Tokyo Pirates
Month
Hey everyone! The shopping service is back in business, but things will be very slow for the first week or two due to a great, big backlog of inquiries (over 60 inquiries to sort through - thank you!). I’ll do my best to get through things as fast as possible and respond to your messages. Thanks for understanding!
Coco was kind enough to write a detailed review on the service after I went to a book signing for her - http://hallilaul.tumblr.com/post/94085107891/tokyo-pirates-shopping-service-review-positive
Thank you so much! (^___^)You can also check out her cute tumblr here!
Hello everyone, and sorry to do this, but due to an overwhelming amount of current orders still being worked through, Tokyo Pirates shopping service’s hiatus will be extended until the 22nd August. Please bear in mind that I cannot always answer emails during the hiatus and any orders/inquiries you wish to make should be saved until after the hiatus date is over. If you send an email/message during hiatus, you may not receive a response unless your order/inquiry is sent again after hiatus (to prevent backlog). I apologize in advance for the inconvenience!
Thanks to everyone who has been inquiring about the Ma*rs items. It’s much appreciated even if no one buys. ^^
To those interested in lolita, I’ve put up some more things for sale, so feel free to check them out!
pimikochu said: That’s awful! Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience (especially around the Christmas holidays) ╥﹏╥
Aw, thanks. :) It’s just money though and I’m well over it (although the Batman part of me may have slightly vowed revenge…mwahaha!) It means I learned a good lesson though, so I’m not unhappy about it now. (^_^)
It can mean any of those depending on the situation. :) I still have a 24,000 yen bag’s worth of Ma*rs items from December 2013 after a customer simply stopped replying. Unfortunately, it has little re-sale value so I’m pretty much stuck with it.
That scam cleared me out while I was still getting on my feet financially which meant that I was living on Chinese bean sprouts over the Christmas holidays. As you can imagine I was pretty upset. However, that was when I was more of a beginner in the business and was my very first time being cheated. I try to think of it as a good life experience.
I learned the hard way from that, and that’s why now I only take payment after if the customer is already extremely trusted (and then only if it’s necessary) or if the item has a re-sale value equal to or greater than the item I’ve bought. I don’t have to worry as much about non-committed customers with certain items. :)
(p.s. If anyone wants cheap Ma*rs items or a stack of Ageha magazines let me know, haha! xD)
So, I’m taking advantage of hiatus to do a big clear-out of inventory. I’m selling new and used items - some are from my wardrobe, some were impulse purchases during sales, and some are cancelled orders. You can check out my sale items here- http://www.lacemarket.us/author/cloudlace/
But here are some pictures anyway!
(Magical Etoile special set - Harajuku store only as far as I know)
I’ll also be putting up some of the following rare items over the next few days (as well as a cancelled Cameo Window dress, more bags and accessories, etc.) if I can bring myself to part with them, so stay tuned. (Sorry but I won’t be accepting offers prior to making the lacemarket listings)
(^ still trying to decide if I can part with this one so not guaranteed)
I’m afraid that was on the 31st May. Cosmic series is long gone now. I think the ones people have reserved are due to come out in September, so you might see some pop up on auctions/in secondhand shops around then if people decide they don’t want them. That will probably be your best chance at this point. :)
We have a winner! ☆*･゜ﾟ･*\(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆
The winner was selected by tallying up the number of people who had entered and using a random number generator to keep things fair. It came out as lucky number 7, so pengupooh, you are the winner. Congratulations! I’ll message you so that you can collect your prize.
Thank you so much to everyone who entered! I have already found several things on people’s wishlists, so hopefully Collectstor will continue to be a useful tool for everyone. They’ve added a new ‘wishlist’ category now too due to demand. (^_^)
From 1st - 13th August, the Tokyo Pirates shopping service will be on hiatus. The cut off date for new orders will be the 28th July. Replies may also be a little slow for the next few days due to a slight overload. Service will be resumed as normal after the 13th.
Current orders will continue to be processed as usual, so please don’t worry if you have an event that occurs during that time or if you have a package that is still to arrive and be shipped. They will still be processed. Exceptions may also be made for lolita reserves or releases. Sorry for any inconvenience!
Hello! Haha, not at all. Thanks for the questions. I’ll do my best to answer! :D
1. Maybe 1-2 times a week. Mostly I just wear it on special occasions or when shopping. The rest of the time I’m more casual.
2. Alice and the Pirates Sentimental Circus JSK in black (the gold detailing is gorgeous)
3. Alice and the Pirates
4. It depends on the week. Sometimes only once, sometimes 3-4 times. It completely depends on the customers’ orders and whether they request it be bought online or in-store.
5. Yes, I usually go to Harajuku or Shinjuku for store releases.
6. I used to have lots of pets throughout my childhood (a dog, a cat, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish). They’ve all passed away, but I’d love a dog again. My dog was the kindest, sweetest-natured animal ever.
7. Erk, I haven’t taken a full day off in a long time, so I’m genuinely not sure anymore. It depends on my mood. Sometimes I like going to izakayas (Japanese pubs), sometimes clubbing, sometimes karaoke, sometimes staying in and having a movie night with flatmates. Right now I think what I crave most is going hiking in the mountains and just spending a whole day exploring, relaxing and refreshing. I plan to try in August if I can get all orders done. :D
8. I can’t say anything particularly strange has happened in-store. Maybe one of the more surreal experiences was when I was shopping in the Shinjuku store and a group of tourists walked by.
Now there are generally two kinds of tourists in lolita stores -
1) Those who are interested in/wear lolita and have come to buy things while they are in Japan. They’re usually by themselves, in couples or small groups.
2) Those who don’t know about lolita and marvel at the window displays, sometimes commenting on what the fashion might be about and how crazy the prices are. They usually come in couples, small groups or families.
Both of these types of tourists are pretty inconspicuous. They come, they look, they shop, etc., which of course is great.
This group was a different experience. You know how you tend to see a lot of Japanese people abroad in giant bus tour groups? You’re suddenly engulfed by a sea of people taking photos and shouting excitedly about the shape of a perfectly ordinary (to you) building. They move as one mind around a designated area and then disappear like smoke back onto the bus after about 10 minutes.
Imagine this, but instead of Japanese, it’s westerners crammed into a narrow corridor between tiny shops - people with cameras the size of their heads and wide eyes following a person with a flag who was loudly saying, “And this is LOWLEETAH. Lowleetah is a special fashion in Japan where they wear doll-like dresses…”
Literally everyone on the floor, who had been going about their business, froze and stared at them.The sales staff were giving each other side glances like, “What the f-?” The customers were glancing guiltily down at the purchases in their hands as if they’d been caught stealing candy.
I guess when you’re shopping/working in a shop, you don’t really consider the fact that you could be a tourist attraction. What had seemed normal one moment, now felt strangely bizarre. The tourists were freely gawking as they walked past as if we were exotic animals in a zoo.
A girl looking at the same accessory stand as me caught my eye after they left (we could hear the tour guide’s voice floating down the corridor) and we both started giggling.
tl:dr Tourists are funny in any country. I made a new friend that day. :P
9. Yes, I love, love, love my job. It’s stressful at times but always worth it. :)
I’m not too sure since I don’t own any of these myself and haven’t tried them on. As far as I can tell from the packaging they’re still just overknee and work the same way, but the material is thinner, so I guess you could count them as stockings, yes. (maybe someone else who owns a pair can confirm?)
They’re definitely ‘toeing’ the line (hah!…I’ll show myself out.).
I think I answered you by email already, but for the sake of others who are wondering I’ll answer here too. ^^
As far as I can tell it means they are out of stock in the online store, but they still have stock left in store branches and such. Once it says ‘sold out’ that generally means it is sold out everywhere including the stores. 'Order’ means they will order it from another store which means domestic shipping takes longer. It also means that by the time you make the order there’s a chance the item is already out of stock when they check for it, but in that case your order will simply be cancelled.
I noticed during the Fairy Marine Chiffon release it was 'sold out’ several times and then changed to 'order’ a couple days later. This is because they still had plenty left in store branches so they were able to transfer them to the online store if required. :)
Not in the least. Please feel free to email. :)
I think if it’s asked politely it should be okay. :) Every seller is different. I’ve done this for customers before and some sellers replied to me, some ignored me. As far as I know though, the only way to contact a seller after the listing has ended is through asking on another listing. If they don’t have any other listings up I don’t think it’s possible to contact them.
If anyone missed out on the fairy marine chiffon OP re-release today and you want one, let me know at contact@tokyopirates.com. I can still get all colours excluding sax which is sold out everywhere. They’re selling fast, so don’t wait long!
I visit only very occasionally. Usually, it’s plain-clothed people, tourists or cosplayers, but I’ve seen the occasional lolita there too, usually for wigs or shoes.
It’s hard to say in advance, but I reckon it’s going to be pretty popular. I don’t get so many inquiries for Baby or Pirates compared to Angelic Pretty, so when I do it’s a sign it will be popular. I’ve had several for this series. :)
No problem. ^^ If something is popular, I always recommend in-store. The Baby website crashes so much and it’s harder to compete with the whole country trying to buy online. With in-store I have almost always been able to get the item no matter how popular (e.g. Claudia and Midsummer Night’s Dream). Sometimes they do shuffles for extremely popular releases, but most of the time if you get there before the reserve time you’re pretty much guaranteed to get it. There’s never a 100% guarantee with either method, but chances in-store are much higher.
I’m afraid I don’t know how many for sure. At a guess (and this is purely guessing from how quickly they get sold out at popular releases), I’d say that each store branch gets around 15 - 30 of each colourway/style to sell in initial reserves. It’s very difficult to say though since I reckon they probably decrease or increase the amount depending on how popular they estimate it will be.
As for me, I can reserve one of each colourway and/or style. So, for example, I can reserve one ivory JSK and one black JSK of the same shape, or I can reserve one ivory JSK I and one ivory JSK II. Occasionally, I can employ a friend’s help if something is in great demand (though they don’t work as a service so their time is not guaranteed). :)
Hello! It was completely fine for me before, but yes I’ve noticed it’s been a bit buggy the past few days. I contacted Collectstor about it, and they informed me there was an attack on the server, but they’ve used the time to make updates to the website. I checked it, and it seems to be working smoothly now, so hopefully it will stay as smooth as it was before. ^^
Thanks for using the site. ^^ I’ve been browsing through people’s items and I’m excited to search for them! :D
Hello! I’m afraid this series is no longer available in AP. The only way to get it now is secondhand I believe, either through auction sites or if something appears in Closet Child. >.<
I will be using a new website for wishlists! Now anyone and everyone can make wishlists for free!
Just upload the items you want to the website and title the album “Lolita Wishlist”. Don’t forget to add the brand name (e.g. Angelic Pretty) and the name of the item (e.g. Musee du Chocolat One Piece in green). You can title it as whatever you like, but the more information you put, the more it gives me to go on when I’m out shopping. If I see anything you have on your wishlist in store, I’ll contact you to let you know (if more than one person has it, it will be first come, first served).
You can check the website out here - http://collectstor.com
It’s a place where you can also display your own collections, see other people’s collections, favourite other people’s items and potentially use for trading/selling. You’ll be able to see how many people want what you have which is pretty useful for closet cleaning. ;) You’ll also be able to describe/give reviews on your own items which will be helpful for others (similar to lolibrary but with more emphasis on you and your personal collection).
In short, I think this will be an excellent website for far more than wishlists and we should get the lolita community on here. (^_^) It’s not limited to lolitas of course! It can be used for anything you collect/want to collect - music, anime, fashion goods, specialist foods, etc.
It totally depends on the company and can vary a lot from 1 or 2 days to 2 weeks (even longer for some), but the average is around one week.
Hmm, I’m not entirely sure since everyone is different. Many appear to be very brand loyal, but some may use Bodyline for the odd accessory or wig. As for what they think, I couldn’t really say. :) My guess is there will be those who hate it and those who aren’t that bothered.
heartontheside was kind enough to write a review for the shopping service! :) You can check it out here along with her blog - http://heartontheside.tumblr.com/post/90943043258/shopping-service-tokyo-pirates-tokyo-pirates-is
Thank you! <3
deadmangalaxydays said: Hello! at 3:12 of your vid, the Meta cropped jacket, does it come with the matching skirt? Its called the Sheryl Nome set. Thanks!
Hello ^^ My official operating hours are from 9am - 7pm. However, my actual operating hours are usually from 9am - 11pm (until 1am during busy periods, or 24 hours during extremely busy periods - yes I die for a couple of days when this happens)
Answering emails depends on the day and what assignments I have. The morning will be admin (packaging orders, answering the most urgent emails, making phone calls to stores, etc.) Urgent in-store assignments mean I go in for store opening time. If there are no urgent assignments I will continue with most urgent emails until the afternoon (around 2pm), and then go out on any regular assignments or to the post office for bank transfers/urgent shipments.
I usually finish in-store assignments between 5-9pm depending on how many areas I need to go to. After that I continue answering emails/doing admin until 10pm - 1am depending on how many there are/how urgent they are. On days I have no in-store assignments I work until around 9pm.
Sorry that there’s no set hours for emails. >.< It really depends on how many there are. Yours is the last message I’m answering tonight, but I’ll be working until about 12am if anyone needs anything urgently. ^^
On another note, I’m hiring someone to help me shop soon as a beta test, so hopefully that means I can dedicate more time to answering emails and dealing with time-sensitive assignments. :)
