YJA buying custom DDH procedure - seller requirements?

EDIT: I have found that Buyee will be able to contact sellers before/after the auction at least when using Buyee's own website (not sure about the integrated buyee on YJA though) and that the auction bidder/winner is seemingly listed under Buyee and not my own account then. But I've also heard custom DDH sellers do not like proxies and may block them/not sell which would be another issue. I'll try to contact Buyee regarding my questions too, I suppose.

 

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I've been looking at custom heads and in the items description sellers very often write the following:

 

Buyers with New IDs/0 feedback/No bids the past half year may have their bids deleted due to the seller wanting to avoid anxiety regarding sbleepmy/scammy/odd buyer behaviour. As such new IDs should send their bidding intent via question (出品者へ質問) before making a bid.

 

This is understandable and I found the button (出品者へ質問) to do this via the YJA site (doesn't show up on Buyee as far as I know).

 

However, will it be allright to send them a message and THEN use Buyee/a proxy?

Or have you found proxies that do this kind of special request? Do proxies read up on the items at all? This ties in with the next thing custom head sellers also seem write:

 

When you win the auction, send the payment and contact the seller (or they contact you) via Trading Navi (取引ナビ) within 24h.

 

I assume the Trading Navi is a YJA messaging system or somewhere you see your wins and can contact the seller via? Would Buyee/proxies take note of this kind of request or is it something that's just done by them anyway?

 

Maybe I'm looking too much into it but I don't want to make a mistake or trouble the sellers. I'd be able to use very basic but polite communication with them if necessary but it would certainly be easier if a proxy would be able to deal with these things. I just don't know if they do as I've never used one so I'd like to hear your experiences.

I didn't know that Buyee did this. I'd ask them about the messaging to be crystal clear. I'm not actually 100% sure how buyee works - is it a separate account that they use?

 

It's true that a lot of custom DD head sellers want people to contact them after winning, because this proves that they read the fine print (where, along with the instructions to do the contact thing, there is usually the standard disclaimers that hand painted work may not be 100% perfect, have small differences in symmetry, or even some small amount of disclosed damage.) An astounding amount of people dont read the fine print and then try to get a refund because of something that was already written in the listing - both Japanese and foreign. (and presumably not just on DD related items, I know it happens a lot on electronic items, especially those that are listed as 'junk'/'buyer needs to fix')

Because most proxies will not do that contact thing for you, they tend to get cancelled, and this has been mistaken for an unwillingness to sell to foreigners/proxies. (not saying that there arent sellers who refuse proxies just because they're proxies, but it seems to be where the majority of this 'japanese sellers are racist and hate foreigners!' stuff I see comes from.)

 

Let us know how it goes, I'm interested myself.

 

EDIT: the navi thing is something you have to use to finalise the payment and mark the order as received (as well as rate the seller afterwards) when buying domestically, as well as see messages. Since a lot of these artists rely on seller feedback, hopefully theres a way for buyee to leave that feedback as well. (If rating is something you have to do yourself, there is a standardized message that appears in the field if you press the button so you dont have to actually write anything)

Buyee might be different especially as they're connected with YAJ (I think?) but I've used Rinkya as a proxy in the past, and I know what they do is they have multiple accounts they use to conduct the auctions. If I recall, the names are all in the form of "Rinxxxxx" so they're identifiable. I remember reading some sellers would cancel bids from those accounts but this I think was also hearsay so who knows.

 

If I recall, in their case they specifically asked that you do not contact anyone on YAJ on your own so I would certainly suggest asking Buyee before doing anything like that.

If I recall, the names are all in the form of "Rinxxxxx" so they're identifiable. I remember reading some sellers would cancel bids from those accounts but this I think was also hearsay so who knows.

 

This actually happens. some proxies are outright blacklisted by some sellers in the doll item departments, personally I've have had a few bids through proxy cancelled, denied and blacklisted.

 

there was a thread discussing/speculating the reasons, but that would require digging up.

 

 

In general if you are using a proxy like Rinkiya, or Noppin there isnt much to worry about if the bids go through, since their service is basicly a turn key solution, unless you are going for something out of the country at which point their automatic service bumps it for a manual clearance check, after which you are allowed to continue the bidding if they dont find anything out of place.

 

The only thing with proxies is that you need to remember handling fee's that include everything from bank transfers to shipment, to the proxies cut of the end price which are tacked on the final price.

The only thing with proxies is that you need to remember handling fee's that include everything from bank transfers to shipment, to the proxies cut of the end price which are tacked on the final price.

Absolutely true! I feel like the way they all calculate fees is intentionally obtuse, but whether that's the case or not there's a lot of places those fees add up, and invariably for me I ended up paying more overall than I expected to.

 

Not all proxies are exactly the same but I encountered at least the following fees:

• An exchange rate that is worse than the real one
• The expected fee for the auction, a perecentage with a minimum or a fixed amount plus a percentage
• A fee for packaging your items and/or a fee for shipping above the actual cost of shipping
• Something else I'm forgetting now, no doubt

I used Rinkya because in my early research they seemed reliable and I did always get good service and excellent packaging and issues solved quickly. I also read various places that they cost more yet when I tried to make such comparisons with others I never really found much difference. I also registered with Noppin as far back as when they were called Crescent Shop but never actually used them.

 

To be clear, all of the fees are in my experience stated in the policies on the proxies' websites, but it's just a convoluted thing to figure it all out. I remember at least one site also having some kind of calculator you could use, but the results I got didn't seem to match reality either.