Is Shopping Mall Japan dead?

[sutepri]

Wow, I had assumed after I originally made this post that maybe it was just an issue with my account given the responses I initially received. I was in a hurry because I wanted to bid on something so I didn't check back until now @_@.

I ended up using Zen Market; I added 13,500 to my account before I could bid (and had to add a bit more later). I purchased 2 cels - each one was 5,000. They took 300 as commission for each cel. The shipment within Japan was 1,150. The shipping directly to me was 2,180 and I didn't add their additional packaging service. The packaging when it arrived to me was fine; not sure if it was Zen Market or the original seller but there was nice thick cardboard protecting the cels. So TLDR; for 10,000 worth of cels I paid 3,930 in shipping and fees. Hope that helps someone!

Did anyone have an issue getting their SMJ deposit back from Nick?

[Fiore]

They took 300 as commission for each cel.

300 yen for commission is so good!
I never tried them before, so I definitely want to now. XD

[Ichigos]

Will we be getting our deposits back? Kinda wish I would’ve requested to take it out now. Anyone I can email about this or is it too late?

[cutiebunny]

^ I'm in the same boat. I e-mailed but haven't heard back yet. Looks like the website is completely gone.

[oxypetalus]

Wow, he's not responding to messages now and the site is gone. That's not good... Maybe you can try emailing support@theweeblounge.com (his
new business)?

[cutiebunny]

I heard back, but now I'm being told that from the records that he downloaded from the server prior to him closing it, I never had a deposit. I was able to go through my e-mails back to 2007 showing that yes, indeed, I had paid for a significant deposit via Paypal and that allowed me to bid past 400,000 yen at any time. Until the service closed, that was the amount I was able to bid until I paid for prior wins. I don't know if the service eventually became one where you could put a hold on your credit card, but when I first started using SMJ (then Animechaos), you had to have a deposit of approximately 1/4 of the total that you wanted to bid.

Hopefully you guys have kept the e-mails too. I still don't understand why Nick/SMJ never sent out a good-bye e-mail explaining that 1) the service was closing and 2) refunds on your deposit.

[oxypetalus]

Yeah I agree Cutiebunny. It's not very professional at all on SMJ/Nick's part.

Maybe you could try sending screenshots of your past emails as proof? (maybe you already did) I had a very long haitus over which time my account disappeared. When I started buying again I sent him copies of past emails and he credited my account. By that time he did have a credit card hold type system in place so I was allowed to just use my old deposit towards items.

[Pixel]

I was able to get my deposit back, but I had to get a PayPal account to do it. This may surprise some people, but SMJ did not require a PayPal account to pay for auctions and orders, you could simply pay as a guest. That was one reason I stuck with them.

The shop's URL now points to "The Weeb Lounge", which must be Nick's current venture.

[Ichigos]

I never heard back but I just tried e-mailing a second time with that weeblounge email address... hoping for the best!

I also kept all my emails for all of my deposits. Wonder what he’ll say.

[Ichigos]

I heard back, but now I'm being told that from the records that he downloaded from the server prior to him closing it, I never had a deposit. I was able to go through my e-mails back to 2007 showing that yes, indeed, I had paid for a significant deposit via Paypal and that allowed me to bid past 400,000 yen at any time. Until the service closed, that was the amount I was able to bid until I paid for prior wins. I don't know if the service eventually became one where you could put a hold on your credit card, but when I first started using SMJ (then Animechaos), you had to have a deposit of approximately 1/4 of the total that you wanted to bid.

Hopefully you guys have kept the e-mails too. I still don't understand why Nick/SMJ never sent out a good-bye e-mail explaining that 1) the service was closing and 2) refunds on your deposit.

Where did you contact Nick? What email?

Ooh nevermind. He got back to me. But the deposit from his last log is definitely wrong. I apparently have $ 27.70. There is no way I sent in such a random amount. I have my emails and I was positive it was around $40.00.

Plus the .70 cents strikes weird to me? I never sent in an amount with .70. Good thing I have my emails too.

[Ichigos]

I heard back, but now I'm being told that from the records that he downloaded from the server prior to him closing it, I never had a deposit. I was able to go through my e-mails back to 2007 showing that yes, indeed, I had paid for a significant deposit via Paypal and that allowed me to bid past 400,000 yen at any time. Until the service closed, that was the amount I was able to bid until I paid for prior wins. I don't know if the service eventually became one where you could put a hold on your credit card, but when I first started using SMJ (then Animechaos), you had to have a deposit of approximately 1/4 of the total that you wanted to bid.

Hopefully you guys have kept the e-mails too. I still don't understand why Nick/SMJ never sent out a good-bye e-mail explaining that 1) the service was closing and 2) refunds on your deposit.

Where did you contact Nick? What email

[Ichigos]

Ooh nevermind. He got back to me. But the deposit from his last log is definitely wrong. I apparently have $ 27.70. There is no way I sent in such a random amount with that .70 cents. Good thing I have my emails too.

[cutiebunny]

Yeah, I'm going to have to go through all my invoice e-mails now. I don't ever remember seeing an e-mail along the lines of "SMJ is changing its deposit rules...we're applying your previous deposit to your invoice." If I had, I would not be questioning this.

[ginga123]

Does this mean I can get my $500 deposit back I placed a few years ago? Or is it too late for that? I recently purchased ground control to psychoelectric girl douga from them about a month ago. What is his email address if this is the case? Thanks JenG

[oxypetalus]

Does this mean I can get my $500 deposit back I placed a few years ago? Or is it too late for that? I recently purchased ground control to psychoelectric girl douga from them about a month ago. What is his email address if this is the case? Thanks JenG

Ginga, you should absolutely try to get your deposit back. The last email I had with them was using this email: webmaster@animechaos.com. If that doesn't work maybe try support@theweeblounge.com . Good luck !