Gashapon/Kaiyodo/Yujin etc. dinosaurs/animals from Japan (placing ad for someone else)

*Hey, I’m placing an ad for someone I’ve had good results from, I’ll post his message and jump back in. I know there’s at least a couple other people here who like these things, and it is a lot cheaper than I’ve been able to find them otherwise.*

Hey.

I have a number of new buyers so I thought I should again send a summary of how I work. ..

I, via my main source in Tokyo, can get virtually anything on Yahoo Auctions Japan or on Japanese websites, and often in brick and mortar stores.

The most common items on which my buyers bid are single Kaiyodo capsule animal figures. For these and similarly sized figures you pay the winning bid amount in yen and the approximately 160 yen fee to ship to my source. Occasionally (rarely) shipping can be higher. YAJ also charges an approximately 160 yen bank payment fee per win or single payment for a group of wins to the same seller. Stores selling on YAJ sometimes add tax. My source compensates for this when placing bids.

You pay 15% of the winning bid amount–7.5% each going to my source and to me–with a minimum of 300 yen each for individual figures and 600 yen each for sets or lots. You pay my estimation of actual postage to me (in huge, typically bimonthly shipments) and actual postage from me to you. Even with these fees, we still beat the best eBay prices virtually if not literally every time, often by huge (I’ve seen up to 90+.) percentages. Figures very often sell for their minimum bids.

Regarding buying from my new figure source, I can get sets or individuals and I typically announce new releases multiple times over several months so I can take pre-orders. I similarly have him hold orders until it makes the most sense to ship, to save everyone on postage. My goal is to beat the lowest eBay prices for any of these and again, I virtually or literally always have. And I’m doing so after paying retail prices myself.

I’ll hold your orders as long as you request I do so to save you further money via combined shipping. I’ve had boxes filling up since last summer for some international buyers.

You can request we look for anything and request broad or specific YAJ search links (new listings always at top) so you can/browse/search regularly yourself. We’ll also save searches for hard to find items and notify you immediately when they appear. I’ve been doing this for about a year, have about 60 buyers, and there are fewer than ten wanted figures we’ve yet to obtain.

Standard operating procedure is that buyers send YAJ links and maximum bids (not the over all price you’re willing to pay) in yen, and then watch the auctions to see if they’ve won. You can use Google Translate to understand the pages. My source’s ID is shown as emk*****.

Please always send bid requests in the format below so I can simply copy and paste to my source (If not, I return them and request the correction.):

link brief item description YOUR FIRST NAME high bid amount in yen or BIN if choosing the buy it now option.

Example (though it’s an ended auction):

http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h200013084?al=11 Kaiyodo Siamotyrannus BRETT 3210 yen

Again, my main source ships to me about every two months and (with the exception of new buyers bidding on expensive items in which case I’ll request a deposit), I do not request payment until that is about to happen. At that point, after announcing the request is pending a week or so in advance, I request and require it immediately. My source doesn’t ship until I pay her and I can’t do so until all of your payments are in hand, so one late payment delays typically thousands of dollars worth of figures for typically 25 or so buyers. The situation is similar with my new figure source.

I only request the shipping charge to you when I’ve taken your order to the post office to get the exact amount due, so always expect to send multiple payments. I do not insure packages unless a buyer requests it(virtually never) and I do place as nominal values as feasible on customs forms.

Since I make so little doing this, I ask that everyone avoid or cover all Paypal fees.

A buyer offered this explanation of how to do that:

In case you want to pass it along, for those paying via PayPal:

– when sending money, you have two options: send money to a friend or pay for services/goods. Sending money to a friend is free; paying for services/goods incurs a fee.

– when you send money to a friend, you can only use the primary funding source on your PayPal account (funds are drawn from your PayPal balance, if you have any, then from your checking account or primary credit card on file). But there is no fee.

– paying for services/goods allows you to choose your funding source if you don’t want to use whatever is primary. But you are charged a processing fee.

So, for instance, in my case, I wanted to split my last payment in two; the first installment I sent, I used the “send money to a friend” option and the funds were drawn from my checking account, which is my primary funding source. To make my second installment with my credit card, I had to choose “pay for services/goods” and incurred the fee.

PayPal fee on domestic payments is 3% + $0.30. International fees vary, but are always more. You and/or your domestic buyers can easily figure out how much the fee will be.

[(order price x .03) + $0.30] + order price = payment total

So, for instance, if my order costs $100, my total payment would be $103.30:

[($100 x .03) + $0.30] + $100 =

[ $3.00 + $0.30] + $100 =

$3.30 + $100 = $103.30

Hope this helps.

I also have my own inventory of mostly Kaiyodo figures (including hundreds of/most Dinotales including complete sets) and if you request something I already have you would buy that directly from me. I advertise sales for my inventory from time to time, sending photos, typically before the bimonthly shipping.

As you’ve seen by now, I also regularly announce YAJ finds of potential interest. If opening these is a bother, I typically put boldface notations in the subject lines of important mails.

Here are the YAJ search links for modern animal figures in general and prehistoric animal figures in general:

http://category.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/list/%E7%94%9F%E3%81%8D%E7%89%A9-%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%82%AE%E3%83%A5%E3%82%A2-%E3%81%8A%E3%82%82%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83-%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0/2084063729/?n=100&p=%E7%94%9F%E3%81%8D%E7%89%A9&tab_ex=commerce&auccat=2084063729&oq=&select=22&slider=0

http://auctions.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?select=22&ei=UTF-8&p=%E6%81%90%E7%AB%9C&oq=&n=100&auccat=2084063729&tab_ex=commerce&slider=0

Hope I covered everything. Fairly sure I didn’t…

Happy to answer any questions. Tell your friends!

Thanks again for your interest.

Brett

*I’m back! I’ve dealt twice and am working on a third order from Brett since March. Like I said at the start, things are A LOT (usually) cheaper via him, as in often half the price or less, even with fees and shipping. It can take a few months for things to get to me since his contact fills big shipping boxes with orders and doesn’t send them to him until full, but everything I’ve ordered has been great and for the price I can wait on it. As in, something on ebay for %40 + shipping right now I’m getting for $14-15 even after expenses. His contact has also found for me things I’ve been able to find nowhere else. Before they bid on something you’ve requested, they will send you a link to it to get your approval. It’s a bit more work than eBay, but has been worth it for me.

I don’t personally know Brett and have never met him, and gain nothing by placing this for him. Just thought I might be helping people here as well as him.

He doesn’t maintain a website, all contact is via email. He was afraid of putting his email out there to get spammed, so if you’re interested in contacting him, PM me and I’ll message you his email. Since I’ve been dealing with him, I’ve had no unusual activity on my email or Paypal account. He does sometimes send a lot of messages (usually links to things that have a lot of interest to drum up more), but they’re easy to delete if I’m not interested and I’m not getting messages from anyone else I wasn’t before. He is actively selling and well regarded on a couple figure collector forums.

If you haven’t seen them, gashapon are these cunning little sculpts/toys that are marketed in Japan as vending machine prizes for collectors and blind bags. I have a posting for a couple extra goldfish gashapon if you want to see what they are, most commonly they seem to be dinosaurs and various animals as well as anime/pop culture figures. I think moonbeam has some anime ones listed.

If you want to ask me something about this, post here or PM me and I’ll answer if I can. I can forward him a question if needed.*