Buyee Customer Service is TERRIBLE!

General
1

First time Buyee user here, I have been having the most infuriating experience trying to get my purchase delivered so I just wanted to share my experience. *IF* I even get my stuff eventually, I don’t think I’ll be using Buyee ever again. This is a warning to any other prospective new users of Buyee, especially now during pandemic times (assuming it must be playing a role in some way).

First, I do not want to give the impression that I am criticizing Buyee for their inconvenient time zone, or for their sometimes awkward english, both of which are pretty much unavoidable and expected. This is purely about their service and apparent complete lack of any organization whatsoever. It’s amazing to me that any packages ever leave their warehouse.

I spent about $200 USD on several cards over a few months, small change to many of you I’m sure but a considerable purchase for me. Buying during Covid was actually kind of nice at the beginning because they extended their free storage time and I had plenty of time to collect several items before arranging shipping. On June 30th my package consolidation showed that it had completed so I arranged shipping. I paid about $35 for the supposedly much faster and safer DHL shipping option. From what I read it should ship in a couple business days and arrive on my doorstep 4-7 business days later. On July 7th the provided tracking information showed that it still had not been received by DHL so I tried to reach out to customer service to figure out why. Here’s where the problems began.

Buyee customer support is apparently only reachable by email, which is inconvenient but not impassable. However the messages apparently do not ever go to the same representatives and, even if I am awake and at the computer as soon as I get a response, I cannot get a second message during the same business day. They have ignored requests and neglected to deliver on follow-up messages so I have to chase after progress every day. Below I will outline the email chain as of today, when I have *still* not received my stuff and it has still not shipped. Their responses are fairly wordy in some cases so I’ll summarize or take quotes from their emails in some cases.

Me, July 7th: Hello, shipment information was sent to DHL on July 2 but it still has not been picked up by DHL. When will this ship? Thank you.

"Angelu", Buyee July 8th: due​ to​ the​ global​ spread​ of​ new-type​ coronavirus​ infections… some​ international​ mail​ to​ each​ country​ is​ temporarily​ suspended​ from​ accepting​ shipments,​ and​ the​ already​ shipped​ packages​ are​ returned​ to​ the​ shipping​ origin​ one​ by​ one,​ but​ there​ is​ no​ room​ to​ store​ the​ returned​ goods​ in​ the​ buyee’s​ warehouse,​ so​ the​ post​ office​ stored​ the​ itemThis response made absolutely no sense, because my package was shipped via DHL, not the postal service, and DHL had no mention of any delays or restrictions on international packages leaving Japan. Nevertheless, I waited a bit to see if it would indeed start moving in a few days. I got in touch with DHL and they confirmed that DHL had not yet been given the package. It was pretty clear that it’s still sitting at Buyee somewhere.

Me, July 13th: Hello, why has my package still not shipped? There is no DHL international shipping restriction and I have been waiting nearly 2 weeks. DHL says it has not been transferred to them yet.

**“Aljay”, Buyee July 14th:**Regarding your package, it was shipped since July 02, 2020 via DHL with the tracking number xxxx. There is possibility that Japan customs have many packages need to check for international shipment clearance. Therefore, we kindly ask you to wait for a little more while.

Me, July 14th: Hi Aljay, DHL has informed me that they have not been given possession of the package yet, and therefore it has not left buyee. It is not waiting in customs.

**“Kuroda”, Buyee July 15th:***We are sorry for the inconvenience. Since we are not able to confirm any update from our side too, we are checking with our relative team if there is any problem with DHL.
We will get back to you after we confirm their reply.*Three business days went by with no follow-up, after what should, at the *most*, be a couple emails with their shipping team.

Me, July 19th: Hello, has this been resolved? Thank you.

**“Ezra”, Buyee July 15th:We apologize for keeping you waiting but we are still actively coordinating with our relevant team. We have recently contacted DHL pertaining to this case and we are hoping to resolve this soon."Shih", Buyee July 23th:***Sorry for keeping you waiting. Upon confirming, we are afraid that the package is still in our warehouse due to technical problems. Our staff are now fixing the problem, and please rest assured that we will arrange the shipment for you as soon as possible. We have issued a 1000JPY off coupon for your as a compensation for taking up your precious time.***Me, July 23rd:***Hi Shih,
Thank you very much for the update and for resolving the issue. I’m looking forward to receiving my package.***Me, July 30th:Hello,
I’ve been checking the tracking information and it appears that my package still has not been picked up by DHL, almost a week after the last update from customer support. Is there an estimate on when this will leave Buyee? Thank you."Renzo", Buyee July 31st:**Regarding the package xxxx, please be advised that your package has been shipped internationally last July 02, 2020.
Please refer to this tracking link for more information: (dhl tracking link here)

:thinking:!?!?!? I will admit this response made my blood boil just a little bit lol :open_mouth:

**Me, July 31st:Hello Renzo,
if you will please refer to our previous messages you will see that the package did NOT ship on July 2nd. I was told it had been left in the warehouse by mistake and would be shipped asap one week ago. I am becoming very frustrated."Kuroda", Buyee Aug 2nd:***We are sorry for the misleading reply on previous mail. As for the package’s shipping, we are still checking with our relative team if they have made the shipping request.
We are making it as a priority to check the status right now.
If we confirm any update, we will notify you again.*Four days go by and of course no follow up. I do however receive an automated email that my package had been “returned” to the warehouse (it never left, clearly). Then I received another automated email that the shipping for my package had been cancelled. Then another one that kindly reminded me that my package was now past the free storage period and would be charged a fee for every day it sits in the warehouse.

**Me, Aug 6th:**Hello, I received a notification that my package has been returned to the warehouse and shipping has been cancelled. I am now being charged storage fees which I would like refunded.
Also, I used a shipping coupon on my order which has not been returned after the shipping was cancelled. Please re-ship using the same DHL service with the shipping coupon please.

"Kuroda", Buyee Aug 6th: *We have confirmed that there was a system error occurred which the package had not being shipped but our warehouse mistakenly regsitered the return package number.

Therefore our system team is trying to fix that problem right now.

As for the storage fee, since we are not able to confirm from our side, so we ask you to contact us when you get the notification that we’ve fix the system.
We will surely refund you back when occurred.

As for the shipping discount coupon, yes we will ask if we can apply once our relative team fixed the system.*“Shih”, Buyee Aug 8th: *This is regarding package xxxx, which you have arranged DHL shipment previously.

We are sorry to inform that upon re-confirming with our warehouse staff, the package is still held in the warehouse. We sincere apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

We have now canceled your previous shipment and deleted the related shipping data, and refunded the shipping fee you have paid previously. Please login your MyPage and apply for shipping for the package once again. Once we receive your apply this time, our warehouse staff will then arrange the shipment accordingly.*I did as instructed and that’s where we sit today. Going to be interesting to see if this thing actually does ship this week or if I am being given the biggest run-around ever. Will update this thread :blush:

TL;DR: Buyee is apparently an absolute sh*t show and can barely communicate within their company, cannot keep track of their inventory, and has a customer support system/staff which is nearly incapable of keeping track of their customers and responding to their problems. Beware!

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They’re THEE BEST middleman service we have right now. No other service comes close to being as fast and easy to use.

10/10 using them till the day I die.

Didn’t read what you wrote, but sorry with whatever happened

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3

If you are paying with PayPal funded by a credit card you should be fine if you never get it and need to charge back. Over a month of the back and forth is definitely frustrating. Good luck and definitely lookup your charge back deadlines with your credit card company if applicable.

I’ve had several shipments with Buyee with no issue so far. Varying from a few hundred bucks to a few thousand.

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How unlucky for your first time using buyee. I think you drew the short straw. I’ve had really great experiences with them in the past and I’ve never had to interact with their support before.

It definitely seems like they could have resolved up to your current situation a little faster though.

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I just got a decently expensive magic card that arrived 5 days after purchase through DHL, very unlucky it seems

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The actual service (when it works) is great I’m sure, and for a reasonable price. But the system they have to solve problems when they arise is clearly suffering somehow, no doubt worsened by covid. Even left almost completely in the dark I seemed to know more about my package than anyone at Buyee did during almost this whole month-long exchange. I guess I’ll give them a pass if this ever does show up and may try using them again once the virus situation is under control.

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At least they should prioritize your package pronto for their own mistake, it seems like having multiple departments gets nothing done, would asking for a manager or a higher tier service representative help push things along. Hmm.

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That’s along the lines of what I was expecting tbh haha.

How hard could it have been to have someone check if it’s still in the warehouse and make sure it gets on the DHL truck the next morning??

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I’m not a huge fan of buyee but they normally get the basics of sending stuff to your place without issue. I think you honestly got super unlucky and are now stuck in customer service hell where no one wants to deal with your issue because they are probably timed per customer service request, and no one wants to kill their metrics by spending actual time to get your problem fixed. You probably need a supervisor or manager level to fix everything in one shot, but evidently if it’s email only you may need to figure out a way to pass language barriers/find the corporate email to get this fixed.

To be fair, they are also probably swamped like crazy with the amount of online orders that they have to process compared to before.

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Have had nothing but positive experiences. Placed multiple orders and they all get here lightning quick. Sorry for the bad luck!

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They do have a live chat support. It can take a long time to get through though, which isn’t surprising given the pandemic and their increased workload. It doesn’t operate 24/7 and from what i recall, it operates a little bit beyond Japanese business hours.

During that window, you can access the support chat on almost any page in the buyee app by clicking the green speech bubble as seen in my screen grab below.

While perhaps not the best solution for their global client base, I’ve found them to be very pleasant and capable.

I think you may be a bit too harsh on them. Remember there is a global pandemic, yet they are somehow still managing to perform well for the majority of us as we continue to put them through their paces.

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I have been starting to look more and more on Buyee but I haven’t pulled the trigger on certain items so this post has put me off a little!

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Ive had dozens of successful experiences with buyee. IMO the difficulties this buyer experienced were a result of using DHL. I have always selected air mail with japan post. Even during the worst part of covid they still shipped to me in canada. But the communication between buyee and the buyer was poor but as far as that goes i can give buyee an excuse, they dont speak english as a primary language.
The long delays in shipping the items are bizarre and unheard of in any other situation so it leads me to believe buyee wasnt giving full disclosure or we are just missing some information

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Just found them online today! I’m excited to try them out!

Do they auto-combine shipments of items over a certain time window or only when the purchase is made together?

Not too familiar.

Also is there anyway to just use Yahoo Japan as a US buyer – Google translate is painstaking and when I attempt to make an account it doesn’t accept my Phone # … ( I assume it’s for Japan locals only? )

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Fwiw, Buyee just made me pay $200 to ship 4.5kg via DHL. Im not sure theres a pattern here yet, but it may make sense to compare with Zenmarket as well.

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Update, I have finally received my package as of today. 1.5 months after “shipping”. All is well that ends well though. I will probably give them a second chance. This wouldn’t have been nearly as frustrating if solving the issue took a week instead of a month.

I suppose it’s possible Buyee was actively witholding some information from me but honestly it just seems to me like they had no idea what was going on. It did arrive after all, intact. And it definitely never got to DHL to begin with (I spoke to someone at DHL about this) so the most logical explanation to me is that it really was just sitting in their warehouse for a month. I don’t know what DHL being the shipper could have to do with it. They offer it as an option (and currently recommend it) so surely there are at least a few DHL shipments that leave there every week.

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