Yahoo Japan Proxies - Recommendations?

Hi Gang,

Recently I found out that the Yahoo Japan proxy I use is shutting down. Does anyone have any recommendations for a Yahoo Japan proxy? Maybe perhaps one who's setup and fees are geared towards video gamers?

The reason I ask is because previously, I was used to buying lots of games/items from single sellers so that the bank transfer fees and local shipping wouldn't have to be duplicated multiple times (ie. you were charged for work only once, since it was a single transaction). I noted a few proxies on the internet were kind of sketchy in this department, so I figured maybe some fellow gamers might know better. (^_^)

Thanks,

 

Gaijin Punch does do a middleman service. You could give him a shout on here.

If I can get items myself from Japan, I usually use Shopping Mall Japan but you will get charged fees for money transfer/shipping combined into a single fee and then there's a general flat $3 or so rate for the warehouse staff to receive your items and eventually ship them out. If you were getting multiple items from the one seller, they combine everything and it works out cheaper.

If it's on a limited edition run if ordering from a store, I go to Paul/Gaijin Punch about it.

If you're after other things and need an emergency auction manually handled, then you could also try Jap-Sai/Arcade Gear as they also do middleman service work and typically only include that you need to pay for it in yen, to cover the currency fees and the actual item costs outright for the order to be made once you receive their PayPal invoice.

 

I'm guessing Paul was OP's proxy.

@ GP Hope you're ok bud, seems like mad times for you at present.

 

Aha, wasn't aware of that.

Anyway. I would recommend JapSai/Arcade Gear if you're after a more direct and similar service to what Paul gives as they are geared towards video gamers. ^^;

 

I've used Fromjapan.co.jp and Rinkya.com. FromJapan is has very low fees and are excellent for buying cheap stuff in bulk. However if something bad happens their customer service is hard to get a hold of. They are high volume, low margin, so it makes sense. I use them for getting random games, cheap consoles, and other misc low price items. (Also note, they use an annoying deposit system that makes you pay before you can bid. Now if you lose the bid you can get it back as a refund, but it is annoying.)

Rinkya is expensive, but for certain items it makes sense to use them, especially 1 of kind items you need to special shipping conditions so they arrive in mint condition. Their customer service is top notch and easy to get a hold of as well. Rinkya is also faster at shipping stuff out then FromJapan.

I also recommend sending Gaijin Punch a PM, he's a great guy. The only way into his proxy is by PMing or emailing him so don't do it last minute if you plan on buying something that has a limited time.

Edit: I wasn't aware GP wasn't kicking it around anymore. I wish him good luck in where ever he is.

 

so the news is out there. I was thinking of asking this myself. I kinda got used to the thought that there's always GP for the stuff in Japan.
Paul, why don't you just set up a good friend of yours, that's there, transfer the profit (albeit low) to him, and just keep this going? You weren't doing this for the money, we all know that. This was to help all of us wanting to get stuff from YJ

 

I use FromJapan, you should be able to find my referral link in the previous thread.

 

On fromjapan how do you use buy it now?

 

If it has one, you just enter the amount I believe. It tells you regardless.

 

I use Jauce.com for Japan and taobaofocus.com for China....

 

If I remember correctly, enter the "buy it now" price into the bidding field and it will automatically use the "buy it now" option.

 

I use Buyee because of customer service is really good. Only issue I have is, if you don't pay for protective packaging (They do go all out with protective materials) items get sent in bad ways. I had a poster shipped in a box which got crushed in 5 days it was in transit. I had my 360 faceplate sent in a envelope packaging was damaged but faceplate was fine. Seeing that they usually send out packages how they receive them, but as an end user I really don't know if they remove them from the packages and put them into worse ones. I guess that can happen with any proxy service.

You can buy in bulk with Buyee as well, however there's fees involved. I believe it's 500 yen for two packages together, and then 1000 for more than 3-5. Protective packaging costs 500 yen and then there's all their fees on top of this it can work out a little more than FromJapan (when using their calculator I find they are just $2-$3 cheaper) but everything is packed extremely well. I always have left over materials from how they pack. Sure I paid for it but I've sent around 5 packages with the materials they used

Another issue I should point out is, EMS is the only shipping option, so for small items it's 1000 yen. Anything under 1kg is the same price and there's no other options, some have reported if you ask them they'll ship by SAL etc but I haven't bothered with that.

Last expensive package I bought from Buyee was 20 XBOX games, and 3 anime and game figures larger than 12cm tall. I believe shipping was $140 or so by EMS. So be sure to calculate your auctions and packaging etc so you know the end amount because it can shock you if you don't.

All I found out from comparing FromJapan and Buyee is that FJ's Airmail prices are just a few dollars cheaper than their EMS service. When it comes to fees and so on I'm not sure who's cheaper but it'd be minimal I guess. Anyway, there's just my experience from Buyee's service.

 

Not the best in the world but I'm enjoying the down time. My last 3-4 years were my least profitable in my career, and I'm 39. So, I'm thinking for the long run it's probably better that that job ceased and I try the next thing.

I would, but someone would need to be VERY enthusiastic about it. I can't just "hand it off" to anyone now. There's too many things I do manually, and since it's scraping, it changes all the time. Honestly, I've fallen behind on a lot of the code side that I should have updated, and just don't have the time to do it. If someone wants to grab the torch, I'd entertain those talks, but I don't think I'll actively seek out such a person.

 

so, which Proxy would you guys recommend in the end. fromjapan, buyee, or rinkya?

 

I have used From Japan recently.

The general system is good but the bad thing is the automation.

I asked them to amend something with an order via email. Because I didn't do this in normal process they could not change it and it has now caused me to pay extra.

 

I've heard quite a bit of miscommunication from FromJapan. It's bound to happy with language barriers though. Which is why I like Buyee's automation service as there's not much communication to be made when making orders.

I can vouch for Buyee at the moment. Mixed reviews online, but my personal experience is still the same from my post above.

You can only try each one out, and see what's best for you.

 

I use FromJapan for about a year and I have the most positive experience. Yes, the language barrier exists, of course, but it had to endure. (Or learn Japanese ...)

 

Buyee is pretty good with their automation, but you certainly pay for what you get. No match compared to my previous proxy which was way better.

 

That's true, they are not cheap. At least the service matches the price, guess I can't complain about that.

 

I have used gamebaz.com once. They are fast replying by email.