searching for a cheap/reliable deputy

[ReiTheJelly]

I've been exclusively with Rinkya for about 6 years (?) now. Before them, I was with SMJ. Before that, I was with Celga.

Normally, I love Rinkya. I love their autobid feature. However, their fee structure is making it impossible for me to continue using their services. Here is an example of my latest invoice for a non-cel purchase:

Price on YJ: 2500 yen ($33.78)
Commission: $20.00
Handling fee: $15 (YJ to Rinkya)
------------------------------
Total due: $68.78 (excludes S/H to USA)

That's right. I won a $34 item. And I'll have to pay $69 for it...excluding expensive shipping to the USA.

I also dislike the fact that I have to pay a flat $15 internal shipping fee. When I buy tiny items, I'm way over-paying, but don't get a refund. When I buy large items, I have to pay the overage...regardless of how many times I've over-paid for lighter items in the past. It isn't a very fair method. Easy to calculate, sure. But not exactly fair over many years...


I'd like to people to suggest easy to use, reliable, not expensive deputy services.

I've tried using Japonia Market (albeit, only for mbok items). I like their service, but I don't like that I have to pay in full for items I want to bid on. At least with Rinkya, I don't pay until after I've won.

[Kasi]

I have been using Hobby Shop K and Cats Hands Agent since they have been the cheapest I've found.

However I haven't needed to use a deputy service for some time, but when I did I found them to be reliable. I also don't think you can bid yourself with Hobby Shop K, unless it has changed recently.

[Sui Kune]

I actually moved to SMJ from Rinkya several years ago for the same reasons (I believe commission for a 1100-yen item turned out to be something like $30, which was the last straw). I do understand the need for commission fees and the like, and even the falling dollar (which I mentally prepare myself for for every invoice), but there's a point where it becomes too much.

I know you said you already used SMJ in the past, but I just can't say enough good things about them. I've been using SMJ since 2007 and it's always reliable, excellent customer service, and recently there's been new features being added such as supporting Bidders and Rakuten.

I also use Treasure Japan for when I need to bid on unsupported sites (mostly Mbok). While there's no automated bidding, the customer service is absolutely top-notch and even can ask questions to a seller about an item for you. They also don't hold a deposit but instead requires half your bid up front (obviously refunding if you lose), which I kinda like because it takes a bit of the ouch out of the final invoice. However, unlike SMJ's three-month storage limit, the storage limit for Treasure is one month.

[D123]

I think all deputies are going to be expensive (Not as much as Rinkya though ) but I too would recommend SMJ (I switched from Celga to them ). I like there deposit system and that I do the bidding myself AND I think you save on shipping in the U.S since they have the batch system vs. paying EMS from Japan. Then there is Celga as you mentioned, their fees aren’t as good as SMJ and I don’t like their deposit system or CS and you can’t bid yourself, the big plus with them is that they hold your items as long as you want. Overall I would go with SMJ the fees are great compared to the other well known deputies and I think it’s more reliable vs. a lesser known deputy with not as much features

[Promethium]

I feel your pain...

My most recent win (Rinkya) was for 1 yen, ONE YEN! But with all the misc charges my 1 yen win ended up to be $39.01 ($19.01 with all the fees + $20 shipping). And they only hold on to stuff for a month to boot?!

I'm never using a deputy service again.

[D123]

I feel your pain...

My most recent win (Rinkya) was for 1 yen, ONE YEN! But with all the misc charges my 1 yen win ended up to be $39.01 ($19.01 with all the fees + $20 shipping). And they only hold on to stuff for a month to boot?!

I'm never using a deputy service again.

I never understood why Rinkya lasted or is so popular to boot their fees are outrageous the only thing they have going for them is their search engine. I don't care how great their features or CS is I can be nice when I'm robbing someone too (Please don't hurt me)

[sensei]

I've used SMJ since it was the old Anime Chaos deputy service and have experienced very few problems (mostly inadequate shipping of oversized items, which sometimes are tossed in big boxes and allowed to bang back and forth during shipping). Lately, the shipping has been OK, though, and the only problem is where to store the growing mound of styrofoam peanuts that come with each batch. (The squirrels got wise and stopped coming to the bird feeder where I'd put them, and now the bluejays are mad at me too. I have to clean off my car's windshield nearly every morning.)

Some SMJ comps with your 2500 yen item:

Here's a single item that I bought, which includes shipping:

winning bid: 2500 yen
yen exchange rate: 76 yen/$1
internal Japanese postage: 990 yen
commission: $8.00
"wire fee": $3.00 [wire transfer is the only payment method accepted by sellers on YHJ, so this fee is charged by the bank involved, similar to those added on by credit cards and PayPal]
total: $56.95

Here's one that was bundled in with another lot that I won from the same seller on the same day:

winning bid: 2600 yen
yen exchange rate: 75 yen/$1
internal Japanese postage: 0 yen [you get charged this with the other item, and the result is always a savings]
commission: $8.00
"wire fee": 0 yen [you get charged $3.00 once, along with the other item, since the bank takes this out per transfer, not per item]
total: $42.70

In both cases, shipping from Japan to Nick's Lair in the Chicago area is free. Shipping from Chicago to your US address is extra. I use Priority Mail to ask for my items about every two months, and this typically costs between $9 (mostly standard-sized cels) and $15.50 (lots of sketches, oversized items).

[There are other options for non-US SMJ customers, including having them shipped directly from Japan to your country. Check with Nick on this.]

Hope this helps.

[Yupa]

It certainly helps. I registered at SMJ a few days ago, I'll keep those costs in mind when bidding.

[cutiebunny]

I use SMJ as well because of their fees. They're a reliable service. I've had over 900 purchases through SMJ over the course of almost 10 years, and I've had less than 5 problems with them. Most of these were either damage due to poor packaging or lost items. In the same amount of time, I've had less than 10 transactions with Rinkya, and of those, one of the items I had purchased was accidentally swapped and another Rinkya user received my cel instead of theirs. Getting my item back took some time, but, it was accomplished.

I don't know about others, but when I bid, I usually don't sit around with a calculator in hand to tabulate the deputy fees. My rule of thumb is to just double the end price, because with the yen exchange rate, internal shipping and deputy fees, it ends up to about double. I try to keep this in mind when I bid, and if I don't feel that it's worth double the auction price to me, I don't bid on it.

I wait until the 90 day limit on my SMJ items and my internal shipping is generally around $30, largely because of weight.

Rinkya is my back-up deputy that I use in the event that the SMJ system is down or I can't bid on an item through SMJ. I figure that "desperate times call for desperate measures", and in that event, if I have to have the item, I use Rinkya.

[sensei]

Yeah, I call that "Sensei's rule of thumb": multiply the winning price in yen, double it and divide by ten.

More for sketches, oversized items, or non-cel items because of extra shipping costs. About ten dollars less if it's bundled with another item I won on the same day from the same seller. And increasingly inaccurate as the winning price goes lower, because the shipping, wire, and commission expenses don't go down proportionally.

The rule of thumb used to be to divide the winning price by ten and add $20. That, sadly, no longer worked after the exchange rate went under 100Y/$1.00.

I am registered for Rinkya but rarely use it. Though once, during a crazy, crazy auction, I started bidding through SMJ and then at the final stage started placing bids with Rinkya. That made the stubborn Japanside bidders think two loco gaijins were about to battle it out for the lot, so they dropped out.

[Animechaos]

[There are other options for non-US SMJ customers, including having them shipped directly from Japan to your country. Check with Nick on this.]

Actually non-US customers can store and ship their items direct from Japan, but we only recommend that if you're buying very large quantities / really heavy items. Otherwise the batch process we use saves you some $$$.

And if you haven't been to smjsearch.com give it a try. It's a fully functional search that lists items from auctions and a lot of other sites. Right now I guess you could kind of say it's in "beta", but only sort-of. We're going to make it simplier and "prettier" eventually. The big downside of the search right now is the complex nature of it. Lots and lots of options, but once you toy around with it and get used to the interface it's great.

All my personal collection and goodies I find myself using our own search now instead of YHJ direct like I have for over a decade.

[theultimatebrucelee]

I like to use SMJ as well for most of my auctions...fee is the most fair. there is this other proxy service I ran into across which I don't remember there site/name but they are in japan and would charge a flat 9% fee on proxy but allow you to send amount via paypal and they actually cover paypal fee! should've bookmaked that one. SMJ's 100K yen+fee is awesome!! only 35$, nothing I remember can beat that one there.

another thing I wish SMJ would do, allow buyers to use japanese commissioner to customize stuff...I have a bunch of resin kits that could be painted in Japan

[Angelic-Lair]

I never understood why Rinkya lasted or is so popular to boot their fees are outrageous the only thing they have going for them is their search engine. I don't care how great their features or CS is I can be nice when I'm robbing someone too (Please don't hurt me)

Maybe it's just because we're located in Canada, or the items that we bid on, but we ALWAYS pay more when we use SMJ as a deputy.
The only advantage that SMJ has over Rinkya, in our experience, is for non-cel/sketch items... unless said item is 1000 yen or under, in which case Rinkya wins again.

[Animechaos]

Can always store your goodies in Japan if you want to give it a try. I remember running the numbers with Rinkya's cel sale Vs. ours. Always came out pretty much the same.

[D123]

I never understood why Rinkya lasted or is so popular to boot their fees are outrageous the only thing they have going for them is their search engine. I don't care how great their features or CS is I can be nice when I'm robbing someone too (Please don't hurt me)

Maybe it's just because we're located in Canada, or the items that we bid on, but we ALWAYS pay more when we use SMJ as a deputy.
The only advantage that SMJ has over Rinkya, in our experience, is for non-cel/sketch items... unless said item is 1000 yen or under, in which case Rinkya wins again.

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

besides Rinkya has always been known to have cost people extra of hundreds of dollars with their famous “bid wars” I believe, and you never hear anybody praise them on how great their fees are. If anything I’ve heard many times, have been told and told others and have been agreed with! to stay away from them. So I really can’t see how they’re such a great service AT ALL or what makes them so special . I don’t want it coming off like I’m looking for a fight but I don’t understand it with them .