Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Auctions on Yahoo Japan
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Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Pixel »

I've been thinking about trying for a couple of things on Yahoo Japan. As I figure I'd do good to win one item, and I'm not too sure how this is gonna go, I've thought about going with Buyee as deputy. Their fee structure seems fairly straightforward, and I don't think they require a deposit. Also, YJ seems to have a deal with them. It might smooth over some rough edges in the deal, I don't know.

I'm not really sure how this works though. The way I understand it, I sign up for a Buyee account, then use their service to bid on whatever I want. Do they require payment information at sign up, or only if you win an auction?

I'm figuring if I win, the base price will probably be about $50. Then of course the fees. I'm not sure how to figure the shipping (both in Japan and to the States) though, as I don't know what the item(s) weigh.

Will they send me a notification through e-mail with payment instructions?

I've ordered a small amount from Japan directly before. I use SAL for shipping, once I had it registered so I could track it. It takes it's sweet time to get here, but so far everything I've ordered has arrived in about 2 1/2 to 3/12 weeks, and nothing has come through damaged that I can tell. I'm never tried EMS-it typically costs a king's ransom, more than the entire order.

If I should win, I'd probably just have Buyee ship whatever pretty much as soon as they have it. I'm not sure I'd want their inspection service, someone going through my stuff like that. I might do insurance though, particularly with the distance involved.

For credit/debit card purchases, is using Buyee considered a foreign transaction? Some cards can't be used for foreign transactions.
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Drac of the Sharp Smiles
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Drac of the Sharp Smiles »

Personally, I adore Shopping Mall Japan. (http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com) I can bid live and any auction is only $4 fee if I win. You don't get a simpler fee structure than that. ^_^ Also, any time I've had a question or problem, the SMJ staff responds very quickly. I really can't recommend them more highly!

Edit, to cover some of your other questions -- Credit card payments to SMJ can be made with Paypal, though I think normal ones are considered domestic (US). Shipping is about $12-$18 USD shipping things from Japan to the deputy, then shipping from the deputy to you depends on weight and which domestic shipping you choose.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Pixel »

Drac of the Sharp Smiles wrote:Personally, I adore Shopping Mall Japan. (http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com) I can bid live and any auction is only $4 fee if I win. You don't get a simpler fee structure than that. ^_^ Also, any time I've had a question or problem, the SMJ staff responds very quickly. I really can't recommend them more highly!

Edit, to cover some of your other questions -- Credit card payments to SMJ can be made with Paypal, though I think normal ones are considered domestic (US). Shipping is about $12-$18 USD shipping things from Japan to the deputy, then shipping from the deputy to you depends on weight and which domestic shipping you choose.
I'm not completely averse to trying other deputies, the deposit system was one of the things that bothered me about SMJ.

In either case, would it be better to start with something fairly cheap and see how it goes? I'm uneasy about the whole middleman process in general, yet I find certain items that you just can't get anywhere else but YJ that I can tell.

EDIT: The $4 service fee isn't so bad for big items, but it seems it would add up quickly for small items. I've seen a few < $10 items I'd be interested in, in some case just the service fee would more than double the cost.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by jiangdc »

There is something I feel good about buyee: it doesn't filter R18 and its storage period is long. However, their packing and shipping are just so-so.
I am using zenmarket so far, which might also be an option for you. :badass
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Pixel »

Error. Double posting fail. Please see post below.
Last edited by Pixel on Sat Jan 06, 2018 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Pixel »

Pixel wrote:
jiangdc wrote:There is something I feel good about buyee: it doesn't filter R18 and its storage period is long. However, their packing and shipping are just so-so.
I am using zenmarket so far, which might also be an option for you. :badass
Do you mean this place?

https://zenmarket.jp/

I see $3 an auction service fee. +%3.35 to handle credit/debit. There may be foreign transaction fees at my end also. It's all so complicated. X|

Not knowing exactly how much when all is said and done is part of the problem, regardless of which service. Shipping from Japan is usually fairly cheap if you order direct and use JapanPost/SAL, but deputies seem to charge a pretty good bit for the international part. The in-country shipping I'm sure varies with the seller.

The most frustrating part is, even if I spoke/read Japanese to where I could handle transactions directly, most sellers on YJ won't deal directly with gaijin.

Japanese sellers have it relatively easy when it comes to international shipping. The US Postal Service charges a fortune for outbound international shipping.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by cutiebunny »

jiangdc wrote:There is something I feel good about buyee: it doesn't filter R18 and its storage period is long.
30 days is long? SMJ will let you store with them for months, just send them an e-mail telling them you'd like to hold off on a batch shipment. They don't charge you extra for this service, but Buyee charges you $1/day past Day 30.

I've also used SMJ for years and would recommend them. Yes, the fees can add up if all you want to buy are 100 yen items. But most of the stuff I buy doesn't come cheap, so I appreciate the $4 flat fee. It beats Mandarake with their 10% BWA fee, which, in the case of what I won this morning, is going to sting a bit.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by jiangdc »

cutiebunny wrote:
jiangdc wrote:There is something I feel good about buyee: it doesn't filter R18 and its storage period is long.
30 days is long? SMJ will let you store with them for months, just send them an e-mail telling them you'd like to hold off on a batch shipment. They don't charge you extra for this service, but Buyee charges you $1/day past Day 30.

I've also used SMJ for years and would recommend them. Yes, the fees can add up if all you want to buy are 100 yen items. But most of the stuff I buy doesn't come cheap, so I appreciate the $4 flat fee. It beats Mandarake with their 10% BWA fee, which, in the case of what I won this morning, is going to sting a bit.
I think you are right. I thought they store items free for 90 days which they doesn't. 8O
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Pixel »

Drac of the Sharp Smiles wrote:Personally, I adore Shopping Mall Japan. (http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com) I can bid live and any auction is only $4 fee if I win. You don't get a simpler fee structure than that. ^_^ Also, any time I've had a question or problem, the SMJ staff responds very quickly. I really can't recommend them more highly!

Edit, to cover some of your other questions -- Credit card payments to SMJ can be made with Paypal, though I think normal ones are considered domestic (US). Shipping is about $12-$18 USD shipping things from Japan to the deputy, then shipping from the deputy to you depends on weight and which domestic shipping you choose.
cutiebunny wrote:
jiangdc wrote:There is something I feel good about buyee: it doesn't filter R18 and its storage period is long.
30 days is long? SMJ will let you store with them for months, just send them an e-mail telling them you'd like to hold off on a batch shipment. They don't charge you extra for this service, but Buyee charges you $1/day past Day 30.

I've also used SMJ for years and would recommend them. Yes, the fees can add up if all you want to buy are 100 yen items. But most of the stuff I buy doesn't come cheap, so I appreciate the $4 flat fee. It beats Mandarake with their 10% BWA fee, which, in the case of what I won this morning, is going to sting a bit.
So that's +2 for SMJ. They do charge a deposit, do they keep it indefinitely?

Do you usually use PayPal, or direct Visa/MasterCard to pay them? I apologize if this question is out of line, I'm just trying to study up on it should I decide to give it a try. It sounds like I could get in over my head if I'm not careful.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

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Pixel wrote:
Drac of the Sharp Smiles wrote:Personally, I adore Shopping Mall Japan. (http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com) I can bid live and any auction is only $4 fee if I win. You don't get a simpler fee structure than that. ^_^ Also, any time I've had a question or problem, the SMJ staff responds very quickly. I really can't recommend them more highly!

Edit, to cover some of your other questions -- Credit card payments to SMJ can be made with Paypal, though I think normal ones are considered domestic (US). Shipping is about $12-$18 USD shipping things from Japan to the deputy, then shipping from the deputy to you depends on weight and which domestic shipping you choose.
cutiebunny wrote:
jiangdc wrote:There is something I feel good about buyee: it doesn't filter R18 and its storage period is long.
30 days is long? SMJ will let you store with them for months, just send them an e-mail telling them you'd like to hold off on a batch shipment. They don't charge you extra for this service, but Buyee charges you $1/day past Day 30.

I've also used SMJ for years and would recommend them. Yes, the fees can add up if all you want to buy are 100 yen items. But most of the stuff I buy doesn't come cheap, so I appreciate the $4 flat fee. It beats Mandarake with their 10% BWA fee, which, in the case of what I won this morning, is going to sting a bit.
So that's +2 for SMJ. They do charge a deposit, do they keep it indefinitely?

Do you usually use PayPal, or direct Visa/MasterCard to pay them? I apologize if this question is out of line, I'm just trying to study up on it should I decide to give it a try. It sounds like I could get in over my head if I'm not careful.
I go with paypal, there is no specific reason for this choice.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Drac of the Sharp Smiles »

I pay them with Paypal because it's super simple, but I wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to let them charge my card directly.

I think as long as you don't have any outstanding bids or payments due, etc, that you can request your deposit refunded at any time.... however I don't really know. You would have to ask someone who has wanted to do that. ^_^
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Pixel »

This may sound like a silly question, but do you know if SMJ requires a PayPal account to send PayPal payments? At one time PayPal had an option where sellers could make a PayPal account optional. Card payments would be processed by PayPal, but the sender would not need a PayPal account. eBay is a prime example of this arrangement.

I don't have a PayPal account. I've heard some things about PayPal. I let them do one time payments where it is permitted, but linking payment methods to a PayPal account? Still a bit shy on that one.

I could also use a run through of the general procedure. Here's how I understand it-

I create an account, and setup the deposit.

I locate an item I'd like to bid on.

I place the bid through SMJ's automated system.

If I win the item, what happens? As I understand it, they send me an invoice with payment details, including service fee(s). Does this invoice only include the intra-Japan shipping, no international shipping at this point?

I pay that invoice, then wait for them to get the item there in Japan.

Once they have it, then they will send me e-mail notification they've received it. I can either wait for awhile and bid on more items, or go on and request them send the item(s) to me. At that point, I would pay international shipping. Can I get them to send it SAL?

Lastly, they send it to me. Do they send it directly to me from Japan? Do they send registered mail, or do I have to request that?

Is that how it works?
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by cutiebunny »

Pixel wrote:So that's +2 for SMJ. They do charge a deposit, do they keep it indefinitely?
They do for as long as you use the service, but if you want to apply some of it to the item, you can do that before. I've done that before.
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Drac of the Sharp Smiles »

I can't answer the Paypal question since I have a Paypal account. The way I see it, I do a lot of shopping online and most businesses accept Paypal now. By keeping a Paypal account, I can use my credit card all over the place and still only ONE online place has the actual number. Without Paypal, I would be entering my card number all over the place and, in my mind, each time I would do that would increase the chance one of those multitude of places would get hacked. This isn't saying Paypal can't get hacked.... it's saying I only have to watch ONE PLACE. Only Paypal. ^_^

That said, you don't link your Paypal account to SMJ in any way. Each time an invoice comes to you, you pay it individually. I don't think they have any setup that charges automatically. (If they have one, I've never used it.)

To walk you through using the service:

(1) Create an account and set up the deposit of your choosing.

(2) When you find an item you would like to bid on, you place your bid through their system. Alternatively, if the item is on a website, you place your order with them by mail.

(3) Assuming you are bidding on an auction, you will see on your account page notifications of how the auction is running. (For example: "High bidder" if you're the high bidder, "Running" if you have bid on something but are not the high bidder, etc...) Once the auction has ended, you will see either "Won" or "Lost". Additionally while the auction is running, you will receive an e-mail confirming that each bid attempt (successful or not) has been placed and e-mails telling you if you have been outbid after holding the high bidder position.

(Note about #3...... I always watch the actual auction page. Sometimes the e-mails and notations on the account page seem to arrive/update more slowly than I would like. Also, sometimes the item will simply disappear from your list after the auction, which usually means another SMJ bidder was bidding against you and they won the item. I mention this since I was a tad confused about it at the start.)

(4) Let's pretend you won. YAY! ^_^ The auction number will now be listed on your account page with the word "Won" beside it and you wait while the deputy finishes the transaction with the seller. This can sometimes take several days. Sometimes you will see the note change to "Seller Paid" before you hear from the deputy. This is a normal occurrence, not a worry. Just wait.

(5) Eventually, you will receive an invoice from SMJ detailing each auction you won, the yen rate at the time of the win, the cost of the auction in USD, the wire transfer fee, and the shipping costs from the seller. Don't pull out your calculator, they add it all up neatly for you at the end of the list. ^_^

(Note about #5....... If you win multiple things from the same seller at the same time, SMJ will always attempt to combine the shipping fees for you and you will often only see one of the items with a shipping fee listed. In this case, that shipping fee was the shipping for ALL the items. They just simplify the invoice by assigning it to one item in the box.)

(6) Once you have your invoice, you pay them. As before mentioned, I use Paypal. This is done through their website and is very straightforward. If you are ever unsure how to proceed, every invoice has the full set of directions on how to pay. If using Paypal, the SMJ site will redirect you to Paypal, which will confirm you want to pay them and then redirect you back to SMJ's site. (Just like the way eBay and other business sites usually work.) Once you have paid for things, you will see the notes on your account page have been changed to "Customer Paid".

(7) Now you wait for the items to arrive in the US. Unless I'm mistaken, SMJ ships things to the US from Japan in large lots, so you save money because instead of sending your item overseas piecemeal, they essentially arrange for you to split shipping with everyone else that has won an item about the same time you did. (If your item has weird shipping requirements, it might get shipped on it's own. I haven't delved into this much. The only thing I thought of buying that would have fallen into this situation wound up being too expensive and I decided not to pursue it. It's not a common occurrence.) Eventually, the process column will change to something like "Stored in the USA". Once you see that (and you've paid for the item), you're good to go! At any time you like, you can select it to be mailed to you. You'll have some selections to choose from (which level of domestic postal service you would like, etc) and you wait once more while your shipping request processes.

(8) Eventually you will receive an invoice for the shipping. SMJ sends things immediately, so once you see this, you know the package is already on it's way to you. The shipping invoice will come with a tracking number assuming you used a shipping method which has one. (I **always always ALWAYS** ship with insurance and tracking.)

(9) You then pay the shipping invoice the same way you paid for the original auction and in a few days, a box of fun lands on your doorstep. DONE! ^_^

It's worth noting that for every auction I win, I save the image from the auction page with the auction ID number as the filename. I do this because YJ sellers sometimes take down photos of sold auctions pretty much right away. When SMJ mails a box to you, they will list all the items that were in the box by auction ID number with check boxes next to each one so you can check ones that have arrived and SMJ knows you have received the item. (So when you receive your box, look everything over and make sure all the items are there.) It's really REALLY hard to know which items went with which auction numbers if you, for example, won ten auctions and each one was 500yen and viewing the auction page doesn't help because the seller already took down the photos and you don't read Japanese and all the items were from the same show, so searching the Japanese auction text for the show name doesn't help either. (*LOL* I laugh because this has happened to me. ^_^) More importantly, having the photo of the item will help if an item isn't there! The photo could help SMJ find it. (Had this happen too once a long time ago. One item didn't make it into the box. It was found very quickly because I had saved the image from the auction. SMJ staff were amazingly helpful through the whole thing!)

It's about 4am here now, so I hope I'm not forgetting anything..... but that's the start to finish. ^_^
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Re: Thinking about Trying YJ/Buyee

Post by Pixel »

Drac of the Sharp Smiles wrote:
(5) Eventually, you will receive an invoice from SMJ detailing each auction you won, the yen rate at the time of the win, the cost of the auction in USD, the wire transfer fee, and the shipping costs from the seller. Don't pull out your calculator, they add it all up neatly for you at the end of the list. ^_^
How much is this "wire transfer fee" usually? Here in the States, those fees are expensive. (I assume they're talking about wiring payment to the seller on YJ.)
Drac of the Sharp Smiles wrote: It's worth noting that for every auction I win, I save the image from the auction page with the auction ID number as the filename. I do this because YJ sellers sometimes take down photos of sold auctions pretty much right away. When SMJ mails a box to you, they will list all the items that were in the box by auction ID number with check boxes next to each one so you can check ones that have arrived and SMJ knows you have received the item. (So when you receive your box, look everything over and make sure all the items are there.) It's really REALLY hard to know which items went with which auction numbers if you, for example, won ten auctions and each one was 500yen and viewing the auction page doesn't help because the seller already took down the photos and you don't read Japanese and all the items were from the same show, so searching the Japanese auction text for the show name doesn't help either. (*LOL* I laugh because this has happened to me. ^_^) More importantly, having the photo of the item will help if an item isn't there! The photo could help SMJ find it. (Had this happen too once a long time ago. One item didn't make it into the box. It was found very quickly because I had saved the image from the auction. SMJ staff were amazingly helpful through the whole thing!)
That's a very prudent thing to do. I'll have to remember to do that should I win. (I'm not counting on it though-so far my history with actual auctions is not so good.)
Drac of the Sharp Smiles wrote:It's about 4am here now, so I hope I'm not forgetting anything..... but that's the start to finish. ^_^
Sounds like you covered it pretty well to me. :D I do have a few more q's about placing bids.

If I use the automated system to place a bid, is it placed immediately?

If I entered an amount in the SMJ bid form higher than what it would take to be high bidder on an item, does SMJ bid the full amount immediately, or will it only bid enough to be current high bidder on the item?

If I find an item with Buy It Now/Buyout listed, how do I do the Buy it Now? Simply enter the listed Buyout amount in the bid form?

Thanks so much.
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