eBay or Middle Man?
 

Hello All!!~

I've noticed on eBay that the prices of Ayu's AT08 Goodies are way overpriced then those advertised on mu-mo and other websites selling the goods in Japan. However the shipping of the goods are free. Just wondering what would be better, buying the goods straight off eBay or using a middle man and buying them off mu-mo (if you still can > <) Also what would be quicker and more reliable?

Thanks!!

I'd probably order off mu-mo it comes very well packaged from my last orders and I'm in Aus and the particular middle man I worked with was reliable from what I can see. Expect the commission to be roughly that 15% of the product. Then calculate towards the ebay price and decide after that =)>>>.

My middle man for YAJ stuff is http://mukunoki-jp.net/ Very nice and trustworthy guy and answers very quickly.

I made a small example calculation for you:

- For example: towel + stickers: 3500 yen
- bank transfer fee: 300 yen
- shipping from mu-mo to mukunoki is 500 yen, I think
- shipping to your country by EMS, Airmail or SAL (for example a 500g package with airmail to Germany would cost 950 yen; shipping price list that I've checked: http://www.akibado.com/shippinglist.html)
- total: 5250 yen + 20% comission (PP , with CC it's 23%) = 6300 yen

I think it's quicker if you buy your goodies from a Ebay seller but it's probably cheaper if you buy it through a middle man, especially if you want to order more than 2 things.

Which middle man do you use, I've heard of one user on eBay, Crescent Shop, the one Empry said and Celga (which I've heard is pretty average) Are all of the commission fees similar? Just wondering which one is the most reliable and the cheapest for shipping to Australia

I probably wont bother using middleman for like 1 strap or something. if I want like a bunch. middle man is better imo >_>

I always use Crescent Shop. The people are very friendly and it's not expensive.

I know 3 people who use Crescent Shop and live in Australia. All three have been saying they never had any problems and their things always arrived quickly, and well packed too.

I live in Canada and have been using Crescent Shop for two months now. I only had one small problems with their website, which they kindly helped me fix within 24 hours.



I spent exactly 19,500 yen buying AT08 goods from mu-mo.com and went through Crescent Shop to do so. The 19,500 yen included the fees as well, though I don't recall how much it was. Considering how much stuff I got, it's a very good deal (I bought two of each straps and keychains, on top of a few other things). If you think you'll be buying a lot, go with a middle man, on Yahoo Japan Auction, you can find many things sold quite cheap. Though beware that other things can be really expensive too.

I used to use Japan Auction Agency to get quite a lot of things for the net .

While I appluade them for being professional in the way they do business with me , the extras like bank fees , transaction fees , commission practically killed me , almost .

Nowadays , I just asked my Japanese friend to help me & his charges are definitely cheaper than any middleman site that I have come across .

if you want his contact , let me know !

^if it's OK, I would like to have his contact. Crescent Shop is great, but I agree, the bank transfer fees, transaction, commission...it all adds up to killing my cash flow. :(

sure I will PM you with his email contact now