Has anyone used Japan proxy shipping company before?

[newapti5]

I wonder if anyone has used Japan proxy shipping companies, like the buyee.jp? The reason I ask is Amazon Japan's price difference is getting bigger.  Right now, the limited reels on Amazon Japan available to US buyers are sold by third party sellers, and the price is pretty high, while Amazon Japan is selling many more reels in low prices to domestic buyers.  Also, Amazon Japan only sells used reels to domestic buyers, like this 22 Bantam with some packaging box damage for just $160. It makes me wonder if it's worthy to use those proxy shipping companies. 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

Buy your JDM somewhere else. I shop several stores without any issues.

Here are a few:

https://www.google.com/search?q=japan+fishing+tackle&rlz=1CAOJUW_enUS1022&oq=japan+fishing+&aqs=chrome.0.0i512j69i57j0i512l3j69i60l2j69i61.9796j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[Jrob78]

A new Bantam is $240 with free shipping at Digitaka, I can't imagine you would be saving that much money with a proxy after their fees and shipping.

 

That said, I believe @bulldog1935 has posted about using a proxy in Japan before.

[redmeansdistortion]

I've used Buyee often to purchase from Yahoo Auctions and Tackle Berry, never had any issues.  Buyee handles the final packaging and they do pretty well.  They use DHL to ship our way and packages get here just as fast as they do from anywhere else.  There is only one catch to this, there is no free shipping regardless if the store or seller on Yahoo Auctions states that shipping is free.  You are paying the shipping charges through Buyee since they are the ones actually shipping to you.  Free shipping usually implies that shipping is free to the Buyee warehouse(s) only.  So far, I've bought two rods and half a dozen reels this way.  Both rods I purchased ran me about half of what they cost new and were in like new condition.  If you look at Yahoo Auction listings, you'll see the same listings on eBay from the same sellers for significantly more.  

[newapti5]

1 hour ago, redmeansdistortion said:

I've used Buyee often to purchase from Yahoo Auctions and Tackle Berry, never had any issues.  Buyee handles the final packaging and they do pretty well.  They use DHL to ship our way and packages get here just as fast as they do from anywhere else.  There is only one catch to this, there is no free shipping regardless if the store or seller on Yahoo Auctions states that shipping is free.  You are paying the shipping charges through Buyee since they are the ones actually shipping to you.  Free shipping usually implies that shipping is free to the Buyee warehouse(s) only.  So far, I've bought two rods and half a dozen reels this way.  Both rods I purchased ran me about half of what they cost new and were in like new condition.  If you look at Yahoo Auction listings, you'll see the same listings on eBay from the same sellers for significantly more.  

 

Thanks for the detailed reply! Just one last question, is Buyee's shipping rate as what it states in its shipping estimate tool? Is there any other hidden charge? 

[redmeansdistortion]

4 hours ago, newapti5 said:

 

Thanks for the detailed reply! Just one last question, is Buyee's shipping rate as what it states in its shipping estimate tool? Is there any other hidden charge? 

Now that you mention it, the shipping estimate is fairly accurate.  The big thing to look out for is you truly have no idea what shipping will run until you finish the checkout process.  You pay the seller/store, they ship to Buyee, and Buyee will give you the shipping price once the item reaches their warehouse.  You may get double dipped for shipping if the store doesn't offer free shipping, but shipping within the prefectures is usually fairly cheap either way.  If you want to save on shipping, you can have Buyee ship all items together even if they came from different stores/sellers.

[bulldog1935]

@Jrob78 described proxy shipping company, which may work the same way, but I've posted about buying from Japan using a broker.  Twenty years ago, using a broker was the only way you could buy from Japan, both for the language barrier, and Japanese banking laws. 

I still use the same broker, noppin.com, for buying from Yahoo and from companies that don't market direct to US, like KTF, Haneda Craft, SquidMania. 

The nice thing about having an e-friend there, Masamichi, he'll ask questions that you could never get answered, will make sure you're getting what you want, and will store it up to 60 days if you want to combine several small orders from different vendors before he packs and ships DHL.  He's also set up to bid on Yahoo for you, but I've never tried that. 

This service used to cost 20%, but with recent competition from other brokers and Japan vendors direct marketing to US, broker fees are down to 5%.