Buying off Yahoo Japan

I have no idea where I should be putting this thread, but this seemed an alright place.

What I am wondering is if there is someone in Japan that is willing to buy something off Yahoo Japan for me then pass it on. Obviously I would pay all expenses and would also pay the person doing the work in Japan. Does this seem feasible to people, or would there be too many complications with money transfers, postage and all that.

Thanks in advance

 

Well I think you have 2 options.

1) use a deputy service like Rinkya, Celga or Otaku-ya
2) get a mate or forum contact to do it for you.

As regards complications etc, well there shouldn't be. Its pretty simple. Your contact/deputy buys the goods, receives the goods, charges you for goods price and postage to them and postage to you and commission, and then sends the goods to you.

Its just finding a kind soul to do it for you.

 

Finding someone who would be willing to do it for little or no commission would be preferable to something like Rinkya. I've used them before and they are pretty good, but they charge the earth. You usually ending up paying double the winning bid.

 

Sure. I've only ever used Otaku Ya and the fees were pretty reasonable. Fortunately now I have 2 mates in japan who bid for me (and who also share my pce, marty, saturn and md passion)

 

I'm fond of Akibado. They're a lot cheaper than Rinkya, and have excellent customer service. Plus, they also offer a 'personal import service' in which they'll scour various Japanese webshops (including Amazon!!) for that special item, although their fees are a little higher this way.

Just don't use any of the auction services if you need an item fast. I ordered something from Akibado this summer and it took close to three weeks for the item to arrive (even with EMS). It was no problem on their part, it's just that the entire process of bidding->payment->shipping to middleman->shipping to you can take some time.

 

Wow, that is cheaper. Rinkya's website annoys the hell out of me too. I'll have to give these guys a go. Thanks for the heads up

 

Getting a Japanese bank account is basically impossible if you were never a resident of Japan. So, that is pretty much out for everyone's that's never been in Japan long term.

 

Same problem with me... I find awesome items on Yahoo-JP..
But in 95% of the cases I have no luck contacting the seller.

I would prefer a reliable friend/person. Is there anyone on this forum willing to do this occasionally (for a small fee) ? :love2:

 

I do it but not for a small fee. Yahoo Japan shopping is a pain in the arse for many reasons. So you'll find that most if not all people won't do it for a small fee. Main problem is that most people have jobs which makes getting to the bank or Post Office to pay the seller a pain. Then you have to post it to the buyer who bought it from you. Ebter another trip on your lunch break or Saturday or Sunday when you really have better things to do.

Yakumo

 

I use http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com and have never once had an issue. Fees are much more reasonable than Rinkya. I highly recommend them if you can't find someone to do it for you on a one-to-one level.

 

aye, thanks for the info!
Im a newbie when it comes to shopping in Japan/Asia!
Got no experience with it except for 2-3 Ebay auctions.

Yakumo: Heh, sorry had no idea it is such a hassle.

 

It sucks. I remember before Rinkya & Celga, people used to offer me the meaty sum of 5 whole US dollars to bid on something for them.

 

Thanks everyone for your help, I'm now looking for thing I might buy

 

Damn, hope you didn't spend it all at once

 

Maybe I can finally get my hands on a NEC PC9821 RA43 *sigh
I wonder what the shipping costs will me.

Mmh, a lil off topic.. but does anyone know if those NECs use standart AT or ATX power supplies? What other standard components could be replaced with normal PC standard?

 

Yes -- I bought 2 apples and a banana with it. People didn't/don't realize that in Tokyo, peopel wipe their asses with $5. Gaijin anyway.

 

The main problem with these sort of companies is that they charge a high amount on low priced items. I browsed through the fee page of Shopping Mall Japan and no exception here too!

Base fee of 5 Dollars for an auction up to 2000 Yen! This is expensive.
I'm often wondering why so many people pay more at Yahoo Japan Auction (using those "services") than they would pay on eBay auctions. This is true especially for games in the 100-3000 Yen range.

Maybe it is the fact that they can finally bid on their own which lets them getting too excited and paying ridiculous amounts. Even if the auction ends at a lower price compared to eBay, adding wire transfer & shipping costs in Japan + the service fees pushes the price to eBay standards or higher very often.

What do we learn? If you want to make money in Japan don't sell videogames, offer a service like Shopping Mall Japan.

I had a good laugh by the way about this rule:
"[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]Our example auction is currently at 8,000 yen and user #1 is currently the high bidder with a max of 10,000 yen. User number #2 decided's they want to try for the item, and bids 15,000 yen. The auction ends, and user #2 wins, however; the auction amount is still at 8,000 yen! Why? Because using our same account we simply raised the maximum bid instead of bidding with another account......thus saving you money and keeping the ending price lower![/size][/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]However, for this service we charge $2.00 per ¥1,000 (rounded up) on the difference between the actual cost and the last high bid you defeated to win the auction. So user #2 would pay an additional $4.00 in commission. (¥10,000- ¥8,000 = ¥2,000)"[/size][/font]

Sure the highest bid won't rise if they bid again with their own account. This is how the Yahoo auction system works. Charging 2 bucks per 1000 Yen for something which has nothing to do with Shopping Mall Japan is funny.

Anyway, happy bidding!

M.

 

The only reason to go to YJ via an auction service rather than eBay is for items that are either particulary rare or unavailable on eBay. I don't think anyone would shop on YJ if it was available at eBay at a lower price.

 

What you say makes perfect sense.

But if I look at the bids from Rinkya, Celga and Chaosjapan (=Shopping Mall Japan???) I see that totally common items are bought too.

You know, I once did that too for some people. And they didn't only purchase rare stuff. Also very easy to get Gamecube or Xbox titles...

My theory: as soon as you can purchase directly from Japan you won't find it necessary anymore to use ebay, maybe?!?

Take care!

M.