Navigating high value Japanese slabs. What to do?

General Question
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1

I’m looking for some guidance from experienced collectors regarding high value Japanese card purchases.

I’ve been buying from Japan for a while using services like Doorzo and FromJapan, but I’ve hit a wall when it comes to higher-end items in the $10k–$20k range. To be clear, I am only interested in slabs. I am staying away from raw cards or sealed products so I’m not worried about the typical “is this resealed” risks, my concerns are specifically around the logistics and safety of high end slab purchases. Which is easily comparable to the official PSA cert number.

The biggest issues I keep running into are:

Proxies are basically just forwarding services, they don’t actually talk to sellers the way i would like to. I’ll see listings where the seller says they’re open to offers, but there’s no way for me to actually reach out and negotiate. I have to just fire off a blind offer through the proxy’s website, which is a gamble since some sellers like to communicate and not just get a random offer. Also they tend to make private listings which is not supported by some proxies or it take a lot of time communicating in general using a proxy.

On sites like FromJapan, I have to front the money for the offer before the seller even sees it. If they reject it, I lose a chunk of money just from exchange rates and bank fees. When you’re dealing with $10k+ items, those fees add up fast. Using Doorzo I send an offer which the seller can accept or reject but there is no communication just a random offer. If rejected i have to wait weeks to try again.

This is my biggest concern. The proxy technically buys the item, leaves feedback, and closes the transaction, not me. Japanese buyers often have a short inspection period where they can freeze funds if something is wrong, but international buyers using proxies don’t really get that protection. If a card turns out fake, altered, or in worse condition than expected, I have little or no recourse to get my money back since it’s not like eBay.

I’ve looked into personal shoppers/middlemen, but the fees are often 10–20%, which becomes huge at this price. Sending money to someone you don’t know is not something i would like to do(depending the amount). I’d be paying for someones time, communication, and willingness to intervene if something goes wrong, but even then there’s no guarantee. Since from me searching personal shopper tend to have disclaimers that they won’t they are not responsible if the seller sends a fake or what not even if you know while its in Japan.

At this point, I’m wondering what experienced collectors do for purchases at this level. Is there a safer or more practical route I’m missing? Ideally I’d like someone who could communicate with sellers on my behalf while still allowing me to purchase through a reputable proxy for added security. Or another way i am guaranteed some protection against scams. I just want that 72 hour protection that Japanese resident have when they receive their purchase. Obviously this person would be compensated.

Am I being unreasonable here, or is this just the reality of buying valuables from Japan internationally?

2

Can you put out a request somewhere and offer a flat fee as opposed to percentage?

3

Making expensive purchases through mm sites is a bad idea in general. You end up dealing with fees/tariffs and run high risks from practically zero buyer protection. Otherwise you have to find someone living there and willing to help you out. From my experience, sending that amount of money to someone in Japan can be just as complicated and requires lots of trust.

4

Its complicated since proxy companies take a flat amount but they make their money from their horrible conversion rate which tends to be 4-6% over the current market. But then again they offer no protection whatsoever. Personal shoppers do the same thing but instead charge you a higher % of the items price. But once again they offer no protection which is why i never bother with it since its basically the same for my needs. Finding someone who is reputable and has a history of this kind of purchase is the hard part.

5

I know there are risk which is why i am asking. Right now i am fighting a seller who sent me an item that is in far worse condition than listed. He gave me a completely different item than the one i bought just in far worse condition. But that is only 1k and already knew of the risks and don’t see it worth it getting banned.

Finding the person is the hard part. I was debating if to keep trying or spend that money on smaller slabs that caught my interest.

6

In the meantime I would recommend looking at smaller slabs. You can always reach out here or the e4 discord if a listing/seller seems suspicious. Otherwise auction houses like fanatics/ebay is the way to go.

7

I use Cardova + Blackship

Peace of mind and very streamlined compared to the other options

8

I will give this a try although a little nervous since i’ve never use Blackship. Have to figure out how it works.

9

Trust can be an issue with personal shoppers so it’d be best to start with smaller purchases to develop trust or get vouches from other people.

Regarding some sort of hybrid approach with a proxy company and middleman, this isn’t really possible because the original person who buys it needs to be the one to deal with Mercari or Yahoo auctions support before ‘leaving feedback’ I.e finalising the transaction. Once the transaction is finalised there’s no recourse besides the legal route, which is probably above most middlemen or proxys’ paygrade.

You’ll also be hard pressed to find someone who will just comment on listings for you.

  1. You’ll still be in the dark once the item has been purchased and

  2. most middleman just don’t find it’s worth the effort.

To mods: Feel free to delete below if not appropriate.

I middleman for quite a few members on here for both purchases and ARS submissions; charging 3-5% depending on value, regularly handling anything from small purchases to 5 digit dollar values. Usually I handle all comms, negotiation, take detailed pictures and videos and if there’s any doubt I handle the return.

10

At some point it’s cheaper to fly to Japan and make the deal yourself than pay middleman fees. I would do this and then while there interview Instagram mm until you meet someone that you like. Start using them instead of buyee for small stuff and build a rapport.

Cardova => black ship doesn’t help you buy on JP marketplaces outside of Cardova. Also pretty sure cardova ships from their vault to your address abroad directly, not sure what the use case for black ship is

11

Hmm, not sure if this is what @Bellsprout is doing, but it could be: buy from JP marketplace with Blackship address (via their proxy buying service Japan Rabbit or some other way) then ship to Cardova vault. Then do Cardova vault pick-up when you’re able to be in Japan to physically pick up. @Bellsprout is that what you mean?

This is obvs only worth it if you have a decent number of items / higher value items to pick up (and only works for graded cards). I’ve thought about trying to do a similar setup before, but Buyee doesn’t let you ship to JP addresses for purchases on many sites like Cardova. Maybe I’ll try Blackship / Japan Rabbit at some point to see if it’s possible…

12

The issue I see is that mercari/yahoo require you to register and perform verification checks on an active JP phone number. Otherwise you’re able to buy on the platform and ship directly to your cardova vault

13

Yeah, true. I imagine if you were really motivated there’s a way to get one heh? But to be clear, I was thinking you would still route through a proxy buying service that does ship to domestic JP addresses first. So it would be mktplace → proxy buyer → Cardova vault. (This is all theoretical, I haven’t actually tried to do it yet but may give it a shot soonish)

14

why would you need a proxy buyer if you’re shipping to cardova vault? I usually just send from marketplace to vault

15

Hmm maybe we’re thinking of different things. But when I say Mktplace = mainly thinking of sites like Mercari/Yahoo, where I don’t have a JP phone number to register directly with them, so can’t buy and ship directly to Cardova vault. Have to still go through a proxy

16

I also use Yuyu-tei for singles so Blackship helps centralize everything and make one big shipment
Or sometimes it can be an ebay buy from Japan or Asia, it’s cheaper to send it to the Japan address first
Many use cases where it’s practical to have an address in Japan
An also the ability to declare gift value, so no customs

17

Gotcha thanks - a bit different than what I was thinking of. But makes sense

18

If Cardova ships directly to my address that is amazing. Yes atm i am unable to travel even though at this point i could of purchase 3 tickets to Japan with all the fees i’ve been paying. Also i wanted to use BlackShip but ended up not doing so since Japan rabbit at the time implement a limit on TCG.

19

I will try Cardova and see how it goes and i know its a separate entity and doesn’t show Yahoo or Mercai listings. From my experience proxies don’t ship within Japan and only outside the country. When you say Proxy buyer you mean a personal shopper?

If i could travel to Japan i would bring back a suitcase filled with Pokemon card, slabs and sealed by the end but sadly i am unable to travel for the foreseeable future.

20

I decided to use Cardova and won some auctions. I plan to just do a bank transfer to avoid any kind international transaction fees. Is their customer service good? I am trying to ship directly to my property and i have a good amount of questions i want to ask them. Mainly guidance when it comes to picking a different shipping carrier since i don’t want to use FedEx and only gives me a 1k insurance cap. The only one i was able to pick. I have 3 days to pay and want to do everything correctly.

Might give Blackship a try since the amount i am paying for tariff is really high but at the same time i don’t want valuable to get lost and have no recourse. When using Blackship am i able to get insurance for the package? Are there any fees you pay when shipping from cardova to Blackship?

Edit: I am sending to vault and more than likely use Blakcship since their FedEx insurance is cap at 1k.

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