Here are some basic rules and terms, and how to read reviews on Yahoo Auction Japan? Make sure you read this article before purchasing anything on that website. Good luck.
(1) Will there be counterfeit products on Yahoo Auction Japan?
Yes. There are counterfeit products.
How to reduce the risk of buying counterfeit products? Ask for more pictures of the product.
Besides that, here are 3 ways that you may try:
Read the reviews:
Only buy from sellers that have more than 100 reviews and 95% of the reviews are positive. You need to understand that sellers that sell counterfeit items tend to create new accounts once the previous account has been blocked. This process is carried out by those sellers repeatedly. Besides, they do not worry about having negative reviews, as they will be deleting the account anyway.
Ask them where they bought the item:
If you have any doubts about the item, you may ask the seller “Where did you get the item?” or what channel does he/she get this product from? As a reference, scammers tend to say “one of my friends gave it to me”.
Check the market price.
Sometimes, Japan’s market has items that are cheaper compared to your country. Yet, there is a market price for everything. If the item is extremely cheap compared to the market, then try to figure out the reasons. It may be simply too cheap to be true!
(2) How does Yahoo Auction Japan Automatic Bidding Work?
Let’s see how Alex, Peter, and Martin bid.
Starting price: 300yen
Peter’s budget: 3,800yen
Martin’s budget: 10,000yen
Alex’s budget: 20,000yen (setting on Yahoo Auction)
If the starting bid is 300yen and no one else bids on the item:
Example, if Alex sets the maximum bid at 20,000yen.
Then, Alex has the chance to get it with just 300yen, if no one else is interested in it.
But,
If Peter sets the maximum bid at 3,800yen, then the price will automatically increase to 3,900yen for Alex. The winner is still Alex.
Again,
If Martin sets the maximum bid at 10,000yen, then the system will automatically set 10,500yen for Alex. If no one else bids on this item, then Alex has to pay only 10,500yen at the end of the bid, even if he had set 20,000yen as the bid in the beginning.
If you need more details about the system, please read this.
(3) Why does the ending time of a listing item keep changing?
This happens when the seller enables the “auto-extend” feature on the listing item.
For example, if the price changes within 5 minutes before the initial ending time, then the time will extend for another 5 minutes.
(4) About combining shipment from the same seller.
You need to be aware of the domestic shipping cost when buying things from Yahoo Auction:
Most of the sellers will charge domestic shipping costs on top of the listing
Usually, the sellers will ship via non-trackable shipping methods, as it is the lowest shipping cost
You can combine things to save the shipping cost (given that it is less than 72 hours after the ending time or less than 20 items, prior with the seller’s agreement)
(5) Why do I have to pay an additional 10% on the final price sometimes?
In Yahoo Auction, sellers who have an official store (business seller) can create an account and sell things there. (MERCARI only allows private sellers or non-business sellers, so you won’t find this 10% tax add-on in the transaction).
If the seller is an actual business, sometimes, they will charge an additional 10% tax of the price you bid. Let’s say, if you bid at JPY1,000, you may end up paying JPY1,100, this happens because an additional JPY100 (10% of JPY1,000) is added onto your bid price.
Also, you need to check if there is a small price written as “税込” which is usually written next to the actual selling price shown. If it is shown, it means the tax is included in the selling price, and you just have to pay for the selling price. Otherwise, you have to pay an additional 10% tax of the selling price.
Disclaimer: We have no relations with all the businesses mentioned in this article. This article is not sponsored by any of them. Disclaimer: https://www.japanonlineshopping.com/disclaimer