I've used SMJ two times (only winning my first time using it) and I have a few questions if someone could answer them? I know that the site gives you a bid limit based on your deposits, but I was wondering if you could bid that total limit on two separate lots? Or is that bid limit between all the lots you bid? Also, if you bid your total on one lot and loose it, how come you can't bid on another lot?
I ask this because the second time I used SMJ, there were two lots going off within an hour of each other or so. I really wanted the first one more, so I bid my max bid limit on it and lost. Then when the other one came up, I tried to bid on it but it said I used up my max bid limit (even though I didn't win the first auction?). Because of this I wasn't even able to bid on the second auction, which went for a measly 800 ;_;. Was this a glitch or is this how the system works? Because it seems a little odd that my bid counted as my max even though I didn't win the lot. I figured that my bid limit would only count if I won. I'm a little confused since I'm a newbie to it.
If anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it. SMJ is a wonderful service, but I feel like I'm making a lot mistakes when auction time comes. xP
Few questions about ShoppingMallJapan
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sensei
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Yeah, there's a "lag time" between the time you bid and the time all the amounts get reset. Generally, most YJ auctions come due in the morning, between 6 and 10 AM (7 and 11 AM daylight time). If you bid, say, 40,000 yen for an item and the winning bid is just 4000 yen, then that bid stays up on the "Your Items" account as 40,000 yen and counts against your maximum, even though 36,000 yen didn't get used. If your max is 50,000 yen, and you try to use more than 10,000 on the next auction, the site will tell you that you're over your max. The more so if you bid your entire max on the first auction and the second is only 800 yen.
I assumed that this was to allow SMJ to calculate the extra cost of internal "Bidwar" snipe bids. So the 36,000 yen can't immediately be restored to your max because it might be needed to defeat that 39,500 snipe bid that I made 3 sec. before the end of the auction.
I hadn't noticed (being a rather conservative bidder), but losing bids also stay up during this interim period and count against your maximum. So if you bid your max and lose, you might not have anything left to bid with, until the account gets reset later that day.
On the other tentacle, I'm not sure, but I believe that if you're internally sniped, your entire bid instantaneously vanishes from "Your Items" and the amount is returned at once to your max. That doesn't make being sniped feel any less icky, unfortunately. But on the other hand the entire snipe bid, however outrageous, does count against that SMJ user's account for the rest of that morning. So at least you have a smaller chance of being sniped by that same jerk on the next item.
If the snipe bid isn't outrageous enough, it doesn't get accepted, and so the would-be sniper's max is untouched. But the amount of the attempted snipe is recorded by the SMJ site and later gets calculated into your final invoice. So I think that you can snipe unsuccessfully as many times as you like, regardless of the total amount you bid. (Is this right, Nick?)
On the third tentacle, I believe that amounts that you bid using the "snipe bid pending" option on the bidding page do count against your max, just like a real-time bid made a week before the auction finishes.
This discrepency gets cleared every day, when congratulations go out (shortly after 3 PM usually) and all the amounts are reset to to the actual amounts you owe. So your maximum at the end of the day is what your reserve entitles you to, less any outstanding amounts due, whether you've been invoiced or not.
I'd say keep a keen eye on "Your Items" and monitor what it says your maximum is at the moment you bid. And don't plan to bid more than that amount TOTAL on one morning, regardless of whether you win, snipe, or lose.
I assumed that this was to allow SMJ to calculate the extra cost of internal "Bidwar" snipe bids. So the 36,000 yen can't immediately be restored to your max because it might be needed to defeat that 39,500 snipe bid that I made 3 sec. before the end of the auction.
I hadn't noticed (being a rather conservative bidder), but losing bids also stay up during this interim period and count against your maximum. So if you bid your max and lose, you might not have anything left to bid with, until the account gets reset later that day.
On the other tentacle, I'm not sure, but I believe that if you're internally sniped, your entire bid instantaneously vanishes from "Your Items" and the amount is returned at once to your max. That doesn't make being sniped feel any less icky, unfortunately. But on the other hand the entire snipe bid, however outrageous, does count against that SMJ user's account for the rest of that morning. So at least you have a smaller chance of being sniped by that same jerk on the next item.
If the snipe bid isn't outrageous enough, it doesn't get accepted, and so the would-be sniper's max is untouched. But the amount of the attempted snipe is recorded by the SMJ site and later gets calculated into your final invoice. So I think that you can snipe unsuccessfully as many times as you like, regardless of the total amount you bid. (Is this right, Nick?)
On the third tentacle, I believe that amounts that you bid using the "snipe bid pending" option on the bidding page do count against your max, just like a real-time bid made a week before the auction finishes.
This discrepency gets cleared every day, when congratulations go out (shortly after 3 PM usually) and all the amounts are reset to to the actual amounts you owe. So your maximum at the end of the day is what your reserve entitles you to, less any outstanding amounts due, whether you've been invoiced or not.
I'd say keep a keen eye on "Your Items" and monitor what it says your maximum is at the moment you bid. And don't plan to bid more than that amount TOTAL on one morning, regardless of whether you win, snipe, or lose.
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cutiebunny
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Animechaos
- Kishin - Fierce God
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I'll try to keep it quick and simple...lol.
If your limit is say, 100,000 yen, you can bid, shop, special order, whatever you want up to that limit combined.
So say, 10x auctions at 10,000 yen a pop. Or just one auction at the full 100,000 yen.
If you lost, then generally you don't get credit back from your bids until the auction closes and our system updates it. (if you won, you get credit back once invoiced and paid for) Reason we won't clear out an outbid if the auction is still running is because of the off-chance someones bid is canceled and we end up high bidder again. That's rare but has caused some big headaches in the past. So better to be safe.
If your limit is say, 100,000 yen, you can bid, shop, special order, whatever you want up to that limit combined.
So say, 10x auctions at 10,000 yen a pop. Or just one auction at the full 100,000 yen.
If you lost, then generally you don't get credit back from your bids until the auction closes and our system updates it. (if you won, you get credit back once invoiced and paid for) Reason we won't clear out an outbid if the auction is still running is because of the off-chance someones bid is canceled and we end up high bidder again. That's rare but has caused some big headaches in the past. So better to be safe.
Thank you so much for all the help guys!
Sensei- Thanks for the very informative post! I understand everything a lot more clearer now and feel more confident in using the site. Even though I had the general idea of it, I was foggy on the "bid" aspect, so I appreciate your detailed post!
Cutiebunny- Thanks for the advice ^^ That's exactly what I did. I'm very thankful for the 5x multiplier they give you based on a deposit. It's very helpful.
Animechaos- Thanks for explaining how the site works, and even more thanks for the service! Now I understand the need for the bid limit to be capped off on each auction. ^^ Again, thanks for all the great work with SMJ
I was able to purchase two great Dragonball cels because of it. ^_^
Sensei- Thanks for the very informative post! I understand everything a lot more clearer now and feel more confident in using the site. Even though I had the general idea of it, I was foggy on the "bid" aspect, so I appreciate your detailed post!
Cutiebunny- Thanks for the advice ^^ That's exactly what I did. I'm very thankful for the 5x multiplier they give you based on a deposit. It's very helpful.
Animechaos- Thanks for explaining how the site works, and even more thanks for the service! Now I understand the need for the bid limit to be capped off on each auction. ^^ Again, thanks for all the great work with SMJ
I was able to purchase two great Dragonball cels because of it. ^_^