Unless you're dealing directly with the seller (in which case you wouldn't need a deputy anyway) there will always be an internal shipping fee, a money transfer fee and, in most cases, a commission (the deputy's cut). It doesn't matter whether you use Rinkya, SMJ or Celga, you can't avoid these fees (though they can vary).D123 wrote:I don’t know how different it is for people outside the U.S but what I do know is paying $40.00 for a 1yen item is highway robbery
That said, Rinkya doesn't charge a commission for items under 1000 yen; they only charge the internal shipping/money transfer fees, so you usually end up spending less with their service.
We understand everybody has different opinions about deputies. We've also shopped around in the past. We'd be happy to share our horror stories with SMJ.
No deputy is perfect, but overall we have been happiest with Rinkya. We have been with Rinkya for 8 years now, and bought hundreds of items through their service. We will leave it at that as it is off-topic and ReiTheJelly is looking for a different deputy. Unfortunately, aside from Rinkya, SMJ and Celga, we have not had experience with the other deputies out there.
Considering I'm always bidding against the same "Rinkya runner up," it's obvious I'm going to continue getting burned by this. I understand they need to make money, but I'm not a fan of companies who milk money from their customers at every given chance. Storing things longer than a month would have helped, but... apparently that requires more money, of course.... 
I started using a deputy service this year cuz it made things easier, but my relationship with Rinkya lasted 4 months too long. 
