Rakuten ordering problem

[velotrain]

I tried to "Add to Cart"

 

However, on the screen I was taken to, the text read "There is nothing in your cart"

 

I wrote them, and the response was surprisingly quick.

 

 

If you are having trouble adding items into your shopping cart, perhaps it is due to one or more of the following reason:

■Please delete the Cache or Cookie of your browser
■There are too many products in your shopping cart.

If you are still experiencing trouble and would like to place an order urgently, please kindly try the following:

■Please try using a different browser
■Please try the “add to cart” on a page other than English (eg. Japanese Page).

 

 

#2 clearly does not apply.  I tried #1 and  #3 with no success.

 

I'm not willing to try option #4.

 

 

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

I've written them again, but don't know if it will do any good.

Edited July 10, 2015 by velotrain

[1954G]

Which shop in Rakuten do you want to purchase from?

 

Sometimes shops that don't ship outside of Japan still appear on the Rakuten Global site.  It looks like you can buy from them, but when you try to add items to your cart, nothing happens.

 

Rakuten's global site is kind of a mess.  If they didn't have loyalty points/coupons, I wouldn't bother with Rakuten.  

[velotrain]

 auc-hobbygundam

 

Thanks for the info, as that sounds the likely problem.

 

I had thought it was a system problem, and here they don't have the balls to tell me what's actually happening.

 

I can't believe they'd pretend to be global, and then set you up for this kind of frustration.

[cteno4]

Conglomeration sites like this are a nightmare to develop, manage, and police. It is nice there is a service that allows some more international outlet for small Japanese shops,mit comes at a price of loss of some control and new potential problems for both the shop and rakuten, so something that won't run perfectly w.o raising prices a lot for the service.browser and system permutations are also just getting worse and worse to deal with, especially with specialty sites like this. Myself and a few other folks I know that do web development have been backing off on it a lot because of how much of a budget on a modern site can be just for browser debugging and compatibility and then in a few months it can all change in you again and break and of course the client then wants it fixed for free...

 

The good thing is that it defaults to the proper thing of not adding it to your cart when the system thinks there is any reason it might not work for you. Lots less frustrating than placing an order that never can be processed!

 

Be prepared for some frustration when you go down these more exotic routes -- it's the cost of the exotic!

 

Jeff

Edited July 10, 2015 by cteno4

[velotrain]

Jeff - I don't know if AmiAmi is considered exotic, and I realize they're not a conglomeration, but I've found them very reliable.

 

Rakuten showed up in a search for some older items, and I didn't want to pay for "personal shopping".

 

After all - Amazon is a conglomeration site - perhaps structured differently, and they've found a way to make it work!

[cteno4]

Charles,

 

By "exotic" I mean not the main stream places that have part of their biz specialized for export. These others that use things like rakuten for export are a bit more on the exotic side as they don't have the resource to do export and rely on other services to do make this happen (or you using a buying service to purchase from japan only shops). When there is a middle man in the mix then then there are going to be places where there will be some issues like the one you had. You can't expect it to be perfect, at times there will be a few issues. In addition this sort of conglomeration website rakuten is doing introduces potential issues.

 

You can't expect everyone to be Amazon, they have had such deep pockets and were the first may scale at doing this and are the 800lb gorilla in the room to boot. All this gives it orders of magnitude more more power and potential than competitors like rakuten. Plus Amazon does not cater to doing export much as well (if Amazon.jp is all in Japanese)

 

I just think you expect a bit too much here. You want to buy something not offered by the mainstream exporters but you don't want to pay personal shopping prices. Sorry you want your cake and eat it to. Would be wonderful it it always worked smoothly, but the reality is it may not when you go off the main stream.

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

I feel compelled to respond to some of Jeff's creative interpretations of what I said.

 

I was looking for some items that didn't show up on the "main stream places", but I got a hit at Rakuten.  I knew the name mostly as a producer of Z-scale track and other items, and hadn't initially realized it was a conglomeration company / site.  I was mystified that I couldn't add an item that was apparently for sale - with a price shown in USD, until 1954G provided the probable cause.  I don't expect Rakuten to be Amazon - or anything else Jeff mentions, but I do expect them to be honest, and was pissed at the BS excuses I was given for the failure.  If they're going to allow non-global stores on the Global site, they could have the decency to generate an appropriate message when an international customer isn't allowed to purchase a listed item.  Knowing this, I will either avoid them, or have greatly lowered expectations in the future.

 

I have no issue with "personal shopping" when it is the appropriate / necessary method to get something you want that is generally unavailable.  However, I recently paid for this on an item that I later discovered was available from a semi-exotic seller for 17% less.  Combined with the personal shopping fee, I paid some 35% more for the item than I needed to - ignoring domestic shipping and PayPal fee equivalent charges.  This alerted me to the possibility that perhaps I should extend my search range in the future, and look into places outside of the main stream.  I've so far avoided auctions, but generally don't ever feel there is anything that I simply must have.

 

Despite Jeff's apparent suggestion that I'm being cheap, I suspect very few on the forum like to pay more for an item than they need to - although there are a few folks who think Plaza Japan meets their needs.  I have seen more than a few comments about guys getting something at a great price.  I have no interest in spending so much time looking that it eats up whatever savings there might have been, but my recent experience did alert me to new possibilities.

 

Jeff seems to imply that I'm not being supportive of Nariichi and David, but I have in fact spent a fair sum across all of the main stream places over the past year, and will no doubt continue to do so.  The great benefit of going through them is that they're willing to keep a box on the shelf with your name on it for a month or longer, although they will also need to special order many items you want as they don't keep as large and wide a stock as Hobby Search, and perhaps some other stores. 

 

I recently ran into a problem with H.S. when I had ordered a bunch of items from one producer that were listed as arriving in the same month.  However, shortly before that date they notified me one of the items would be late.  I requested that it be cancelled, as I had nothing else ordered for that month and didn't wish to pay separate shipping for only the one item.  They said they'd do it this time, but that I should be careful in the future.  I asked them just what that meant, as I had no way of knowing one of the items would be delayed.  The only way I could be really careful was to only order from in stock items, and all of us know that some items sell out before they're actually delivered to the store.

 

No cake for me, but Jeff seems fond of it.

[Melandir]

I was looking for some items that didn't show up on the "main stream places", but I got a hit at Rakuten. I knew the name mostly as a producer of Z-scale track and other items, and hadn't initially realized it was a conglomeration company / site.

Hello Charles,

 

Just to avoid confusion

Rakuten is the conglomerate,

Rokuhan is the producer of Z scale stuff

 

Cheers

Edited July 11, 2015 by Melandir

[cteno4]

Charles,

 

I'm not implying you are not supportive of Dave and Nariichi, you inferred that. My point was that the further you get away from main stream sources that really focus on export the more you can expect problems to occur. You stated that if Amazon can do this why can't rokuten. The reason for your shopping cart issue may not be the one 1954g listed, but some other issue with that seller, the system or your browser/system setup, that can take a lot of sleuthing to figure out, but you have only had one round of communications with rokuten you have reported here before complaining -- it's going to take more to get to the bottom of the matter. I never called you cheap, I just said if you want to find more exotic items and be assured there may be no issues with the transaction then you need to pay the price of personal shopping by a quality and known source. If you don't want to do that (you stated that you did not want to pay for that) then you can expect that there may be some issues. While I've found rokuten to be no Amazon (I would not expect it to be for my reasons stated above) I've found it useful for odd stuff in the past and had a couple of bumps with using it, but with some work it's worked for me in the end. I just did not go into it expecting a flawless one click experience.

 

I'm sorry, but when you complain about a business with your experience with them you may get some counter experiences and opinions on your expectations and conclusions. If you don't want that then don't post them. You, at time, express what I feel are pretty high and unrealistic expectations of shops and companies and I just express my opinion back as this is a discussion forum on these things and there are different points of view and experiences.

 

As for cake it was just an expression used when you want two mutually exclusive things at once, in this case totally issue free shopping from more non mainstream services at inexpensive prices. I'll avoid the aphorisms from now on and stick to a direct rebuttal if I don't feel the same way on something you have put forth.

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

There are several guys on the forum with strong opinions, and little hesitation at sharing them.

 

I'd say the difference is that I try to express mine without attacking those held by others.

[cteno4]

Charles,

 

I'm not trying to attack you, it's expressing a different opinion on the matter that is at odds with yours. I'm trying to defend rakuten a bit from what I feel is damning them too quickly, not attack you. I don't think your expectations or assumptions you posted were fair to them. That's my opninion and I'm expressing it. This is a public forum that gets picked up by Google searches so at times folks may only see your opinion on the matter if no one else speaks theirs. You want to express strong opinions but you don't seem to like it when some one else's opinion differs from yours and is expressed. If you express some strong opinions expect a few may come back that go against yours. The only thing I would I feel like I may be attacking you is you trying to say I cant state my opinion on a matter you have expressed yours on.

 

Jeff

[mrp]

I’ve had good experiences with Rakutan Global purchasing from Denet Hobby and Hobby Plaza Bigman, and also buying Hozan and Engineer professional tools from Kouguya Pro Tool.

 

When buying from Rakuten Global, the first thing I usually do is click on the “Shop Information” link for the supplier.  What I’ve found is that suppliers who appreciate international orders usually have a couple of friendly paragraphs in English welcoming overseas customers and explaining the purchasing procedure and shipping costs.

 

[Guest ___]

Silly question, Charles, but do you have cookies and javascript enabled? I know a lot of server-side complications occur while talking to browsers when pop-ups, javascript and flash are blocked on older platforms when talking to newer systems. Seeing how I doubt Raku's shopping cart and back-end are likely not HTML-5 compliant, running Firefox for example with extensions like adaware, and no-script get pretty pissy with older shopping cart (non-HTML5 compliant) platforms.

 

I've run in to this before ordering from them and even Yahoo Auctions, JP, where I had to give permission in FF to allow scripts from these places to run. Then again, after my last fresh FF install I had to grant those permission for freaking Aamzon to even run. Regardless, the older payment and shopping cart platforms like Raku don't like some of the newer browsers.

Edited July 12, 2015 by 写真家
wasn't wearing my proper pants

[velotrain]

1954G and MRP have the situation pegged exactly right.

 

If I look at the HobbyGundam shop information, it's all Japanese text.

 

Bigman and Denet (to a lesser extent) make it clear that they welcome international orders, and I have no problem adding items to my cart in their stores. 

 

Those suggesting an interface problem are sort of correct, but there's nothing I can do about it on my end; it's purely a coding issue at Rakuten.  I am taking the matter up with them - not that I expect anything to change, although I would appreciate their being honest enough to generate an explanatory message.

 

Note that their search is strange (dysfunctional ?), and doesn't even seem to respect Boolean formatting, although it can easily be restricted to the current store (default), or opened to all of Rakuten.  Also, apparently logical search terms sometimes don't work, such as "twilight" at Denet, while the Tomix product number did find it.  Be prepared for larger than expected result sets on your initial search attempts.

 

 

For anyone interested in the Kato Allegra, BigMan has an amazingly low price:

 

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/mokeiyabigman/item/4949727057231/

 

 

And for those who like long passenger trains, Denet has the Odakyu Romance set:

 

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/denethobby/item/hx06x51y626646990/\

 

 

and what seems a very good price on the full (15 car) Twilight Express:

 

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/denethobby/item/4543736989479/

 

 

No doubt these links will expose me to a "damn you" or two from guys who hadn't initially planned on buying these sets  ;-)

 

In particular, I find structure prices lower at these shops and AmiAmi than the main stream sources.  Be aware that Rakuten apparently uses EMS shipping only, while AmiAmi does offer all SAL options.  Rakuten might be better for high-end items like trainsets, and AmiAmi for less valuable shipments that can take the slow plane. 

 

Happy shopping

[Darklighter]

Also, apparently logical search terms sometimes don't work, such as "twilight" at Denet, while the Tomix product number did find it.  Be prepared for larger than expected result sets on your initial search attempts.

I'm quite sure that everything you type in is auto-translated to Japanese and then searched for on the Japanese website. In most cases the translation will result in an incorrect search term, so it's best to search for product numbers or the Japanese product names instead.

 

I use Rakuten only during free shipping / free package forwarding campaigns.

[velotrain]

 

I use Rakuten only during free shipping / free package forwarding campaigns.

 

For those of us new to Rakuten, how often do these take place?  

 

Is there any way to get email notification, or do you just need to check often?

 

1954G mentioned coupons, but I took that to mean a Japanese print media.

 

What do you know about those?

[velotrain]

I'm quite sure that everything you type in is auto-translated to Japanese and then searched for on the Japanese website. In most cases the translation will result in an incorrect search term, so it's best to search for product numbers or the Japanese product names instead.

 

"Allegra" did work on BigMan, but if your theory is right I'm thinking there may not be a Japanese equivalent, so it never got translated in either direction.

[cteno4]

Charles,

 

Tech support usually starts with is it plugged in,mis it turned on. I know that's insulting, but the vast majority of issues like this usually are solved here. It then takes later rounds to narrow in on what the more complicated reason might be. Cookie issues are the first big thing with shopping cart systems and thus the prime culprit to start with. Browsers differences and folks stop tracking add-ons have added to this.

 

Folks usually post on the forum here when they see a rakuten free shipping come up. Haven't seen one for a number of months. I don't think I've ever gotten a notice from them that one was happening, but I do hit the don't email me stuff more often these days.

 

Jeff

[Darklighter]

For those of us new to Rakuten, how often do these take place?  

 

Is there any way to get email notification, or do you just need to check often?

Two years ago, there was a free shipping campaign every 2-4 months. The last one provided by Rakuten Global Market was in May 2014, if i remember correctly[/size]. :(

 

However, aprox. once a month there is a free package forwarding campaign for orders made on the Japanese Rakuten website. Here is an example: http://www.jshoppers.com/forward/rakucam.asp?page=raku150212

The latest campaign ended a week ago. Now, the minimum order amount is usually 20,000 yen with a maximum shipping discount of 3,000 yen.

I can recommend http://www.rakuten.co.jp/wagon-ichi/ .

 

Package forwarding companies like tenso.com and jshoppers.com/forward/ inform you by email (and Facebook, e.g. https://www.facebook.com/TensoInternational )

I guess these campaigns are also mentioned in the Rakuten Global Market newsletter.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Darklighter

[velotrain]

I contacted Tenso, but they no longer have a shopping service.

 

I don't so much need a Japanese shipping address, but a computer with a Japanese address  ;-)

 

>  However, aprox. once a month there is a free package forwarding campaign for orders made on the Japanese Rakuten website. Here is an example: http://www.jshoppers...page=raku150212

 

That sounds appealing, but even after locating the item I wanted on the Japanese site, I'd likely need to be able to enter all of my info, including the forwarding agent address - in Japanese!

[Darklighter]

That sounds appealing, but even after locating the item I wanted on the Japanese site, I'd likely need to be able to enter all of my info, including the forwarding agent address - in Japanese!

Copy & paste. ;)

http://www.jshoppers.com/forward/special.asp?id=delivery

Edited July 13, 2015 by Darklighter

[katoftw]

I contacted Tenso, but they no longer have a shopping service.

Tenso's offshoot is Buyee.  Which is why Tenso don't so some thing nowadays.

[mrp]

You might also like to check out FromJapan.  I’ve been using them recently with good results.

 

They have an automated system that lets you buy from Rakuten and Amazon Japan and bid on Yahoo Japan auctions.  Individual purchases arrive in their warehouse and you have 30 days to decide how to repack, consolidate and ship.  They nickel and dime you a bit - 200 yen per line item plus 5% service fee - plus you pay VAT on the purchase itself, and domestic shipping and bank transfer charges - but if the discount on an item is high enough then it can pay for itself.

 

They also have a browser tool bar add-in called “Quick FJ”.  When you find the item you want on Amazon Japan or Rakuten or a number of other sites, you just click on “Quick FJ” and it fills in the FromJapan shopping order for you automatically.  Pretty nifty…

 

They even do a manual shopping service at no extra cost for sites that aren’t supported automatically - you just fill in the URL of the item you want and either choose or upload a photo of it.  I recently used that to purchase a one-off item from Popondetta.

 

They’ve just started a 3 day 5% off everything sale (which basically cancels out their 5% uplift).

 

[velotrain]

They also have a browser tool bar add-in called “Quick FJ”.  When you find the item you want on Amazon Japan or Rakuten or a number of other sites, you just click on “Quick FJ” and it fills in the FromJapan shopping order for you automatically.  Pretty nifty…

 

That sounds particularly useful for my former situation.  However, Rakuten has apparently removed hobbygundam from their site, although plenty of Japan-only sites remain.  

 

However, I might be able to use the manual service for the Japanese Rakuten, or perhaps the hobbygundam home site.

[Guest keio6000]

Sorry, but I just want to throw in my 2c:  rakuten global or whatever they call their system by which foreigners purchase, is an absolute and total disaster.  The people who design and run the thing are incompetent hacks who clearly have amibitions that far outstrip their competence.

 

No part of their system works well in any way, and 100% of the 5 or 6 orders I have placed with rakuten have been needlessly chaotic.  In almost all cases you don't have to go very far before you run into a web page in their "english language" system that has not been translated, or has been machine translated beyond all sense, their staff is effing useless, they "coupon offers" and "promotional period" are amateurish and broken.   i just feel sorry for some decent vendors who have to work under them.  

 

rakuten/buy is easily the worst japanese company i have ever dealt with by a long mile - and i deal with them both as a train buying customer and as a business - they 'invited' my company some years ago to sell via their system - i'm not going to get into details except to note that as incompetent they are from the customer's standpoint they exceed this by a wide margin from a vendor standpoint.

 

i will never, ever, ever do business with that disaster of a company ever again.