If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Experiences at Yahoo Japan - How-To-Do-It Guide
One of my collecting interests is Japanese pens and I've often
wondered where the wonderful pens I see in books can be found, and at reasonable prices. Rarely do any show up on eBay, and even fewer show up on the websites of dealers or at pen shows. In this quest I came to investigate the possibility of bidding on Yahoo Japan. Opening the pages of Yahoo Japan Auctions (http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/ - not the Yahoo Japan home page) I quickly discovered several major barriers that precluded my immediate participation in their auctions. When confronted with a challenge my inclination is to discover a way to overcome these barriers. Anyone can bid on Yahoo Japan and this paper will explain how. Please note: I have absolutely no fiduciary with this or any other mentioned herein. The website of Yahoo Japan is organized almost exactly like that for Yahoo in any other country. The only big difference is language. It might be best to visit one of the web sites that have a tutorial for Yahoo Japan for detailed explanations and instructions. One of the best is at http://www.ffmusic.info/yjtutorial.html. Although designed for anime and manga collectors, it can be used for any product. All the necessary information is freely available on the internet, where one can pick and choose the services that best meet their needs. Just plug "Yahoo Japan bidding" into your browser and away you go. The above-mentioned website doesn't mention how to obtain a Yahoo Japan user ID but one can be obtained by going through their registration process without providing an address or credit card information. You still cannot bid, but this will allow you to see completed auctions for up to three months. Throughout the process the temptation to translate Japanese into English will naturally arise and this capability will be essential for reading descriptions of items for sale. Fortunately, several electronic translators are available online. I like AltaVista's Babelfish at http://world.altavista.com/ and the one created by Excite Japan at http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/ works real well. For some words, online dictionaries might be required. It's unlikely you will be able to translate every word or understand nuance or current slang, but you will get a good idea. Or, just stick to buying new stuff with stickers and it's hard to go wrong. I understand some computers might require a Japanese language pack to be installed before it can correctly display Japanese characters. I use Windows XP, Home Version, at home and 2000 at work without any difficulty. If one needs a Japanese language pack they are available from Microsoft. It's called the Global IME, and it is downloadable and free. I am very fortunate my brother-in-law lives in Japan and is a major shop-till-ya-drop Yahoo Japan junkie. He buys everything he can online. Since he's online daily he eagerly agreed to assist me in getting started. He was willing to set up an account for me with his bank so I could pay for my auctions. You see, in Japan checks are almost non-existent and bank transfers are a common means of payment. The big drawback for me would be my constantly needing to replenish my funds and, if I transferred funds from America, there were transfer costs to be considered. Eventually we decided the best way to go was to have him bid for me and this has proven very workable and I can reimburse him any time. A big hurdle for bidding is having some place for your winnings to be delivered as most sellers state they "will not ship internationally." Using my brother-in-laws address easily solved the problem, but most other foreign buyers will need a mail drop that will ship your stuff home to you. There exist numerous Yahoo Japan buying services that can assist international buyers. The how-to site above mentions Celga.com and Rinkya.com, but there are quite a few others. One can also find individuals who have helped create a veritable underground cottage industry of bidding for foreigners. Many have long track records and are quite reputable and you can actually make live bids on auctions through some of these services. They will set you up with everything you need. And when you win, your stuff will be mailed to their office and, if you so arrange, be periodically mailed to you together, to save on international shipping costs. It is all there! There are costs to using these services, so shop around to find the best deal that will meet your needs and circumstances. I mail cash in Yen to my brother-in-law to pay for my winnings and shipping costs. Most people have difficulty with this, but my circumstances are unusual. A convenient, safe means of money exchange and transfer is essential. All of the buying services accept PayPal, Wire Transfers, or International Money Orders, and some will even take bank cheques. Before doing anything please visit Yahoo Japan and explore whether it will be worthwhile for you to participate. Run the numbers and see for yourself. Go to their auction home page at http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/ and type in the Japanese characters for mannenhitsu (fountain pen - 万年筆). If these Japanese characters don't appear on your computer do an online search for mannenhitsu or just plug in the word PILOT at Yahoo and you'll eventually will start seeing some pens. When you see a pen click on the sub-group just like you can on regular Yahoo or eBay. This will get you all of the listings for pens and you can scroll through each one of them. One can also find many pen-related questions and terms translated from Japanese to English at the lexicon provided on the PentraceEast webpage at http://www.pentrace.com/east/. As you get into it, you will want to search Yahoo Japan better. If you are just interested in pens made by the Big Three, you will want to expand your search capabilities by using the kana characters for their names. Many listings that contain Pilot, Sailor, or Platinum in their titles will also have the same in kana, so initially just search for their names in English. You can play with this until you figure it out. It is real easy. There are some incredible deals to be found. During May of 2004, at any given time there are no less than three new Murexes that were knocked down for less than $150, or even under $100. These are not hard to find, and even with the buying costs and fees added in, much more economical than found on eBay, or many dealers websites. Tridents, maki-es, Pilots, Sailors, Platinums, and pens from hard-to-find, lesser, now-defunct manufacturers await the astute buyer. Don't worry about shipping because whether you buy from someone in Japan, or have it shipped to you, you still have to pay postage. Here's an example of typical Y10,000 and Y20,000 (or about $100 and $200) transactions that I received from an individual who makes arrangements for international buyers. It's in tabular form so if the table formatting doesn't post, you'll understand. Purchase Price Y10,000 Y20,000 Yahoo Fee: Y200 Y200 Domestic Shipping: Y300 Y300 International Shipping: Y800 Y800 Agent Fee: Y1,000 Y2,000 TOTAL: Y12,300 Y23,300 If you won a Y10,000 auction your total cost would be about $123, that includes a 23% premium over cost. And as you can see, doubling the purchase price reduces the premium to about 12.5%. The scales vary with the provider. If you plan to bid direct be aware that Yahoo Japan charges all their bidders a monthly fee of $2-3. I also understand that they are considering a 3% surcharge to be added to the final price of every auction. In about an hour, you can be cruising through Yahoo Japan and scouting out many of those pens you've longed to have in your collection, but either could not find or were too expensive. In a few days you can be bidding directly, so it's not too early to go looking. Things are becoming more competitive over there as it is being trawled for pens for resale on eBay and elsewhere. And, who knows, you might just run into some familiar faces too. Be careful. Be cool. Have fun. |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Stan is apparently just boasting about his connection in Japan, and
disguising this as a helpful hint. "When confronted with a challenge my inclination is to discover a way to overcome these barriers". What's this BS? Don't believe this guy. Yahoo Japan is a mine field. No friend would send you into a mine field. If you can't read the Japanese descriptions and other details on those pages ONE HUNDRED PERCENT, you are inviting trouble. There are lines in there that talk about buying the pen as it is, no claims, no returns (with typically fuzzy photos). And if you have any questions they ask to e-mail the seller directly. In Japan, they leave half of the problems unwritten, expecting serious buyers to contact them directly. They expect dialogue. I read one of Stan's earlier boasts, uh, how-to-do-it guides, and tried the Yahoo Japan route. I ended up with a pen that was not as described, and it arrived wrapped in toilet paper in a paper envelope. The pen was also broken (one of the tines had a missing point), which came as no surprise. Even if it had arrived intact, the barrel was all scratched, although the description did not mention that, and the photo didn't show it. I had no recourse since I skirted the system. I should have flushed my money down the toilet. Thank you Stan. Are you willing to reimburse me Stan? |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Sheaffer Snorkel Field Guide eBook UPDATED! | Jim Mamoulides | Pens & Pencils | 1 | June 3rd 04 01:22 AM |
Sheaffer Snorkel Field Guide - an e-Book | Jim Mamoulides | Pens & Pencils | 4 | June 2nd 04 10:34 PM |
New Sanders price guide | Dan Hughes | Autographs | 0 | September 19th 03 01:57 AM |