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Old 2014-01-08, 01:20   Link #444
JediNight
キズランダム
 
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Belated reply: A pure debit card won't work, but most nowadays are branded with either Visa or Mastercard and will work ran as a credit transaction. If yours does, it SHOULD work.

The Japanese are still primarily cash, and don't have a good grasp on how US Debit cards work IMHO. When I tried to rent a phone in Japan, they told me they couldn't do it because my card said Debit on it. I pointed to the Mastercard logo and explained to them in Japanese that it also works as a credit card and not to worry. She absolutely refused to even attempt to run the card. Sigh.

I will say that my Mastercard-branded debit card works just fine through Honto.

Buying frequently with Honto
Something I've only recently become familiar with abusing: If you make purchases from Honto relatively frequently (Every 4-8 weeks), you can really keep some nice discounts rolling that really push them ahead of using Kinokuniya. Between the Point Bonus sales, Coupons, and Point Bonuses for orders over X amount; you can get up to like 30% off some orders. (They also offer 10x Point bonus for all orders over 10k yen. Which was boosted to something silly like a 35x bonus up to some total point amount for orders over 10k yen for Xmas)

IE: Last order was 5800yen for me, minus 600yen coupon, minus 850 points spent from my loyalty rewards -- order total became only 4400, AND I forget which I get ... but either 900 or 1250 point bonus for future purchases from the holiday sale, plus 370 points from 10x points on comics. So basically $58 of stuff for $44, and I have about $14 in credit towards future orders.

Last edited by JediNight; 2014-01-08 at 01:32.
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