Dual sales on eBay and Japanese sites

[davidian]

I am wondering if anyone has any insights, or opinions, on something that I have noticed. Items up for auction on eBay can also be found on Japanese auction sites (at least on Bidders where I have found them). I will not name any names, but more than one seller has put the same item(s) up simultaneously, and received bids on both, using names that are sometimes similar, sometimes completely different. Presumably one or the other offer must be withdrawn before the auctions end, but I haven't checked. In general the ask is a lot lower on the Japanese site, and the items are not trash.

 

And while I'm at it, does anyone have any advice on how to bid on the Japanese auctions? I don't read Japanese, the translation sites aren't much help, and I am not inclined to experiment without more information. But there is a lot of tempting stuff there.

 

Best regards

[cabowen]

Seems a bit shady to be auctioning simultaneously....I would send the seller a question asking what happens if you are the winning bidder and he gets a higher offer on the other site...

 

I have purchased loads of things on the Japanese auction sites. The main problem you will have, besides the language, is the policy of nearly all of not shipping overseas. You will need a proxy or agent in Japan to pay, receive, and ship to you. There are commercial services that will do this for you though most will not handle swords due to all the red tape involved in exporting them.....

[Ed]

I have noticed this as well, certainly would prevent my bidding.

 

One other thing Chris did not mention is the additional fees involved with the Japanese auctions.

 

Not only will you pay a commission to your bidding service (10-15%), but postage to your bidder, then postage again to you, as well as some other fees (which I haven't quite figured out yet, perhaps Chris can enlighten us).

 

Oh, and don't forget conversion rates which are killing us here in the US right now.

 

Example: I won an item for 9350yen (at todays rate, 121USD), my cost was 158USD (37USD in additional fees) + 148USD shipping cost. Total cost of $306 for an item which cost $121.

[cabowen]

It helps to have access to a bank account in Japan and inlaws to handle receiving and shipping....I don't use agents....I agree though that the few I have looked at charged a healthy fee. With the US dollar in the toliet, buying anything in yen is very expensive....