How to bid in Japanese auctions for dummies.

[disturbman]

Bernard asked for it, I did it.

 

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As we all know the Japanese auctions websites (mainly yahoo) are not made for non-japanese-speaking persons or even for persons living outside Japan since most of the sellers doesn't want to ship outside Japan and, maybe, deal with non-japanese-speakers.

 

Anyway, there is a way for us Japan lovers, or sould I say "railroad geeks", to get pass through this little problem and be able to bid on Japanese auctions. It's very effective but also a bit costly but, at the end, we can find what's important to us, rare japanese dru... trains. I'm speaking about some enterprises, societies, websites that allos us to bid on Japanese auctions against the payment of some fees.

 

The process is fairly simple but can seem bothersome to some. So let's follow a little step by step:

 

1/ You will have to choose your horse. There is many of them and the decision can be tough to take. As for myself I decided to go with Japan Auction Center. They look like the cheapest and I really like the fact that their websites wasn't shouting I me: "Give me your money. I want your money." It looked a little bit old fashion and I felt at ease with it.

 

2/ When you have choose you will have to register on the website. It the same everywhere, they ask you your name and your adress. Anything they need to send you your package. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

3/ The come the fun part. The moment your account is activated you can bid but first you need to find the goods you are interested in and I've found that, with Japan Auction Center (JAC), this process could be a bit tiresome. I explain. When you start looking around on Yahoo Japan Auction with JAC's website you can't make any search. you're just allowed to browse around.

 

Frankly, that's not the best way to find anything. In order to contervene that problem I've develop a little strategy. One that everybody can reproduce.

 

When you need to find some product you need in fact to go directly on Yahoo Japan Auctions. Make a search there. It makes wonders if you allready have selected a special pages like "JR Express train". You just need then to enter the name of the train you are looking for, like "JR 113".

 

So after performing some searchs and finding the item(s) you want you just need to copy and paste the url adress of the product's page after this url (after the "="): http://www.japanauctioncenter.com/view.php?seturl=

 

You will then have the possibility to translate the page in your own language (it's mostly english, french, spanish and maybe chinese), put the pages in your wishlist (a feature that give you the opportunity to see it from your JAC account) or to bid.

 

4/ In order to bid you need to have make a deposit on your JAC account. It's not more simpler than cliking on a button, inscribing the amount you want to deposit and then make a payment thru Paypal. It will take you no more than 2 minutes. The moment you finish this process you can bid on the item you want. You don't even need a Paypal account, just some credit card.

 

5/ Now you can bid, directly the maximum amount you want to pay for the good. You don't need to take it slowly, make a nid and then wait for someone to outbid you.

 

In fact you just need to enter directly the maximum amount you are ready to pay for that good. The system will automatically bid for you if someone tries to out bid you. If they go higher than you, you loose. If they don't go higher than you, you will pay a price incrementally higher than what they bid. Exemple: you decide to bid 3.300 yen on a train set. Another bidder come and decide to bid 2.444 yen. The system will be automatically for you and at the end of the auction you will pay 2.544 yen. The rest of your money, the difference between you highest bid and the final price, will then be credited back to your account.

 

I don't know many Auctions system but I find that neat.

 

In any case if you are out bided you will receive an email telling you so and the money will be, once again, credited back to your account. And if you want you can then bid on something else or make a new bid on the same good. The only restriction is, you can't bid more than the amount you deposited.

 

6/ You wait. And if everything goes well you will receive your package one or two weeks after paying JAC's and EMS' fees.

 

7/ Last but not least, if you have been particating in different auctions you can have JAC send you the different item in one package.

 

But, anything consider I will strongly recommend to use this type of services only for rare sets you really really want or need. Second hands train set don't come so cheap this way. I've seen nice things, like a Super Hitashi Kato set for only 8.000 yen but usually between JAC's fees and the EMS delivery fee the item will cost you allmost the same as a new one on any Internet shops. You can do the maths, I'll give you some numbers to crunch.

 

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JAC Commission: 800 yen + 8% per auction

Japan domestic delivery fee: can vary between 120 yen and 900 yen (maybe even more, 900 yen was the most I've seen while looking around)

Banking fee: 300 yen

Paypal fee: minimal and I'm not sure anymore how much it was. I will say somewhere around 40 yen

 

So for an item costing 10.000 yen it will cost you at least 2.100 yen in fees plus around 2.000/3.000 yen for EMS shipping.

 

That's all folks.

[SubwayHypes]

WOW im not even on there 5 seconds and i already find my nissan skylines!!

 

im gonna have to learn how to do this.

[SubwayHypes]

look how many microace trains they have, i think i am about to go bananas.

 

 

theres seriously thousands and thousands of dollars of future purchases all right here without ever having to go to japan.

 

 

just got e217 yokosukas they have about 100+ listings, there hasnt been a 217 on ebay in about 3 months!

 

 

THANK YOU DISTURBMAN!!

[disturbman]

You are welcome, but, really, don't get too much carried away.  ;)

[ChrisV]

WOW im not even on there 5 seconds and i already find my nissan skylines!!

 

im gonna have to learn how to do this.

 

 

 

Love Skylines!!!!! Is there an R32 in there - can't see one!

 

What a great thread - so well explained. Thank you!! ;)

[EWS60008]

Nice find there, it looks like I will be buying some Japanese HO scale trains that I didn't even know existed! . Thanks for posting this guide as well.

[bc6]

Im planning on giving this a spin but have a question. What happens if youre out bidded and no longer wish to bid on the item. Do you get a refund of the deposited amount minus any fees.

[quinntopia]

Heh! Very cool! As soon as I landed on the page for N Scale Japanese auctions I found something I wanted too!  Already registered and have a bid entered!  Neat!

[quinntopia]

...and was outbid!   But as disturbman indicated, the bid was placed right back in my account!  Works perfect!

[quinntopia]

As a follow up on this, I left my money in the account for a little while hoping for some more juicy items, but ultimately never found anything.  I requested for the money I deposited with JAC to be returned and it was done so in 24 hours.  Very happy with how easy the service was (well, the 'browsing' part is a pain) and will likely use it again in the future.

[bc6]

Thanks for the update, glad it worked out for you.

[disturbman]

As for the browsing, the work load can be really alleviated. You just need to use the original Yahoo Auction "Train page" (I think I allready explain that in the tutorial). There you can launch a search using keywords like JR四国 (JR Shikoku, in fact it works even better with just the Shikoku or Kyushu part or the name) or any private railway company name (though you have to use the japanese name - easy to find with google and wikipedia). You can also used the name of the train you are looking for (series number works great) or the manufacturer's item number.

 

Then paste the url after the equal sign on this adress http://www.japanauctioncenter.com/view.php?seturl=

[bc6]

I just won my first Yahoo Japan auction on a Series 100 set plus 2 car add on using a proxy bidder. It was easy as pie and may use it again to get other stuff.

[disturbman]

Congrats on the new baby! :)

[bc6]

Congrats on the new baby! :)

 

Thank you.

[disturbman]

I must add, JAC can also ship by SAL or Surface Mail but you have to ask for it otherwise they will send your package by EMS.

 

-> https://www.japanauctioncenter.com/services.php (look for the part in red at the end of the delivery section).

[harukablue]

Hi I normally use JAA for my auction service but Im looking for a change as fed up of paying pay-pal fees , i have found Celga www.celga.com and I am willing to give them a try, as they will take my credit card straight from me not via paypal, has anyone used this agents services?

 

Lew

[disturbman]

Nope, I just don't care for the paypal fee. Tell us how it goes if youe ver try them.

[harukablue]

I have been using http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com/ for my past few Yahoo buys, very quick with real time bidding too,,credit card or paypal and good communications, they will also translate pages for you into many languages and offer a web shop service where you can buy from any Japanese web shop not just Yahoo auctions, well worth a try.

 

Lew

[qwertyaardvark]

I have been using http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com/ for my past few Yahoo buys, very quick with real time bidding too,,credit card or paypal and good communications, they will also translate pages for you into many languages and offer a web shop service where you can buy from any Japanese web shop not just Yahoo auctions, well worth a try.

 

I also vouch for SMJ as its been the sole importer ive been using ever since i started buying japanese model trains about a year ago. They are quick to answer emails and resolve problems when things go awry japan-side. I've had a run-in with an auction where the product was never sent to the Japan SMJ office, and SMJ made no fuss about it being my fault/responsibility and took the item charges off my account. I definitely would recommend them.

[harukablue]

I have been using JAA for a while, but the last few days there has been some problems there, i paid them over Y40000 for a HO loco auction, they didnt even bid on said model as my deposit hasnt been increased, i sent them an e-mail with no reply :( i hope all is OK with them as last year i lost over Y200000 of models and deposit with Akibado auction i didnt get any models or my deposit money back :(

 

Lew

[bill937ca]

I have been using JAA for a while, but the last few days there has been some problems there, i paid them over Y40000 for a HO loco auction, they didnt even bid on said model as my deposit hasnt been increased, i sent them an e-mail with no reply :( i hope all is OK with them as last year i lost over Y200000 of models and deposit with Akibado auction i didnt get any models or my deposit money back :(

 

Lew

 

Like the rest of Japan, they are probably shutdown for Japanese New Year.  Most places re-open January 4.

[harukablue]

I sent them another e-mail yesterday stating that my account was missing a deposit i made on December 23 for Y40,000 this time i got a reply and they said they hadnt got funds,,, alarm bells rang as two years ago someone bought a $2000 outboard motor from Trinidad off my paypal,,,,so i replied and send them all the reference numbers from paypal,,,,phew today they said sorry for the mistake and added the said funds into my bidding deposit fund.

 

Lew

[Pheno]

I'm seeing something I want, so I'll try this one out. SMJ looks nice, but I'll calculate the fees first in comparison with JAA :)

He, I'm dutch, cant help it :P

[harukablue]

Just be careful,,,,JAA and Rinkya are well known reputable companies a few years ago I lost over €700 of models from Akibado auction agency and there web site is still up and running but they have since closed down,

 

Lew