CDJapan vs Yesasia.
 

I'm sorry if this is posted in the wrong area...
So I've been comparing prices and I was surprised at some of the price differences between the two~

So is one better than the other? Or do they have pros and cons that the other doesn't? :irked

Ok for starters , both pros's part for both sites is that whatever jpop stuff you ordered , it's counted towards Oricon .

That didn't happened for YesAsia in the past just recently this year but anyway

CDJapan

Pros

- 4 shipping methods to choose from

- various payment methods other than PayPal & credit card

- fast , reliable . Customer service's good

- For 1st press items , they state on their website if it's available or not . So if you were to preorder early or later , should the 1st press's stated on the website , there's no need to worry on it

- the packaging that they used's great & solid . They don't fold posters . They used a big box & they packed it together with your CD

Cons

- shipping's quite expensive . Like you have to pay 650 Yen for a CD single & then it adds on 300 more yen if you buy 2 copies

- only Japan press items are sold , no OS presses's involved

- limited edition(s) surrounding hot/popular artistes tend to go outta print very fast . Like for ARASHI's case , the CD + DVD limited edition of their past few recent singles were sold out on CDJapan within less than 2 hours @_@

- you pay them in Japanese Yen & if your country's currency's weaker against the Yen , then obviously the stuff you will get from them might be a tad pricey

YesAsia

Pros

- various payment methods other than PayPal & credit card

- their customer service's friendly I feel

- availability of OS presses

Cons

- shipping's SLOW (to me) . The last time I used YesAsia , it took me 13 days to get my stuff from them @_@ & their headquarters's in Hong Kong & not in the North/South Pole T_T

- In order to get free shipping , you have to spend US$39 & above . If not you have to pay shipping

having said that , this might be a pro for you if you buy things in bulk

- they sometimes can take FOREVER to source out for items that you order

- no guarantee of 1st press items . It's logical & understood that the earlier you order ,the better but sometimes depending on your luck , you might get it later on

- after a while , they tend to jack up the prices of some items on their site . Like for ayaka's History 2006 - 2009 , the 2CDs limited edition with photobook . It was initally priced at US$40+

now it's US$49.99 which's no doubt ridiculous

So it would make more sense to order from CDJapan and pay the price for Shipping. Especially since...

http://www.yesasia.com/us/ayumi-hama...0-en/info.html

and

http://www.yesasia.com/us/ayumi-hama...0-en/info.html

I basically agree with all that Karen said. YesAsia parcels usually take from 12-14 days to get here (and I live in Europe and considering what Karen said, I am starting to think they really ship the cds from North/South Pole lol).

The free shipping is not available in a few countries (like here where I am, even though it used to be 2 years ago). I think YesAsia is even worse when it comes to shipping prices as it's usually around 11-13$ for 1 CD and takes nearly two weeks, while somehow they want 50$+ for the express shipping which no sane person would ever pay for. CDJapan was usually fast and I never had to wait for more than a week or so.

well it depends on you at the end of the day

if you're the type of person that has a lot of patience & CAN WAIT , then go for YesAsia's offer since you don't need to pay for shipping if you buy something that's worth more than US$39

if you're like me then stick to CDJapan LOL :laugh

LOL & you imagine , it's a 5-6 hours airplane ride to Hong Kong from Singapore seeing that their headquarters's located there so it really makes me wonder why it takes SO long for me to get my items from them :irked

For CDJapan's case , I know that if you were to choose EMS , you sometimes can get your jpop stuff a day early or on the actual day itself when the single/album/DVD's released in Japan

if not I will usually choose airmail & my items will come a mere 4 days from them :heart

Also, at CDJ they have the point system so everytime you buy from them you get points that you can save up to use on a later purchase. They even give you points on your birthday :D

I don't know if YA has anything like that though :(

I never use CDJapan because I prefer not to pay for shipping, which could get very expensive if I had to order a lot of stuff. Where I live, I can get Yesasia's free shipping, so I pretty much only use CDJapan if what I want is not available at Yesasia.

The thing I hate about Yesasia though is that the CDs constantly come in broken cases. :/ When I first started ordering there a few years ago, this only happened once in a while. But now it happens pretty much every time. I just got an order of like 8 CDs, 6 of which come in jewel cases, and pretty much 4 or 5 of them had broken cases in some way - where either the front case completely came off, or the case was cracked, or the little things inside that hold the CD in place were broken. >> It was very frustrating.

YesAsia is good for bulk orders, since you'll get free shipping. But if you want just one or two items, go with CDJapan. That's my small summary lol.

Whenever I order with them, I leave them a comment before I place the order, just simply asking them to use a box and extra bubble wrap. That should stop the broken cases. :thumbsup

I think YesAsia's shipping depends on where you live. Cause I live in Canada and it usually arrives in 3 days with free shipping.

I've never bought anything from cd or yes, *cries* but by karen said. I might go with cd since they have more pros than cons and all the pros seem very useful.

i live in canada also and it always got here in 10-14 days. :\
cdjapan always got to me like 2-4 days, MAX 7 days in come rare case.

^Well like I said it depends. I'm not too sure why they shipped it too me so quickly but that was in 2008 since I don't use them for buying Cpop now. Possibility that they take longer now.

I've always and only bought from YesAsia without broken cases XD
I know.. YesAsia doesn't count on charts like Oricon, but CDJapan's prices are too much expensive for me :/ and slow shippings didn't bother me at all :D I'm a patient person.

^ koshka, recently yesasia announced that ALL their stuff will count toward oricon, so no need to worry about that anymore :)

you're quite lucky though to get so quick~ i think they got slower now.. bc before, in 2008 my stuff came faster, now i don't even bother lol

Now YesAsia count on Oricon charts..
http://www.yesasia.com/customer-supp...on-answer.html

Initially I bought from YesAsia...but the shipping is very slow due Italian's customs >_>
I received my items after a month °_° It's absurd!
So I started to buy from CDJAPAN for the most important orders (for new releases etc) and I choose Registered Airmail (7-15 days) or if they are very important items, I use EMS (maximum 7 days, even if I have to pay the customs fees if the price is high =_=)

4 shipping methods are very good (but sometimes too much expensive)! The fastest shipping from YesAsia is insane °_°
And sometimes also the price of the items are insane on YesAsia...

For exemple I wanted to buy the GazettE's artbook..

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview....EY=NEOIPS-680#

http://www.yesasia.com/global/the-ga...0-en/info.html

US$52.40 Vs US$122.99!!
TOTALLY CRAZY!
It's only a book...damn °_°

oh yeah I forgot to mention about the frequent shopper points that CDJapan offer in that an item that you purchase , you will get 3% worth of points from the item that's worth

& no YesAsia doesn't have this but recently they said that you can get a US$5 coupon from them & YesStyle if you buy things worth US$50 & above

I always get things sooner with YesAsia, including sourcing time! I also get free shipping. I feel like YesAsia has more stuff/selection. I have used both, and I must say that I like YesAsia better.