Online Japan auction bidding service / shop

[yman1437]

Hi I am sure this has been asked before. Please refer me to the right thread if so. Since I don't want / can't afford to pay $1200 for a VF-4G, I am looking to get from Japan (although some brief searching shows some crazy price too....). Anyway, I have heard of.......

fromjapan

Celga

Kuboten

Rinkya

Which one do you guys use the most?

[UN Spacy]

Japanmart

[jenius]

I've used Rinkya. Pretty reliable and a good process but it ain't cheap. Basically, I've found you only want to use these services for:
1) Large lot auctions. If you can break up the excess you're going to have to pay over a lot of toys, it's easier to stomach

2) Large ticket items. What's another 15% when you're already paying $500 right? RIGHT? If you're buying things that are only $100 the mark-up is more like 45%... YIKES

3) Impossible to find items

Also, if you're using these services, get used to failing. You're bidding against people who aren't facing an extra $100 in fees so you'll find yourself getting outbid a lot (and those people will still pay way less than you were willing to pay between the auction and the fees).

[neoexcaliber]

You might want to look for private proxies. As in people living there who offer such services as opposed to companies/websites. I found their rates to be slightly lower.

[yman1437]

Also, if you're using these services, get used to failing. You're bidding against people who aren't facing an extra $100 in fees so you'll find yourself getting outbid a lot (and those people will still pay way less than you were willing to pay between the auction and the fees).

Ain't that true...

[Duymon]

This is why I never got rid of my J-bank account and have trusted friends I can mail crap to within Japan. The cost of transferring 500-1000 dollars at a time to my Japanese Bank acct is waaaaaay less than what these proxy services charge :0 Then I just use either a bank wire or the credit card from that bank to pay for crap, then I pay my buddy shipping plus a little extra for his trouble.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Duymon

[Gakken85]

This is why I never got rid of my J-bank account and have trusted friends I can mail crap to within Japan. The cost of transferring 500-1000 dollars at a time to my Japanese Bank acct is waaaaaay less than what these proxy services charge :0 Then I just use either a bank wire or the credit card from that bank to pay for crap, then I pay my buddy shipping plus a little extra for his trouble.

And you're offering your services to us, correct?

[charger69]

goboy store

Excellent Service!

http://stores.ebay.com/GO-BOY-STORE

[genomcorp]

never had a problem with kuboten.
they have a flat $10 + 10% fee which isn't too too bad

[yman1437]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I'll just have to abandon my dream.......

[Duymon]

If you use those services, use it for something like this... talk about tax-return purchase :0

http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b142073240

YF-29 with super

VF-171 with super

VF-25G

VF-25F with super and armored

VF-25S with super and armored

VF-27 Brera

Hot damn O_O

[Gakken85]

Those are all the old versions. haha

[Jefuemon]

I've used Celga in the past, had no troubles with them. Now, I just have my wife bid on the rare items I see.

Another thing you might not know, you need to have a paid membership with Yahoo Auctions if you want to bid on something over ￥3500.

[Duymon]

Those are all the old versions. haha

Actually they are all renewals cept for the VF-27 which never got any renewal love and prolly won't :0

i'd be tempted to buy it if I didn't already have two of each :0

[yman1437]

So anyone has a private proxy to.recommend?

[VF-Zer0S]

fromjapan

[Gakken85]

Well, Tokyobuyers is quitting. So I have no service at the moment. Sad, as they were really good at what they do.

Can anybody suggest a good service that isn't those parasites at Rinkya? haha.

[DarrinG]

RinkYa costs more - but they are hassle free, and I always get my stuff.

Picture having issues with lost items you've already paid for, or other problems.

But if you find someone that is cheap and trouble free let me know. . .

[Gakken85]

Rinkya are scumbags in my book. They basically tried to throw some late fee on me after they had told me to wait for a bill. What the hell? And I'd spent a lot of money with them in the past. Plus their service had craped out on me a few times and cost me some auctions.

I had a big ordeal with them earlier last year and quit their service after they tried to "enforce" some rule that isn't even in their contract or TOS.

I've been using tokyobuyers since, but he is scaling down.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Gakken85

[close313]

Sendico has a standard service charge of 1000 yen at each auction, so it might be more useful for buying higher priced items.

[YF-29 Durandal]

Japanmart

It's actually called Japamart without the ''N''.

[Bullet_Sponge]

Are you only looking for sellers IN Japan?

[skullmilitia]

There's people on this forum selling VF-4's for 500$ so I hope you'd shy away from 1200$ lol!

[lancalot]

have you try

http://buyee.jp/

they pretty good...

[Bishop]

I just received my first order from fromjapan. It was an excellent experience. However, avoid the web shop named surugaya-a-too. They sold me a dirty, yellowed VF-1S as a new one. Don't know what to do... may be open a case with fromjapan tomorrow.

[SaitouSad]

I just received my first order from fromjapan. It was an excellent experience. However, avoid the web shop named surugaya-a-too. They sold me a dirty, yellowed VF-1S as a new one. Don't know what to do... may be open a case with fromjapan tomorrow.

I've bought 2nd games from Surugaya-a-too via Rakuten before, and my impression of them is that they deal mainly in 2nd hand stuff.

[Bishop]

Yes, they are selling 2nd hand. I knew it was second hand but I had positive experience with Mandarake and Amiami for 2nd hand stuff. This is the first time I am disappointed from a japanese hobby shop.

Anyway, on the other hand, service from fromjapan was top notch.

[SaitouSad]

I guess when it comes to 2nd hand toys, Mandarake is really as good as it gets. For Amiami and Jungle, I've been slightly disappointed before. But generally, Mandarake's stuff are mostly pristine with minor box damages unless stated otherwise.

[YF-29 Durandal]

I guess when it comes to 2nd hand toys, Mandarake is really as good as it gets. For Amiami and Jungle, I've been slightly disappointed before. But generally, Mandarake's stuff are mostly pristine with minor box damages unless stated otherwise.

I bought my VF-25S from Jungle, a bit pricey and I believe that they overcharged on shipping.

But what can you do when no one else has one?

[Defender]

The yamato macross stuff listed at mandrake often state box opened and box damaged but did not describe the condition of the contents inside. For those who purchase items from mandrake before, normally what is the condition of the toys inside?

[aaajin]

Just avoid toys that have high percentage of damage out-of-the-box (like VF-171).

But in general the condition is pretty great.

Ordered 2 valks before in one order : one is pretty loose but not too bad, but the other was pristine new. still have plastic wraps in the landing gears, legs & body. meaning, never been transformed.

[SaitouSad]

The yamato macross stuff listed at mandrake often state box opened and box damaged but did not describe the condition of the contents inside. For those who purchase items from mandrake before, normally what is the condition of the toys inside?

Of my collection which I got off Mandarake

- YF-19 was good and tight

- VF-171EX was good but I could've sworn there were cigarette smell.. could be something else..

- Armored VF-1J is perfect

[Valkyrie addict]

I've gotten a lot of stuff from mandrake, never a problem.

Just a heads up, it appears that yahoo japan has gone the way evilbay way and some seller start off with a very low bidding price but exuberant shipping prices, maybe they know a lot of foreign buyers can fall for this. Always check the auction details closely.

[Swoosh]

fromjapan

[takatoys]

I remember using Japantodoor.com for bidding on Yahoo Japan, very easy process. I think I paid a considerable comission but I wanted the item so much, I didn't care. I received the item from Japan to South America at no time and was very satisfied.