Help with Buyee/Yahoo Japan

General
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I was recently scammed on a lot that promised sealed promos. I read the description several times, and it described the depicted promos and the seller’s policies (please contact us if you have a bad rating, etc.). At the very end of the paragraph, there was one line, an incomplete sentence, that simply read “[name of promos] or [name of two other cards].”

At the time I didn’t think much of it, because the line was so random and there was no context - I thought it was a copy-paste error, and treated it as a non sequitur.

Turns out the “A or B” statement means it’s a “raffle,” and you only get one of the two sets listed…or so Buyee claims in denying my request for a refund. Obviously, the seller sent me the two other cards - which are worthless - rather than the depicted promos.

I had Buyee’s standard protection, so I tried to claim a refund. I have explained that the single clause “A or B” buried at the end of a description that largely describes A does not reasonably communicate that you’d be getting either A or B. But Buyee has - four times already - simply claimed that the seller has “clearly stated” they will ship “A or B.”

I find Buyee’s (and the seller’s) logic incredibly strange. If there were a lot titled “Acer Swift 3” that included photos of the laptop, and had a description that was largely about that laptop BUT included a random, single line reading “Acer Swift 3 or Acer Swift 3 laptop case” (and NOTHING else), could you really argue that you’re selling either/or?

I am at wits’ end, but realize I am probably not getting a refund. However, I would still like to report the seller on Yahoo Japan. I’ve looked into contacting them, but it appears you need a Yahoo Japan account…would anyone be able to help me with this?

I’d also like to warn anybody who would like to use Buyee. If you do meet a terrible seller, know that Buyee will not do anything to help, because they are afraid of getting negative seller comments on their own account. You’d essentially be shopping on Yahoo Japan without the basic protections they afford to their Japanese customers.

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This is a fairly standard scam which catches a lot of people bidding on auctions. It is designed to catch western buyers and inexperienced people, and is often quite successful. Buyer protection on Yahoo/Buyee is nothing like the buyer protection we’re used to on eBay, Buyee likely could not get a refund from the seller even if they tried. I’ve posted more about the lack of buyer protection on Yahoo here.

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but this scam (and others like it) is well-documented and we have talked a lot about it on E4:

www.elitefourum.com/t/the-giant-japanese-market-thread/31400/2049

www.elitefourum.com/t/the-giant-japanese-market-thread/31400/1873

www.elitefourum.com/t/possibly-lost-2-700-from-a-yja-auction-through-buyee/34408/1

www.elitefourum.com/t/yahoo-japan-scam/33675/1

Yahoo Japan is quite literally the wild west, you need to be super diligent about what you’re bidding on and be aware of a lot of the common scams and westerner bait things that will pop up. It sucks to see new people going to Yahoo and getting scammed because they are used to eBay-level buyer protection. Do your research, read a lot about the things that go on there, and ALWAYS triple-check descriptions, seller profiles, feedback, etc. and don’t bid if anything is off.

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I get that you have to be diligent, but in this case, I did read the description several times before bidding. There’d be less of a justification if the description literally tells you it’s a raffle, like with www.elitefourum.com/t/the-giant-japanese-market-thread/31400/1, but in my case the line was so random and without context I thought it was copy-paste error.

I understand many E4 members love Buyee for deals, but I honestly don’t feel safe, even with reputable buyers with good ratings.

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I’m really sorry you got burned by this type of auction, @cdarwin7.

Buyee is fine for what it is: an easy way to place bids on Japanese auctions in a language that most Buyee users probably can’t read.

(You say you read the description “several times before bidding.” I presume you mean you were reading Buyee’s English-language translation of the auction description. But perhaps you mean you were reading the actual Japanese description, )

I would be interested in seeing the Japanese description. Could you share the URL of the auction?

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@japanime, page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/1043153137

(Edited: Sorry, the tag didn’t go through.)

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Don’t think you are going to be able to report him. In fact, Buyee has already given him good feedback as a seller for that listing so the seller may get away with it again in the future.

Here are some red flags for this listing so you can avoid these types of listings in the future.

First, there is only one picture of what looks to be two separate pictures merged together and it is the only picture. For cards like this a real seller would most likely provide multiple pictures of the front and back. The seller is low feedback with no previous sales as all his other feedback is about being a bidder except the most recent from Buyee for this listing. The english generated description says the ho-oh and lugia are unopened when the picture shows that is not the case.

The low to no feedback is enough for me to avoid any seller on Yahoo. Same with the single photo for decently expensive cards. There may be some that are legit, but it is not worth the hassle if it turns out to be a scam.

Here is a link to a similar auction that another user here bought and is almost certainly a scam. page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m1042456797

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I agree with your points here.

I would like to add that, if you read, look for this symbol “枚” It means counting(for paper). In the description there something about “1000枚”, so they are saying there are 1000 pieces, which makes no sense, and should be red flag.

I was not really able to find anything that can help @cdarwin7, my Japanese is not that great.

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1000枚 refers to the fact that only 1,000 sets of these promos were printed (and thus there are 1,000 cards each in existence). “枚” is used as a unit for cards.

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Thanks for the advice, I’ll keep that in mind. Although just a small point - the listing only notes the Ho-Oh is sealed, which is true from the photo. I do understand the Ho-Oh and the Lugia come in the same pack, so technically the Lugia would be sealed as well.

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Another red flag is that you won a $7k item for $450. Chances are if things aren’t going for market value, you’re missing something.

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Sorry that you got scammed. Unfortunately it’s a common practice. I think everyone has been scammed at least once buying from Japan. You just have to be thorough when viewing listings.

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Hey if its any consolation i got duped for 260k yen on a 20k yen item

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Damn this sucks sorry it happened to you, just an FYI fromJapan offers a “check” service for $3 to make sure if the item received matches the description as long as it’s within a reasonable amount not a huge bulk thing.

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Clearly my knowledge of this card in completely unknown, sorry for that. “枚” is a counter for “Flat thin objects or sheets”, anyway, in this scenario it’s used for unit for cards :blush:

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Holy…what happened?

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I thought a neo 3 karp was a fan club karp, so i bid like it was a fan club karp. Seller had fan club karp in the title, seller also listed it as unused and its like a psa 2. The photos showed a neo 3 karp but my dumbass had been awake too long for a graveyard shift and messed up ID’ing it. The photos were taken in a way to hide all damage (it was peeling, inked, dented, creased, scratched, so its kinda impressive the photos showed a mint card lol). Oh yea it was obviously shill bid too. I stopped bidding and then the higher bid was retracted. Overall i blame myself but if you had that experience on ebay youd be protected, misleading title, item description, condition description, shill bidding, bleh im getting sick just talking about it.

1 Like
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Damn, I’m sorry this happened to you. I know what you mean when you’re sick just talking about it…this whole experience has put me off Buyee. I thought about having them delete my account, but I’m probably going to sleep on it and start with avoiding Buyee for a good while.

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Am I missing something in the listing?

I don’t see anything about A or B in there?
It seems like you should’ve gotten an open Lugia and a sealed Ho-Oh?

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“1000枚限定 色違いのポケモン ルギア ホウオウ 2点 もしくは、ガラルマッスグマ オーロラエネルギー 2点”

Translated “Limited to 1000 pieces Pokemon in different colors Lugia Ho-Oh 2 points or Galal Linoone Aurora Energy 2 points”

As others have said, this is getting more common these days on Japan as interest in the hobby surged. Always be more pessimistic than not with listings that have odd descriptions. They’re almost never “typos” and are just straight scams.

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Missed the もしく

That’s really upsetting :slightly_frowning_face: