mkvrnn
Established
I recently discovered the Yahoo Japan Auction site, and since my current obsession is Leica copies, it seemed like a good alternative to ebay to try to buy one or two. It seems to have turned out to be an expensive mistake.
The site is in Japanese, naturally, so it seems to be necessary to use a proxy bidder and there is a good choice. I chose Easy Auction Japan (EAJ).
In order to bid it is necessary to set up an account and transfer funds sufficient to cover your bid, via Paypal. The additional costs if you win an auction are explained, and these include postage from the seller to the EAJ office in Japan, shipping from EAJ to the buyer, the EAJ commission, the auctioneer's commission, and possibly a sales tax in Japan.
The biggest problems are as follows:-
1. The descriptions translate so badly into English that they are very difficult to interpret. A typical one might be "It will be wound film. Release the shutter. Mold, such as the oil film on the lens? It is seen. Image please tender only person who can determine a look at. Please have a look, if very well, since it has sent also to others".
2. There is not usually any provision to ask the seller any questions.
3. There does not seem to be any buyer protection in the event that the camera is mis-described or doesn't actually arrive.
Despite these frightening risks I was curious to try to buy something, so after a week of experimentation I finally managed to win a Nicca Type 5 with lens for a reasonable sounding 16,000 Yen, even with the ambiguous and dubious sounding description. It comes with an original lens cap and looks good in the photos so I'm optimistic.
The additional charges were higher than the EAJ estimate so I've ended up paying well over 26,000 yen for a 16,000 camera. In addition I've incurred Paypal fees for the initial transfer and again for the second transfer to cover the additional charges. No doubt I'll also lose out on the currency conversion, and when I reclaim the balance of my EAJ account balance I will pay the same again in Paypal fees. Finally, I had hoped that I would escape UK import duties but no such luck. The camera actually arrived in the UK the next day from Japan but has been stuck at Parcelforce in Coventry for more than a week while they assess the duty payable. Parcelforce also charge an administration fee. Today I paid the bill online and it should be delivered tomorrow.
So the upshot is that I've actually paid very nearly double the 16,000 bid price for a camera of unknown (until tomorrow) but dubious quality. Nobody to blame but myself of course, but I don't think I'll be repeating the exercise!
The site is in Japanese, naturally, so it seems to be necessary to use a proxy bidder and there is a good choice. I chose Easy Auction Japan (EAJ).
In order to bid it is necessary to set up an account and transfer funds sufficient to cover your bid, via Paypal. The additional costs if you win an auction are explained, and these include postage from the seller to the EAJ office in Japan, shipping from EAJ to the buyer, the EAJ commission, the auctioneer's commission, and possibly a sales tax in Japan.
The biggest problems are as follows:-
1. The descriptions translate so badly into English that they are very difficult to interpret. A typical one might be "It will be wound film. Release the shutter. Mold, such as the oil film on the lens? It is seen. Image please tender only person who can determine a look at. Please have a look, if very well, since it has sent also to others".
2. There is not usually any provision to ask the seller any questions.
3. There does not seem to be any buyer protection in the event that the camera is mis-described or doesn't actually arrive.
Despite these frightening risks I was curious to try to buy something, so after a week of experimentation I finally managed to win a Nicca Type 5 with lens for a reasonable sounding 16,000 Yen, even with the ambiguous and dubious sounding description. It comes with an original lens cap and looks good in the photos so I'm optimistic.
The additional charges were higher than the EAJ estimate so I've ended up paying well over 26,000 yen for a 16,000 camera. In addition I've incurred Paypal fees for the initial transfer and again for the second transfer to cover the additional charges. No doubt I'll also lose out on the currency conversion, and when I reclaim the balance of my EAJ account balance I will pay the same again in Paypal fees. Finally, I had hoped that I would escape UK import duties but no such luck. The camera actually arrived in the UK the next day from Japan but has been stuck at Parcelforce in Coventry for more than a week while they assess the duty payable. Parcelforce also charge an administration fee. Today I paid the bill online and it should be delivered tomorrow.
So the upshot is that I've actually paid very nearly double the 16,000 bid price for a camera of unknown (until tomorrow) but dubious quality. Nobody to blame but myself of course, but I don't think I'll be repeating the exercise!
