Addicted to Yahoo Japan Auctions
When I first stumbled upon Icie's review of Tinkle's 2nd artbook ~ ????, I was in despair. As it wasn't a commercial release, obtaining it would be near impossible for a mere tanuki. Or so I thought until my search led me to Yahoo Japan Auctions. The artbooks were there, getting auctioned at half the price I got Tinkle's first artbook for. Mustering all my interweb resources, I tracked down and subscribed to a popular deputy service to join the bid wars. Hence began my descent into the world of unlimited 2D merchandise that is YJA.
Just under a week since my foray into YJA, I've already splurged USD220 on purchases. The spoils -
2 X Tinkle's 2nd Artbook
1 x Goodsmile's 1/8 Akihime Sumomo (special figure release with game)
It worries me a great deal since I'm trawling YJA daily in search of more rare items to buy (Goodsmile's 1/8 Nemu figure being top on my list.) It's taking ALL my willpower not to purchase a third Tinkle artbook. Plus, I'm not sure how long it'd be before I succumb to the array of fabulous Feena merchandise. The only thing that's keeping me from going on a rabid bidding spree is the deputy's service. They do a great job but their fee, though not unreasonable, does make you think twice about getting that YJA item. To this date, USD44 of my 220 purchase goes to their service (a good 20%).
Ah well, at least I got the Holy grail of artbooks and a fairly rare figure. Hoping to find the Nemu figure some time. Now if you'd excuse me, I have some auctions to browse.
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February 19th, 2009 - 09:04
Feena merchandise would probably suck me in too…for my wallet’s sake, I think I’ll have to avoid Yahoo Japan Auctions ^_^
February 19th, 2009 - 09:54
I bought ???? through a deputy service as well (and some other C75 doujinshi). Should be arriving any day now. By the way, did you buy two copies of that artbook? Planning on selling one or do you just like Tinkle that much?
February 19th, 2009 - 10:04
what service did you use? i want that gsc sumomo as well but don’t know which service to trust
February 19th, 2009 - 10:26
I’ve used Shopping Mall Japan and Crescent Shop. Shopping Mall Japan might be a tad cheaper if you live in the US and order multiple items as they can do group shipping to the US for less money. On the other hand, they seem a to be a bit slower and perhaps a bit less professional… they lost a package of mine once, still billed me for it, and didn’t notify me (I had to contact them a month later to find out about it).
February 19th, 2009 - 15:33
Buying items from YJA isn’t just burning a bigger hole in your wallet, it’s more like driving a stake through your bank account, lol. Although I have used it in the past, I don’t use it often simply because of the fees incurred, and lets just say I’ve made some rather expensive purchases before.
Also I don’t ever recall seeing that GSC Nemu. Perhaps I should scour the depths of YJA to find one?
February 19th, 2009 - 21:10
suguru: The good news is that most Feena items can be found on Amazon JP which I have access to for lower cost
But that’s obviously very bad news for my wallet XD
anonymous_object : heh, it’s kind of a backup. In case one of the auctioneers defrauds my purchase, I’d still have the other. Beside Tinkle’s artbooks are great investments. Her first artbook, a commercial release (2006) is going for almost 5 x the price barely 3 years after. I can’t imagine the price ???? (C75 exclusive) will fetch in a years time.
Dancing Queen: I’m using Shoppingmalljapan. I haven’t received my goods yet but overall they’re going their job even though the response may be a tad sluggish.
Adun: Apparently that Nemu was a WonFes exclusive. Can’t find her anywhere but am keeping my fingers crossed by checking YJA daily
February 19th, 2009 - 21:55
All I can do is offer my condolences to your bank account. YJA is bad, period, for your well being. I learned the hard way a few years back when I had the bug and was jobless at the time to boot @_@
February 20th, 2009 - 01:50
Sell me that second artbook ;_;
February 21st, 2009 - 08:15
No more need for deputy
February 21st, 2009 - 10:44
Good thing I’m not into figure collecting otherwise i would NEED a Nemu like that like I need 20.9% oxygen in my daily air intake.
btw, the artbook looks fantastic but aren’t the girls a tiny bit.. uhm…young?
February 21st, 2009 - 22:08
moyism: I’m not so worried about my bank acct than the loansharks kicking down my front door… nah kidding. But yeah, I’m in the red for the month of Jan for 2D expenses. XD
Zeroblade: Erm would you be willing to pay S$140? That’s my estimated price since they haven’t quoted me shipping charges yet
Toonleap: Thanks for the highlight! Took a quick look… but can’t find much listed.. Am I searching in the wrong places?
Kvakond: It pains me greatly that I can’t find that Nemu ANYWHERE. This is one case where money can’t buy you love *sob*. As for Tinkle girls.. they embody imouto-moe. So they tend to look a tad younger….
February 23rd, 2009 - 14:22
Is this the artist who did (magical loli genderswap manga) Tsukiyo no Fromage and goes by the name Tinker Bell? And is “Tinkle” the official english spelling of his/her screen-name?
February 24th, 2009 - 08:10
Oh yes, that’s Tinkle and I believe it’s a her. No official rendering of her name since I’ve seen both ‘Tinkle’ and ‘Tinker’ used in ‘official’ channels XD Check out her previous manga Nusunde Lilith – Loli-siscon to the MAX!
March 7th, 2009 - 14:46
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that Nemu figure before…and it looks pretty good, too. I contemplated trying out those deputy services a little while ago, but decided to hold off due to the price and difficulty in finding items. Looking at this, however, I might have to break that vow >_>
May 19th, 2009 - 06:42
There are quite a few proxy bidding services out there. Our Yahoo Japan Auction service is only for car parts, but there are countless others that cover all of the categories, such as Rinkya, etc. There is also the International Yahoo Japan auctions, but unfortunately they have hardly any of the items in the Japanese version.
The biggest thing to watch is the shipping costs. A number of the services don’t give you a good idea of the shipping costs before making your bid – they can easily double the price!
May 25th, 2009 - 00:00
Thanks for the highlight! Haven’t tried Rinkya but am currently quite happy with SMJ. Not sure if they overcharging for internal shipping but from what I can see, they’re not overcharging for the international