While an English version of DLsite was opened a couple of years ago that contains much of the content of the Japanese version, inevitably a few desirable titles slip through the cracks, and as of posting the professional sites aren’t available in English at all. Fortunately for fans outside Japan, foreign credit cards are currently allowed on the Japanese side of the site; unfortunately, to take advantage of this one must be versed in some rudimentary aspects of the Japanese language. Until now! Our latest FAQ installment brings detailed instructions on how you too can partake in the bounty of formerly forbidden doujin and eroge goodness:
We begin our quest with the hypothetical desire to purchase Anime Lilith‘s Kangoku Senkan (forgetting for the moment that it’s also available on the English side). This purchase will be conducted as a guest user; user registration is slightly more complicated and will be covered in a subsequent post.
April 15th, 2008 Update: DLsite updated the visual look of their interface today and the screenshots below are no longer current in that regard; all of the site functions remain the same however, and the purchasing procedure doesn’t differ from before. I’ll replace the screenshots with updated versions when I get the chance.
Step 1: Add Products to Cart
When you first browse to a product page you will find the “add to cart” button below the product’s sample image. It will be red, like the first image above. Clicking that button will turn it blue, indicating that the product is in your cart; you can either click it once more or click on the cart icon in the upper right, and you will be taken to the shopping cart screen.
Step 2: Manage Cart and Proceed to Checkout
At the shopping cart screen you have various options. You can remove items from the cart, recalculate the total amount of the purchase, and when you’re ready, choose a payment method. You choose the method by clicking on the appropriate icon below the user status with which you wish to make the purchase. We’re purchasing as a guest user with a credit card, so we click the yellow “credit card” button to proceed.
Step 3: Enter Payment Details
The image above shows the credit card payment screen. Instructions on how to fill in each field are written in red next to the appropriate item, along with an example entry featuring my own most private bogus personal details. The instructions should be fairly self-explanatory; if you would like any clarification on any of these points please let me know.
Step 4: Confirm Payment Details and Proceed to Download
In the final step you can check to make sure your payment details are correct, and when you’re ready, press the [決済] (kessai, settlement) button at the lower left. Your transaction will be processed and you will be automatically taken to the download screen, where you can retrieve your purchased item.
I would have a picture of the download screen here except DLsite didn’t like Heisei Q’s credit card for some reason, and I already have my own copy of Kangoku Senkan. I know the system works, but didn’t have the foresight to grab screenshots of past purchases; if there is a kind soul out there who could grab a download screen for me it would be much appreciated, otherwise I’ll update this post the next time I make a purchase myself.
Purchasing as a guest is a good option if you’re only after the odd item on an infrequent basis, but if you plan to be a regular DLsite customer you might want to consider signing up for a (free) user account. This allows you to flag your favorite items and circles, earn points that can be put toward future purchases, and redownload past purchases at any time should you lose them in a hard drive malfunction. Registering as a user is slightly more complex than making a guest purchase; the process is similar though, and we’ll bring you the details in a subsequent FAQ post.
Any questions or comments? Feel free to direct them to me via email, or in the comments section! And finally – if you find this guide useful, I’d be honored if you would consider purchasing at DLsite via the HD affiliate.
Thanks for the tip! I never even bothered to try the Japanese side because I figured they would have the good sense to limit the credit cards. I should have guessed, though. 99% of time they rely on Security through the Japanese Language, which is obviously too much for any gaijin to deal with :)
To my knowledge, DLsite’s initial policy back when they started up was exactly as you say – security through incomprehensibility. After awhile they realized that foreigners had figured out the system and were purchasing items from the shop, and in reaction they did actually shut down foreign card access for a time; they’ve since re-enabled access, so I’m guessing they’re aware of the foreign access but don’t see a problem with it as long as the status quo is preserved.
One theory might be that now that foreigners can sell on Japanese DLsite it wouldn’t make sense not to let them register accounts there too, or perhaps it saves them the headache of managing two different processing systems for the different language versions.
They’re letting us do it now for whatever reason, so I’m happy. :3
The fact that they’re allowing us to *sell* on the Japanese side is surprising as well. Maybe they’re finally waking up to the world marketplace. Less effort and more money doesn’t hurt, either. :) Now, if only the rest of Japan would follow suit…
Except that DLsite doesn’t accept parody works from foreigners. :S
Anyway, there is no way to express the awesome of this FAQ. Thanks Shingo.
Thank you again, Shingo, for your contribution to the English speaking world on this exclusively Japanese hobby. Without your assistance, I think I will still be buying bootlegged stuff passed off as originals from my local shops.
Wow, thank you SO much. I was just griping over this yesterday. Trying for hours to get it to complete my order with no success. This has been infinitely helpful. It looks like it was the “desired email format” option that was messing me up. Thank you!
THank you so much for this guide, Shingo. You have provided an invaluable service to all non-Japanese otaku all over the world.
Does DLsite make an additional charge when purchasing with credit card being guests?
>>Nemo_N
Now that I didn’t know. I can see why they don’t (to avoid getting in hot water with international rights holders with different standards and stances on derivative parody works) but still, that’s pretty lame.
>>turtle
There is no additional charge for purchasing as a guest instead of registering. If you register you get a small percentage of the fee from each purchase credited to your account for future purchases, but not enough to matter if you only buy things occasionally.
I’m glad this is proving useful for everyone! Please do let me know if there is anything I can clarify about the process.
Kangoku Senkan was so awesome. I flipped out the first time I saw it on DLSite and bought it right away.
Thanks for the great info Shingo! If you end up further revising this FAQ, you may also want to mention how to handle encrypted items as indicated on the item’s description by orange text reading 動作確認が成功しない場合、ご購入いただいても動作いたしませんのでご注意ください。
>>0405
I had the same reaction. Such a great game… I hope they get Kagami back on design duty in the future, I like what he’s done with Lilith a good deal more than his work with Bishop (though I like that too).
>>Elegant Succubus
Thanks for bringing that up. Basically what it says is that you need to download items that are protected via Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, on Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, with administrator permissions enabled. An ActiveX protocol is engaged that you’ll have to allow to run active content in the browser to proceed with the download. Purchasing as a guest via this system means that the product is registered according to your specific OS and hardware configuration – reformatting the drive or reinstalling the OS makes the software inoperable.
http://home.dlsite.com/protect/user
Personally I’d recommend against purchasing this sort of DRM protected software via DLsite unless you’re registered as a user (which will let you redownload it any time you want); I’ll address this point in more detail in the next installment of the FAQ. Thanks again for bringing it up!
I’d recommend avoiding DLSite’s DRM’d content totally, whether you’re a registered user or not. It’s horribly restrictive, and it turns something that should be incredibly simple(in this case, purchasing a PDF from DLSite Books of a tankoubon that’s been freely available on the internet for over a decade) into something cumbersome, laborious and very nearly broken.
I love the idea of DLSite Books, and some of the content that’s already up there is golden, but I’m going to be avoiding it altogether if the DRM system isn’t reworked/removed/fixed.
>>0405
Thanks for the additional information. I’ve never bought a DRMed product from DLsite but I’ll definitely avoid them in the future, and avoid recommending them… a pity they chose to go that route with the books. It doesn’t make much sense, especially for the old ones, as you say; it’s frustrating that they chose to break some of the volumes in half and sell them for twice the price, too. I know it’s standard practice at other eromanga download sales sites but it’s still pretty nonsensical.
>>Shingo
To go through a brief rendition of what the process was:
I wasn’t able to download the file on my Mac, so I had to switch to my Vaio and use IE. Once in IE, I found out that I had to change the default security settings to allow their custom ActiveX controls. I installed the first one; presumably this is the one that registers the PC information. I thought that, after this, I’d be able to download the zip. After that installed, I had to install a second ActiveX control; I wasn’t sure what this one was for, but from what I can tell, it only served to download(very slowly) the zip. Once the zip was downloaded, I was told that I had to reboot my computer(I’m still not sure why). Once rebooted, I unzipped the file, tried to run the executable and was given an error that some HTML page couldn’t be found. By this point, it’d been about a half an hour and I’d completely lost interest in the content and the $8 I spent on it, so I figured I’d cut my losses, delete it and be done with it. Running the application, though, even if you close it, completely locks down the folder, so I had to reboot once again to delete it.
To contrast, this morning I purchased the completely awesome “ヌう…!” and the entire transaction, download and all, was finished in under 5 minutes.
Holy crap, ヌう…! looks great. I didn’t realize 双成双成双成 sold on DLsite, much less that he was putting recent material online… If I can’t find this in physical copy I think I’ll be joining you in the purchase very soon. I have his Nice Naut (which is indeed nice), but futanari Viletta is a must.
Thanks again for the detail on the irksome DRM, that sounds like a nightmare. I’ll definitely be avoiding it in the future.
I’m going to have to check out Nice Naut, too. I was pretty astounded by the price versus content ratio in ヌう…!. The main CorneliaXVilleta futa love fest is only about 10 pages long, but the remaining pages are comprised of of three three page shorts featuring Nina, Karen and NunnalyXSayoko, then one page(only one ;-;) with Lakshata.
Thanks for the awesome guide! Does anybody know if this method will work on http://www.dmm.co.jp?
Another tip: if an item on the English site is DRMed, sometimes the same item on the Japanese site won’t be so encumbered, so it’s worth checking.
Can I purchase with check card(debit)?
>>lee
I personally haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t as long as they haven’t blocked foreign cards.
>>slackbp
Thanks for the tip, I didn’t know the English side was more aggressive with the DRM. Seems kind of silly to have it unequally applied.
>>MooMan
As long as your card has a Visa/MasterCard etc. logo on it it should be possible to use. My card is a check card from an American bank and it works fine.