Questions
The ones we are asked most, answered straight — including the ones where the answer is not what anybody wants to hear.
When am I actually charged?
When you win. Placing a bid puts a hold on your card or PayPal account — the money is reserved, not taken — and if you are outbid or the auction ends without you, the hold is released.
Buying something at a fixed price is the exception. It cannot lose, so there is no win to wait for and it charges straight away.
Why are there two payments?
The first covers the item and everything needed to get it into our warehouse in Japan. The second is the ocean freight, and it is billed after your part arrives and is measured — because the size of the box is what decides the cost.
You see an estimated range for the freight before you bid, and the top of that range is a cap: if the part measures larger, we absorb the difference. The full fee breakdown is here.
What happens if I am outbid?
Nothing is charged and the hold on your money is released. You can raise your maximum while the auction is still running, and raising it moves no money — there is one hold per auction however many times you raise.
How long does it take to arrive?
Longer than a domestic parcel and it is worth knowing that up front. Your part waits in Japan for the next container, crosses by sea, then clears and is released at your pickup point.
Each container has a published cut-off date, sailing date and arrival window, and you can see them on the listing before you bid — so the honest answer is a date you can check rather than a number of weeks we invent.
Do I have to collect it, or can it be delivered?
It depends on the point you choose. Some are places you turn up to and collect from; others are delivery routes that bring the part closer to you, and those ask for your street address. Each one shows its address and what to bring when you pick it.
Can you tell me what condition a part is really in?
Only what the seller says and shows. We translate the listing, the title and the seller’s own description so you can read it properly, and we can ask a seller a question — but we do not inspect parts before bidding and we cannot make a seller describe one honestly.
Read the description and study the photographs. A used part bought at auction carries the risk that a used part bought at auction carries, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise.
The part I want is not on Yahoo Auctions. Can you still get it?
Often, yes — new from a manufacturer, a new OEM part, or a used find on another Japanese marketplace. Tell us what you are after and we come back with a price and what shipping it would cost. It usually takes a day or two.
Do I need an account to look around?
No. Searching, translating and pricing a part need no account at all. You sign up at the point you want to bid or buy, because that is the point where we need somewhere to send the part and a way to take payment.
What do you charge?
A platform fee of 10% of the item price and 10% of the Japanese domestic shipping, with minimums; the Japanese consumption tax and import tariff as pass-throughs; and the ocean freight as the second charge. There is no membership or subscription. Every rate is published, and the calculator shows the whole figure before you commit.
Can I cancel after I have won?
No — and this is the one worth reading twice. Winning an auction is a binding purchase on the Japanese side: we pay the seller on your behalf almost immediately, and that money cannot be recalled. Bid the most you are genuinely willing to pay, not a number you hope to be outbid on.
Something has gone wrong with my order. What now?
Write to us with your order number, or call (718) 679-6890. We would rather hear about a problem early, while a container is still being loaded, than after it has sailed.
Not answered here?
Write to us — a real person reads it. If you are new, how it works covers the whole process from search to collection.