Japan Buying Service?

Discussion in 'Whatever' started by Mr. Humphreys, Dec 30, 2008.

  1. Mr. Humphreys

    Mr. Humphreys Mini Boss

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    Japan Buying Service?
    Still learning about all the different options to buy... JP toys of course! :D Does anyone have any experience with this service?

    http://tokyobuyers.blogspot.com/

    I just found them, and I'm wondering if anyone has had good experiences with them? Might be a good option in addition to Celga? Apologies in advance if this is against the rules for posting :oops:
     
  2. Lixx

    Lixx Mr. Grumpy™

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    Japan Buying Service?
    Interesting. Never used them but at least they're offering a better rate than celga.
     
  3. Ethan

    Ethan Formerly siphilon

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    Japan Buying Service?
    just be careful. I'm always hesitant with people who haven't even shelled out the money to register a domain.
    Sure you gotta start somewhere but caveat emptor.
     
  4. atease

    atease Super Deformed

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    Japan Buying Service?
    i've seen them selling their "services" on ebay before...like $1 auctions to learn how to buy stuff from japan.

    technically, they're here near me just outside of boston.

    get some legit info from them before sending any money that's for sure.
     
  5. hillsy11

    hillsy11 Post Pimp

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I've heard nothing but good things from the folks over on ToyboxDX.
     
  6. nekrodave

    nekrodave Fresh Meat

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I know I don't post here too often, but I can tell you they are good people and good personal friends of mine. I've known Steph since we were 13 years years old (good god, that's 20 years now... ) and Kohei, her husband, for about 9 years or so. They handle all my yahoo transactions without fail. In fact, they pretty much starting doing it because of me. You can use their service with no worries... :D
     
  7. atease

    atease Super Deformed

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    Japan Buying Service?
    ah good to know! thanks dave!
     
  8. kaiwi

    kaiwi Addicted

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    Japan Buying Service?
    Actually, they are only cheaper on items that cost 1001-4999 yen, 10001-14999, etc. Celga is cheaper on the others.
     
  9. evilrabbitry

    evilrabbitry Comment King

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    Japan Buying Service?
    their exchange rate seems a little more reasonable...
     
  10. missy

    missy Post Pimp

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    Japan Buying Service?
    hey! are you on flickr? you have a big collection of American Monster toys too, right? :)
     
  11. nekrodave

    nekrodave Fresh Meat

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    Japan Buying Service?
    Yeah, I used to be, but I haven't bothered with it in a while, nor have I renewed by account there. Not only did I get bored with it, but they closed my friend's account there with no explanation or anything. He had probably thousands of photos he'd uploaded.. all gone. So in support of him... fuck flickr.

    I did just upload a new batch of collection pics to CollectionDX though... lots of new monster pics... ;)

    http://www.collectiondx.com/gallery/Col ... ber272008/
     
  12. missy

    missy Post Pimp

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    Japan Buying Service?
    ahh yes, I think I know who you mean! :) Zombophoto's disappearing flickr was indeed a sad day for those of us who drooled over his collection shots.

    My boyfriend bought some stuff from him on Universal Monster army.

    Toy collecting is a small world. Glad to see you over here!



     
  13. nekrodave

    nekrodave Fresh Meat

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    Japan Buying Service?
    Actually, I was talking about Zombophoto. I had no idea Toy Ranch's disappeared too! Yeah, that's a shame.

    It is indeed a small world. And I'm always around (both here and at the UMA, as well as ToyboxDX, CDX, Robot Japan, etc.. ) but I just tend to lurk more than anything else. I usually will only chime in if I feel I really have something to add, which is rare, or to respond to a direct communication.. :)
     
  14. missy

    missy Post Pimp

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    Japan Buying Service?
    yeah i corrected my post to say zombophoto. i used to stalk his, toyranch & your flick. :)

    oops!
     
  15. Mr. Humphreys

    Mr. Humphreys Mini Boss

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    Japan Buying Service?
    Resurrecting this topic in hopes of collecting some reviews of the buying service people are currently using.
    I haven't bought anything from JYA since Shopping Mall Japan closed their operations. It seems hard to find a reliable vendor with no deposits, live bidding capabilities, combined/packing multiple items (SMJ did this for free), reasonable shipping fees, reasonable commission fees, etc... I don't mind putting a deposit down, but I don't like service vendors who keep your deposit and apply it to your next auction and/or take an extended amount of time refunding your deposit.

    I've used Celga eons ago and had some issues with them refunding deposits. Tokyo Buyer (also used eons ago) was ok, but no live bidding -- they did forget to place bids on a few auctions :x. For now, I'm waiting for stuff to show up on Mandarake, but I would like to find a good buying service. Please feel free to describe your pros & cons with a buying service, maybe it can help us all navigate the toy buying waters to find a decent buying service :)

    Found these quick reviews:
    https://www.tsunagujapan.com/6-indispensable-shopping-sites-for-japanese-goods-overseas/
    https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimeFigur...ats_the_best_japanese_proxy_to_use_right_now/
    https://myfigurecollection.net/blog/44787

    ZenMarket
    https://zenmarket.jp/en/

    From Japan
    https://www.fromjapan.co.jp/en/

    White Rabbit Express
    https://www.whiterabbitexpress.com/

    Buyee

    https://buyee.jp/

    Also curious about DeJapan (sounds a little too good to be true?)
    DeJapan
    https://www.dejapan.com/en/
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2021
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  16. old_seaweed

    old_seaweed Toy Prince

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I've used From Japan a handful of times, and each was really positive. The last was a request to buy something that went beyond the usual shopping cart purchase. After getting an initial "we can't buy this" notice, I took a shot and asked if they might reconsider (it took a small extra step for them), and they did. They're also pretty quick, in my experience. The web interface for their user account page is kind of wild and somewhat confusing, but the YJA/buying side isn't bad at all. Fees weren't out of line with other services.

    I'm done with Zen Market. If I look back, every experience I've had with them has kind of stunk. Very slow to communicate, and really slow making a purchase. To be fair, this is mostly with smaller vendors outside of their usual etailer list, which is something Buyee won't do. If they encounter an issue with an extra charge, though, that'll add a further layer of response cycle and bog it down even more. I've found it takes a week or so to make the final (non-auction) buy. The pay-up-front credit system gets weird if things hit a snag, and getting funds back has been slow/frustrating for me. I assume they're very short-staffed, but they also have an entertaining variety of CSR names.

    I realize the scope of M-World but man, I'm asked to pay nearly $100USD for FedEx shipping on a Max Toy thing, that I paid double for to begin with. I told him to hang on to it indefinitely.
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2021
  17. xHikix

    xHikix Fresh Meat

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I use buyee often there’s a 10$ instant service fee and that’s pretty reasonable. They combine multiple items free but they just take whatever boxes they’re shipped to to warehouse in and put it in bigger boxes. For like 25$ they unpack them re bubble wrap the items and can usually fit them in smaller boxes that way, or can fit more items so sometimes pays to use that service. Think there is only dhl or seamail at the moment coming into the us so kinda pricey or takes 2 months
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2021
  18. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I recently made an account with remambo because there are items on mercai, buyee will not allow you to purchase. Has anyone used this service? They bought the item rather quickly, but I haven’t gotten to the international shipping stage yet.
     
  19. Roger

    Roger Vintage

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I was using Rinkya for many years, started to get disappointed with them so I tried out Buyee and have been very happy with the service.

    Regarding the Mercari items you aren't able to purchase, when you do a search there is a checkbox for "show only available stock" - do you think you might be trying to purchase an out-of-stock item?
     
  20. JoeMan

    JoeMan Mini Boss

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    Japan Buying Service?
    No, there are certain items that say, seller doesn’t allow shipping outside of Japan. I don’t know why this matters, since the buyee warehouse is in Japan but I’ve come across it numerous times and on those listing use alternate buying agents to purchase. I used celga, but still have stuff in their warehouse because they refuse to ship with DHL or Yamato and are making me wait for EMS to resume, which is why I tried a new service this time.
    Actually when you search mercai through buyee, you should not follow the link on the buyee site for whatever reason they display limited listing. If you search mercai you get more results and every listing has a button to then go to buyee to purchase the item.
     
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  21. XVivaHateX

    XVivaHateX Addicted

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    Japan Buying Service?
    Celga is shipping via Yamato/Kuro Neko now. I got two big boxes of stuff that had been sitting since last January. Its super expensive but just as good as EMS, they hand off to UPS once it gets in the states.
     
  22. deafmetal

    deafmetal Comment King

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I have also bought a couple "Japan only" items from Mercari with Remambo and they are still sitting in their warehouse. I was planning to wait until EMS was available again as they do not seem to offer DHL unless you have your own account. I don't even want to see a quote for FedEx shipping from them, heh.

    @old_seaweed - I have used ZenMarket for YJA auctions for many years and they have provided excellent service. I have only bought one or two things with ZM from web stores, but that was probably pre-Covid when they had higher staffing levels and things were a bit quicker overall. I have no complaints about their YJA service in general, especially the 300 yen fee per item and free item consolidation for shipping. The only major downside to ZM is the requirement to preload funds into a credit balance for bidding purposes.
     
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  23. Mr Fox

    Mr Fox Addicted

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    Japan Buying Service?
    I've used Buyee on multiple occasions over the past 24-months and never had an issue with their service - the site is easy to use, no money up front, payment via PayPal (with the added protection) and they will hold items for a month, with no charge, so that you can consolidate multiple orders.

    If you choose to have them consolidate the order, their packing is excellent (good quality bubble wrap and carefully done). I've only had one issue where a YJA seller wouldn't allow you to use an intermediary, like Buyee, but every other auction has been faultless. You can either bid or 'snipe' and you only pay once you win, and pay for shipping to you once you confirm shipping (they offer multiple shipping options and give you estimates of time scales for each).
     
  24. taviq

    taviq Toy Prince

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    Japan Buying Service?
    has m-world disappeared?
    I haven't gotten an email from them in ages.
    totally forgot until this morning. I think I haven't gotten an email since the pandemic.
    I rarely bought anything, but it was nice to get emails about toys everyday
     
  25. Vombie

    Vombie Vintage

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    Japan Buying Service?
    They switched over to another kind of group email not long ago. If you go to their main site, you can probably request to get on from there.

     
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