Brief review of four Japanese import middleman services.

Akibado
Commission: Variable. http://www.akibado.com/auction.html
Pros: Offer personal import service in addition to auction. Best commission prices. Automated order and shipping status checking.
Cons: Mysterious nonresponse times. Often overloaded with too many customers, which means you have a higher chance of getting screwed.

Celga
Commission: Flat $10 per 10,000 yen increase. http://www.celga.com/fee.html
Pros: They have somebody working all shifts. Very rapid response time, plus fluent english speaking representatives. They will time your order to place your bid during the final few hours. You can also create your own account to bid with.
Cons: No automated request or shipping system. You have to send emails to place orders or check if your items have arrived. They like to round up costs and not explain why or how they are derived.

Crescent-Shop
Commission: 12.5% http://www.crescent-shop.com/index08.html
Pros: Offers import service in addition to auction. Will provide free translation and is very good about explaining store policies and procedures you may not understand.
Cons: Will not strategically time your bids (places them right away). Slower response times. Seems to be run by one guy, so he's obviously not going to be available at all times.

Rinkya
Commision: 15$ base plus 1$ per 1000 yen. http://www.rinkya.com/bid.php
Pros: You're on your own to make bids.
Cons: You're on your own to make bids. High base commission makes bidding on small things costly.

Remember the following:
Exercise caution and common sense - just like you would on Ebay or anywhere else. Translate pages, or get someone to translate them for you.

If you bid your max at a "buy it now" price, most places will just bid the max for you right away and close the deal - so if you want to get it below the buy it now price, bid below it.

Some sites use yen commission, some sites use dollar commission. Take the exchange rate into account to get the best deal on this.

Posted by Paranda at March 14, 2006 1:54 PM

Comments