Pre-ordering My Rocket Punch Bubble Up! Japanese Albums via CDJapan

Rocket Punch as debuted in Japan! On August 4th, 2021, Rocket Punch released their first Japanese mini album Bubble Up! I haven't preordered Japanese albums in a long time, and back then with Infinite's Japanese releases I didn't really focus on various online stores' preorder benefits. This time however, I paid a bit more attention to try and get the most out of my purchase.

There are 3 versions: First Press Limited Edition Type A, First Press Limited Edition Type B, and Regular Edition, along with additional member versions which contain that specific member's outer sleeve to package together all 3 album versions. The member versions are only available to official members of the Rocket Punch Japan fanclub who are living in Japan. That being said, I decided to preorder the 3 versions without even attempting to get a member version.

Some Japanese online retailers include their own preorder benefit, which is 1 of 3 random photocards containing 2 members, exclusive to each store.

I ordered from CDJapan, which doesn't have its own preorder benefit, however I wanted to try them out because purchases here will be calculated on the Oricon music charts, they support international shipping and PayPal, they explicitly state if an item is first press and therefore would come with a first press benefit, and there is an external bonus. The site is also in English, which is an added bonus.

I like how on the item page, CDJapan has tags stating if the album is First Press, Limited Edition, and includes an External Bonus. It also states the availability, along with how many of the initially supplied quantity is left. The first press tag is especially handy for the Regular Edition album, because this may be first press or an additional press, determining if I would receive the first press benefit or not.

Type A's first press benefit is a blue sticker sheet, Type B's first press benefit is a pink sticker sheet, and the Regular Edition's first press benefit is a purple sticker sheet. All 3 have a B2 double-sided ad poster as an external bonus.

Type A is 2,727¥, Type B is 2,273¥, and Type C is 1,818¥. To make the most on combined shipping, I searched through CDJapan's inventory for other Woollim artists, and saw that there was 1 copy left of Infinite's 2016 Season's Greetings at regular price of 5,039¥. I would usually only buy past season's greetings at a discount, but because this one is so hard to come by, there was only 1 left, and I was already making an order on CDJapan, I decided to buy it.

Below are the steps when I was checking out:

1. I entered the coupon code that CDJapan offers: 500¥ off coupon for purchases of 2,000¥ or more for first-time customers
2. There was a note that the default option is for all items in my order to be sent together in one package, but if I would prefer to have the items sent separately and pay additional shipping, I can select this option instead
3. External Bonus Preference is the default, but if I don't want the external bonus, I can check this box. At first I thought it was silly for people not to want the external bonus, but I read on and they mentioned how the external bonus can lead to larger packaging
4. Gift Options: You can select to mark your package as a gift on your custom form. This option is exempt for FedEx and DHL. There is also a callout that selecting this box doesn't necessarily make your package exempt from government fees. Another option within this section is to place your order in a gift bag, with the fee starting at 95¥. A gift message printed on a greeting card may be entered if this option is selected
5. Shipping: There is a nice pre-generated table that shows the various carriers, price, and average delivery time. I was given the options of DHL (4,487¥; 2-3 days), FedEx Priority (4794¥; 2-3 days), and EMS (7,330¥; 1-2 weeks). I chose DHL
6. I paid via PayPal. The total should be 15,844¥, however with PayPal's own conversion rate, it wanted to charge me $150.43 USD. I instead paid the 15,844¥ as is, which converts to $143.83 USD.

I had already placed my order a few weeks back, but as I was blogging the steps for checking out, I went through the motion of placing an order...and accidentally placed another order. It turns out, all the shipping, billing, and payment information is stored on your account, so all you have to do is click "Proceed to Checkout" and then "Place Order" instead of going through steps 2-5 above. I was able to cancel the order within my account page and I received an email confirmation via PayPal of my refund right away.

I received an email from CDJapan on August 2nd, stating that I need to pay an additional shipping fee due to the updated actual order weight and volume. I think this is a bit silly because the CDs are very small and light, meaning it must be the season's greetings released in late 2015 that was miscalculated. The email further stated that an invoice for the additional shipping fee of 3,269¥, and that if I don't reply within 1 week, the order will be cancelled. I received that second email from Paypal invoicing me that additional charge. Within a few hours, I replied to the original email asking to cancel my order. On August 3rd, I checked my order on CDJapan and saw that they had updated the Packaging Type of "long thick box" along with a photo of the type of exterior packaging and the dimensions. There was no button for me to cancel my order from the order page. On August 4th, CDJapan replied with confirmation of the cancellation and I received an email from Paypal with the full refund.

On August 2nd, I created a new CDJapan account so that I could use the first-time customer coupon. Luckily all 3 Rocket Punch albums still indicated that they are 1st press and comes with an external bonus. I placed my order for all 3 albums with DHL shipping; the shipping fee was 3,087¥. On August 4th, I received emails from both CDJapan and DHL confirming my order has been shipped, along with the tracking number. I also checked my order page and the Packaging Type was updated with "medium poster box" along with a photo of the type of exterior packaging and the dimensions.

On August 9th, I received my package! I was surprised at just how well packaged everything was! The cardboard box is quite sturdy and tightly secured. The size of the box was quite large as well, with dimensions 21.75" by 8" by 2.5".

The top had 2 layers of butcher paper. Underneath was more butcher paper crumpled up to fill up the entire box perfectly.

At the very bottom are the 3 CDs wrapped in a layer of bubblewrap and taped securely onto the bottom of the box. To the right are 3 skinny poster tubes. These tubes are 21.15" long and 1" in diameter.

I was surprised at just how secured the posters are! Each album comes with 1 external bonus poster, and each were individually wrapped with tissue paper (including the ends to protect the edges of the poster), placed into a narrow tube, and then with the ends of the tube dented inward so that the posters wouldn't slide out.

Here are how the posters look like out of their tubes. They are neatly wrapped with tissue paper, and there is a barcode sticker indicating that these are the Rocket Punch B2 posters.

And here are the 3 CDs, in perfect condition!

And lastly, I wanted to make sure that the first press benefit sticker sheets were included. All 3 sheets were included within the "Let's Dance" lyrics page of their respective booklets.

Overall, while a bit disappointed about the mishap of the extra shipping charge for the Infinite Season's Greetings, I'm really happy with CDJapan's careful packaging to ensure each item is properly protected. I'll definitely keep CDJapan in mind for future Japanese releases! As for these Bubble Up! albums, I'll be blogging about them in a future post.