how to bid dollfe dreams in Y-Japan?

here:

 

Heads:

http://auctions.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?p=%E3%83%98%E3%83%83%E3%83%89&auccat=2084241345&f=0x2&tab_ex=commerce

Parts (heads, wigs, necks...)

http://category.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/list/%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%83%84-%E3%83%89%E3%83%AB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0-%E4%BA%BA%E5%BD%A2-%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB-%E3%81%8A%E3%82%82%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83-%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0/2084258814/?p=%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%83%84&tab_ex=commerce&fixed=0

Dolls

http://category.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/list/%E6%9C%AC%E4%BD%93-%E3%83%89%E3%83%AB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0-%E4%BA%BA%E5%BD%A2-%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB-%E3%81%8A%E3%82%82%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83-%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0/2084258813/?p=%E6%9C%AC%E4%BD%93&tab_ex=commerce&slider=0

 

knowing the kanjis of the name the doll you want helps a lot. I usually search them on wikipedia

 

 

knowing, this will help. Thanks Saluli!

Can somebody please explain how this part works if you want to pay with credit card? I don't quite get it

 

http://www.shoppingmalljapan.com/deposits.html

 

Thank you

You send SMJ your credit card info and the maximum amount money that you might want to bid on an auction. They do an authorization check which means they check with your credit card company that you actually have that much available on your card. If you do, then you get the go ahead from SMJ to buy stuff. When you buy something they go ahead and charge your card (I assume this last part. I decided to go with paypal, which involves an email invoice that you pay with paypal)

So many eager to be SMJ's unpaid customer service...

 

Their yen:dollar conversion is not very favorable. Since they use [current]-5 yen for their conversion, this can be killer. Their otherwise low fees are very deceptive because of this.

 

Current is about 80 yen/dollar:

10000 yen @ 80 Y/$ = $125

10000 yen @ 75 Y/$ = $133

 

... for ~$8 in "hidden" fees per 10000 yen. (That's $80 for a 100,000 yen, a ballpark price for many limiteds.)

 

If this becomes 75 yen/dollar (which it was for a while):

10000 yen @ 75 Y/$ = $133

10000 yen @ 70 Y/$ = $143

 

... the "hidden" fees get worse, because 5/75 is a bigger % chunk than 5/80.

 

This adds up REALLY fast for DD items, which routinely hit 30k+. I would highly suggest you price shop your deputy services, with true final costs to compare.

^ There's also the few times of shipping they make you pay for. For typical YJ auction, it's shipped seller -> SMJ person in Japan. SMJ person in Japan sends to SMJ's warehouse on the mainland US. And there it sits until you tell them to ship it to you. You have to pay for all 3 of those shipping times.

I use both SMJ and Rinkya allot. I've found for me they are pretty even, when it’s all said and done. I agree you should shop around, especially if you have to pay custom fees

I agree SMJ's yen->$ rate is bad. Although not as bad as 80, they used 74 last week with me.

But wouldn't 74 be more $ in the end than 80? Wouldn't 74 yen to the dollar rather than 80 mean they were giving you less for your dollar?

But wouldn't 74 be more $ in the end than 80? Wouldn't 74 yen to the dollar rather than 80 mean they were giving you less for your dollar?

 

 

Nope, it's the opposite. The more yen you get per dollar the better. If they said you were getting 74 yen to a dollar think of it as cents. If you get 80 yen ( cents ) per dollar, your dollar is worth more than the 74 yen ( cents ) conversion rate.

 

So the higher the yen number per dollar, the better for us. The lower the yen number, the less our dollar is worth.

 

 

Billy

so your sayin that the higher the yen..the more the dollar will be better?

When the yen gets stronger, it takes fewer yen to buy a dollar. The reverse of this statement: When the dollar gets weaker, it takes more dollars to buy a yen.

 

So around 2009, $1 = 90 yen. The dollar is weaker now, and is about $1 = 80 yen. The same dollar buys less yen, which means we have to pay more dollars for the same amount of yen.

 

So when SMJ imposes a -5 penalty, it hurts more than you might think, because not everyone groks exchange rates as "how much does it cost me?".

 

Google protip: enter in [1 usd in jpy] for a quick ballpark exchange rate. The higher the number, the better for you as a US buyer.