Hobby Search

[Bernard]

Bill - I think this say a lot when you take in account your earlier thread on "The Rising Yen".  :confused3:

[KenS]

I just did a pre-order last week (Thu?) and had both as options (I used Paypal, which I pay with my credit card).  They also had a note that Paypal couldn't be used for "adult items".  I wonder if they got Paypal to relax that rule, and that was what allowed them to switch.  I'm sure Paypal is much easier for them to deal with, since they have someone else doing the purchaser/card validation.

[Guest ___]

I just placed an order Monday and paid with my MasterCard.  Historically, I prefer not to use PP because I see no reason to use a third party to pay the bills. Merch --> PP --> Visa/MC --> Me

[to2leo]

@Kamiyacho

Paypal can also be paid directly from chequing account in Canada, I think it is the same in US? 

However, that would mean you won't be able to collect any points for your credit card.

 

@Shashinka That's more like the fourth or fifth party.

 

Retail->PP->Credit Card -> Me

 

or

 

Retail ->PP->Credit Card -> Bank (auto-billing) -> Me

[Guest ___]

By second party, I am referring to paying from MC directly, PP is the third party. HS is the recipient but they are not directly in control of who I am paying. 

[bill937ca]

New message on the HS FAQ:

 

*** Credit card payment is unavailable on an indefinite basis.

*** PayPal is the only payment option available at HOBBY SEARCH for the moment.

*** We are very sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you so much for your understanding.

[westfalen]

@Kamiyacho

Paypal can also be paid directly from chequing account in Canada, I think it is the same in US? 

However, that would mean you won't be able to collect any points for your credit card.

 

@Shashinka That's more like the fourth or fifth party.

 

Retail->PP->Credit Card -> Me

 

or

 

Retail ->PP->Credit Card -> Bank (auto-billing) -> Me

 

 

Same thing in Australia, I have Paypal linked to my bank account, a good side effect is bypassing the 2% currency conversion fee charged by the bank on credit card transactions as the amount is taken off in Australian dollars.

[bill937ca]

Here's an answer from HS:

 

Dear Customer,

 

Thank you for contacting Hobby Search support.

Currently, we accept paypal only due to the computer maintenance and we are unable to tell you when credit card  can be acceptable at this time.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your cooperation.

[spacecadet]

Same thing in Australia, I have Paypal linked to my bank account, a good side effect is bypassing the 2% currency conversion fee charged by the bank on credit card transactions as the amount is taken off in Australian dollars.

 

I don't know if it's this way in Australia, but in the US you end up paying that fee anyway - they just don't tell you.  The conversion rate PayPal gives you is almost always about 2% lower than the rate a bank would give you.  (Example: I just paid through PayPal for a bunch of Japanese clothing, and while the bank conversion rate was 81.1 yen to the dollar, PayPal gave me 79.)

 

Sometimes you can get lucky and if the conversion rate has changed by a lot in one day, you can catch PayPal before they've updated their own conversion rate and beat the system.  But usually things don't move that fast, and PayPal's conversion rate is kept below the prevailing rate.

[Guest ___]

Hence why I use my Capital One card as they do not charge conversion fees for foreign purchases.  I believe they are the only bank in the US that does not charge a transaction fee for buying on foreign currency. 

[westfalen]

Same thing in Australia, I have Paypal linked to my bank account, a good side effect is bypassing the 2% currency conversion fee charged by the bank on credit card transactions as the amount is taken off in Australian dollars.

 

I don't know if it's this way in Australia, but in the US you end up paying that fee anyway - they just don't tell you.  The conversion rate PayPal gives you is almost always about 2% lower than the rate a bank would give you.  (Example: I just paid through PayPal for a bunch of Japanese clothing, and while the bank conversion rate was 81.1 yen to the dollar, PayPal gave me 79.)

 

Sometimes you can get lucky and if the conversion rate has changed by a lot in one day, you can catch PayPal before they've updated their own conversion rate and beat the system.  But usually things don't move that fast, and PayPal's conversion rate is kept below the prevailing rate.

 

Just paid for latest Japan Railfan Magazine, PayPay rate was AU$1=77.6010 yen, my banks rate was 76.01.

[spacecadet]

Just paid for latest Japan Railfan Magazine, PayPay rate was AU$1=77.6010 yen, my banks rate was 76.01.

 

Sounds like you're also getting screwed by your bank then, because the current exchange rate is 79.7 AUD.

 

You're still paying the 2 yen "tax".

 

In the US, banks will give you the actual exchange rate, and then they'll separate that fee out if they do charge it... but not all of them charge the same fee, and Capital One doesn't charge any.  (I think my bank charges a flat $3 or something, regardless of the amount.)

[westfalen]

Just paid for latest Japan Railfan Magazine, PayPay rate was AU$1=77.6010 yen, my banks rate was 76.01.

 

Sounds like you're also getting screwed by your bank then, because the current exchange rate is 79.7 AUD.

 

You're still paying the 2 yen "tax".

 

In the US, banks will give you the actual exchange rate, and then they'll separate that fee out if they do charge it... but not all of them charge the same fee, and Capital One doesn't charge any.  (I think my bank charges a flat $3 or something, regardless of the amount.)

 

But the bank would have still charged me 2% of the total amount as well as their poorer exchange rate.

 

At least that's what each rate was at the minute I made the transaction, these days the exchange rate can change as quickly as it takes some nameless individual halfway round the world to hit a key on his computer but at the moment the bank is still 76.05.

[The_Ghan]

I remember reading their announcement a while back ... no international orders with credit card.  I use Paypal anyway.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[cteno4]

You can pay pay-pal with your credit card.  Depending on your credit card company's transaction fee (daily retail rate + 2.5% of the transaction), I think pay-pal charge less for you currency conversion when I tested with eBay last year.

 

 

Visa and mc charge your bank that runs your credit card 2% on any transaction not in your currency. Most ccs will pass this on to you and most also take the opportunity to toss on another 1% for their pocket. Some cards like capital one (disclaimer my wife works for them and I only mention them as they are the onl one I personally know of not passing the fees on) don't pass the fees on or charge their own, they eat the the 2% frm mc/visa as I guess they find those charging overseas run up a good tab and they make it back in interest, so th no fees is just a loss leader.

 

If you use paypal to do the exchange yen to dollars I find the give a rate about 3% lower than the capone rate, so paypal seems to throw on a 3% fee like most ccs do. You can get around this with paypa if you have a cc with no excange fees if you attach that to your paypal account and then go into your profile an set that card to do yen truncations. Then on your paypal checkout you choose let the cc do the exchange. Sound complex but once set up it's simple and saves you some!

 

update: sorry i got this wrong from memory or its changed. to charge your cc in yen thru paypal you just click on the change link under payment method to choose your cc. then back on the payment screen under payment methods there is now a link for "other conversion options" and on this page you choose bill me in the currency listed (seems to default to what you chose on the last payment). this will result in paypal not doing the conversion and you cc does. mine gives about 3% better than the paypal conversion rate.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[bill937ca]

Getting back to the why of this change, I suspect it has something to do with implementing chip authentication technology.

[cteno4]

I don't think hs was keen on their cc/merchant system as when it would puk the card I used all the time with them every so often their emails would sound annoyed with the system

 

Sorry to hijack the thread onto the cc charges, bu did so as this effects paypal as well

 

Cheers jeff

[bill937ca]

I now know the real reason for this change. The president of Hobby Search sent me an email stating, "We are writing to let you know of a hacker or hackers that penetrated our computer system and accessed customer data including credit card information."  This is believed to have been carried out from an educational institute in Korea.

 

HS has a Q&A on this incident:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/info_card_qa_e.html

[cteno4]

ok now it all makes sense! got the letter this morning as well. this all happens more times than we think. its rare that companies inform customers when breaches happen these days. i have had a few lately that i only found out thru other ways, not notified directly.

 

its good they are being honest and open about this. they obviously brought in someone to do a very clear job of communicating this information to their offshore customers especially. smart as the cc is their total connection to these customers other than paypal.

 

glad i have kept a lot of clients using paypal for their small transactional business needs. rolling your own can easily lead to goofs that let the hackers in. best let the paypal folks deal with keeping all the holes plugged!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[sedril]

Not sure if I am the only one, but I can't get to Hobby Search's English store anymore.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/'>http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/

 

redirects me to http://www.1999.co.jp/

 

Along with with any other of the English store items.

 

Strange....

 

Moderator Note: Also see related topic: http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,3771.0.html

 

Edit:  It's back up!

[quinntopia]

Oh no...I hope this isn't related to this topic:

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,3771.0/topicseen.html

 

I mean, seriously?  Do we really need to do this because of a bunch of wacked out terrorists?! I'm getting a little sick and tired of the TSA crap and now this.

[Guest ___]

Odd, I was on there just a few hours ago with no problems. It's the middle of the night Sunday A.M. I'd be willing to guess it is more of a hiccup somewhere than anything else. HS is pretty good about posting notices to customers, and to me to just cut off the ENG page with no notice, no policy change, no anything sounds a bit off-kilter to me. I doubt this has anything to do with the private mailing of parcels to the US that the PP guys may be encountering.  ( could be wrong, but I find this scenario as a big of gun jumping.

[sedril]

Me too.  I was looking at it this morning... and now it's gone.

Hopefully it will be back soon.  I had only just discovered this place!

[Krackel Hopper]

I recall a post from HS saying the website was going to be down for maintenance, hopefully that is all this is.

 

HobbySearch should not be affected by the JP Post package restrictions.  Those restrictions are not for business, only personal use.  However, the gf is annoyed that this will hinder her purchasing from etsy.com as they are something of an ebay of the craft world.  Mostly people selling out of their home, so they probably do not have business accounts with the post office.

[bill937ca]

It could be related to the changes at Japan Post or possibly the return of credit cards.  In a way the Japanese site is better than nothing.  Give it a few hours or check back in the morning.

 

I just translated one of the Japanese language maintenance notices and it says something about added security.