Yahoo! Japan auction site

[Heinz]

I like using Buyee to get my YAJ fix. Nice finds but overall I get the same feel as ebay, prices arent really that great once all said and done. Sure if its a monitor chassis or any hard to acquire item you might look past that but thats all it is, a place to find expensive items not easily found elsewhere.

 

[Bar81]

Does anyone know if the sniping option on Shopping Mall Japan is useful? It is supposed to place a bid automatically in the last two minutes of the auction. But could you still be beaten by another sniper?

Also, there seems to be feature (on Yahoo auctions) where the auction is extended by about 10 minutes, when the winning bid is outbid at the last moment (or something like that). Does anyone know about how this works?

The "sniping" option usually works - just don't up your bid because it might get confused and not bid and sometimes it doesn't bid for shits and giggles. The reason I put it in quotes is because the autoextend feature means you can't snipe. The auction will continue until no one bids higher - I've had auctions go 45min+ past end time due to some jackass who bid it up 1k yen at a time.

 

[nam9]

I use Noppin.com at present - always well packaged, but fees always sting...

 

[joe8]

The "sniping" option usually works - just don't up your bid because it might get confused and not bid and sometimes it doesn't bid for shits and giggles. The reason I put it in quotes is because the autoextend feature means you can't snipe. The auction will continue until no one bids higher - I've had auctions go 45min+ past end time due to some jackass who bid it up 1k yen at a time.

So, only some of the auctions have the autoextend feature?
Is it still better to manually snipe (rather than automatic snipe), if there is no autoextend?
Is it possible that auctions can be extended indefinitely- for example, 10 hours after the end? I suppose if there is a 1kyen minimum bid, that will stop that happening.
Would the best strategy, when there is no autoextend, just be to be there at the end, and carry on a "nickel and dime" war with other bidders?

 

[Bar81]

So, only some of the auctions have the autoextend feature?
Is it still better to manually snipe (rather than automatic snipe), if there is no autoextend?
Is it possible that auctions can be extended indefinitely- for example, 10 hours after the end? I suppose if there is a 1kyen minimum bid, that will stop that happening.
Would the best strategy, when there is no autoextend, just be to be there at the end, and carry on a "nickel and dime" war with other bidders?

Almost every auction has auto extend so it doesn't matter. The auction can go on forever in theory but usually 5-15 minutes.

 

[joe8]

Almost every auction has auto extend so it doesn't matter. The auction can go on forever in theory but usually 5-15 minutes.

So, what would you do at the end, do a "nickel and dime" war with other bidders?

 

[Yagyu Jubei]

I don't know about Shopping Mall Japan but on Buyee (which I use), their snipe feature extends the auction by a few minutes. So it kinda defeats the purpose of sniping. There should be a FAQ somewhere on the site for more info.

 

[Opethian]

It doesn't end until there are no last minute bids
its purpose was to deter snipers which used to weed out proxy bidders but now most proxy bid sites can autobid the farm if you so desire...

 

[joe8]

Almost every auction has auto extend so it doesn't matter. The auction can go on forever in theory but usually 5-15 minutes.

How do you know when it's going to end? When there's no further bids for a few minutes?
On Yahoo Japan, is it better to bid your maximum straight away (at the end of the auction), or just nickel and dime?

 

[Bar81]

How do you know when it's going to end? When there's no further bids for a few minutes?
On Yahoo Japan, is it better to bid your maximum straight away (at the end of the auction), or just nickel and dime?

No, you put in your Max bid and then go do something useful. If you want it badly, maybe you monitor and up the bid once if outbid. You should never be in a situation where you're submitting more than two bids (unless *maybe* in the case of a Grail item). Sometimes another person wants it more - that's life.

It ends when the countdown says closed - no way to know otherwise since any bid in the last two minutes will extend (not sure of the exact time extension mechanic).

 

[Bar81]

It doesn't end until there are no last minute bids
its purpose was to deter snipers which used to weed out proxy bidders but now most proxy bid sites can autobid the farm if you so desire...

Ahhhhhhh. Makes perfect xenophobic sense. When proxy bidders are locked out of an auction by the seller and I have to use an actual person I only have one bite at the apple - the hometeam can outbid me and there's nothing I can do about it.

 

[Yagyu Jubei]

No, you put in your Max bid and then go do something useful. If you want it badly, maybe you monitor and up the bid once if outbid. You should never be in a situation where you're submitting more than two bids (unless *maybe* in the case of a Grail item). Sometimes another person wants it more - that's life.

^This. Best advice for us gaijin.

 

[Fox1]

Never...ever put in your max bid on yaj and walk away..I know for a fact people on YAJ (esp STV if it's a PCB) will bid it up to your max and leave it.

 

[RAZO]

I've thought about using Yaj through a proxy but every time I watch auctions on something I might be interested in, the price ends up being almost the same as ebay. Also the search engine is hard to use. If I'm looking for something, for example robocop vs terminator mega drive, even with it translated I can't find it. I have to browse mega drive or md to find it.

 

[Yagyu Jubei]

I've thought about using Yaj through a proxy but every time I watch auctions on something I might be interested in, the price ends up being almost the same as ebay. Also the search engine is hard to use. If I'm looking for something, for example robocop vs terminator mega drive, even with it translated I can't find it. I have to browse mega drive or md to find it.

I only use Buyee for BIN auctions. There were 2 separate Metal Slug X AES auctions in which I sniped and lost each time. So now I only look for great bargains that are BIN so that I don't have to deal with the BS. Razo, have you tried to Google-Translating your search in Japanese and then copying and pasting into the proxy search? I've found a few more listings that way.

 

[RAZO]

Edit

I think I figured it out.

 

[StealthLurker]

I done a lot, a lot of bidding on YAJ (probably in the thousands now) and I really prefer the anti-sniping built-in to it. You simply bid what you're willing to pay for something and walk away, just like a real auction. None of these cheesy little tricks, sniper tools and guys staying up late or waking up really early to win. If I don't win that's fine, I'll just wait for another.

However, one nice feature if you use "snipe" on Shopping Mall Japan is that you can cancel the snipe. It's the only way to "cancel a bid" via them. So if there's an item I'm on the fence about, I'll enter it as snipe but for the max amount I'm willing to pay.

 

[Bar81]

I've thought about using Yaj through a proxy but every time I watch auctions on something I might be interested in, the price ends up being almost the same as ebay. Also the search engine is hard to use. If I'm looking for something, for example robocop vs terminator mega drive, even with it translated I can't find it. I have to browse mega drive or md to find it.

Yeah, don't expect too many deals on YAJ. Prices these days are mostly eBay prices. I buy there because of the selection of certain items that are hard to find on ebay. For the searches, as said above, it's best to google the JP translation and use that to search using the JP website and not the proxy's search site (which as you've discovered is crap).

 

[oliverclaude]

Yeah, yahoo auctions is full of novelty features. I personally like automatic extension best. You stay out late, you bid on the last ten seconds and... bingo! Like magic, the auction e x t e n d s five more minutes, then another five, then another etc., etc. Get out of here, you can have all that junk for yourself. Gladly.

 

[joe8]

Never...ever put in your max bid on yaj and walk away..I know for a fact people on YAJ (esp STV if it's a PCB) will bid it up to your max and leave it.

Maybe the best solution on an auto-extend YAJ auction is to put down a high max bid, then keep monitoring it.

Yeah, don't expect too many deals on YAJ. Prices these days are mostly eBay prices. I buy there because of the selection of certain items that are hard to find on ebay. For the searches, as said above, it's best to google the JP translation and use that to search using the JP website and not the proxy's search site (which as you've discovered is crap).

YAJ has items you never, ever see on ebay. Not even once in a blue moon.