Wondering if you guys recommend using this service and what to expect regarding its shipping/packing services?
I'm in the U.S.
Thanks,
Callings
Any alternatives you'd recommend?Buyee is one of many proxies that can help you with YJ Auctions.
I used Buyee one time many years ago and I didn't care for their service at that time so, I never used them again.
Prolly wasn't their fault as I was already used to using a different proxy for several years and I was already used to their format, MO, etc.
Any alternatives you'd recommend?
Like-wise.I have been using Rinkya for about ~15 years but their costs are higher than most other proxies but IMO their services are miles above what the others are offering.
Good service isn't cheap; excellent service isn't cheap.
Over that ~15 years I have an average of ~8 purchases a year with Rinkya and I have not had a single complaint about a single purchase. That's a pretty sweet record.
Some folks wanna go the cheap route and for sure going cheap is an option.
I guess it goes back to that ole saying; one gets what they pay for ...........
Not sure if contacting the seller for questions, additional photos, preferred carrier, etc., are even options when using Buyee...I have been using Rinkya for about ~15 years but their costs are higher than most other proxies but IMO their services are miles above what the others are offering.
Good service isn't cheap; excellent service isn't cheap.
Over that ~15 years I have an average of ~8 purchases a year with Rinkya and I have not had a single complaint about a single purchase. That's a pretty sweet record.
Some folks wanna go the cheap route and for sure going cheap is an option.
I guess it goes back to that ole saying; one gets what they pay for ...........
Interesting, I wonder if anyone has encountered similar issues when making a purchase on Buyee without the inclusion of controlled woods.Hi,
My two cents here. I've just had a Breezysound clear customs at LAX, and I used Jauce, after reading everything I could find on the guitar forums, about importing gear using the Japanese proxy sevices, and Buyee may be cheaper, but won't fill out the customs paperwork, if any controlled woods are mentioned in the item's description, including Yahoo auctions, etc.
My understanding is that when these woods were legally used for a musical instrument's contruction, there is no issue importing them.
So some said they had used Buyee successfully, but then had an enormous headache when this issue came up, and Buyee just refused to ship it to anywhere but to a Japanese address, even after the buyer sent them copies of the CITES exemptions. The U.S. buyer had to have them ship to another Japanese shipping service, to then be shipped to the U.S.
Buyee just won't bother with the paperwork. I think if you are looking at Yahoo Japan Auction's, you've checked the box to involve Buyee, and see the ads, some of the auctions will show a note, "May require special shipping arrangements". It may be a thing that Buyee's computers look for words like "mahogony", and "Rosewood" in the auction item details, and that is the deciding factor.
- Marco
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/i...ld-you-recommend.2413768/page-2#post-36460149Interesting, I wonder if anyone has encountered similar issues when making a purchase on Buyee without the inclusion of controlled woods.
Any issues using Jauce?
MarcoXMarco, what can you tell us about shipping costs?
Did your purchase include controlled woods?
Thanks for the input.
No worries MarcoXMarco,Hi Callings,
I am not ignoring your request, but I still don't have all the exact data finally figured out, and it is a bit complicated. Also, I'm still challenged using this forum. One of the costs that had not occured to me, when I jumped into this, or at least how "dear" it would be, was the haircut my funds transfer, and conversion to Yen, to Jauce, would incur which was about 8%, through PayPal.
Also Jauce charges bidders a fee to deposit that amount into their accounts, in my case it came to about 3%, for about ¥14K. *And*, as I won my 2011 ATE70-BB-R, at the minimum bid, ~¥46K + 10% Japanese sales tax, Jauce I believe charged me to redeposit the remainder of my *maximum bid amount*, ~¥46K, back into my account.
Now, it gets even more complicated. I have remaining in my Jauce account, something like ¥46K. Were I to have that transferred back to me, via PayPal, I expect PayPal will again charge me to return that to my checking account, at ¿8%?. Once you have had 3 haircuts having your remaining funds in your Jauce account, or other proxy buying service, if you anticipate buying something else from Yahoo Japan Auctions, one would be hesitant to take it out.
All in all, this guitar, that I won for about $350 U.S., including Japanese sales tax, plus ¥4500, to ship it to the Jauce warehouse, and Jauce's charges, including repacking it, as it had no case, and I don't know how the auction seller packed it for the trip to Jauce, *if* I had PayPal return my funds, and they again charge about 8%, it would have cost me about $680.
As Jauce uses EMS for international shippping, I was confident that, at least for this modest guitar purchase, I would not incur import duty, or a bill for California sales tax, and so far that seems to be the case. I had read that DHL will charge you for both, S.O.P.
I had tried to buy a *very similar*, ATE70, from two Japanese ebay "brokers", who didn't actually have it to sell to me, for about $700 including shipping, to which ebay would have added 10% California sales tax, ~ $770.
Jauce did a decent job repacking my Tokai for me, and it arrived without damage.
Would Buyee have reshipped this to me, without issue ? I just looked at tthe auction seller's description, and he did not mention the "rosewood" fingerboard, so Buyee might not have had a problem exporting this item out of Japan. Whether they would have done a good job repacking it for me, I don't know. I had read that Jauce does a good job at that, and it is one of the reasons I chose them, for this experiment.
I'm sorry, I transferred *¥140K, or ¥150K*, around about $1000 U.S. into a Jauce account, of which PayPal charged me about 8% in the transfer rate. I meant to be as much as , *I thought*, I would need to pay for everything, even if the auction price might go at my maximum bid.No worries MarcoXMarco,
Thanks for posting your experience.
Its good potential users understand the service fees and charges can all be convoluted.
Voidoid56, Nice tip regarding the auction ID'S.Zenmarket here, for abt eight years and approaching 200 instruments. I used Jauce before that but left since they didn't offer package consolidation at that point (I think they do now, though?), I was otherwise quite happy with their service.
Zenmarkets "visible" fees are ridiculously low - 500 JPY per transaction - but there may be hidden ones as well, I'm not sure. I haven't actually delved very deeply into it though, I've just been a happy customer. They're good where it counts for me, i e their packing standards are excellent and getting continously better, at least if you spend an extra 1k JPY for reinforced packaging, and their customer service is very good indeed. Mind you, I haven't had any really major issuses so far (touch wood). They're also fine with working with sales channels and vendors other than Yahoo Japan Auctions, Mercari and Rakuten are accessible from the Zen site and they're perfectly happy with purchasing basically anything you can provide a link to.
When I registered with them their weak point was the search function, which actually missed stuff that was up for auction on YJA. So I continued using Jauce's search engine (not that is particularly good, but I was used to it), pasting auction ID's I found there into Zenmarkets search. It might be significantly better these days, though, I really need to check that out.
Not sure if contacting the seller for questions, additional photos, preferred carrier, etc., are even options when using Buyee...
Bit of a deal breaker.
guitar hiro, would you mind describing a few reasons you prefer Rinkya over others?
For interested buyers that have never used a proxy service before, it would be helpful.
I'll be sure to check out the UI for Rinkya.
Thanks for the suggestion/input.
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