now you’ve got a good grasp on how to find items on Surugaya, it’s time to buy them. There’s just one catch – unfortunately, Surugaya does not offer international shipping. But fear not, by using FROM JAPAN’s proxy shopping service, you can get around that!
It’s very simple to order items on Surugaya with FROM JAPAN. You can either copy and paste the URL of the items you want into the search bar on our home page or bypass Surugaya’s own website entirely and search on Surugaya via our Surugaya home page. On this page we have collected some of our favorite items and product lines for your perusal. Once you’ve found products you want to buy, add them to your cart and leave the rest to us.
Check out our FAQ page or contact our Customer Service team directly for more details about our service. Happy shopping on Surugaya!
We have also done a shopping guide on how to buy from Rakuma, one of Japan’s biggest online marketplaces. Check it out!
