Any experience using Japanese Proxy (Buyee etc)

Coops

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Hi,

Has anyone had any experience using Japanese proxy like Buyee or Zenmarket etc?

Any tips or things to look out for?

Thanks
 

phillv85

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Yeah I have quite a lot of experience, just be wary that it always ends up costing a fortune in fees, postage and tax
smiley18.gif
It does usually work out a little cheaper if you're willing to put the leg work in though.

In my experience:

Buyee is the best, but by far the most expensive. I've only had one issue with them (a cheap game that wasn't put in my package) but because I didn't pay for the expensive service they basically told me to bugger off.

FromJapan runs some pretty good offers, especially if you spend a lot with them. FJ used to have a great interface for buying from Suruga-ya, but they recently got rid of it for some reason. Suruga-ya was great for buying cheap console games because the fee was only 300 yen per game and postage was free if you spent over 5000 yen. On the flip side, Suruga-ya's prices for higher end games are pretty high. Good luck getting a decent response from FJ if something goes wrong.

I'm wary of any that ask for a deposit these days after ShoppingMallJapan went bump and nicked my $90 deposit. I'd personally avoid these unless anyone knows of any that are decent they trust.
 

Brettster

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I've been using From Japan for a couple of years now. No problems as yet, Just the postage is either 3 days via DHL or 1-2 months via sea turtles.

wish there was more cost effective ways to post a single small item.
 

penrhos

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I was a long term customer of Shopping mall Japan. Most of my pcbs came via them....

When they shut I switched to from Japan they're not as good, more expensive and less flexible. But better than Buyee.

If something costs £10-15 in Japan by the time japanpost > agent + agent fees + shipping from agent to UK + import duty + parcelforce/dhl fees. You could be looking at £50.

But I still buy the odd bit you just can't get in the UK. And for mecha, anime figures etc it can still work out cheaper.
 

Coops

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Thanks for the info.

My intention was to buy a couple of lots which is mainly cartridge games (I collect famicom games) and wanted to consolidate them into one package however I still confused over how this really works?

Its difficult to picture both size and weight of the packages together and then you are reliant on them being honest when you pay for shipping.Coops2022-05-12 16:13:24
 

mx5dob

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Brettster said:
I've been using From Japan for a couple of years now. No problems as yet, Just the postage is either 3 days via DHL or 1-2 months via sea turtles.

wish there was more cost effective ways to post a single small item.

I regularly use Fromjapan too. They allow you to buy from shops such as Surugaya, as well as the usual Yahoo auctions.

You do have to watch out for postage and import duties but the prices are usually way cheaper than on ebay and its great for picking up unusual stuff and cheap Neogeo AES games.

You can also alter the price of the parcel to some degree to declare it cheaper than it actually is.
 

whitecomet

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I use buyee and zenmarket.... its best to use there free storage until you have a nice little bundle then get it posted over... your going to get hit with postage anyways might as well be in one go, but when you get lots of stuff that helps the pain of the postage...

also it can sometimes work out cheaper getting it from ebay (japan seller)... so check that first unless its something rare or hard to find.
 

deadendthrills

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Sorry, I'm in the business of necroing threads this morning.

I've just bought an MS2931 via Buyee which certainly did look clean on the listing, and tbh I'm just happy to keep things moving in the quest for a repaired cab. Am I right in assuming, though, that if the thing turns up and plain doesn't work, I'm out of luck? Does PayPal buyer protection apply on top of whatever refund policy Buyee does or doesn't have?
 

Vamino

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Sorry, I'm in the business of necroing threads this morning.

I've just bought an MS2931 via Buyee which certainly did look clean on the listing, and tbh I'm just happy to keep things moving in the quest for a repaired cab. Am I right in assuming, though, that if the thing turns up and plain doesn't work, I'm out of luck? Does PayPal buyer protection apply on top of whatever refund policy Buyee does or doesn't have?
It's most likely a case of the 3N.

No claims
No refunds
No returns
 
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