i guess playing cards are just exempted. thought 2000$ was a limit but in your case i’m very surprised it passed at 3350$, particularly that UPS dont miss on money they can make.
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I had a $2,100 package delivered recently with no fees/taxes via DHL. They just left it at my door. Like others said, it’s pretty rare to get charged import fees coming into the U.S. even for higher valued parcels.
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I’ve only had to pay import taxes twice, both with FedEx and both with declared value above ¥700,000. Never gotten any from FedEx or DHL below that including ¥600,000 orders.
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To be honest I didn’t even look at the bids, it was around the range of possibility for me in terms of price so didn’t question it. It’s unfortunate as it is a really beautiful card.
Thanks,
odds
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Noob question here but where do you get news on all new Japanese releases? What’s the most direct source where I can be sure not to miss a new planned promo?
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I’ve yet to get one with Fedex. I only get hit with it occasionally on DHL, not every time, but seems to be only when the items are worth more than $2k.
the fee seems to be static though, I’ve purchased $10k items before and it’s always $40 import fee.
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Japanese twitter + alerts on your phone. This one is pretty good but not super fast.
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Who’s ready for another buyee horror story?
buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/w455279387
Won this, was talking about it about a week ago in this thread. Really spent some time analyzing the conditions of the cards - altho you could only see the fronts . Knew I was taking some risk, but thought it was worth it.
Scam.
Buyer replaced nearly all the holos with the same holos, just shitter condition of those holos. Pretty easy to tell by the damage to the front of many of the holos + different holo patterns + edge wear, etc. So I got all the same cards, just not _the cards he listed_.
Would avoid this guy. I’m trying to work something out with buyee again, but I really doubt it will go anywhere. This may be the last straw with me for buyee, another legit 100% clear scam where buyee just shrugs their shoulders and says too bad. Fortunately will just take it up with Amex/Paypal, let my account get banned, and move onto Remambo or J subculture
Here are some comparison photos: imgur.com/a/ETfgx0m - a bi thard to see with low res on imgur, but you can see the total differences in holo patterns / damage on cards like Kangaskhan, edge wear, etc.
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Arg sorry to hear that. I was bidding on this lot as well…
I got scammed the same way with this lot few weeks ago as well. Same strategy and cards condition is very bad…
page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c884429573
Yahoo Japan is becoming very bad lately as compared to 1y ago.
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You are probably right that the seller switched around a few cards and if I were in your position I would probably be mad too. My advice to you is, do not expect anything on condition on lots. If you are buying raw cards with picture front+back+preferably a few from the holo foil you can expect something from the condition.
If I buy lots I am just expecting played cards and price accordingly, I might not buy as many lots, but I also am not getting burned.
As for the seller, I was following some of his auctions, but then he deleted the auctions only to list them again a few days later. No idea what that tactic is, but there is certainly some weird stuff going on with him.
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@serpintaxt FWIW, the listing description did not promise beauty items. Buying from Japan, I’ve learnt a few lessons over the years.
- Strictly no returns. I’ll have to live with whatever I get.
- Never buy anything without photos of the backs. I’ve got burnt once when I was promised beauty goods but was sent cards with bad backs because there were no back pics.
- Only pay a price for a card I’d be happy with if it arrives damaged
- Ending a Japanese mailday with more as-expected condition cards than not deserves a little celebration.
It’s fine to gamble with condition since the most beauty of goods might arrive with a surface issue and a stock photo listing might arrive in psa 10 condition but you have to accept that you get what you’re given and you can’t exercise the return policy that most people have gotten used to with eBay.
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Speaking of Japanese backs, how harsh do PSA evaluate the backs when it comes to Japanese old style backs? I have a bunch of probable 8-9 fronts but the backs are mostly scratched with the usual whitening on corners and edges that you see in raw J-cards. Modern backs might be made of kevlar but the 旧裏面 cards seem to get surface damage so easily. Would be willing to see the cards knocked down to 7s but I think any lower and it’s not worth it since PSA Japan prices are so expensive.
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Many members here have asked the same question, especially in more recent times. I have yet to see a definitive answer, though. Personally I don’t have any experience with grading myself and I have a hard time judging the PSA graded old back cards I have under the plastic case. My guess would be that it really just depends on the severity and the grader, so anywhere from 7 to 10.
I’m speaking strictly about the scratches though. Any additional whitening will most probably bring down the grade more.
I have tons of lightly scratched raw old backs, too. I’d also love to know if there was a conclusive answer.
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My unscientific, purely anecdotal experience in 2021 is that it’s hard to find anything, everything is expensive, and while options are few, everything you do find is guaranteed to be up for sale for a while, so there’s no urgency to buy anything. I’ve noticed a general drop off on interest on higher value cards I’ve had up for sale. But these might be UK problems, or just an inaccurate perspective based on the stuff I’m interested in right now.
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Post some pictures; as you’re talking of a range from micro-scratches to just straight up visible scratches.
minor surface damage with scratches; think ‘minor’ print lines.
When you’re adding corner/edge wear… it really depends on the severity.
IMO japanese don’t have a ‘usual’ whitening and edge wear, the usual is micro-scratches and off-centering
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Yeah. I’ve noticed expensive listings too, but the items that actually sell in auction or even BIN are sometimes even half the price of what people are asking. I’m looking at mostly middle tier items, which prices have been mostly stagnant. Again this is anectodal evidence like you said. Are we shifting away from a seller’s market? My sales have also slowed down too so I may be biased in my thinking
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Totally agree with the sentiment! And that’s why I keep going back to “it’s the wild west”
that said, I disagree with putting up with straight up scammers. The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.
I refuse to accept this bullshit. It’s one thing for the cards to be the exact same, but in worse condition you thought. It’s a total scam if the buyer replaces the cards in the photo. That is simply, unacceptable. If this happened on ebay, it would be the easiest case in the history of the world. eBay has been fighting scams like this for 20 years, yet somehow it’s just acceptable on yahoo auctions?
I think the other thing that bothers me is I have no way truly of telling other people (besides this chrome extension and this thread) there are scammers out there. So he will keep doing it and people will keep getting scammed. I wish I could give feedback, or that buyee would at least just give some negative feedback once instead of “we made a good transaction” lol
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I have personally found that surface will absolutely ruin your grade at PSA on japanese cards, and it’s usually the last thing people look at when evaluating.
I always run my cards under a light on the back to see any surface damage. Minimal surface wear will likely drop you a point, and if it’s worse probably a few. I’ve had plenty of minty looking cards that don’t have any creases or whitening come back 7s because they had some surface issues.
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In browsing the Unnumbered Promotional Cards article on Bulbapedia (great resource if you want to be reminded of how little you know about the hobby), I discovered that Tyranitar ex d and Gardevoir ex d were allegedly printed as jumbo promos and given to participants in “Pokémon Jungle Tours ~ The Legend of Diamond & Pearl,” whatever that is.
I have never seen or heard of these and had no idea they existed. Somebody talk me out of buying the T-Tar listed at $199 on eBay.
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