Japanese ebay sellers

I've only ever bought one thing on Ebay from Japan, but the seller communicated with me immediately after I purchased it, and I got the item in the exact condition described--FROM JAPAN--in FOUR DAYS! Suffice it to say I am pretty happy.
 
I have bought a lot of equipment from Japanese sellers and had to return maybe 3. Never a problem on the sellers making it right. I have never paid return shipment and have been even compensated on some.

David
 
Bought several times from Japanese sellers, all excellent.

In particular, I can recommend seller sangetsu03 who is Jeff, an American living in Tokyo, posting here as "Frontman." I met him in person to complete one transaction (Yashica GX). Great guy!

I have no relation to him other than being a past customer.
 
FujiLove said:
It sounds like many of the complaints in this thread are due to a misunderstanding of how Japanese sellers list and grade their items. Let me translate, based on what I've found...

[Japanese eBay listing] [My interpretation]

Good --> Very poor and almost always in need of some repair.
Very good --> Just 'okay'. Consider only if you are prepared to repair/service
Excellent --> Often heavily marked, maybe a crack, but usually fully functional
Excellent+ --> Fully working, but obviously heavily used
Excellent++ --> Fully working, some obvious signs of use
Excellent++++ --> Fully working, minor signs of use
Excellent++++++ --> Fully working, very clean
Near mint/top mint/rare mint/mega-mint etc. --> Fully working, almost perfect (factoring in the age)
Mint/Mint (add multiple pluses here) --> Fully working, almost no signs of use
Unused/New --> Unused/New

The above isn't the gospel, but you get the idea...and yes, I may have missed a few '++++'...some listings become ridiculous!

The bottom line is: if you want a clean piece of equipment, look for something listed as Excellent++++ or above and check the photos and description carefully.

In my experience, Japanese eBay sellers are extremely honest, provide great service and are very easy to deal with.
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That simply has not been my experience that they overstate condition greatly as a general rule. Though there is a tendency to say in the ad something like "Condition otherwise as seen in photos - view them carefully" Fortunately they tend to post pretty good images in most cases and flaws are evident if one looks and interprets carefully. Never the less as I stated in another post fungus is endemic in Japan (hot wet summers in many parts of the country) and care is needed in that regard. Some fungus infestation must be anticipated unless the seller is adamant that there is none.
 
Robert Lai said:
Caveat emptor.


Items bought from sellers in Japan have usually been excellent.
The main problem is that it's so hot and humid there that fungus is THE big issue. Metal corrosion from seawater is another.
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Hmmm, been to Japan many times. I did not find it so very hot and also not humid. I live in hot and humid and my cameras are all in fine shape.
 
One interesting trend on eBay is the Japanese sellers posting items with hugely inflated prices (like double or triple what it should be), but with a “make offer” option.
 
Seller statements on condition are useless from any seller anywhere. The pictures tell the story. When in doubt, don't buy it. All my purchases from Japan have been fine. Often Japan is the only available source.
 
I don’t think there is anything unique here. Same generalized misrepresentations occur for American “estate finds” and “storage locker auction finds” on eBay and elsewhere.
Buyer beware. Check the rerun policy. Don’t spend your milk and rent money on gear.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've purchased several items from Japan sellers, and the only problem I had was when Frontman sent me the wrong camera (Yashica GX). He promptly sent me the right one, and told me to keep the other as it was not worth the cost of return (it was a parts body he had listed at the same time).

Generally, anything you buy off eBay must be researched fully, and then sometimes you just have to go on a hunch it will work out fine, no matter what country it comes from.

PF
 
It seems the majority have had positive experiences with Japanese sellers and I too have bought a couple things (more than five years ago though) with good results.

They are often the only source for certain things and that's important.

My initial post was a gut reaction to seeing at least four different Japanese sellers listing Canon L1/VL rangefinders in EXC++++ to MINT condition (with concomitant prices) yet, in the pictures, each camera had a missing eyepiece. How the hell does an eyepiece fall off a Canon L1??? It's not necessary to take it off to service the camera, and without it, the viewfinder will not work (no mention of that in their desc. BTW).

I'm smart enough to catch these things but I guess I just felt like (overall) there has been a race to the bottom in the ebay vintage camera game, and Japan just has the greatest number of listings at any given time. I've been a seller/buyer there since 2000 and it's gotten to the point where I regard "fresh from an estate--don't know a thing about cameras" as the best risk anymore.

Sad.
 
bluesun267 said:
It seems the majority have had positive experiences with Japanese sellers and I too have bought a couple things (more than five years ago though) with good results.

They are often the only source for certain things and that's important.

My initial post was a gut reaction to seeing at least four different Japanese sellers listing Canon L1/VL rangefinders in EXC++++ to MINT condition (with concomitant prices) yet, in the pictures, each camera had a missing eyepiece. How the hell does an eyepiece fall off a Canon L1??? It's not necessary to take it off to service the camera, and without it, the viewfinder will not work (no mention of that in their desc. BTW).

I'm smart enough to catch these things but I guess I just felt like (overall) there has been a race to the bottom in the ebay vintage camera game, and Japan just has the greatest number of listings at any given time. I've been a seller/buyer there since 2000 and it's gotten to the point where I regard "fresh from an estate--don't know a thing about cameras" as the best risk anymore.

Sad.
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No, I agree with you - I've sold and bought something like 100k worth of stuff from ebay over the last 12-14 or so years so I'm no ebay newbie. It's only very recently - the last year or so that Japanese sellers have started selling crappy gear listed as EX++++ or whatever. Previous to that, they were easily the most reliable sellers.
 
oldwino said:
One interesting trend on eBay is the Japanese sellers posting items with hugely inflated prices (like double or triple what it should be), but with a “make offer” option.
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Recently my RTS has been acting up and I've thought of replacing it with a RTSII. The prices from the Japanese dealers do seem very high. Seriously, its a $100.- $150. camera. Maybe I should try the "make offer" route.
 
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