Sure, branv.
I have used only used two websites for bidding on auctions at YAJ.
CELGA (
www.celga.com )
First I used Celga to bid on one Ayupan. I found them friendly and rather quick to respond to emails or questions, but they were rather slow with communication AFTER I had won the auction. Since I had forgotten all about my auction I'd received an email from them two months after I had sent them my deposit.
To bid on an item with Celga you need to send them a payment for 50% of the maximum amount you want to bid. IE:
- 1 ayupan auctions starting at 500 yen
- You want to bid 2000 yen
- You send them a payment via credit card or paypal for 1000 yen.
- If bid is successful, you send them the full amount of the winning auction. (they take off your already sent deposit from the shipping price, not the item itself in my experience.
- If your bid is UNSUCCESSFUL, you can either ask them to refund your deposit or request a different auction for them to bid using that deposit.
*Celga's commission are rather pricey, in my opinion.
(US $$)
Up to 1,000 yen = $5
1,001 to 10,000 yen = $10
10,001 to 20,000 yen = $20
20,001 to 30,000 yen = $30
30,001 to 40,000 yen = $40
40,001 to 50,000 yen = $50
All in all, I think Celga are a friendly service, but not very fast. Also their commission fees are higher than this next shop.
CRESCENT TRADING (
http://www.crescent-shop.com )
I LOVE shopping with Crescent Shop. I've been using it for months and spend much money on there. Instead of dealing with emails and messaging back and forth, you create an account and use that account to place your own bids on items, using the crescent shop YAJ account. Your bids are placed in REAL time, straight away, so you don't need any confirmation emails are anything.
Its really simple. Just go to their website and select 'new member', input all your details and off you go.
The main catch on Crescent shop is you need to put in a minumum deposit of US $50 or more before you can bid on anything. Once you have won your auction on their server, paid for shipping and have had your parcel shipped, you can request a deposit refund, which will refund your $50 straight back into your credit card.
Their system is all pretty much automated, so there's little correspondance between you and the owners of Cresecent Shop. If you need to ask them any questions at all, you can leave them a message on the Q&A section of your profile, which is generally responded to within 48 hours. So unlike other shops, YOU can control how much you bid and how high you want to go. Rather useful if there is another user bidding on the same item as you.
The $50 deposit allows you to bid up to 25,000 yen on any auctions. If you want to bid any higher than that, you need to deposit another $50.
Winning Price Deputy Fees
500 yen 500 yen
1,000 yen 500 yen
2,000 yen 500 yen
3,000 yen 500 yen
4,000 yen 500 yen
5,000 yen 625 yen
7,500 yen 937 yen
10,000 yen 1,250 yen
You can bid on as MANY things as you want. All you need to keep in mind is the commission fee, PLUS you need to pay for domestic shipping within Japan (items shipped from the seller to the Crescent Shop headquarters), plus a 240yen bank transfer fee, which is how they pay for your auction. IE:
Winning auction of 1 ayupan for 800 yen:
item = 800 yen
shipping = 120 yen
bank fee = 240 yen
commission = 500
TOTAL COST = 1660 yen
Considering some ayupans are being sold on ebay for US $20 - $100, that's not a bad price to pay.
Shipping is generally done by EMS as well, so its a little bit pricey, but all insured and generally arrives in 4-5 working days. You CAN request items to be shipping via a different method (AIR+ rgistered, SAL, etc), but I prefer having my items shipping using EMS. ^_^
SO, All in all, I personally prefer Crescent Shop because I can bid on auctions in real time and at the last minute if I want to. The only downside for them would be the $50 deposit, plus if their system is down for any reason, you cannot access the website, therefore cannot look at any auctions you may have going or increase the bidding (has happened to me once, very frustrating!)
Celga are good for bigger items, but in my expereince they are rather slow and their commission prices are higher than I like.
I hope this helps everyone or wanted who needed help! ^_^