Beginner's Guide for Doujin Shopping - 4. MELON BOOKS and FROMAGEE
About
Melonbooks is a book store with multiple outlets throughout Japan specializing in Anime, Computer games, manga, novels, Doujinshi, and Doujin goods. It was founded in Sapporo, Hokkaido, hence, "Melon."
Fromagee is a division of theirs that specializes in Doujin goods targeted at female customers. Fromagee was originally a division of Animate that was sold to Melonbooks.
If you are in Japan, you may be able to enjoy duty-free shopping at their outlets.
Here, I will show you how to navigate the key pages of their shopping site. Many Doujin items are sold only online. ENNEAD items are sold at FROMAGEE. You must verify your age R18 to browse and log in.
https://www.melonbooks.co.jp/fromagee/
International shipping
Similarly to TORA, MelonBook does not ship internationally but is partnered with TENSO.COM. Here is the link to their page that explains the process.
https://www.melonbooks.co.jp/special/b/0/service/tenso/
Basically, the process is the same as what I included with Toranoana.
To summarize, you will register with Tenso and obtain a Japanese shipping address. Then, you can register with Melonbooks using the shipping address and phone number Tenso provided. Melonbooks will ship to the address supplied by TENSO, who then will send the goods to your address outside of Japan. You will be liable for the taxes and customs. Cancellations are not accepted once the goods arrive at TENSO.COM's warehouse. Any shipping inquiries should be directed to TENSO. To use their services, your only payment option is by credit card.
ご利用の流れ
(1) 「tenso.com」にて会員登録を行い、日本国内の専用住所を発行して下さい。(2) Melonbooks通販にてお買い物をしてください。「tenso.com」にて発行された専用住所をお届け先に設定して下さい。(3) Melonbooksよりtenso倉庫(専用住所)へ商品をお送りします。(4) 「tenso.com」倉庫へ到着後、転送手続きが始まります。(5) 「tenso.com」がお客様の下へ商品を発送致します。(6) 通関手続きを経て、お届け完了となります。※関税の有無・関税率ともに、お荷物のお届け先国によって異なります。また、関税はお客様負担となります。 注意事項 (1) 「tenso.com」サービスをご利用の際は、必ず下記関連リンクから【tenso.comご利用ガイド】【tenso.com利用規約】をお読みいただき、同意の上でご利用ください。(2) 決済方法はクレジットカードのみとなります。何卒、ご了承ください。(3) 「tenso.com」倉庫到着後の返品・交換については一切承る事が出来ません。(4) 海外への発送は「tenso.com」のサービスとなります。「tenso.com」のサービスに関するお問い合わせは、tenso.comカスタマーサポートにお問い合わせください。※Melonbooksでは一切お答えする事が出来ません。(5) 商品到着後の返品・交換については一切承る事が出来ません。(6) 「tenso.com」サービスをご利用の際は、必ず下記関連情報よりご利用ガイド・注意事項をご確認下さい。 ※Melonbooksの送料とは別に、上記御見積りの送料が発生致します。※書籍に関しましては1冊15グラムが目安となります。 その他サービス AddToBuyeeを利用し、Melonbooksへの会員登録無しでお買い物がお楽しみ頂けます。ご利用方法につきましては、下記リンクの公式ガイドをご覧ください。■【AddToBuyeeご利用ガイド
Tenso.com User's Guide
Tenso.com Policy
Tenso.com Shipping Estimate
From the link below, you can purchase from Melonbooks using AddToBuyee without registering with Melonbooks. Buyee is a proxy purchasing service provider. In short, it is a browser extension that allows you to add items to the Buyee shopping cart while browsing EC shopping sites such as Melonbooks, Animate, and Mercari.
Since their website comes in various languages, I will be brief here. They are a proxy purchasing service provider, so the speed in securing the goods cannot be faster than shopping directly. I suggest looking up their reviews before deciding whether to use their services.
https://buyee.jp/addtobuyee/index?lang=en
Next, I will cover some key pages from Fromagee, Melonbooks' Doujin shopping site for "female shoppers," since that is where ENNEAD items are usually placed.
How to register
To register, you should go to the top page
https://www.melonbooks.co.jp/fromagee/
All of their pages have a Google Translate button at the bottom, including the product pages, FAQs, shopping carts, and check-out pages, so it should be easy to navigate for English, Chinese, and Korean language users.
Just a few things to note:
As of July 27, 2023, you can only register a credit card after you place an order. You will enter your credit card number at the time of checkout. Here is a link to the related FAQs. Acceptable credit cards are VISA, Master, JCB, American Express Card, and V Preca. They do use 3D Secure, too.
https://www.melonbooks.co.jp/help/tpl.php?cid=225#
How to shop
Here is a sample product page.
From here, the shopping proces is the same as any.
Check the shipping method and shipping address to proxy or forwarder, then wait 💕