How Do I Make Purchases From Amazon Japan

[Battlechili]

Let me explain my dilemma further. I don't own a Debit Card or a Credit Card.

I wish to purchase a video game soundtrack and a few books from Amazon Japan. But how can I do so if I don't own a debit or credit card? I have no bank account.

 

What are some ways that I can do this?

Are there any ideas on what I should do to be able to purchase these things from Amazon Japan?

 

Note: I live in the United States.

[Arashikage]

So what you need to do, you need to get a prepaid card from any store whether it be CVS Pharmacy, Rite Aid, Wal Mart, or something like that.  Also, don't do Wal Mart Money Card, they jip you.  But if you do that, all you gotta do is use that and enter in your address and whatever to ship it to.

 

But a better more permanent solution is to get a job and a debit card, because debit cards are awesome.

[Battlechili]

So what you need to do, you need to get a prepaid card from any store whether it be CVS Pharmacy, Rite Aid, Wal Mart, or something like that.  Also, don't do Wal Mart Money Card, they jip you.  But if you do that, all you gotta do is use that and enter in your address and whatever to ship it to.

 

But a better more permanent solution is to get a job and a debit card, because debit cards are awesome.

If only I read this sooner. I got one of those Walmart Reloadable Visa Debit Cards. HUGE MISTAKE. HUGE!

I put 100 bucks on the thing and as of right now the thing is useless.

I can't do much with it because it needs to be activated and requires me to give them a ton of personal information.

Worse yet, I couldn't even activate it comepletely to where I can make purchases anywhere since their system didn't recognize my address.

ITS FRUSTRATING.

But yeah, definitely getting one of those prepaid cards soon. Thanks!

[Fana McCloud]

Then you talk to their customer service and have them enter the address manually, since it's being an unholy bitch. Then NEXT time, you don't get one of those POS cards. XD

[Rin]

Yeah...avoid the Walmart money cards at all costs. And this is coming from an employee there.

[DZComposer]

You should consider getting an account at a credit union. All the benefits of having a checking account with none of the big bank bullshit (as a member, you're part-owner. Since all the customers are owners, they don't screw you.).

[Battlechili]

Then you talk to their customer service and have them enter the address manually, since it's being an unholy bitch. Then NEXT time, you don't get one of those POS cards. XD

Worse yet its when I was talking to customer service that they didn't recognize my address. However I talked with them and I should be getting a refund on the card so all is well I hope.

 

Also, I did some research and at least Vanilla Visa Nonreloadable Gift Cards are not usable outside of the United States.

There's one option down. Still need to look into other cards or other ways to purchase items.

 

 

DZCompoaser:You should consider getting an account at a credit union. All the benefits of having a checking account with none of the big bank bullshit (as a member, you're part-owner. Since all the customers are owners, they don't screw you.).

 

Sounds like a good idea, but as of right now I don't think I can do that.

I think I might keep that in mind though for the future.

 

 

[Arashikage]

American Express gift cards work amazingly well

[psy_commando]

Well, without a bank account, its a little hard.. Unless you got a paypal account with money in it..

 

But, if you can ever get a paypal account, and want to buy things from auction sites or places were the sellers only deal in Japanese, I highly recommend these guys : http://www.japamart.com/

I made business with these guys several times. Their system is slightly buggy sometimes, but last time I had any issues with their system, I mailed their tech support, got an answer in less than 24 hours and they actually fixed the problem on their side ! And they were incredibly helpful at it !

I don't think I've dealt with tech support this competent in ages !

 

What they do is that they act as proxies between you and the Japanese seller, so you don't have to learn Japanese, or to live in Japan !

Though, they ask for a deposit of half the value of what you're wanting to buy, just in case you desist and they get stuck with that. And then you can use the deposit to pay for the item, but you have to specify it by checking a box on when paying. They also ask for a commission, and you need to pay for shipping both times of course.

 

So for example getting the MFP from yahoo auction which was about $20 with shipping to japamart, Then about another $20 for a safe shipping method. I think it costed me around $40-$50 in total. I got all those neat Japanese Starfox books that way.(Except the first time, I was stupid enough to guess if the seller was writing English >_<

Hopefully I was right.. )

[Sarita]

Oh wow that place is the easiest to navigate I've ever seen. They handle Yahoo!Japan Auctions really well, this may be a bad thing...