Yahoo Japan auctions,Toys, shipping and ordering questions

[frankell05]

Ok, so I'm assuming a lot of folks here have dealt with yahoo japan actions.

I have bought stuff through buyee already, and don't which to pay those fees again.

My questions is regarding a particular situation.

I have a friend in japan who is willing to receive the items shipped to him and he will ship them international to me. This is all great and dandee, but he doesn't want to have to deal with bidding on yahoo. I would be glad to take over that part but I don't see an option to sign up and buy stuff in English. Would I have to still use one of the intermediary sites like buyee to have stuff shipped to my friend in japan? would that save me any money in the end or not really?

if anyone has had this experience I would appreciate any input.

Also not sure if this is the right forum, but it is directly related to the purchase of macross toys, so correct me if I am wrong to write this here.

Thanks

[chyll2]

it would save you money, but not that much. the biggest commission you are giving to the proxy sites is from the first Charge which covers Local Shipping (from seller to proxy), Bank Charges (for Money transfer within Japan) and the Actual Cost of the item (the biggest cost).

I am not sure if Buyee charge commission as well on Shipping (I use FromJapan and they also charge 5% commission for shipping) and the shipping cost is like 300 to 500 yen more expensive than usual.

[Hikuro]

i'm not sure if this place still exists, I get emails from them time to time. Shopping Mall Japan was who I used way back when I heard about Yahoo Japan Aucitioning. They act as the middle man. You create an account with them and send them money, they convert it into Yen. You find the item you want using their website and you enter a bid based on the amount of money you put into your account. Once you win it'll get sent to their warehouse where you tell them to ship it or store it.

The downsides from what I remember were fees they hit you with later on and shipping charges and taxes. It wasn't a lot or anything like that but you had a certain amount of time like 2 weeks to pay up or they keep the item and your money.

I never had a problem with them and things worked out pretty well for me, I did get some really neat items, but I also got ripped off by some Japanese sellers and of course you can't communicate with them.

[frankell05]

yeah, basically buyee works like that. When I bought a 100 something dollar item i had to pay about 50 dollars in charges ans hipping at the end (without counting international charges form paypal. im just kind of put off by the whole process, feels like going to Vegas, every time you even think about doing something you get charged for it. suuuucks

[barurutor]

Buyee doesn't charge commission on shipping but they have a 10% charge on your bid+200yen bank transfer fee. This makes Buyee significantly more expensive than FJ. However you can keep your items *really* long in buyee's warehouse.

[takatoys]

Buyee doesn't charge commission on shipping but they have a 10% charge on your bid+200yen bank transfer fee. This makes Buyee significantly more expensive than FJ. However you can keep your items *really* long in buyee's warehouse.

Yep, having your items in the warehouse is a great advantage. You can keep your items for 90 days.

[barurutor]

I've bought items via buyee in mid-December and had them shipped in April/May... They do warn you in advance when your 90 day limit is expiring though.

[frankell05]

thanks a lot you guys for all the info!!