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Kiyoko
Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 131
Location: Pennsylvania
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:01 am
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While a part of me is very happy that this process will be eventually made much easier for Americans to bid on Japanese anime merchandise, another part of me is worried.
EBay & their partner company Paypal are super strict on what they allow to be sold. I'm a collector of yaoi doujinshi, and I remember when Paypal banned all sales of "Adult material" through their service which put Aestheticism out of business, and sent JPQueen scrambling for another online payment processor. While I never shop for doujinshi on EBay because the prices are often inflated, I heard several stories of EBay cancelling doujinshi auctions for one reason or another.
I remember scouring hundreds of pages of doujinshi on Yahoo Japan, and I wonder if the restrictions of EBay & Paypal will carry over to items you are bidding on from Yahoo Japan.
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littlegreenwolf
Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:08 am
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This is great. I've had so many problems with Celga and the other companies out there that I've completely quit yahoo! Japan auctions, but if they do this, I may come back to importing stuff.
...
Wait, this is horrible. I'll never have money again.
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Kusanagi_Kei
Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 230
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:14 am
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I hope this applies internationally, and not just the USA. If so then I'll be in the green (good-to-go) too.
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Draneor
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 355
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:36 am
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As someone who semi-frequently uses proxy bidders for Yahoo Auction Japan, I welcome this news. That said, as most Japanese auctioneers won’t ship internationally and require domestic bank transfers for payment, I’m not if this will change anything. I also wonder if, even if E-Bay intends to run a proxy service, if it would be any cheaper. Well, I'll wait and see how much they charge. For all I know, E-Bay's new service might only ship EMS.
Also, I concur that I am worried about certain "ethical restrictions" that E-Bay might place. Most of what I buy are doujin products or eroge. The policies of Yahoo Auctions Japan and E-Bay are inconsistent in this regards. It might also drive up prices for buyers.
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RedTail
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 176
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:26 pm
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Draneor wrote: | It might also drive up prices for buyers. |
In the short term, this could very well drive up the prices on domestically-sold anime once the flood gates open and millions of Japanese customers gain much easier access to our cheaper domestic releases. In the long term though, the introduction of more competition may very well cause the costs of certain imports to drop as Japanese studios are forced to lower their own prices in order to compete with R1 releases. I don't see all of this happening thanks to some eBay/Y!Japan partnership alone, but as the global market becomes more interconnected like this, we should start to see more measurable changes. Competition is a good thing, folks.
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SeinenAi
Joined: 30 Nov 2007
Posts: 79
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:31 pm
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This could either be awesome or suck, only time can tell.
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JELEINEN
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 253
Location: Iowa
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:42 pm
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Very cool news. Using proxies sucked. I wonder though how many sellers will open up to foreign bidders.
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Omega13
Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 78
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:16 pm
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JELEINEN wrote: | Very cool news. Using proxies sucked. I wonder though how many sellers will open up to foreign bidders. |
Well, the article doesn't give many details on implementation. The plan could very well be to have Yahoo! Japan auctions won by US bidders be shipped to a central eBay HQ in Japan, which would then ferry the goods to us, much like many current proxies do.
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W-General
Joined: 17 Jun 2004
Posts: 280
Location: Ithaca, NY, USA / Taichung, Taiwan
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:27 pm
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Great news, now we don't have to use proxies for these things. There were doujins and other stuff I wanted to order but you had to get them through auctions. If this works, it could be great!
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Zoe
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 898
Location: Austin
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:41 pm
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Looks like this is only for Japanese buying from the US for now. From another forum:
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Item + Shipping to US Sekaimon office + US Tax + 15% fee to Sekaimon + EMS Shipping to Japan + Customs + Japanese tax (if applicable).
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Doesn't sound much better than a proxy.
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kokuryu
Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 915
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:18 pm
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Its still expensive to import stuff - but you pay for the better shipping to make sure its insured and you get it in a timely fashion. I still dont remember much on Y!J Auctions that were not on eBay or sold through places like JPQueen and whatnot... But since Y! Auctions US was closed, there is no direct avenue through Y! anymore, so anything is welcome. eBay does good with the international transactions - although you cant visit eBay China anymore and search for original auctions - they filter them now for US listings.
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sunflower
Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 1080
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:40 pm
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Oh thank goodness! I spend way too much via proxies right now. Even with the prices described, that beats the charges that you have to pay to get a good proxy.
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Porcupine
Joined: 21 Jul 2004
Posts: 1033
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:17 pm
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Wow, I'm pretty shocked by this move. I think it's is TERRIFIC for us in America...Ebay will actually become somewhat useful again (right now Ebay is worthless...as far as I'm concerned it's a dead site, and not just for Japanese products). At least, it will be terrific in mid-2008, if things turn out as planned.
I never thought I'd see something like this take place. I wonder why this happened, and I would like to know more specifics about the business arrangement. Inside details, not just the end result to users. This arrangement seems extremely beneficial for Ebay but hardly beneficial for Yahoo! Japan. As far as I know, it's not hard for people in Japan to bid on Ebay auctions. But it's extremely difficult for people in America to bid on Yahoo! Japan Auctions (it must be done through proxies usually because they require a Japanese mailing address).
So the way I see it, this deal is a one-way deal that only benefits Ebay and not Yahoo! Japan Auctions. So why did Yahoo! Japan accept this deal? I think there is a lot more to this story...
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galexia
Joined: 30 Nov 2007
Posts: 3
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:51 pm
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Actually, there are some sellers that allow for international bidders on yahoo japan. I've done my share of purchases via deputy service(s) and on my own. I'm looking forward towards the possibility of easier transactions, and hopefully a balancing out of fees. *the fee model someone posted is a bit scary)*
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Porcupine
Joined: 21 Jul 2004
Posts: 1033
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:08 pm
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I thought you needed to have a local Japanese mailing address simply to create an account on Yahoo! Japan auctions? I tried to create an account before numerous times and was unsuccessful.
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