Brand-x (ブランドエックス) is one of the stores that I’ve used in the past quite frequently. It’s not just an online store – the actual store is located in the Ikebukuro Sunshine Plaza, B1F.
Let us know what you think by rating your experiences with Brand-x! If you have any pros or cons that you’d like to add to the list, please leave a comment and we’ll amend it when we get a chance.
[ratings]
The Positives
・They have a wide selection of and specialize in CDs, DVDs and magazines by visual bands. They also include whatever privileges listed in your order, and a release calendar (it’s a sheet of paper, not a real calendar).
・Recently they’ve added the ability to pay via PayPal on their site, which is great for fans living overseas.
・They ship everything promptly, and package it well.
The Negatives
・The site is pretty much only in Japanese, so if you can’t recognize the characters or your computer cannot display Japanese, you’re not going to have an easy time ordering from them.
・The shipping costs seem to be higher than other places I’ve used, and I’ve gotten wrongly overcharged with duty taxes when ordering from them. Not sure who is at fault for the mistake, but when I order from other companies, I’ve not had to pay any duty.
How to buy from Brand-x
There are two methods you can use to buy items through Brand-x.
Method One
As outlined on their site, http://www.brand-x.jp/page/44, they do accept orders from customers who live overseas simply via email.
Make sure you include the following in your e-mail:
A) Your Name
B) Mailing Address
C) Phone number
D) Your Order
E) Your Payment Option (International Money Order, Yen via Registered Mail, PayPal)
Method Two
Sign up for an account on Brand-x, and use their shopping cart system.
To sign up, first click on 新規登録はこちら, where you will get the following screen. I have added the English next to the Japanese, so you can easily fill out the form.
All the fields marked with ! are required. Your postal code (or zip code) will probably not be accepted, therefore, enter 0’s like you see below. When entering your country, if you need help with the Japanese for your country, go to Jisho.org and search for the name.
I just realized that they’ve always sent stuff to me without my postal code. If you want to enter it, do so in the same field as your city and province / state name.
Signing up — Steps one to three (Click to enlarge)


When this is done, check the email you registered with and you should have a confirmation e-mail. The e-mail does not have an activation code or anything in it, just your username (which is your e-mail address) and your password. As soon as you’ve finished steps one to three, you will be logged in. But if at any time you become logged out, you can login easily on the sidebar.
Shopping on Brand-x
First and foremost, login! Then you can save all the items you want to your shopping cart. Find an item you want (use the search at the top – there are no romaji names for CDs or band names (unless the band name is originally written in English characters).
Once you’ve found what you want to purchase, click on カートに入れる to add it to your shopping cart. If you continue shopping, you can see the items and total of your shopping card on the sidebar.
When you’re all done shopping click レジーに進む and you’ll be taken to a screen that shows all your ordered items, it’ll look like the following. Your details will already be there just as you entered them before, but if you need to make changes you can.
NOTE: The total that they give you does not include shipping costs. You will not get the final cost until after you’ve sent your order in and they’ve replied to you by e-mail. The price will therefore be more.


I feel like the next page seems really long. The part that’s x-ed out, you don’t have to worry about.


Almost there! The next page is all about how you’re going to pay. For overseas orders (regardless of how you do it) they will only accept International Postal Money Order, Registered Mail (yen) or Paypal.

Once you’ve gone through that screen (once again, press 次へ at the bottom to complete the step) you’ll be taken to a screen which just recaps all of your decisions. If at any time you need to go back, use the 戻る button.
At the end of the recap, you’ll see the following. Click the one on the right.

And that’s it! Your order has been put in!
You’ll shortly after get an e-mail from Brand-x (within 24 hours of placing your order) that will have the items you’ve ordered with your details. Once again, this is not the final price. Soon after they will send you an e-mail in English (for overseas fans) with your order and the final price.
Once they receive the payment, they’ll send you another e-mail letting you know when your items will be shipped out!
I hope that this helps people with ordering! I personally would rather use a shopping cart than just sending an e-mail and I’m sure there are a lot of fans who feel the same way. If you do run into any problems, please comment on the post and let us know! We’ll try to help you out.
We’d also love to know your opinions on the store! Share your good and bad experiences so that others can judge whether or not they’d like to order from here.
Like I’ve said before, I order from here and I would recommend them. I’ve never had a problem and I have always received all my items, plus the privileges.

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