Using Yahoo Auctions...in Japan

[CaptOblivious]

Yay, another request for help! My wife and I are thinking about buying an item or two from Yahoo Auctions (sadly not trains, but a bicycle seat for our daughter...although trains may follow...), but we cannot figure out how to actually sign up for the thing, nor are we sure that we can provide the kinds of details that we expect to be asked of us (i.e., our address in proper Kanji, etc.). Have any of the expats-in-Japan here actually used the site directly, and could offer us a little guidance?

[bikkuri bahn]

It's very likely more trouble than it's worth.  Even if you manage to get a username (it's basically the same as opening an email account), all communication is done in Japanese, and most transactions are done via bank transfer, rather than credit card.  If you have a Japanese friend who has the time to guide you through the process, maybe it's viable.  If you're looking for a bicycle seat, why don't you just go to a bicycle shop?  There are lots of them in any city, and Tokyu Hands also has bicycle supplies.

[CaptOblivious]

It's very likely more trouble than it's worth.  Even if you manage to get a username (it's basically the same as opening an email account), all communication is done in Japanese, and most transactions are done via bank transfer, rather than credit card.  If you have a Japanese friend who has the time to guide you through the process, maybe it's viable.  If you're looking for a bicycle seat, why don't you just go to a bicycle shop?  There are lots of them in any city, and Tokyu Hands also has bicycle supplies.

 

I figured it would be. All the shops nearby seem to carry only BMW-class models that cost waaaay more than we're willing to spend. Used models, on the other hand, sell for more reasonable prices on Yahoo Auctions. All that said, we ended up ordering an inexpensive new one through amazon.co.jp, and it couldn't have been easier. The only shame was that the merchant's terms mean we couldn't pick it up at the Lawson's across the street :(

[spacecadet]

My wife and I had a Yahoo Auctions account until a little while ago; we used it to buy a bunch of vintage clothes that we then used as our initial inventory to open our web store.  I know, probably sounds kinda shady, but we were basically just acting as a middleman like any other retailer.  Now we get all of our stuff directly from the actual manufacturers; we used our web store as a springboard.

 

Anyway, the point is it was a huge pain in the ass.  Even if you're in Japan it is a huge PITA.  I remember the stuff you needed for them to verify your account was really onerous; it took us like a half a day just to sign up.  It was like buying homeowners insurance or something.  As I recall you do need to have a Japanese bank account (or possibly a JCB card) with a Japanese address attached to it.  We did have that; I don't remember why it was so difficult but I remember the forms were really long and it kept not accepting stuff we were entering.

 

They also charge you something like 300 yen per month just to be a member.  And it's really hard to cancel.  We actually did it twice (we had them once before too) and I remember one time the only way we could get them to stop charging us was to cancel the credit card we used.