Shopper's Alert! The Thread

[flowersofnight]

It went down to 20000Y and then someone BOUGHT IT.
https://jp.mercari.com/item/m94528509751
It's almost like people aren't acting at all times for my personal convenience.

3 love-suspense books spotted, including 2 that nobody's seen before:
https://kosyogyuho.stores.jp/?category_id=65d4089c9b5b82003e4ffdfa



You know what, the exchange rate right now is outrageously high.
But someone else is going to have to take one for the team if they want to know how "Sonna Banana" goes XD

 

[flowersofnight]

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g1174488962
YJ goes nuts for a demo tape ostensibly of Kisaki's first band. 127000Y and counting.

 

[flowersofnight]

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g1175390360
Old zines including an interview and photo of MANDRAKE (Susumu Hirasawa's first band)
Surely not worth a grand considering you're paying for 6 issues, mostly about Western prog and synth music. Interesting though, and you do get a peek from the auction photos themselves.

 

[flowersofnight]

https://jp.mercari.com/item/m12458609262

Listen up, you wretched gaijin!

In recent years, it seems like crazy collectors from overseas have been buying up every single MALICE MIZER-related CD being sold online. After years of this there aren't many MALICE MIZER-related goods left in Japan, and what is left has gotten really expensive.

(...)
Please stop ordering from overseas using shopping services. (I'll cancel you)

 

[Js_klaus]

We don't need "likes" from people with no intention of purchasing.

 

[heutre]

200 dollars for Systems of Romance is crazyy

Edit : but also this is an interesting conversation because, gatekeeping materials for decades, and keeping it "in Japan", but at the end of the day as fans we benefit from a less exclusive culture of sharing and digitalizing releases. (I may be wrong, but non japanese fans seem to have that impulse much more) Probably that the artists and collectors who see the value of their "treasures" decrease disagree. I only empathize with the artists seeing their work being shared without their consent, but the collectors wanting to retain exclusivity not that much.

But also, not a fan of hoarding collectors that buy multiple copies just for some sort of merit lol. Let's just be decent fans.

 

[flowersofnight]

We don't need "likes" from people with no intention of purchasing.

I've never understood this anyway, why do they even have a like system, and why does everyone hate it so much?
I see TONS of auctions with "Stop liking my auctions" in the description XD

200 dollars for Systems of Romance is crazyy

Yeah, if anyone actually wants to buy a copy I'll make them a deal.

Edit : but also this is an interesting conversation because, gatekeeping materials for decades, and keeping it "in Japan", but at the end of the day as fans we benefit from a less exclusive culture of sharing and digitalizing releases. (I may be wrong, but non japanese fans seem to have that impulse much more)

Japanese gatekeeping and hoarding is ludicrous, like that guy who bought a set of (fake) Malice Mizer demotapes just to keep them under glass XD

 

[heutre]

I've never understood this anyway, why do they even have a like system, and why does everyone hate it so much?
I see TONS of auctions with "Stop liking my auctions" in the description XD


Yeah, if anyone actually wants to buy a copy I'll make them a deal.


Japanese gatekeeping and hoarding is ludicrous, like that guy who bought a set of (fake) Malice Mizer demotapes just to keep them under glass XD

I think it's the same way as ebay, sometimes the seller reaches out with a lower offer if they know the person is interested. But sellers that are insistent on their original price probably dislike being on edge lmao.

Very that.. it's kinda sad ngl. Especially when you're like kind of depriving teenagers/new fans out of spite. I know some people that have wanted to get some tapes for 6 years+. Not that there's an ethical way to buy old stuff, but like.. hoarding material "just because" is kinda dumb to me at least. At the end of the day they're just plastic casings with magnetic tape, we're dumb to place so much value and prestige onto that.. that being said I understand that sort of mindstate from when I was a teenager, but like as a full grown adult I'm like... It's not as gaggy as you think it is djdhd

 

[Manneking]

I don't know if anyone saw these, but I think they've all been snapped up - EXTREMELY LIMITED Blam Honey CD-R with unreleased mixes of two tracks (I managed to nab one!)

https://jp.mercari.com/en/item/m33819282773

Ryonai posts on their Instagram a lot so they could put a few additional copies up at a later date.

 

[Kyuketsuki]

https://jp.mercari.com/item/m12458609262

Listen up, you wretched gaijin!

That is genuinely insane behavior lolll
Imagine selling your shit because 1. You don't want it anymore, 2. You need the money, but absolutely not wanting money from people who would arguably pay you more/pay your asking price just because ✨️Gaijin✨️ jfc.

There is "less MM material" because it's been 25 years and no one generally wants to sell what they have. I didn't see a single MM anything at any used media shop in Tokyo last fall (and I was in ALL of them, even the remote dusty af shops). That doesn't mean it's all in Gaijin Land, motherfucker, it means your friends don't want to sell it to YOU, another Japanese person lol.

Either that or it's locked up in a glass case at Edison or some other obscure vk shop in Nishishinjuku for a thousand-plus bucks, which is a comical price, and when shops like that are demanding those kinds of prices from you, the domestic audience....idk man, but I don't think the scary ugly gaijin buyers are your problem, no matter which way you slice it.

 

[Miguel22]

They just released more Blam Honey albums and they're available for sale in case anyone's interested.

 

[flowersofnight]

From the curiosity department: an authentic ticket to day 2 of Malice Mizer's "bara no seidou" live
https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/s1185178687

... with a map of upstate New York in the background



A couple of Malice Mizer promo CDs:

"bara no seidou": https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/q1181440741
"Beast of Blood": https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k1181429590

Promo CDs are generally pointless except for maniacs since the contents are the same as the real thing. But I think this is the first time we've seen the hidden track on "Beast of Blood" given an official name: "Memorial Track (薔薇の葬列)"

EDIT: and here's another seller warning about the Gaijin Menace.
https://jp.mercari.com/user/profile/237025768

Also, I block companies that buy items to ship overseas. Individuals who seem to be engaging in that kind of activity, I block too.
In recent years, huge amounts of Japanese goods are shipped out of the country every day, and I worry that they'll become lost media within Japan. When the items go overseas, they never come back, after all. Everyone, let's hold our items in safekeeping.

The "lost media" bit is particularly brazen considering how much Japanese media would already be lost if not for us imperfect ablutioners, and how much more is still mouldering away in private collections that'll never see the light of day.

 

[Kyuketsuki]

Jesus christ these people are wild