Facts! If I spent that much on that, I’d kick my own arse.
Screenshot from a couple of months ago. eBay’s landscape is full of rubbish like this.
And here’s a photo from someone’s listing where they put a Rev on a Panorama box just to show that they have no idea what they’re doing:
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I think eBay needs a reverse bidding system where we all collectively haggle the buyer down to a price that anyone on planet earth is willing to pay.
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There are a couple Japanese YoYo retailers on eBay whose prices are looney. Looney at best. It’s the commonality that makes in kinda confusing, right? Or is it me? is their standard of living that much higher? It is I’m sure, but economically? That much? I mean, I’m no economist but I’m not sure if that’s how the global economy works.
I am in NO WAY making it a race thing. It’s just a very odd correspondence. Anyone who goes to eBay and looked at throws a little knows what I’m talking about. Just kinda has me wondering “the why”. Astronomical prices! It’s a shame, that seller has some really awesome stuff!
Maybe it has something to do with import duties and fees? Hmmm. 
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Here’s what it is. Japanese people don’t use eBay. They don’t. They use yahoo auctions (recently renamed), Mercari, and similar online flea markets.
When you see a Japanese listing on eBay that is a proxy seller who is buying on the local market and reselling. You can’t buy from these markets directly generally but you can use cheaper proxy sellers. I have used Rakufun to purchase from Japanese Mercari directly a few times to acquire rare Tom Kuhn yo-yos.
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Ahhh I gotcha. I noticed one commonality was that said sellers never only had a couple things for sale, so that totally checks out. The ones I’ve noticed always give the impression of an almost, “thrift store turned online retailer” kinda vibe. So again, checks out.
I’ve check mercari a couple times. Browsed a bit.
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Yeah I’ve got some family in Japan who explained how it works. When I had bought something from a proxy it’s been because I saw something on eBay I wanted and then went and got it through the proxy for much cheaper.
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Yeah this also makes returns really hard so it can be more of a gamble (eBay will usually protect the buyer but it’s still more hassle)
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Correct! The way it works is the proxy takes a bunch of photos and sends them and asks if you accept or return. If you accept from the pics then that’s the end, no returns.
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I’ve used something similar before but a different site, same concept though. They purchase through Japan Mercari (usually cheaper than the Mercari Japan extension the US side recently added) and look over the product and packaging at their facility before you even pay for shipping. It also helps that they still show the user’s feedback and ratings as well, so you can kind of judge what’s going on.
Gotten some fun older special edition YYJ stuff that way for a pretty good price.
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This was a Sparkbat that I got through there. Basically just a Bandai version of a Butterfly XT (little rounder profile I feel like). Silly, but it looks so cool, haha.
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Sooooooo pretty! Isn’t Matte Black awesome! There’s just something about it. I had to pull the trigger on that new cerakote DS just for that.
When I buy knives, boots, watches stuff like that? When the material permits it, matte blacks my choice 
The lines on the rim of that thing??? All filigree a such? Really beautiful!
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I love a good matte black when it’s combined with another color usually, like the cerakote deepest state with some bright colored spikes, perfection. But this particular Tom Kuhn spoke to me and I spent more than a year hunting before one came up for sale.
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The funniest thing is that their descriptions say they list products from Japan. Now you tell me how ‘Made in Eugene, OR’ communicates ‘from Japan’ to anyone and you’ll have officially broken logic itself.
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I fear logic was broken long before I came along and took it off the shelf.
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Maaaan now I’m combing through Mercari, and Rakuten also! I gotta stop, its getting outa control! 
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Well they are coming FROM Japan, just not MADE in Japan. 
We used to have Indonesian distributors that would come visit us in the US and absolutely go bonkers at the outlet malls, buying up tons of name-brand purses for their wives that they could bring back home because they were cheaper here. Best part was that the ones they were picking up the most had “Made in Indonesia” on the inside tags, haha.
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I love Yoshi’s Island as much as any 90’s kid but for 3 and a half million you could probably buy the real Yoshi’s Island. The ONLY one on ebay!?!? Time to rob a gold depository
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Well, at least the shippings free.
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