Buy, sell and trade here. No price gouging , if you are linking to eBay it must have eBay in the title. Please state the price you are willing to sell for or the maximum you are willing to pay.

Moderators: lazyben, static14, texasvinyl

User avatar
By inksb
#116466
Any of you guys around here used Yahoo Auctions to buy records or cassettes from Japan? It seems like there are a ton of great stuff available on there but I can't get direct answers using translation. It looks like if you are outside of Japan it wants you to use a site called Buyee

How does shipping work? What are payment options? Any insight would be helpful. Good/bad experiences.
User avatar
By monsterworship
#116469
Ive had an account and buying on YJA for over 10 years.

No one in japan will ship directly to foreigners, so you have to use a proxy service to bid on your behalf.

Ive recommended this service to people as it is more straight forward.: https://zenmarket.jp/

To be honest in this day & age its almost easier just to buy stuff on discogs or ebay.
You have to factor in the buying fees, shipping within japan to the agent and then shipping to you.

I still look on YJA but I haven't bought much over the last few years since prices have got stupid.
User avatar
By inksb
#116470
Thanks for info. The reason I was interested is a few things that are not for sale on discogs or are absurdly priced on discogs can be had for very cheap but I couldn't' find any real info on shipping so I couldn't tell what the real cost would be.
User avatar
By deafmetal
#116476
The are quite a few agent or proxy services that will bid on your behalf. Most of them charge a 20-25% fee per item, and you will also be billed for shipping in Japan from the seller to the agent which is usually 300-1200 yen depending on distance and weight (check the auction listing for details on that, and you might need a translator). I have also been using ZenMarket for many years as they only charge 300 yen per item rather than a flat 20% fee. They are able to do this by only holding items at their warehouse for 45 days before they start billing a 50 yen per item/day holding fee. They also require you to deposit funds into a bidding account, and expect to pay PayPal fees for the funds transfer. Other agents will let you order on credit or a percentage of the total bid and stockpile orders for months before combining shipping to other countries. I would expect to pay around 2000-3000 yen for international EMS shipping for a small package, or higher as the total weight Increases with other items. You could also ship SAL at lower cost if you don't mind waiting a long time. Some places also offer offer DHL or FedEx, but usually at slightly higher costs to the US. EMS has worked well for me, and typically becomes USPS Priority Mail Express after clearing customs.

Lastly, as @monster mentioned, prices are way up for most of the popular rare titles. That said, I have still scored some gems on the cheap when people are not watching very closely. There are some crazy rare vintage Italian albums that have landed in Japanese collections over the years as well, and they typically take excellent care of their stuff.
User avatar
By Dollarhyde
#116478
Echoing similar sentiments as above inks

I use jauce.com although zenmarket may be cheaper.

As deaf said you can get some bargains particularly if you are picking up anime stuff, and tapes even.
There are many small fees that subtly add up though, almost like micro transactions. Winning bid fee, PayPal fee, domestic shipping fee, repacking fee, postage fee, customs fee :(

The customs fee at the end is the real kicker as this will be for the price of all your auctions in the parcel+the parcel shipping fee.

You could also get surface mail, if you dare ;)

Some japanese stores also ship internationally from their websites.

And as monster said there is a lot more Japanese stuff on discogs nowadays, and not all of it absurdly overpriced.
User avatar
By Dollarhyde
#116479
Also remember yahoo auctions work differently from eBay, sniping doesn't work as they add a 5 minute time extension if a last minute/second bid is made.

And, I've not had to try fortunately, raising a dispute over a sale must be near impossible.

Just PMd you inks !
By skeletonbutt
#116483
Dollarhyde wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 6:32 am Also remember yahoo auctions work differently from eBay, sniping doesn't work as they add a 5 minute time extension if a last minute/second bid is made.
incredible. why wouldn't ebay add such a simple feature? that's the one reason why i don't sell or bid on any ebay items anymore.
User avatar
By maxlevel
#116501
@inksb I bought a Walkman off buyee last summer and was very impressed. They have special offers on postage although it isn’t much. As said above, I think that market looks after its items a lot better. My Walkman was listed as junk, I’ve had it serviced and the guy said it was almost mint condition apart from a clean and belt change. This was also annoying as I had to pay for the service! But I have a mint condition model for about 1/4 the price which made up for the international shipping, which was also cheaper and faster than the UK equivalents.

One experience isn’t enough of a proof, but I will use them again. I’m looking at nakamichi decks now wondering if it’s possible I won’t get murdered by the other half
User avatar
By Bezulsqy
#116508
Everything has been said by the people above. I can only tell about my experience.
I have been using Buyee for the last 3 years I believe. I don't think they are the cheapest option, but I have not have a single problem through them.
One thing: it is not as cheap as the items on Yahoo acutions appear. As already stated there are a lot of small costs that add up.
I will give you a true example. 1000 yen equals around $9 at the moment.
I 'won' a record for 2000 yen. On top of that I had to pay a 200 yen fee because Buyee has to pay the seller on my behave. Then there is a 150 yen fee service fee (this time I paid 0 because of a promotion). On top of that you can choose if you want Buyee to check your package if the contents is the same as what was stated in the auction. That can cost 500 yen. I always go for the 0 yen option of not checking. I can understand that if you buy that 12,000 yen record you want to have it checked.
Then there is shipping from the seller to the Buyee warehouse. In this case that was 660yen.
After that you still have to get the record to your home. For this one record it would cost me 2200 yen to ship to europe.

That 2000 yen record ends up costing 4400-4550yen to get to my place. And in Europe you will get stung with customs. That is an additional 20% on top. I believe customs is not an issue for the US.

What you can do to save a bit on total costs is to combine packages. Depending on the proxy service you use they will hold your items for 30 to 45 days. In that period you can keep on buying stuff. And near the end you can combine all your items for a cost of 1000-1500 yen. That way you can definitely save up on total shipping.

To Europe shipping is expensive. To the US as well. 10kg to ship with EMS = 14,500 yen to the US. It is not very hard to get to that amount the first time you use it.
I started looking for soundtracks on vinyl the first time. But when you start checking other categories you find stuff you can't believe they exist. And you can end up buying a lot more than you wanted in the first place. But hey, it is only money ;-)

In a month I will receive a new package from Buyee. I still have around 20 days to go with my current items in the warehouse. I'll make some picture of their packaging job.

Also, there is the possibility that you will bid against a fellow STBS member :-)
By EvanCampbell
#117147
I had used yahoo japan maybe only two or three times and found it pretty pricey. Like already mentioned, Discogs is probably a cheaper alternative. Many of the hard to find soundtracks I own were purchased from a Japan store called Rare records years back. The store had no paypal system, and the owner spoke no English. It made online communication very difficult. I would get american dollars converted to Yen and then I would mail the guy, in a birthday card (just in case) a stack of yen for my order. It would take like two months but it cut out all addition cost except one shipping fee from the guys store. The guy had tons of amazing hard to find stuff but it was cheaper back then. Just thought I share my experiences in the underworld of record collecting.
User avatar
By Mateo Sanboval
#118692
EvanCampbell wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:48 pm I had used yahoo japan maybe only two or three times and found it pretty pricey. Like already mentioned, Discogs is probably a cheaper alternative. Many of the hard to find soundtracks I own were purchased from a Japan store called Rare records years back. The store had no paypal system, and the owner spoke no English. It made online communication very difficult. I would get american dollars converted to Yen and then I would mail the guy, in a birthday card (just in case) a stack of yen for my order. It would take like two months but it cut out all addition cost except one shipping fee from the guys store. The guy had tons of amazing hard to find stuff but it was cheaper back then. Just thought I share my experiences in the underworld of record collecting.
This is a sexy story of vinyl espionage.
User avatar
By Bezulsqy
#128832
I want to share my current Yahoo auction endeavour. It is full with stupid decisions and excellent records :-)

I use the proxy Buyee because you don't have to deposit funds before bidding. When you get something through them they will automatically get your money from your paypal account.
That way you completely lose the overview of how much you already have spend there :-)

Most proxies let you store your purchases for 30 days. You can then choose to combine all your orders and have them ship one large package. This means that when I see a record I really want and when I do win the auction, my mind is melting during the next 30 days. For some reason I will then try to buy as much stuff as I can and overbid a lot of the time...
The biggest catch is that I still need to pay for the domestic shipping and the final shipping to my house. And the customs charge that definitely will occur.

As I type this I have only five days left of the 30 days after my first purchase arrived in the warehouse of my proxy. I think I won my last auction today and in the next couple of days all orders should arrive. I cannot wait to show you the result of my binge in a couple of weeks.

Here is something I found that I did not know about and that I really wanted.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/o396748428

Image

This is the soundtrack to Flaklypa Grand Prix aka the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix
On Discogs there is no mention of the Japanese version.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Fl%C3%A ... se/5269032

I asked ScoJo about it and he told me more about this Norwegian animation movie and after hearing what he said I wanted the record even more.
I was not alone :-) I stopped bidding at 10,000 yen. It ended up at 23,000 yen (200 euro).

Sometimes I am wondering how much to bid for a record. The thing is that I have to add 500 yen for each purchase in fees. And then there is shipping. What I mostly end up doing is going to discogs to see how much a record is available for and for how much it sold in the past. If I would get an item on Discogs I also have to factor in shipping. And for cheaper items it is not worth it because a lot of sellers only have one or two things I want. So I prefer to pay a premium by using Yahoo.

(I am going to elaborate more but have no time now so will pick this up tomorrow...)
User avatar
By inksb
#128833
I can't wait to see what you ended up with @bez

I still haven't taken the plunge into Yahoo Auctions. I'm scared I'm going to over spend on a lot of stuff and just kill my bank account.
User avatar
By Bezulsqy
#128834
inksb wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:36 pm I can't wait to see what you ended up with @bez

I still haven't taken the plunge into Yahoo Auctions. I'm scared I'm going to over spend on a lot of stuff and just kill my bank account.
you will over spend... it cannot be helped

But to further elaborate about my way of thinking when bidding... I look for Japanese 45s from spaghetti westerns. For instance this one: Texas, addio
Not a lot of people are after this but to buy one on Discogs doesn't come cheap. So I bought one on Yahoo for 500 yen plus 500yen in fees (1000 yen is around $9). I think the cover is VG for the one I bought. Then I factor in domestic shipping (100-200 yen for a 45). So that still is a lot cheaper than if I would get it from Discogs or eBay.

And it is easy. That is the biggest hook I get caught on. Bidding is easy, paying is easy, arranging shipment is easy. So I buy 10 45s for instance. All single orders. Each one has the 500yen fee. Then it starts to add up. Is it still cheaper than using Discogs or eBay? No idea.
When you start buying stuff you don't really want, well then it is going to be more expensive than what you wanted it to be.

Also, when you look at a more expensive record. For instance: Zabriksie Point. I paid 4650 yen plus the 500 fee. That fee doesn't way that much any more.
But is still is a lot of money for this soundtrack. However, if you want the Japanese version with obi in good nick than you prepare to pay a mighty bonus: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Zabrisk ... se/7241634
And I am willing to do that. Or I drank to much an pressed the bid button accidentally...
User avatar
By elifunk
#128927
Bezulsqy wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:58 pm
Here is something I found that I did not know about and that I really wanted.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/o396748428

This is the soundtrack to Flaklypa Grand Prix aka the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix
On Discogs there is no mention of the Japanese version.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Fl%C3%A ... se/5269032
hello Bezulsqy, i've added it on discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/release/15464451
User avatar
By Bezulsqy
#128966
elifunk wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:19 pm
Bezulsqy wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:58 pm
Here is something I found that I did not know about and that I really wanted.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/o396748428

This is the soundtrack to Flaklypa Grand Prix aka the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix
On Discogs there is no mention of the Japanese version.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Fl%C3%A ... se/5269032
hello Bezulsqy, i've added it on discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/release/15464451
Thanks!