have you used yahoo jp auction? what was your experience? Usa user, but from anywhere I'd like to he
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Lasonic TRC-920
Moderator
I know there are allot of members who have bought from Yahoo.jp auctions. But you have to use an "In Between" company. The only way to pay is through bank of Japan and the only way to have a BOJ account is to be a citizen. So we have to use a company like Jouce. http://www.jauce.com/
I have bought many radio's through them. I will try to find a link to the thread I wrote about it.
I have bought many radio's through them. I will try to find a link to the thread I wrote about it.
Lasonic TRC-920
Moderator
I wasn't able to find that thread. But like Redbenjoe said, it can be costly because of shipping, fees, taxes, trasfer fees and on and on. But it can be done and if the radio is cheap enough it still might work out
Lasonic TRC-920
Moderator
Yeah, but if you can somehow find a miss labeled auction or a radio no one is bidding on and get it for $15, then with the cost of shipping and other fee's it works out.riker1068 said:Thanks for the reply. I seen some good BIN prices. But shipping and all these fees would turn a $700 item into like a 15 to 1600 item. Oh fugg that. They are cool to look at though
Gluecifer
Member (SA)
I use yahoo.jp all the time for radios, toys, tapes, all kinds of things. I only do this so frequently though as I have a friend over there who does all the work for me and I pay him a commission for his troubles. The shipping out of .jp for anything of a substantial size is always going to be a killer though, expect at least $150 for shipping of any mid size boombox.
I've never used the sites that provide the service but as well as the concern of shipping costs you also have a loooong wait. You'll be looking at at least a month to six weeks from purchasing to receiving your item, if not longer if you opt for cheaper shipping and bundle items together (which is to be encouraged).
Gotta say though, the prices on yahoo.jp are not what they used to be 5 years ago. The influx of the westerners being able to buy has raised the prices of many radios and the huge bargains they used to be are long gone. I don't see any $20 CFS-99's on there anymore and the high end Sanyos/Sharps/Toshibas/etc all start off at multiple hundreds of dollars these days. Still a lot of hot deals if you dig around, I mainly shop for minis on there these days, Japan had so many exclusive models and the price of them is still pretty reasonable.
Good luck!
Rock On.
I've never used the sites that provide the service but as well as the concern of shipping costs you also have a loooong wait. You'll be looking at at least a month to six weeks from purchasing to receiving your item, if not longer if you opt for cheaper shipping and bundle items together (which is to be encouraged).
Gotta say though, the prices on yahoo.jp are not what they used to be 5 years ago. The influx of the westerners being able to buy has raised the prices of many radios and the huge bargains they used to be are long gone. I don't see any $20 CFS-99's on there anymore and the high end Sanyos/Sharps/Toshibas/etc all start off at multiple hundreds of dollars these days. Still a lot of hot deals if you dig around, I mainly shop for minis on there these days, Japan had so many exclusive models and the price of them is still pretty reasonable.
Good luck!
Rock On.
Mystic Traveller
Member (SA)
I have bought around 20-25 bbx there during this year - the cheapest one was the mint, fully functional National RX-5160 - 5$ was my winning bid.
I also use the "InBetween" company which has a warehouse in Japan.
The main thing here is that they pack boomers extremely well, touching wood.
Sea/Ground shipment usually takes circa 1.5 months.
An average shipping price for a mid-size one-piecer is about 100-120$.
220-110V step-down transformer (100 Watt) cost me about 15$.
I also use the "InBetween" company which has a warehouse in Japan.
The main thing here is that they pack boomers extremely well, touching wood.
Sea/Ground shipment usually takes circa 1.5 months.
An average shipping price for a mid-size one-piecer is about 100-120$.
220-110V step-down transformer (100 Watt) cost me about 15$.
Even if you win an item for a miniscule amount, the total could cost, especially for USA buyers, could be many many times the orig winning bid.
Here are the challenges you are going to face:
1. The desciptions are a bit hard to understand. Sure you could use a translation type service but it's still not a flawless translation. There are descriptive terms that just don't translate, and there are terms we use that they don't, and there are terms they use but we don't. So it should be understood that you are relying on pictures only and the operating condition is generally a big unknown but in most cases, the item will probably require a lot of work, especially the cheaper ones.
2. The pictures are all small. They simply aren't large enough to see any kind of detail.
3. You need to establish an account with a proxy service.
4. You will be charged a fee to fund your account with PayPal. So a $100 paypal transfer to your account is already devalued by the time it's ready to be used.
5. I found that PayPal monetary exchange rates seem to give you less bang/buck than the rates posted by most online exchange rates you'll find. Whatever their internal rates are, that's what you are going to get.
6. When you win an item, it is only the beginning of the process. The winning amount is going to result in more fees:
...6a: You may be charged a winning auction fee.
...6b: You will be charged shipping for the seller to ship the item to the proxy to be held to forward off to you.
7. Because Japan parcel service handles parcels far more delicately than our USA affiliates here do, they generally pack very light. Usually, you will get the item stuffed into a carton barely larger than the item itself. Any voids (very small, almost like the boombox gets a cardboard skin) will be filled with newspaper. If you are wondering how much cushioning effect the newspaper will retain after being stacked on 2-months journey, let me enlighten you.... not much. The proxy will remail the item to you based on your preferences and they may rebox the item to make them internationally shippable. EMS is the fastest but one of the most expensive. They allow larger cartons than surface shipping. It's not easy to plunk down $250 for EMS when you won the boombox (before the fee's noted above) for $5, or $10, or whatever.
8. So your proxy will remail the item to you based on your shipping preferences. They will hold your items if you want to collect/win more items so they can be shipped together to save shipping costs. If you are buying brochures, cassette tapes, trinkets, etc -- no problem. If you are buying boomboxes, especially larger grails, how many do you think are going to fit into one box? Answer is unless you are buying mini's, not many. Mostly, they will be shipped separately.
9. Prepare for your item to be damaged. Over the years, a friend of mine helped me purchase many items. Most but not all of them have had physical damage of some amount. Some where chips/cracks. Some were totally shattered items. Oh, and in case you are wondering, there will be no PayPal/eBay claims to be filed. You are SOL if you find your item damaged.
10. Like some members have shared -- if you have someone who can personally help you effect the transaction, you are well above the curve. If you are a retail customer doing the proxy thing... read this whole thing again.
Recap:
You will pay/lose:
Inferior exchange rates, a fee to change PayPal funds to Japan bank funds, a fee when you win an auction, a shipping fee from seller to the proxy service, a fee to have the item forwarded/shipped to you. So yes, it's possible that a $5 boombox could cost you $150-$200 by the time it shows up at your door.
Here are the challenges you are going to face:
1. The desciptions are a bit hard to understand. Sure you could use a translation type service but it's still not a flawless translation. There are descriptive terms that just don't translate, and there are terms we use that they don't, and there are terms they use but we don't. So it should be understood that you are relying on pictures only and the operating condition is generally a big unknown but in most cases, the item will probably require a lot of work, especially the cheaper ones.
2. The pictures are all small. They simply aren't large enough to see any kind of detail.
3. You need to establish an account with a proxy service.
4. You will be charged a fee to fund your account with PayPal. So a $100 paypal transfer to your account is already devalued by the time it's ready to be used.
5. I found that PayPal monetary exchange rates seem to give you less bang/buck than the rates posted by most online exchange rates you'll find. Whatever their internal rates are, that's what you are going to get.
6. When you win an item, it is only the beginning of the process. The winning amount is going to result in more fees:
...6a: You may be charged a winning auction fee.
...6b: You will be charged shipping for the seller to ship the item to the proxy to be held to forward off to you.
7. Because Japan parcel service handles parcels far more delicately than our USA affiliates here do, they generally pack very light. Usually, you will get the item stuffed into a carton barely larger than the item itself. Any voids (very small, almost like the boombox gets a cardboard skin) will be filled with newspaper. If you are wondering how much cushioning effect the newspaper will retain after being stacked on 2-months journey, let me enlighten you.... not much. The proxy will remail the item to you based on your preferences and they may rebox the item to make them internationally shippable. EMS is the fastest but one of the most expensive. They allow larger cartons than surface shipping. It's not easy to plunk down $250 for EMS when you won the boombox (before the fee's noted above) for $5, or $10, or whatever.
8. So your proxy will remail the item to you based on your shipping preferences. They will hold your items if you want to collect/win more items so they can be shipped together to save shipping costs. If you are buying brochures, cassette tapes, trinkets, etc -- no problem. If you are buying boomboxes, especially larger grails, how many do you think are going to fit into one box? Answer is unless you are buying mini's, not many. Mostly, they will be shipped separately.
9. Prepare for your item to be damaged. Over the years, a friend of mine helped me purchase many items. Most but not all of them have had physical damage of some amount. Some where chips/cracks. Some were totally shattered items. Oh, and in case you are wondering, there will be no PayPal/eBay claims to be filed. You are SOL if you find your item damaged.
10. Like some members have shared -- if you have someone who can personally help you effect the transaction, you are well above the curve. If you are a retail customer doing the proxy thing... read this whole thing again.
Recap:
You will pay/lose:
Inferior exchange rates, a fee to change PayPal funds to Japan bank funds, a fee when you win an auction, a shipping fee from seller to the proxy service, a fee to have the item forwarded/shipped to you. So yes, it's possible that a $5 boombox could cost you $150-$200 by the time it shows up at your door.
Mystic Traveller
Member (SA)
Yes, right.Superduper said:
My 5$ minty National 5160 eventually cost me circa 100$ all in all.
A few pros:
My proxy company has a warehouse in Japan for temporary storage and repacking.
For onward shipments from Japan they repack bbx extremely well, never seen better packages.
As an experienced buyer I already don't need to park money on my account at my proxy company in advance since they give me a 500$ credit to win a bid.
Of course it took a certain number of boomers to be bought first to become the experienced buyer.
Always use only sea/ground shipping, never EMS for such heavy units.
The original question was from a USA member and shipping to USA is much higher from Japan than for Russia. Also it depends upon which proxy is used. The one we used specifically states they will not repackage surface shipments, only EMS. And they charge for that feature too. And the size limitation to USA is smaller for surface shipments than EMS which allows larger maximum size.
Mystic Traveller
Member (SA)
All right, I see now, anyway, interesting to read about specifics for the US.Superduper said:
The proxy company I use also makes photos of goods upon arrival at their warehouse, only a couple of photos though but in a pretty good resolution - once it helped me to catch a broken tape door I hadn't seen at Yahoo due to a photo different angle and raise a claim.They returned this Sharp back to owner.
The surface shipment is a kind of slow - usually it takes approx. 1.5 months for a boomer to drop by but it's OK with me - those beasts are already 30+ years old, an extra month doesn't matter considering the time scale.
Cheers!
P.S.
One of my recent scores there - Panasonic RX-PA7 RIDDIM VOX,
I am going to drive it at my summer house since this thing is too big and powerful for indoor use. Also weighs circa 13 kilos (29 lbs).
Riddim Vox was only on the domestic market in Japan. Still popular among fans there.
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Mystic Traveller
Member (SA)
A-ha, it is.goodman said:Wow, this Panasonic RX-PA7 RIDDIM VOX is real monster!!!
look so big and massiive!!!!
Though, formally not a classic boomer - no operation on batteries, has capabilities of acting as a guitar combo - Japanese guys love this type. That's why still cost rather a lot on Yahoo Jp. - winning bids usually hit somewhere between 150-300$ these days.
Body is made of wood laminate.
Few more pics here:
http://www17.plala.or.jp/nanigasi/RX-PA7.html
More info on S2G:
http://www.stereo2go.com/topic/kaboom-s
Mystic Traveller
Member (SA)
Sure, here it is:AE_Stereo said:
http://injapan.ru/
But the site is in Russian since this company is focused on providing services for Russia, ex-USSR countries + Israel.
Mystic Traveller
Member (SA)
Yesterday I spotted and won this Silver ST757 on Yahoo JP.
A kind of weird thing is this is the multivoltage version, most probably the German one.
The unit has no 100 local volts setting at all.
Somehow happened to be stationed in Japan, maybe in somebody's collection, who knows for sure?
It was as if to see a left-wheel Mercedes in Tokyo.
Silver is the brand of the Shin-Shirasuna Electric Corp., Japan.
I did like very unusual "double" tuner dials on both sides of the meter.
Here we go:
View attachment 13517
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View attachment 13519
A kind of weird thing is this is the multivoltage version, most probably the German one.
The unit has no 100 local volts setting at all.
Somehow happened to be stationed in Japan, maybe in somebody's collection, who knows for sure?
It was as if to see a left-wheel Mercedes in Tokyo.
Silver is the brand of the Shin-Shirasuna Electric Corp., Japan.
I did like very unusual "double" tuner dials on both sides of the meter.
Here we go:
View attachment 13517
View attachment 13518
View attachment 13519
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