What is the best value Yahoo! Auctions Japan redirection service?

Alright, I've got my shipping quote for my From Japan order, so let's break down the fees and compare From Japan vs Buyee. I'm comparing just the fees, since the item's value and the cost of shipping it to you will be the same regardless of who you use

Item #1: PC Engine Body

From Japan
Commission Fee = ￥200
System Usage Fee = ￥65
Domestic delivery charge = ￥390
Bank transfer fee = ￥168
TOTAL = ￥823

Buyee
Buyee Service Fee = ¥500
Payment Fee = ¥200
Domestic Shipping Fee = ¥390
TOTAL = ¥1090

Item #2: Boxed PlayStation

From Japan
Commission Fee = ￥200
System Usage Fee = ￥75
Domestic delivery charge = ￥1080
Bank transfer fee = ￥168
TOTAL = ￥1523

Buyee
Buyee Service Fee = ¥500
Payment Fee = ¥200
Domestic Shipping Fee = ¥1080
TOTAL = ¥1780

As you can see, From Japan is indeed cheaper! For the PC Engine body there's ¥267 difference and for the boxed PlayStation a ¥257 difference. Combine that with the fact that From Japan have a greater range of shipping by default (you have to send a message to Buyee and request SAL shipping if you want it), allow PayPal to be used for everything and have a better bidding, sniping and watch system and I think From Japan is the clear winner here.

 

Plus, if you buy enough, you get discounts on shipping with FromJapan!

 

Really? How do you become eligible for that? I brought 12 items and it looks like I'm up for $200 shipping :\

 

Thats what their ranking system is. Its not much, and you have to buy a lot to really get up there, but still. It only updates every so often
http://www.fromjapan.co.jp/title/charge#member_rank

 

I am Tonosama now

 

So From Japan refunded my charge 2 payment (minus 1 penny) and has given me the option to select FedEx. However, the current exchange rate is 1 USD = ~94 JPY, according to PayPal. Does anyone know if the exchange rate will get better in a couple of days?

 

My crystal ball is in the shop.

 

It was shipped out today via FedEx. Fingers crossed for it to arrive with no problems.

 

My FromJapan order is near complete. So we shall see how the shipping goes. I normally use Rinkya, so the saving is rather significant so far. Here's a break down of two items I purchased. Fireaza, if you want to put this in your first post feel free to copy it.

Item #1: Char Gundam Gamecube

From Japan
Commission Fee = ￥200
System Usage Fee = ￥400
Domestic delivery charge = ￥800
Bank transfer fee = ￥168
TOTAL = ￥1,268

Rinkya (If I had purchased the same item from them)
Rinkya Base Seller Fee = $15 or ￥1,425 (Cover's domestic shipping charge and YJP seller fee. If it's less than $15 Rinkya pockets the money, if more they add the charge during shipping)
Rinkya Commission = $23 or ¥2,185
TOTAL = ¥3,610



Item #2: Silver (Platinum) Gamecube Player

From Japan
Commission Fee = ￥200
System Usage Fee = ￥15
Domestic delivery charge = ￥1000
Bank transfer fee = ￥168
TOTAL = ￥1,383

Rinkya
Rinkya Base Seller Fee = $15 or or ￥1,425
Rinkya Commission Fee = Free as item is under 1000 yen
TOTAL = Â¥1,425 (Note: had this item bid reached 1,000 yen I would of had to pay a minimum of $15 or ￥1,425 of commission on top of the seller fee.)


Fee wise, it looks like there aren't many services that beat FromJapan in the 100 yen to 10,000 yen item ball park. I have bundled a total of 5 items, and fee wise FromJapan is saving me around $80 when compared to Rinkya. I still have to wait and see how my FromJapan order will arrive so, I won't give the thumbs up just yet. In the past when I used Rinkya they had fantastic service and shipping, so hopefully FromJapan is the same way. Rinkya's fee's were back breaking though for items ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 yen as the fee charge ended up making items in those range double in price without even shipping out. This is why I gave FromJapan a try. Item's 40,000yen + Rinkya has a flat $40 commission charge so it's not bad service for really expensive items.

 

Man, Rinkya are really expensive ain't they? They would be OK for purchases under ￥1000, but you can't really get items that cheap. I guess they would be OK for animation cels, since you can often get those for under ￥1000, and I think they have some kinda discount for cels. Even then, I suspect From Japan would still be slightly cheaper, as you showed in your example.

I'll add your info to my OP, since it has a Rinkya comparison, which would be useful.

I had my FJ order posted today! The AUD is kinda at a low, so I ended up paying $235 in shipping and fees :\

 

I would have received my package from FedEx today, but I got a call from them after I changed the status to "Will pick up from facility" and told them that I had work today and that I'd be able to pick it up tomorrow.

Overall, there shouldn't be any problems with customs using FedEx, at least to the United States. I think From Japan just wanted to scare me out of paying the cheaper option so that they'd get a cut.

 

The FedEx thing was from what other people said online, so it does happen often enough for it to come up.

 

If I get a package sent FedEx over USPS to Japan, I will have a duty on it, and they will tack on a 500 yen service fee. This is how they invisible fuck their customers. They basically pay it in advance w/o asking, and customs of course doesn't tell them they don't have to. Something like this anyway.

My guess is it's a company-wide policy.

 

The "problem" is the all these custom/duty/brokerage fees/tax stuff is specific to each country, and also depends on the specific shipping service. For instance, here in canada I usually get no extra fees from USPS, but UPS from usa charge obsene Brokerage fees. All this stuff can be a pain to figure out so both expeditors and shipping companies usually wont talk about it which can make for a nasty surprise.

Before I got my first Fedex shipment off FromJapan, I tried to ask all the questions but apparently no one really knew on FromJapan Side. I called at Fedex and they told me that there are no Brokerage fees with Fedex Express. But there might have with some other Fedex service, but they assured me it would not happen with Fedex Express.
They told me that the customs of my specific country ( Canada in my case ) could charge some duty but this was specific for each jurisdiction and could not tell.

So I get the package with Fedex express, nothing to pay upon receipt.
However 3 weeks later I receive a Fedex Bill. Custom charged fedex Retail tax on the declared value of the items. Which was <5$ so not too bad. But then fedex charged me 10$ extra as "Advance fees" ... I was quite pissed and called fedex to ask them what this BS was about. They told me it was a fixed amount they charged to recipient whenever they needed to make payment to custom for you.

I asked how I could avoid it and they actually explained it to me. What I had to do is register an account with Fedex and give them my credit card number. So whenever there is custom clearance to pay they bill it to the credit card and you do not get charged the "Advance fees".
The catch though Is for this to work you need to give your fedex account number to the expeditor ( FromJapan in this context ). And they need to write it down and a Box in the shipping form. "Like bill clearance fees to: #account "

If this is not done, they will not bill it to your account and you get the 10$ fee and you need to call them and its a hassle.

Well, hope this helps some people out. This is for Canada, might be completely different in other countries but I expect the Register to Fedex trick works for everyone.

 

Man, it sounds like Fedex isn't worth it. SAL is also cheaper, and doesn't pull shit like this.

 

We don't have import tax here, except for something known as "Goods and Services Tax" (GST), which is basically import tax that gets imposed on you if you import stuff exceeding 400 SGD in value. Since it's not import tax, you can't avoid it by marking it as a gift. Clever eh?

When I ship my stuff from FromJapan, I noticed that larger stuff that should either go via SAL or Surface has so far cost less to be shipped by Fedex. This means that this problem of shipping costs being really costly for shipping via Fedex is definitely country/territory-specific, like what MaxWar said.

This probably means that you should know what you can do and cannot do with the customs of your country, and go with the best shipping method.

 

This being said, here too Fedex ended up being cheaper than Surface or Sal. Well, maybe not when you consider the Sale tax on receipt, but its 15% of the declared value. Even if this makes the total shipping cost of fedex slightly higher than Surface or Sal, It'still worth it considering you get your stuff under 1 week with tracking number.

 

We have that here too (it even has the same name!), though our import tax limit is $1000. I'm talking about the totals provided by From Japan themselves though, on my postage screen, Fedex was almost as expensive as EMS.

 

Didn't know tax was involved after a certain amount. Thought we outright didn't have it. Glad I know now

 

USPS never charged me using shoppingmalljapan. I still haven't paid one cent in lifetime customs duty.