The Fixer’s Edge: A Complete Guide to Sourcing Spare Parts in ReStory

The backbone of your mid-2000s Tokyo repair shop isn't just your skill with a screwdriver—it's your supply chain. In ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs, keeping your bench stocked with the right components is the difference between profit and ruin. There are three primary ways to get the parts you need: buying guaranteed new parts after purchasing an expensive device license, gambling on used “donor” devices from the marketplace, and purchasing randomized spare part boxes that appear daily. A fourth, more dubious route involves a character offering you questionably sourced components. Mastering the flow between these methods is crucial to your success.

Each path has distinct advantages and severe risks that will test your business sense. Relying solely on one method will either drain your bank account or leave you with a pile of useless junk. The truly savvy repair master knows when to invest, when to scavenge, and when to take a calculated risk on a mysterious box of electronics.

01

The Official Route: Buying New with a Licensetag

This is the most straightforward, reliable, and expensive method for acquiring parts. For certain devices, particularly newer or more complex ones, the game requires you to purchase a commercial license before you can even begin repairs. Once you own the license for a specific model, you gain access to a supplier of brand-new, guaranteed-to-work replacement parts. There's no guesswork and no risk of receiving a faulty component. When a customer brings in a high-end device like the 'non PMP', the story won't even progress until you pony up the cash for the license.

When Should You Invest in a License?tag

The decision to buy a license is usually made for you. Key story missions will gate your progress behind them, forcing your hand. For example, a recurring customer named Bucket will ask you to fix his non PMP, but you can't order the necessary parts until you've bought the license, which costs a staggering 40,000 yen. This is a significant cash sink early in the game. Beyond story requirements, a license is a smart investment for devices you see frequently in online orders. If you're constantly repairing the same model of phone or handheld console, the long-term benefit of having a reliable source for parts can outweigh the initial cost by saving you the time and money wasted on unreliable donor devices.

The Obvious Downside: The Price Tagtag

Let's be clear: licenses are a massive upfront expense. That 40,000 yen for the PMP license can feel like a punch to the gut when you're also trying to save for tool upgrades and pay your weekly rent. Pouring all your capital into a single license means you might not have the cash on hand for other opportunities, like snapping up a cheap donor device or buying the daily spare part boxes. It's a classic business dilemma: do you spend big on a guaranteed return, or do you spread your funds across riskier but potentially more lucrative ventures? In ReStory, you'll need to do both, but timing the purchase of a license is key. Hold off until the story absolutely demands it, and build up a cash reserve first.

02

Scavenging the Marketplace: The Donor Device Gambletag

The marketplace is your source for everything used, broken, and sold-as-is. Here, you can buy entire devices—like a beat-up flashlight or an old phone—with the sole intention of stripping them for parts. This is often the only way to find components for older, out-of-production electronics. When Inspector Sukamoto asks you to fix his flashlight, he explicitly tells you that the parts aren't made anymore and your only hope is to find a “donor in the marketplace.” This method is the high-risk, high-reward heart of the independent repair business.

How to Read the Listings (and Why You Can't Trust Them)tag

When browsing for a donor, you’ll see a description and a seller rating. Ignore them. The game makes it clear that these are often misleading. A five-star seller might ship you a device that's been dropped in a puddle and is corroded beyond saving. You truly don't know the internal condition of an item until it arrives at your shop and you crack it open. The best you can do is buy the cheapest available donor for the model you need and hope for the best. Sometimes you'll strike gold, getting a device where only the screen is cracked, leaving a dozen other pristine components for your inventory. Other times, you'll open it up to find the one part you needed is just as fried as the one on your bench.

The Risk vs. Reward Calculationtag

Buying a donor is always a gamble. You might spend 5,000 yen on a broken phone hoping for a working circuit board, only to find its board is shot, wasting your money. However, that same 5,000 yen could also yield a working battery, speaker, casing, and a handful of screws—parts that would have cost you far more to buy individually, if they were even available. This makes donors a cost-effective way to build a general parts inventory. When you get a donor, strip it down completely. Even if the main component you needed is broken, harvest every other working part and put it in your storage. That spare battery might be useless today, but it could save a different customer's device next week.

03

The Best Deal in Town? Random Spare Part Boxestag

Perhaps the most consistently valuable purchase you can make in ReStory is the spare part box. These appear for sale on the marketplace and come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. You have no idea what's inside them when you buy one, but the value proposition is fantastic. They are almost always a bargain, providing a random assortment of components for a fraction of what they would cost if sourced any other way.

These boxes are your secret weapon for building a deep and varied parts inventory. The contents are a lottery—you might get a handful of common screws and batteries, or you could find a rare circuit board for a device you haven't even seen yet. The key is consistency. Make it a habit to check the marketplace every single day as soon as you open the shop. The boxes aren't always there, and when they do appear, you should buy them immediately. The cost-to-part ratio is so good that it's never a wasted purchase. Over time, the steady influx of components from these boxes will mean you'll often have the part you need on hand already, allowing you to complete repairs instantly without having to order anything.

04

A Special Offer: Haruhi's Under-the-Table Partstag

Finally, there’s a unique opportunity that blends narrative choice with inventory management. Early in the game, you'll meet a character named Haruhi who will offer to send you spare parts she, quote, “comes across.” This is presented as a slightly shady deal, and you have the option to accept or decline her help. The game hints that these are questionably sourced parts, and accepting them may lead to negative consequences down the line.

However, from a pure gameplay perspective, the advice is clear: accept her offer the very first time she makes it. The transcripts suggest that if you initially refuse and try to accept later via email, the parts may never arrive, possibly due to a bug or a narrative flag being missed. Saying yes right away gets you a steady supply of free, albeit morally ambiguous, components for your shop. Whether this choice will come back to haunt you with the law or rival fixers remains to be seen, but for an early-game boost to your inventory, it's a risk worth taking.

The Final Taketag

There is no single “best” way to get parts in ReStory. The optimal strategy is a hybrid approach that adapts to your financial situation and immediate needs. Your daily routine should be to check for and buy any available spare part boxes. For day-to-day repairs of common devices, scavenging cheap donors from the marketplace is your workhorse method. It's a gamble, but it keeps costs low and builds a broad inventory. Reserve your big spending on licenses for when the main story forces your hand. By balancing these three methods—and maybe accepting a few shady parts from Haruhi—you'll keep your shelves stocked, your customers happy, and your dream of becoming Tokyo's best repair master alive.