New to buying from yahoo japan

[Grinwing]

Anyone have some good tips/tricks when buying from yahoo japan? Also which services do you use or recommend and which should be avoided.

This will be the first time I have done this and I have no clue what to expect.

 

[ChopstickSamurai]

I've used rinkya.com a few times to purchase things from Yahoo Auctions Japan. Be sure you read their site carefully and have a good understanding of their fees before you bid. They have a handy calculator to compute fees prior to bidding and it's always a good idea to use it. It's a great service, but you certainly pay for the convenience of easily buying things from Japanese sellers. That being said it's been worth it to me as I've been able to lay hands on items I wouldn't have been able to if not for the service.

As for tips it's all about luck, what your looking for, and what the exchange rate is. The higher the exchange rate the better deal for you.

Good luck!

 

[Neorebel]

Thanks for sharing that info. Would be cool if this turned into a guide to be sticked somewhere...

 

[WupWuh]

I've used shopping mall Japan in the past for my YAJ fix. They were always really good about packaging and shipping.

You can certainly find some deals on YAJ (unless STV catches wind of something) but between shipping and proxy bidder fees, well it can add up rather quickly. I learned this when I decided to bid on a Bishi Bashi panel. It was worth it though.

 

[gusmoney]

There was a thread in early 2014 that covered this topic pretty extensively in terms of people's experiences and tips:

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?255566-Yahoo!-Japan-auction-site

 

[ebinsugewa]

The yen is dogshit right now (at least -> USD) so it's a good time to buy.

 

[Ren-chan]

There is also this site:
http://www.tenso.com/en/

Quite good and they have a calculator if you want to test first before trying (including shipping)

 

[itsofrustratin]

Im curious on ppls experience on importing things from Japan..people in Canada in particular. Im curious how much added cost importing from Japan adds. As an AES collector i prefer Japanese versions..not just for the price (although thats the main factor) but also the artwork. Most of the AES carts near me tend to be expensive US versions though.

 

[xelement5x]

The only advice I can really give is to send stuff surface mail if you are are ordering a lot and in no rush to receive it soon. It's super duper cheap, but normally takes like just under 2 months to arrive to me in the US. Longer, if there is a port strike in progress :|

 

[Heinz]

I just used a place called Buyee.jp, looks like they're owned by Tenso. I've had no issues whatsoever with these guys, 4 transactions down. I've heard some people complaining about shipping prices from their warehouse, especially when consolidating multiple packages into one. I thought the fee's were acceptable, each to their own.

 

[TheSegaDude]

I'm in Canada and for many years I've have been buying Japanese Sega Mega Drive games from Japan. Mostly from an ebay seller called hit-japan.
Until recently shipping use to be about $7 US per game. Now $15 is common.
I have never had to pay duty on any package from Japan.
But with the current strength of the US dollar I have pretty much stopped shopping online.

When I was collecting AES I also had some complete home carts shipped to me. They were about $20 UD in shipping each. And again I never had to pay duty. Hopefully the CAD will bounce back a bit

Im curious on ppls experience on importing things from Japan..people in Canada in particular. Im curious how much added cost importing from Japan adds. As an AES collector i prefer Japanese versions..not just for the price (although thats the main factor) but also the artwork. Most of the AES carts near me tend to be expensive US versions though.

 

[itsofrustratin]

Thanks for the advice guys, doesnt sound like importing from japan is as expensive as a i thought. I definitely feel you about the Canadian dollar right now...add 25% on the price right at the bat plus shipping fees and sometimes brokerage fees, before you know it the price for the item has doubled. I wish i got into neo collecting when the dollar was at par...probably going to hold off on getting rarer carts until the dollar gets better but with the price of oil noise diving ,it probably wont happen for a while. If it wasnt for the fact i got lucky and found an AES on kijiji for a good price , i wouldnt have bought one.

 

[Fox1]

I just used a place called Buyee.jp, looks like they're owned by Tenso. I've had no issues whatsoever with these guys, 4 transactions down. I've heard some people complaining about shipping prices from their warehouse, especially when consolidating multiple packages into one. I thought the fee's were acceptable, each to their own.

Buyee is fine if you are sending via EMS. The problem is they flat out lie about not being able to send via Surface. I wanted a monitor shipped here via Surface since EMS was something lime $300 and they replied saying that it was too big. I then told them to send it to a friend in Japan and he sent it, along with other things packed into it via Surface. That one really irritated me.

 

[BTD]

For the life of me I can't figure out how to calculate shipping. How would I know what to bid? I mean, you pay shipping twice.

 

[jacket]

For the life of me I can't figure out how to calculate shipping. How would I know what to bid? I mean, you pay shipping twice.

Here are are some prices on postages inside Japan. Sellers usually uses the Yu Pack service. For a single AES/MVS game Yu Pack size 60 is around 600-1300 Yens depending on location.

 

[aoiddr]

With Shopping Mall Japan, it's always hit or miss figuring out the shipping as they just add the seller's shipping cost and their cost for sending the package to their U.S. office together. I generally just add $13-15 USD to the sell price if it's something small as that generally covers their service/transaction/shipping fees. For MVS and PCBs, it's more like add $20-25.

 

[evil wasabi]

Build a time machine and go back to 2001.

Best advice I can give.

 

[Heinz]

Buyee is fine if you are sending via EMS. The problem is they flat out lie about not being able to send via Surface. I wanted a monitor shipped here via Surface since EMS was something lime $300 and they replied saying that it was too big. I then told them to send it to a friend in Japan and he sent it, along with other things packed into it via Surface. That one really irritated me.

Aye, good point. I generally tend not to bother with anything of decent weight because of that. I'd pick another service if I was aiming at shipping large quantity's or heavy hardware. eg car parts etc.