Buying off Yahoo Japan
Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:16 pm
Ever wanted an item from Yahoo Japan but realize almost all seller do not ship internationally?
Well, there are many bid services out there that can help you out. A "middle-man" if you will. A service that will bid on and win the item, pay for it, receive it, and finally ship it to you. I myself use Rinkya.
Pros to Rinkya:
1) Incredible browser and real time bidding system. If you want to bid you do it yourself and it's put in immediately. With some other services, you have to msg them and tell them how much you want to bid, and they manually do it themselves whenever they can. This is not something ONLY Rinkya does, however they do it really well. Their search indexes are great as well as their browser. Many people who use non-Rinkya services actually still use Rinkya's browsing system.
2) Extremely friendly staff. If you need to talk to them they get back to you within 24hrs usually and you don't get some cut & paste response. It's personal and they truely listen to you and answer any questions.
3) Best shipping I've ever had, every single time, nobody or no business has even come close. The boxes have 1/4" cardboard. It may add to overall weight, but if you're buying something off Yahoo Japan, chances are it's quite fragile.
4) Honors shipping requests. I have had many shipping requests that have been fufilled. I wanted my Raiden Kubrick double boxed - no prob. I wanted my black sorter double boxed - no problem. I asked if they could ship something seperate from everything else - no problem. Whenever I ask for a shipping request, they say they will pass it on to the warehouse, and 100% of the time they've honored it. NO hassle, no run-around. They do what you ask.
5) No actual deposit needed. They only approve your credit card for a deposit amount (you're NOT charged) and you get to bid 5x what you're approved for. I initially started with a $10 pre-approval so I could bid up to $50. I was NEVER charged that $10, my card was only approved to be charged $10 if Rinkya decided to do so. Since then I've asked for increases in my max bidding a few times, and because of my track record with them they up it without even pre-approving my card! So for a $10 pre-approval I can bid $1000US on Yahoo Japan. *NOBODY can match that!* Some places you have to send 50% of your max bid (or more) via paypal first, even if you don't win now you gotta get a refund which who knows if paypal will screw with you on exchange rates (e.g. giving you bad rates both ways)
6) Great MyRinkya bookmark system similiar to ebay's watch list.
7) FAST as hell shipping. If I choose EMS whenever I hit "ship now" to send my items I get them within 5 business days of placing my request. I order my items on a monday, I get em next monday.
8 ) Will quickly contact the seller if you have a question. I've contacted them to ask a seller a question and they send 2 emails. 1 that they emailed the seller and are awaiting a response, the 2nd will be the response.
CONS:
1) Fees are the highest in the business. It is a $15 service charge no matter what you buy, and then it's another $15 AND $1 for every 1,000Y the item costs. Items 1,000Y and under do not have this charge, items 40,000Y to 100,000Y have a flat fee $40. I'm sure this is confusing, so I will give you examples.
(all prices are US dollars unless noted as Y, I'm using a conversion rate of 100Y = $1USD to make life easier)
Item sale price: 1,000Y. Cost to you: $10 (1,000Y) + $15 (service charge) + $0 (final value fee) = $25US. 150% of item cost in fees!
Item sale price: 5,000Y. Cost to you: $50 (5,000Y) + $15 (service charge) + $20 (final value fee of $15US + $5) = $85US. 70% of item cost in fees!
Item sale price: 15,000Y. Cost to you: $150 (15,000Y) + $15 (service charge) + $30 (final value fee of $15 + $15) = $195US. 30% of item cost in fees (getting better)
Item sale price: 80,000Y. Cost to you: $800 (80,000Y) + $15(service charge) + $40 (flat rate final value fee) = $855. Just under 7% of item cost in fees (that's great!)
The shipping is actual + 25% which is fair. This it not a "con" I just may as well mention is as I'm mentioning fees.
2) Poor exchange rate on the yen. Last I checked 1USD was worth 110Y, but Rinkya is only giving 102Y. They only update their rate it seems monthly, but all services do give a lower than actual rate.
To sum it all up, Rinkya offers such a great service to me I probably won't use anything else. And as you can see, the more valuable the item you buy the better their fees get in relation to the price of what you're buying. They pack their items so well you I have no fears of damage whatsoever. They list my items as "Used games and toys" so I never git hit with duty no matter how much the package is worth (with a few times declared value over $500).
If I was to buy something cheap and unlikely to get damaged I would consider another service. Like if I was going to buy a plush Chocobo or a stylish japanese sweatshirt I'd definately look elsewhere. However if I'm buying an MGS2 Raiden where it seems 50%+ have broken swords due to being so fragile I'd go Rinkya. Sometimes in life you get what you pay for.
*ANYWAYS* I hope you find this useful as this post took me quite a while to do heh.
I'd also like to say the Japanese are the absolute top culture for taking care of their collectibles. I've never once even been remotely close to being disappointed with the quality of an item. Many items that are sealed will even arrived with extra wrapping around the factory seal to protect the original shrink wrap! They go the extra mile to protect things. And with Rinkya secure shipping, if you want an item in NEW condition - you get it that way. No more being disappoint by ebay sellers.
Ok that's it I'm out of posting energy for tonight.
Well, there are many bid services out there that can help you out. A "middle-man" if you will. A service that will bid on and win the item, pay for it, receive it, and finally ship it to you. I myself use Rinkya.
Pros to Rinkya:
1) Incredible browser and real time bidding system. If you want to bid you do it yourself and it's put in immediately. With some other services, you have to msg them and tell them how much you want to bid, and they manually do it themselves whenever they can. This is not something ONLY Rinkya does, however they do it really well. Their search indexes are great as well as their browser. Many people who use non-Rinkya services actually still use Rinkya's browsing system.
2) Extremely friendly staff. If you need to talk to them they get back to you within 24hrs usually and you don't get some cut & paste response. It's personal and they truely listen to you and answer any questions.
3) Best shipping I've ever had, every single time, nobody or no business has even come close. The boxes have 1/4" cardboard. It may add to overall weight, but if you're buying something off Yahoo Japan, chances are it's quite fragile.
4) Honors shipping requests. I have had many shipping requests that have been fufilled. I wanted my Raiden Kubrick double boxed - no prob. I wanted my black sorter double boxed - no problem. I asked if they could ship something seperate from everything else - no problem. Whenever I ask for a shipping request, they say they will pass it on to the warehouse, and 100% of the time they've honored it. NO hassle, no run-around. They do what you ask.
5) No actual deposit needed. They only approve your credit card for a deposit amount (you're NOT charged) and you get to bid 5x what you're approved for. I initially started with a $10 pre-approval so I could bid up to $50. I was NEVER charged that $10, my card was only approved to be charged $10 if Rinkya decided to do so. Since then I've asked for increases in my max bidding a few times, and because of my track record with them they up it without even pre-approving my card! So for a $10 pre-approval I can bid $1000US on Yahoo Japan. *NOBODY can match that!* Some places you have to send 50% of your max bid (or more) via paypal first, even if you don't win now you gotta get a refund which who knows if paypal will screw with you on exchange rates (e.g. giving you bad rates both ways)
6) Great MyRinkya bookmark system similiar to ebay's watch list.
7) FAST as hell shipping. If I choose EMS whenever I hit "ship now" to send my items I get them within 5 business days of placing my request. I order my items on a monday, I get em next monday.
8 ) Will quickly contact the seller if you have a question. I've contacted them to ask a seller a question and they send 2 emails. 1 that they emailed the seller and are awaiting a response, the 2nd will be the response.
CONS:
1) Fees are the highest in the business. It is a $15 service charge no matter what you buy, and then it's another $15 AND $1 for every 1,000Y the item costs. Items 1,000Y and under do not have this charge, items 40,000Y to 100,000Y have a flat fee $40. I'm sure this is confusing, so I will give you examples.
(all prices are US dollars unless noted as Y, I'm using a conversion rate of 100Y = $1USD to make life easier)
Item sale price: 1,000Y. Cost to you: $10 (1,000Y) + $15 (service charge) + $0 (final value fee) = $25US. 150% of item cost in fees!
Item sale price: 5,000Y. Cost to you: $50 (5,000Y) + $15 (service charge) + $20 (final value fee of $15US + $5) = $85US. 70% of item cost in fees!
Item sale price: 15,000Y. Cost to you: $150 (15,000Y) + $15 (service charge) + $30 (final value fee of $15 + $15) = $195US. 30% of item cost in fees (getting better)
Item sale price: 80,000Y. Cost to you: $800 (80,000Y) + $15(service charge) + $40 (flat rate final value fee) = $855. Just under 7% of item cost in fees (that's great!)
The shipping is actual + 25% which is fair. This it not a "con" I just may as well mention is as I'm mentioning fees.
2) Poor exchange rate on the yen. Last I checked 1USD was worth 110Y, but Rinkya is only giving 102Y. They only update their rate it seems monthly, but all services do give a lower than actual rate.
To sum it all up, Rinkya offers such a great service to me I probably won't use anything else. And as you can see, the more valuable the item you buy the better their fees get in relation to the price of what you're buying. They pack their items so well you I have no fears of damage whatsoever. They list my items as "Used games and toys" so I never git hit with duty no matter how much the package is worth (with a few times declared value over $500).
If I was to buy something cheap and unlikely to get damaged I would consider another service. Like if I was going to buy a plush Chocobo or a stylish japanese sweatshirt I'd definately look elsewhere. However if I'm buying an MGS2 Raiden where it seems 50%+ have broken swords due to being so fragile I'd go Rinkya. Sometimes in life you get what you pay for.
*ANYWAYS* I hope you find this useful as this post took me quite a while to do heh.
I'd also like to say the Japanese are the absolute top culture for taking care of their collectibles. I've never once even been remotely close to being disappointed with the quality of an item. Many items that are sealed will even arrived with extra wrapping around the factory seal to protect the original shrink wrap! They go the extra mile to protect things. And with Rinkya secure shipping, if you want an item in NEW condition - you get it that way. No more being disappoint by ebay sellers.
Ok that's it I'm out of posting energy for tonight.