I have been a rinkya member for over 9 months and have brought up till now 9 guitars from yahoo.japan from them,I have 6 guitars being shipped to me right now from the land of the rising sun .
I think the fees are good value ,you wiil pay at least $55.00 in fees plus an additional $10-$20 for transportation of the item within japan to the rinkya warehouse,IMHO there is no point buying small items under $60 as the fees cost more when added.
I have had no serious problems with customer service it has always been 1st class and they always respond to e-mails within 16 hours .
I have had one guitar damaged during shipping a OBG reissue that was in mint condition picked up a chip near the binding,i have put in a claim with japan post office thru rinkya but it will take time for any compensation to come through ,If you use EMS AIR the item is insured up to 20000 yen,EMS is the quickest takes about 2-3 days to arrive at destination.
When i buy a guitar after my experience with the damage to the OBG i always buy a hard case to ship my guitars back home,this is extra expense but gives me peace of mind,REMEMBER if you buy a guitar with a hard case supplied it will push up the shipping cost.
Rinkya exchange rate from yen to dollar never goes higher than 87yen=$1.00,always use a currency convertor before bidding and calculate shipping fees ,vat ,duty before buying.
In my opinion you can save money if you buy right and keep to your budget,i have had some mega cheap bargains,on average you could save a mininum of $300 on guitar if you buy from japan compared to the prices in the west.but there is far more choice of guitars in japan to drool over!
Rinkya pack the guitars very well in a strong box with padding and think that the fees are for handing mainly and packing ,they could charge a lot more ?There are few auction sites like rinkya but i find rinkya the best and easy to use and bid on items,the others require a deposit before you can bid, with rinkya you give them a credit card deposit ,but they never charge you unless you win a auction and you have a choice of using a CC or paypal at the checkout.
I always keep a copy of the items and auctions i have won on my hard drive including the whole web page and any photos .photos album links ,this i keep as record as the condition of the item when i buy it?
It is risky buying guitars without detailed photos or a description or a serial number to work off,but that is half the fun of buying from japan,
It can be very ,very addictive
MOJO HOBO