New shopping service thread

From last thread, why to not use FromJapan
>>9416675

How is zenmarket with sniping bids on yahoo, is it an automatic service or will I need some kind of previous confirmation of received order?

>>9418977
If you mean ZM's snipe bid option, it's activated automatically about five minutes before the auction ends and continues to bid automatically when necessary until it reaches your max amount.

Zenmarket stopped taking orders from fril.jp so I tried buying things myself using Tenso. The person selling the item is okay with that but fril.jp won't accept international credit cards.
Does anyone know of a way to pay for things on fril.jp? Will Paidy or LINE pay work? Their listed as payment options but I have no idea if they'll work with an international Visa card...

>>9419260
I don't think fril takes foreign cards. You either need to find an SS still willing to buy from fril or give up

>>9418875
Meh, I'll keep on using them for my Surugaya shopping since it's a flat 300y fee for the whole order.

>>9419482
They'll fuck you over with shipping fees

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>>9418875
I preordered 6 items back in December before I found out about the new policies and chose not to cancel them, but stopped buying anything else from them afterwards. My order got delayed by a month and didn't arrive until yesterday. I picked FJ beta for the shipping because that's what I've done in the past, hoping they wouldn't screw me over.

I got swindled out of SIXTY-FUCKING-DOLLARS on an order small enough that it shouldn't have been more than ~$40 at the very most. They ripped me off with a $14 "plan fee" and a $5 "consolidation" fee because I had to order one plush from a separate seller given that the 6th plush I wanted was already sold out.

I am never using FJ again, this is horrible. They were so much better before this but now they aren't worth it anymore. I payed more in shipping than the actual *brand new* small plushes themselves costed, this is bs.

Funny thing too, they've been running a bunch of sales to try to bring their customers back but lol, no one is going to fall for that nonsense. Not when the shipping is what matters.

>>9419482
Then you won't have any right to complain when you inevitably get screwed too, because we're warning you right now that they've began overcharging for even small orders through hidden fees.

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I'm not really part of /cgl/ that much but I am a head administrator of a pretty big stupid weeaboo cosplay/general shopping community that has mostly used fromjapan for group buys and things similar to that.

I'd generally like actual proof of issues and reports, as last time when we had this kind of shit pop-up, it turned out to be another agent website just attempting to shill their services and our complaints fell moot, and I generally don't have any proof on my own as my recent purchases have been single technological items and not really any clothing related items in bulk.
If you'd like to help on this investigation, please email stories, receipts and generally information that you deem necessary to [email protected]
If you feel awkward or unsecure about this, generally just forwarding the items you tried to buy and images like >>9416675 would work.
Best case, they unfuck their system.
Worst case, we have full on proof, we spread said proof and they lose a big bulk of buyers.

>>9424734
Ah yes, the 'hidden' fees that they explained at length on their website.

>>9426046
Nope, I never agreed on any checking plans for my stuff yet got charged for it anyway.

People in last thread also got stuck with the same bullshit, one of which had their checking service be completely dishonest about how damaged their dress was, so I'm not the only one either. Nice try, shill.

>>9426071
What ? The fees changed on November 1st so if you preordered in December you must have been asked to choose between the two plans. Or are you saying that you chose the 300 yen one and got charged for the 700 yen one ?

>>9426085
??????
I was charged 1400¥ in a "Plan Fee".

I wonder, if because my order was in two parts (5 items and then a single item because the seller was sold out of the 6th), that I was charged the 700¥ plan twice? Even though I had everything shipped together.

That's pretty greedy if you ask me.

>>9426102
Yes, you're charged one plan fee per each order, no matter the number of items in it, and if you have multiple orders you pay multiple fees, even if you combine them. It doesn't seem all that greedy to me considering other SS charge you per item. I do dislike their obligatory 200 yen payment fee for Yahoo auctions though.

>>9425833
FJ has already lost a bulk of their customers though, yet they're still keeping their policies.

After Japonica closed, their only big competition is ZenMarket (which is much, much slower), and Buyee. Some people have had better luck with smaller businesses, but those can be a mixed bag as it's possible to get ripped off by an individual much worse than a larger service.

The best answer to this is to shop smart and not stick to a single service for everything, as it's becoming more apparent that FJ is only good for bulk shopping if it all comes from the same seller to minimize plan fees.

>>9426130
Yeah, I've switched to ZM for my Yahoo Auctions stuff since they won't charge a payment fee and combine stuff for free.

>>9426130
Buyee is still a rip off even compared to FJ. I mainly use ZM for auctions like that other anon, but I'm still sticking with FJ for itabag or crafting materials since being charged 300 yen each for small items kills me.

>>9426123
I was charged that 200¥ payment fee too, but none of my items came from Y!A, all Rakuten. I figured it was because I used Paypal.

Maybe it wasn't too greedy in my case, but it would really suck for someone who orders from lots of different sellers thinking it's only 300¥/700¥ for the shipment itself but come to find that it's 300¥/700¥ per order. Per item from another service might be cheaper in that case.

Tbh, the only other benefit I see to FJ is that at least they're fast.

What japanese services are there?
I recently tried Samuraibuyer only to be so horrified I can't even put it into words.
I lost an auction, despite it being lower than my maximum bid and when I asked them they just said, 'could you bid again please?'
Nevermind the fact their payment system literally just takes money out of your account without even asking.
And fromjapan is just shitty on hidden costs, I have some sentai toys I want to buy that at are lik 100 yen each (compared to 30$ on a western site) but all shops just seem to be in the mood to fuck everyone over.

>>9426149
Read the fucking thread

I know I'm way too early but just case there's not a ss thread then, any recs on a ss for lucky bags on new years? Specifically one that would be willing to get one from the pokemon center. I was watching unboxing videos this year the items for the pokemon center lucky bags were great for the price imo. Most lucky bag threads talk about clothes so idk if it makes a difference that I want a big ol' bag of plushies and merch.

>>9426200
Except all the ones mentioned are fucking shitty as hell?
All my current ones are shit and I was wondering if anyone had some actually decent fucking suggestions instead of wanking off about how much everyone's overcharging them.

>>9426255
Zenmarket is fine? Just use them

>>9426200
>read the thread that has only mentioned two sellers and is only 20 replies long.
okay. are you feeling a bit of a salt overdose there or do you just hate acts of kindness?
>>9426240
Pokemon is an instore lucky bag only, from what I've seen. Thus, you're going to need an instore SS, which would probably be extremely difficult seeing as what fuku shopping is like first hand. I'd try and find a singular person who would be getting one themselves. my best bet would be no country for tall men exports on FB.

>>9426259
Other than the 300 yen fee per item?
I don't think I'd recommend that for someone who explicitly stated they're looking for 100 yen items. bit moronic of you to be honest.

>>9426149
for lolita and girly fashion momoirokumasan. it's not the cheapest but she does in-store, she's trustworthy and there's no hidden fees

>>9426280
Suck it up or settle with not getting your items. Pretty much every SS in existence has fees like that

How bad is buyee in terms of prices? Is their current promo a bad deal?

Honestly, I really enjoy zenmarket. I feel like they're super pleasant to interact with--I had a horrific time with FromJapan and will never ever use them again. If something is that serious, I'll just use tenshi--again, she's always been really great to work with and reliable enough although she's expensive as fuck and I don't use her much anymore. Alot of the time I get my brand way cheaper with SS fees + international shipping than the shit sells for on western markets anyway, so paying a little bit extra in fees doesn't bother me much.

>>9426379
What do you want to use them for? If you want to use them for YJA, I'd recommend using zenmarket instead because it's seriously cheaper. I used buyee when I first started up using YJA, and unless what you're buying there is 2k yen or more, every item has a 150y service fee and a 200y payment fee--so 350y per item as opposed to 300y. Buyee also has fees for package consolidation and won't combine shipping on items from the same seller. These things will lose you a lot of money if you're just buying a lot of small stuff from auctions, esp consolidation.

If you're using them for other sites I can't really offer any input since I never used them outside YJA.

>>9426408
Primarily amazon.co.jp. I have like 6,800 yen worth of stuff I want to buy.

>>9426330
There are a lot of SS that charge 10%

Japonica is my fav for fril and mercari since they can negotiate prices with the seller. I used use zenmarket until they stopped dealing with fril. Japonica is not too expensive once I factor in how much I save due to negotiating.

>>9426898
It's usually either a certain amount of ¥ per item (around 300-500 usually) or 10%, whichever is more

I just had my first zenmarket package arrive today, but it's damaged. Looks like some stuff was sliced open with a knife. I suspect ZM is at fault (because there was the same damage on 2 items from different sellers, it wasn't opened by customs & the outer package is intact) but I'm unsure if they would do anything about it. I guess I'll message them but I don't suppose anyone else has had an experience like this?

>>9419260
I'd be interested in a solution for this myself and am curious if there's maybe any kind of way to buy Japanese prepaid credit cards from overseas? I mean, there's stores selling Japanese PSN-cards, webMoney, amazon money and so on.
I appreciate what shopping services do and I've just used tenshi to buy something from mercari, but geez, I could have saved a ton of money had I just been able to use tenso and I know enough Japanese to communicate with sellers, so it's kinda dissatisfying.

>>9433681
Some companies do offer an international card like the American Express GlobalTravel card and the Visa TravelMoney card. I see the Visa TravelMoney cited quite often. Netspend is suppose to be international, but I found most will not accept Netspend.

I have no experience with the specialty cards offered by American Express, Visa, or Mastercard. I wouldn't be surprised if there were huge fees associated with their use.

>>9430109
I didn't know that was an option! How do you go on about doing that? Any tips?

>>9430109
I wish I had known about this since I just bought some stuff from Mercari through treasure japan cos I got a bit desperate.

What are the fees like? Is it per item? are there consolidation fees?

>>9433849
>>9433944
Basically you just write a message when you order with how much you want to offer, and then your max price or if you would still pay full price. You can also email them after if you forgot. They can only negotiate once so I generally ask for something a bit lower than what I usually offer, and usually the seller drops the price a bit. This carry the risk that the item will get sold before they can finish negotiations though.

There's no consolidation fee just a per item fee, and a PayPal fee you get with all shopping services. It changes depending on the cost of the item. If you buy multiple things from the same seller theses a discount.

I use them pretty often so there's a chance they are doing that for me as a favour, but I think I heard about other people talking about negotiating too.

They are super friendly so I definitely recommend them.

>>9433698
That might be worth a try. I suspect it might not work though, because I know that a lot of Japanese stores specifically restrict credit card usage to cards that have been issued in Japan (the same goes for many ATMs in Japan)

>>9433997
Thank you so much, anon! I'll have to try that soon.

>>9433997
sounds good! Thanks for all the info anon! Will give them a shot next time.

Might be the wrong place for this, I'm in the UK going to Tokonatsu Con in the summer, they have a Matsuri / Japanese Festival themed event going on all weekend and me and the two guys I'm going with want to buy Yukata's for it.

Does anyone know a good place for us to start looking, not looking to spend a fortune but don't want cheap tat, so looking at maybe £50-150 budget each? I don't really know what is realistic.

>>9434916
>what is google

>>9434926
So far Google has lead me to Amazon and a few other websites that I have no idea if they are good value or quality.

Thus I deferred my opinion to those who may have experience with such matters, and asked the high-council of /cgl/ who might be able to enlighten me, rather than just googling it and throwing cash at the first sponsored result.

I just wanted some advice, senpai.

>>9434941
I'd look at Rakuten. They usually have bestseller rankings for categories and you can sort things according to the number of reviews, so just look at Yukata sets with a high rating and a lot of reviews maybe?

>>9435116
To spoonfeed you some more: http://global.rakuten.com/en/category/303801/?sm=4&used=2 I'm sure there's something for them among these.

>>9435116
>>9435119
Thank you for the Spoonfeed Senpai.

Just had a really bad experience with Japonica.

>place order to bid on auction on y!j
>japonica informs me the seller doesn't accept snipe bids so they place an instant bid
>lose to a snipe bid
>ask japonica to contact the seller if the snipe bid will be cancelled
>japonica says they will ask
>couple days roll by, ask japonica for update
>japonica tell me i lost the auction due to not bidding enough and they don't have time for this matter anymore

if there's anything out of the ordinary, I feel like Japonica can't really handle it.

>>9418755
Does anyone have experience using Japanese shopping services to ship to South America?