Have you ever used eBay?
In recent years it’s become relatively easy to get started, but when I first began, I didn’t know the first thing about it…
Huh? What’s PayPal? That’s where I started.
It’s such a wonderful auction site that it’s worth overcoming that language barrier. Or at least it was?
Some of you might know this, but I got really into bicycles a while back,
and I imported a huge number of them from overseas at that time.
Both parts and complete bikes, and there were mountains of items listed that you just can’t get domestically. I was genuinely amazed at the difference in volume.
And even though the packing is rough, they usually offer worldwide shipping, which is really appreciated.
Seeing this level of service, I thought, Japan really is a closed-off island nation… I felt a bit embarrassed (*’ω’*)
At first, I used a proxy site called Sekaimon, which was brand new at the time.
It’s improved a lot now, but back then it was definitely a somewhat questionable proxy service.
Even now, when you’re in a bind, people say “Sekaimon to the rescue”
There are sellers who absolutely refuse to ship to Japan, after all. In those cases, it’s really reassuring.
Best of all, they handle everything for you, so the risk is minimal.
Basically, you don’t even need to create a PayPal account—they handle everything in Japanese.
But looking back at the past,
items that took forever to arrive—one to six months
depending on what it was, but from America, things should arrive in just a few days to two weeks. Their customer service responses were sloppy.
I’m guessing, but they probably wanted to consolidate shipments to Japan, so the wait times were long and customs clearance took forever too.
After that slow incident, I started handling eBay transactions myself.
Whenever you try to take shortcuts, it costs money. You have to pay for other people’s effort.
That’s just how it works, and there’s no such thing as cheap, no-risk service without doing it yourself.
If you want to enjoy eBay with no risk and minimal hassle, it’s definitely recommended!
Lately, it’s become so much easier to get into and so mainstream that you don’t find rare stuff anymore.
Back in the day, there were piles of old Yoshimura parts that would make you go “Wow!”
I found myself getting nostalgic about it.
Overseas markets are pretty advanced, and there are really a lot of sharp products.
If you get the chance, try creating an ID and giving it a shot—it’s fun.
eBay is organized by country, so that’s exciting too (*’ω’*)
