Question for Auction Agent Users

[Super]

I have a question for those that use a Japanese Auction Buying Agent, has this happened to you?

Have you ever had a bid cancelled by a Seller because they don't like selling their items to proxy agents or selling their items to anyone but those who live in Japan?

I have had this happen to me 4 or 5 times now, the most recent yesterday when I had the first and only bid on a new, in the box, Disney Resort Talking Donald Duck train like the one Ripley has. The scenario goes like this....either I am the only bid for an item or that my Snipe bid is higher than the final sale was for. After I question my agent and they check out why, they find that the particular Seller has cancelled my bid with no explanation. They further state that there are many sellers on the Japan Auctions that don't like selling their items at all to the bidding agents as their items then leave the country. Has this ever happened to anyone else. I may be the only member here using Japamart so I am curious if this has also happened to others that use some of the other agents like Jauce, FromJapan or any others? I must also say that I bid on lots of auctions so my percentage chances of this happening is greater.

[ripley802]

I have not had it happen to me, however I do recall seeing a note in some auctions on jauce I believe regarding the auction not being available for proxy bidding.  It is sort of odd though since you would think the seller would want as many bids as possible.

I have had auctions cancelled on me before, but I didn't understand why, or ever ask. But I do know that "officially" Takara Tomy (Plarail) is considered a Japanese nation product. The Japanese Plarail boxes that are in 100% japanese language and alphabet, are for sale in Japan and FOR Japan. They are of the highest quality, and are the firsts of the firsts. Seconds of lesser than Japanese standards through quality control are redistributed to be sold outside of Japan by Tomy International, either to the Western markets or the other Asian markets.
I have always understood that it is frowned upon in Japan to allow the true Plarail issues to leave the country. So what you are saying Super really makes me think that it is so?

[Super]

Thanks fellas

I always found it strange that all their boxes are in Japanese but the Takara/Tomy Logo is always English whereas the Plarail Logo is always Japanese.

I will have to look more closely now for not being available for Proxy buyers. I believe all that I have lost out on were from individual sellers and not businesses. But it may just be that some feel a sense of national pride to only sell within Japan...I can see that.

Muddy, maybe your mysterious cancels were exactly this.

This is a very common thing, and you should always read the auction description to ensure that a line stating they don't allow it is not listed. Its not that they hate you because you are foreign, its not that they want to keep all the rare Plarail to Japan, its that often times import companies can be hard to deal with. These companies handle so many orders that should a issue arrive communication could be very slow. The customer might not fully understand what they are buying, and the importer certainly doesn't. There are some importers that dont even bother to leave feedback. Overall they just want to avoid problems before they start.

[Super]

But how can they assume that I am foreign since all they see is the buyer is Japanese with a Japanese address? Not sure the agents could be considered Importers but I understand what you are saying. I will have to pay more attention to the descriptions but all I remember seeing no is that a seller does not ship internationally but that wouldn't pertain since they aren't shipping the item internationally.

But how can they assume that I am foreign since all they see is the buyer is Japanese with a Japanese address?

In alot of cases the username they bid with gives it away, among other factors.

I never had any of my bids cancelled but I've tried to bid on a TnA Toby with some other parts but I got outbid XD. Also I only asked the agents how long it takes for packages to go to the warehouse of course, they said one week (They also said it depends on the seller so it's 2 days-2 weeks then I'll pay for the International Shipping Costs. I use the same auction websites as Muddy Poppins and Ripley use. Of course Plarail Victor (One of the PlaraiL Engines I was hunting down for, the only others are Dash, Stanley, 2014-2016 Harvey {He also comes in the new Friends set}, 2003 Thomas, 2003 Gordon, 2003 James, and 2003 Percy for discontiued ones) and Gen 2 Talking James were my first 2 purchases from there. I have around six more from there. I use it to look for items that are too expensive on eBay for a lower price. Plarail Victor wpuld of costed me $160.00 on ebay NIB, Gen 2 James would of costed me almost $65.00 but got the two at a lower price (James has a stripped wire from the motor and AAA battery terminal needs to be replaced and Victor works like a charm).

Also I just love buying from Japan necause they have the good stuff.

[Super]

It now has happened to me many times and now Japamart has updated where when I try to make a bid from certain Sellers that don't want to sell to the Agents it tells me I can't bid the Sellers auctions which is, at least, better than thinking my bid was OK, only to find out after the auction ended they cancelled my bid when they saw I won. I was going to try to bid and buy these items through Jauce just for a test to see if it was all Agents these seller didn't want to deal with or just Japamart but I just don't like paying a Fee to put my own money into my Account which it seems that Jauce does.

Funny thing is, that I still keep trying to buy, especially from one seller that has many items I want, to see if things change but still blocked. Its too bad...one particular sellers items I want have been continuously been relisted for months and still haven't sold their items...they could have sold their items to me a long time ago so they missed out on several sales.