Paypal and JDM purchases

[FrogInTheWell]

I just attempted to purchase a Daiwa Zillion from Digitaka .. price 231.00,  I attempt to use paypal and suddenly the price indicated is 242?  anyone know why this is happening,  shipping is free over 180 or something,  is this taxes?  Is there a way to avoid taxes? (if that is what this is)  Sorry for all the questions on this but I'm new to the JDM game,  Thanks for any assistance,  Joe.

 

[MN Fisher]

PayPal charges you a fee for currency conversion.

[FrogInTheWell]

Oh I see, should have known it was some sort of "fee" .. Thanks..

[PressuredFishing]

Don't use PayPal, I almost got ripped off as well, they use crappie exchange rates and say its fee but I did the math and it's a 4% fee on top of the garbage exchange rates. If you just placed the order I would cancel it and place it again now, on my 200$ I saved 20 bucks, if you're is more you will save more

P.S (credit card/banking institution will give you the best official exchange rate

[T-Billy]

I didn't have an issue with using PP. I got billed the price Digitaka listed. Exchange rate was 1usd = 136.3jpy. They did use my backup funding source instead of a bank transfer. Card company contacted me to make sure it wasn't a fraudulent transaction. All went smoothly. FedEx says it'll be here Friday. 

 First thing I'm gonna do to that scorpion is put a big ol honkin Daiwa handle that I have laying around on it. ? I know, I know, I have a pack of shims.

[FrogInTheWell]

Watch out, because I just nearly got scammed ordering from Digitaka...I want to be clear that DIGITAKA had NOTHING to do with the attempted scam.  When I attempted to use my Credit Card I was directed by a third party apparently with a fake Bank Of America looking link that wanted additional information on the transaction.  The number they gave to call is 1-877-388-6571 this is NOT a valid BA number!!!  We called the bank and they said they sent no such request.  They even sent a fake text to our phone!  I ended up paying 10 bucks more with Paypal and got piece of mind.  Just wanted to give you all a heads up on this should you encounter a similar situation.

 

 

[GRiver]

Thanks for the heads up and what happened 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

2 hours ago, FrogInTheWell said:

I just attempted to purchase a Daiwa Zillion from Digitaka .. price 231.00,  I attempt to use paypal and suddenly the price indicated is 242?  anyone know why this is happening,  shipping is free over 180 or something,  is this taxes?  Is there a way to avoid taxes? (if that is what this is)  Sorry for all the questions on this but I'm new to the JDM game,  Thanks for any assistance,  Joe.

 

Yeah you can't do the Paypal because they do a 6% currency exchange fee or something.  Learned that here before I bought my Zillion from them on Sunday.   My total came to $233 using just the Visa/MC link.   Thing shipped out today, super excited.   I love Digitaka lol. 

[FrogInTheWell]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yeah you can't do the Paypal because they do a 6% currency exchange fee or something.  Learned that here before I bought my Zillion from them on Sunday.   My total came to $233 using just the Visa/MC link.   Thing shipped out today, super excited.   I love Digitaka lol. 

Yup, I paid an extra 10 bucks going thru PP but I was so annoyed by then I didn't care...Thanks for the replies..

 

[Motoboss]

Ordered a SLX reel and some line from Digitaka on Saturday and received it today! Paid same price as listed at checkout through PayPal. No price increase here.

I like PayPal because of their insurance policy, and I’ve had to use it.

 

edit: Just checked and I did pay $6.35 more than cart price but PayPal listed it as exchange rate difference between when I purchased and when it actually was charged to my account. No going to stress it at all. The 3 day shipping was worth that!

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

PayPal listed it as exchange rate difference between when I purchased and when it actually was charged to my account.

They lied to you - the Yen has been going down vs the dollar for the last two weeks...they should have charged you less if ti was actually based on the exchange rate.

$1 = ?Yen chart

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Paypal has always been terrible, and the last way I'd ever pay for something.   

This is the same company that will ban and freeze your account for selling perfectly legal gun parts 

[GReb]

Last JDM purchase I made through PayPal they used a two week old exchange rate and my purchase was $40 more. PayPal blamed it on my credit card and they blamed it on PayPal. It wasn’t worth the headache to continue calling them so I just ate it and learned my lesson. 

[TnRiver46]

I don’t need anything bad enough to order it directly from Japan, sounds like a lot of hoops to jump thru. I buy Chinese junk in America with paper money 

[Motoboss]

9 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

They lied to you - the Yen has been going down vs the dollar for the last two weeks...they should have charged you less if ti was actually based on the exchange rate.

$1 = ?Yen chart

Ok, whatever the reason I spent $6.35 more than “in the cart” price. Might have been tax, extra fee or whatever it was but it’s not a deal breaker for me. I still saved over $50. by ordering through Digitaka than from stateside vendor.

 

And PayPay still has the best no-hassle money backed guarantee online. I’ve only used PayPal business account since 1998 and have never had an issue with them or their policies. Which I can’t say for banks, credit card services or online vendors.

Especially StealBay.

Personal experience makes all the difference.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

12 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I don’t need anything bad enough to order it directly from Japan, sounds like a lot of hoops to jump thru. I buy Chinese junk in America with paper money 

No hoops at all.....add to your cart, pay with visa/mc.....get shipping notification within 24hrs.

 

I wish USD internet orders were as smooth and fast.     It'll be two weeks from order to receive on my latest TW order.

[FrogInTheWell]

25 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

No hoops at all.....add to your cart, pay with visa/mc.....get shipping notification within 24hrs.

 

I wish USD internet orders were as smooth and fast.     It'll be two weeks from order to receive on my latest TW order.

That's wonderful but obviously we are not all experiencing a smooth transaction like that.  I got out the calculator and did some math....Paypal definitely used an exchange rate from a couple of weeks ago...bunch of bandits...

[Spankey]

How do they handle a reel problem that might come up. Can service be handled in USA? Has to go back? A lot of issues can be fixed pretty easily with parts. I’m Sure there are a lot of guys on here that can’t work on their reels. Just curious about the service or replacements. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, Spankey said:

How do they handle a reel problem that might come up. Can service be handled in USA? Has to go back? A lot of issues can be fixed pretty easily with parts. I’m Sure there are a lot of guys on here that can’t work on their reels. Just curious about the service or replacements. 

It was explained to me in recent threads that you can't just take them to USDM Daiwa dealers, and IIrc you'd likely have to pay to send it back to Japan.

That was the only downside of buying JDM Daiwa reels I found after researching for several weeks.    Outside of typical paypal thievery, OP is the first person I've read about that didn't have a silky smooth transaction as well.  

 

I've owned a dozen Daiwa reels at least, never had a single one that needed to be repaired.   Perhaps it's more of gamble to others than myself.  

[FrogInTheWell]

 I think if it arrives damaged you would be covered under paypal protection.  Repairs needed later down the road probably leaves you on your own.

[Spankey]

I’m basically a Shimano guy. Never had anything I could not repair. Some reels are worth repairing but some reels are most likely not worth time to do overhaul on. 
 

I guess it’s the chance you take. 

[mrpao]

All the years I've bought new reels, I only had two that were bad. Both from US sellers.

One was a Daiwa Exist and recently a new Stella. Imagine that- two high end reels with issues right out of the box. 

The Exist sounded very rough, like bad bone dry bearings and the Stella felt like something inside was catching the gears. It would click with every handle turn.

The Exist got repaired under warranty and exchanged the Stella for another one. 

So far, all of my reels from over seas has been without any issues. Perfect out of the box.

[Gabjob]

Paypal exchange rates are just terrible, but sometimes the added safety they provide makes the difference when purchasing abroad. You can also find th same products on other platforms like yahoo shopping and rakuten and use a proxy to purchase them. Done this several times and not had much issues, but then you are left paying service fees and international shipping (which isn't actually that bad).  Just depends what you are trying to buy

[JustJames]

To me using either PayPal or CC is about trust too. Yes cheaper is better but would you risk to give out your CC number to overseas company or PayPal? When I ordered stuff online I always consider any other factor like tax, fee, shipping time and safety. 
…

 

to be continued 

[Dwight Hottle]

Public Notice according to todays Baron's the yen is at a 24 year (1998) in value versus the dollar. That means any JDM purchase is the cheapest your going to find it in a long time. For those guys worried about warranties your JDM reel can always be serviced by almost anyone who services reels independently here in the states. If you receive a bad reel you can exchange it. Brand new defective reels are pretty rare. As to the Paypal controversy you can link your paypal purchases to your credit card or your bank account. The small currency rate differential is no big deal considering the extra layer of protection they provide for an oversea purchase. Most credit cards charge a currency conversion also.