Fall 2019 Update

Finally, some time to sit down and give a proper update!

Group Orders

This time I'll be covering all information about the Shining Store, from the first Shopping Service in August to the current group pre-orders. So if you signed up for any of these, the information probably applies to you!

• Shining Store Shopping Service (from August): If you had any "sold out" items in your invoice, I'm retiring store pickups so that I can focus on the online group orders and trading items. If there's anything you didn't get that you still want to buy and don't mind waiting until February/March of next year, please sign up for the Shining Web Store group order!
• Shining Web Store Trading Item Group Order: If you signed up before September 10th, I've picked up some trading items from the store already so I can have more time to exchange for requested characters. My next visit will probably not be until the end of this month, but I aim to pick up more at that time. If you only ordered trading items and I finished getting everything you asked for, I can send it sooner than the posted February/March release.
• Shining Web Store General Item Group Order: I'll start sending invoices this weekend. If you pay before the end of September, I may be able to pick up items from the pop-up store. If I get everything from your sign-up, I can send it early; if not, I'll hold what I have and combine it with the online order. If you ordered trading items, it may take extra time if I haven't finished trading.
• Other Group Orders: Broccoli Girls Shop (Color Ribbon series),  anime Japan, and Heavens Garden items came in a while ago. I'm holding orders for anyone who also bought merch from Dream Star Live and Secret Garden Party, which isn't in yet. All of these orders are NOT eligible to be combined with Shining Web Store, as I'm trying to send everything out by the end of the year.

If you haven't signed up for the above group orders, you can find the sign-up forms in my Group Order Information page. The deadline is coming up soon on Wednesday, September 25th.

I don't know what UtaPri will come up with next, but right now I don't plan to host another group order for the rest of this year. If I do, the new combined shipping period will start AFTER I ship all of the Shining Store stuff to everyone.

Other News

• I've just recently set up a Google Pay account and I'm looking into how the payment procedure works. So far I want group orders and shipping invoices to go to PayPal, and general sales (items in my inventory for instant purchase) to go to Google Pay or some other payment method. I had one person test this so far and they ended up downloading the app, but I would prefer for people to be able to pay the invoice without having to download anything new. Hopefully I can figure things out by the end of the year!
• Congratulations to those who were able to see Maji Love Kingdom in North America (or are seeing it soon)! I've seen a few tweets from people who want to petition for a UK screening, I hope that happens!
• I recently went to Tokyo Game Show, and sadly there wasn't anything other than a display for (yet another) release of Repeat for the Nintendo Switch. I was there for other reasons anyway but I did take a picture (seen above).
• Some of you may remember a post I made on my Tumblr last year about popularity rankings when it comes to trading. I've been doing a lot of trading this year and noticed some changes ever since Maji Love Kingdom, and I found it very interesting so I hope to write about it soon!

For now that's all I have to report! With only two pre-orders left this year I'm hoping to have time to reorganize everything for next year, but for now it looks like I won't have to quit hosting group orders completely!☆