“My first order from mercari was very unpleasant, I ordered a metal build Gundam, my seller cancelled my order because of price surge... Like the fact they can do that is unacceptable. To add to the wound, that made me missed my entry date to a great coupon for free international shipping.”
“Warning: this post will be a very long one, as I will discuss the benefits Buyee brings to the table, the disappointments I had with my shopping experience with them, and possible other alternatives to try.
I came across Buyee when I wanted to buy some Pokemon cards from Mercari. Having done so in the past with another (awful) proxy called Hoyoyo, I thought that maybe sticking with a larger proxy would be beneficial, and here are my personal opinions about the proxy.
Let's start out with the fees:
1. Plan fees: 300yen per transaction for the lite plan (transactions under one seller count as one transaction. For example, buying 10 cards from different sellers in Surugaya costs you 300yen in total), 800 for the insured plan.
2. Additional Mercari transaction fees of 200yen per transaction (if you order several of the same item at once, it counts as one transaction
3. Shipping consolidation: 1,000yen per consolidated package (if they break it off into separate packages, they charge you an extra 1,000yen :))))
Let's continue with the benefits:
1. Small package shipping options. For someone buying cards it's probably best to ship through small package, so this is a plus. However, there are lots of other companies out there doing free consolidation AND have small package options (like FromJapan) sooo not really a plus
2. Coupons! I have to say, if there's one thing that MAY (highly unlikely but POTENTIALLY) make me want to buy from Buyee again, it's the coupons. I first got reeled into using this proxy because they did have a promotion with Mercari, and if you made a purchase within the time frame, you had a 1,000yen coupon off your second Mercari purchase + 4,000yen coupon for international shipping. I bought a few pieces of clothing to use those coupons (including shoes). Shipped using Surface mail (so we'll see how that goes as it has yet to arrive). Because Buyee is so big, they have coupons with Mercari and Rakuten very often, which is a benefit of this proxy... before all the fees
OKAY I'm done with the benefits. Let's talk about ALLL the things that Buyee rubbed me off the wrong way through my one, big transaction with them.
As previously mentioned, I wanted to buy Pokemon cards on Mercari (before discovering Surugaya), and was reeled in by Buyee's coupons. My first purchase wasn't bad, Buyee has a fee calculator that gives you an estimate of the total for your purchase, and all was going on pretty well. Until it didn't and all hell broke loose. First, an order I put took roughly 3 days for them to complete (on a site called Magic, a "flea market" for cards and figurines, as Buyee puts it - basically another Mercari but without the transaction fee). Of course, since it was a good deal, both cards I wanted to get were sold out by the time they FINALLY put in the order, and I was refunded by Buyee. Then, I had an order that they were completing, but was interrupted by the seller asking them if I wanted two of the same items. The convo went like this:
Me: *places order*
Three days later:
Buyee: "The seller says they have more than one set and wants to know if you want several."
Me: "If it costs me additional plan fees, then no thank you. If not, then please order two."
Buyee: "It will not cost you any more additional fees other than the cost of another set. We will proceed your order. Please note you cannot cancel from this point forward" (makes sense, right? but if the seller isn't responsive ... shouldn't I be allowed to cancel than to have a "pending transaction" for god knows how long?)
*7 days later*
Me: "I understand your policy, but you haven't completed my order yet and my coupon is about to expire. Can you cancel it for me?"
Buyee: "The seller isn't responsive. We cannot cancel your order. It is our policy."
Me: *internally* DO I JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS PENDING TRANSACTION FOR LIKE A FEW MONTHS THEN WTF
*2 days later*
Buyee: "The seller has replied. 3300yen for two sets. Is that okay?"
Me: "YES that's fine please just make the order asap."
*1 day later*
Buyee: "Sorry, we cancelled your order as the item is out of stock"
bro. BRO. I mean you could probably tell the seller was fishy (or Buyee... maybe the fishy one was you) from the second message onwards but you didn't let me cancel it. At this point I'm a bit irked by their service, but I didn't think much of it, until they messed up my Surugaya order. I made a large order from Surugaya across three sellers, all under one order. I get the notification that my order had arrived to the warehouse. I check the page and realize that I've been charged a 220yen shipping fee for no reason (as it was free shipping from the store). So I email their customer service. Have you ever been on a customer service phone call where they just pass you onto the next person, and because they came in the middle of the discussion they have no clue what's going on and what you need help with? Picture that, but with email, and with replies being 1 business day apart. I first emailed them regarding the fee, and was told by an agent that because they require tracking, I may be imposed with further fees even if the seller gives me free shipping (ironically enough this was the package that arrived a week later than all the other packages that I later on ordered from Surugaya so ... what tracking are you using? NULL tracking?). I wanted to ask about which seller specifically required domestic shipping as I can see under the order that several items (under the same package ID) didn't have domestic shipping (as this was under Surugaya), so I emailed them under the same thread again. I was greeted by a different agent who asked for the ID's of the packages without domestic shipping (which is what I'm asking THEM for). I greeted the new agent and gave them the information that I can see on the page with domestic shipping of 0yen and was replied to by ANOTHER agent asking for the package number, or else they cannot help me. I gave them the package number (that I did have, but was not asked for in the previous reply), and was replied to by THE FOURTH AGENT (by far the worst), telling me "oh I see you bought a lot of cards! the others are coming soon, don't worry!" (at this point i didn't know that he was referring to arriving to the warehouse and that my order was actually incomplete) but at this point I realized that there's no point in communicating with them since it seems like they're as confused as I am, so I stopped.
Later on, I made two other orders and they all shipped by now (all for free domestic shipping, so what the hell happened to the first package, Buyee?). Anyway, I do what a normal person would do: consolidate it (as shipping in this case costed less if I were to consolidate, even with the 1000yen fee). JUST to find out later on that the first order (that "arrived to the warehouse") was incomplete. They separated my ONE order into THREE different orders. After a long email to Buyee, the other two orders *magically* appear the next day under my page, but I was told that if I wanted to consolidate these extra two packages, sure! PAY ANOTHER 1000YEN. Since these two packages each would have costed me 560yen to ship (totalling to 1120yen in total), and even if I consolidate, I'd have to pay 1000yen + >560yen for shipping, WHY WOULD I CONSOLIDATE?? Firstly, that means that if I had never bought any of the other two orders and only this one order that they messed up, I would have went in under the impression that I wouldn't have to pay for consolidation, but now I'm forced to! Because they split it up into three different packages. But ignore that, because I'm willing to pay consolidation in the first place and wouldn't mind sneaking all three packages in my consolidated order. However, I couldn't now because THE TWO PACKAGES ARRIVED SO MUCH LATER AND I wasn't even aware that they weren't under the package that "arrived at the warehouse") (mind you, this was under the same order number and under the order number it said "arrived at the warehouse"). Also, HOW IS IT that this first order that I made, that got split up into three bloody packages, had two packages mysteriously "arrive late" but both arrive to the warehouse the DAY after I sent them an email? Unless it is such a coincidence (and if so, maybe I should buy the lottery), I call BS on Buyee. Pure BS.
As I mentioned before, A LOT of other proxies do this for free. Why do I have to pay 1,000yen to consolidate? If I were buying from one seller, maybe Buyee's small packet shipping option would entice me, but let's be honest, rarely does one sole seller carry all that you want.
For real numbers, let's say that I bought 5 cards from three separate sellers (not on Mercari, which charges you an additional 200yen PER TRANSACTION), for 200yen each (let's say they were recent promo cards). Then realistically, I could have done everything in FromJapan within 1900 yen, with 300 yen being the lite plan fee, fReE consolidation, and MAX 600 yen for shipping small packet, and 5*200 yen for the cards themselves (assuming free domestic shipping).
If I use Neokyo, it'd be 250 for the plan fee (with insurance bc Neokyo insures packages without the "insured plan" bs), 600 consolidation for items under 2kg, 600 yen for shipping small packet, and 5*200 yen for the cards themselves, totalling to 2550yen.
From Buyee (drumroll please): 300yen for the basic lite plan (if the cards get edge wear/bent, rip you!!), 1000 yen for consolidation service, 600 yen for small packet (if they don't do anything wrong - read next point), and 5*200yen for the cards themselves. TOTALLING TO 2900 YEN. If I use Mercari, it'd be an additional 200yen per card, meaning it's 3900 yen.
The possible good thing is that when I bought from Surugaya, they counted the store as one seller (even though they had several sellers within the store). But boi, I would NEVER buy from them through Buyee again - Neokyo seems to offer the same benefits, but at a lower rate and more insurance.
TL;DR: these are the things that I'm absolutely FUMING about with my transaction with Buyee:
1. Horrible customer service
2. Horrible customer service
3. Domestic shipping taking forever, and magically they "arrive" at the same day (which is the day after you email them about it)
4. Horrible customer service
5. did I mention -- HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE
6. Insane fees (coupons won't help) - mainly consolidation fee of 1,000yen
7. All in all, a money-grab.
These are possibly two other alternatives I'll be looking into:
1. FromJapan (I bought one item from them and the process was smooth and very quick - will update on how the package is ... packaged later LOL)
2. Neokyo (looks very promising based on fees and policies - insurance is guaranteed! only downside is that you need to pay an extra shipping/consolidation (not rlly consolidation since you'd need to pay it for only one item) fee of 600 yen)”
“It took 6 months to get a refund for a package that got stuck cause of the covid... I sent message back and forth to the customer service and they were not answering my questions and responding super polite it became very impolite and almost like a game of insults. Like sending me links in Japanese, so I asked for a link in English and they tell me to use Google translate... seriously. I'm not doing business with buyee ever again! If I could have put no stars I would have put none.”
“Complete trash company when it comes to their “plans” that make you pay extra for.
Paid for a £750 item, one of the main items didn’t show proper condition on auction, told buyee staff and they don’t care to fix the situation even though I had the best plan with them.
Disgusted of the service, they don’t even look into your complaints properly.
I bought Pokemon cards and was told to show pictures of the box and item I received. I received the Pokemon cards in a electronic device box.
After so many emails back and fourth of “not receiving pictures properly” (I assume they were just trying to waste my time to stop me sending them emails to resolve the issue)
They then gave me a email of “due to your item being a electronic product we cannot give you partial refund/refund” or basically anything to fix the situation I was having.
Please beware when paying extra money for protection as they’ll do anything to not help you out”
“What they don’t tell you about the Lite Plan is that it includes not receiving your goods and you can’t make claims or complaints, which I’m sure is not even legal.
So I paid for my goods and paid for shipping, received only half of what I ordered. Buyee essentially told me that I cant make claims or complaints and they won’t even check if the items are still in their warehouse meaning they steal your goods if they like them and make you pay.”
“What they don’t tell you about the Lite Plan is that it includes not receiving your goods and you can’t make claims or complaints, which I’m sure is not even legal.
So I paid for my goods and paid for shipping, received only half of what I ordered. Buyee essentially told me that I can make claims or complaints and they won’t even check if the items are still in their warehouse meaning they steal your goods if they like them and make you pay.”
“Awful customer service despite insurance product comes completely damaged with no refund option or even solution to help. Use other couriers if you can.”
“DO NOT BUY FROM BUYEE
I made an order with Buyee to ship my package using Seamail and payment went through without any issue.
A few days later Buyee contacted me saying JP post returned my package because it’s oversized for Seamail. (Their system told me nothing about the dimension of the shipment at the checkout page)
Now my only option is DHL, which is triple the price. They denied my refund and refused my request to split shipment into smaller packages.
I now have to call my credit card company and file a fraud dispute because they pulled a bait and switch on me, ate my payment, and holding my shipment hostage.”
“I've used buyee every now and then for the past 7 years or so when I need to buy stuff from yahoo auction jp because of the real time proxy. It's always have a big banner on top of the auction page so I've never actually thought about looking for another company. It was all good when I was buying single item (as in shipping 1 package each time) until recently when I bid 2 different auctions and ask them to consolidate.
First of all, the first package is a set of plushes and keychains.
When I got the arrival email, they stated that is 3420g.
Then the second package is a single manga and they stated it is 260g.
Since it's just a book, it makes more sense to combine the 2 and logically it can save on shipping too. But buyee proved me wrong.
If you combine 3420g and 260g, it comes to 3680g. Plus maybe some extra wrapping and taping, I would assume around 4000g give and take max. A rough guess based on another fowarding company which I've been using for online shopping. Honestly the weight doesn't go up much, it will get lighter too especially when they take away the extra boxes when they combine.
After selecting consolidation (buyee charges 500yen for combing which later I found out other companies provide free consolidation), when I received the final charge for the shipping, I was shocked. The weight bumps to 4760g which is like 1kg extra on top of the original weight. It is really abnormal since a full roll of bubble wrap is around 100g and a brand new roll of packaging tape is around 120g. So I emailed the customer service to double check and see if they've maybe made a mistake. Since if they did, it would be easier to adjust the charges before it's being shipped.
Buyee's customer service rep was extremely unhelpful. I explained the situation with my order ref and asked her to double check the weight and yet, the first reply she said it could be oversize that's why it charges more. Also she said the final weight is not a simple A+B formula. I explained again that oversize is not possible since EMS allows up to 1.5m in length and I also understand that the weight will change due to extra wrapping, but an extra 1kg doesn't make any sense. Then she changed her response and said it can be heavier due to packaging materials, and went on and explain that depends on what plan I've chosen, packaging can be different etc. At this point, I am 100% certain that she never took a look at my order since if she did, she wouldn't have told me that my package could be oversize to start off with, and then when that didn't work, she went on to explaining different plan selection which she would have known what I picked if she had checked. All I needed was that she contact the warehouse and do a double check but that never happened. I was so disappointed with talking to their customer service I just paid the shipping and decided to check the weight myself when it arrives.
After a long wait (the package arrived after a month even though it is by EMS), I finally know what happened. Instead of putting the book inside the other big box (like how I showed it in the last pic), they put everything in a new box, so it's double boxed. (the first pic is how it arrives) I admit that it looks well protected but definitely not cost efficient and to be honest, it's so not necessary. Thanks to this I actually ended up paying more on shipping + I have to pay the 500yen extra for consolidation.
Overall it was very frustrating especially when the customer service rep was unhelpful and unknowledgeable. It just makes the whole experience sucked.”
“Not recommended for people buying multiple items. After clearly indicated my requested items and placing order it was two weeks of waiting for Buyee to process my order and dozens of email correspondence (a different agent replies to my email each time) they still didn't keep me updated, placed the wrong order for me. One item was cancelled with no reason yet they kept the top-ups accessory items which are no use without the main item. They didn't allow cancellation even I informed them twice which service go to which item.”
“Seller did not fulfill shipment promise…
Seller did not fulfill shipment promise and did not ship. Buyee just continued to ask me to wait for seller's response and when he /she can ship. I waited for about 2 months and still waiting. Asked for refund but Buyee just refused. They basically protect sellers. Poor customer service, They either do not response on time or chose not to reply. When a reply came it does not answer your query then you have to ask and wait again.”
“Placing your order is pretty easy. But that's the only thing that is. Getting the actual item or a customer support agent to help you is another story. Ordering a Deathscythe gunpla kit from Buyee Mercari. It was a terrible experience.
I was given a promotional coupon for $50 in international shipping. Great deal right? At least it should have been. The seller hasn't sent the item to Buyee. I tried contacting Buyee to find out what's going one and was told the seller isn't responding. The coupon expires on the 15th and I have nothing to use it on. I tried asking for an extension and the person I talked to said they would email another dapartment and get back to me in my email that day. They never did. Next day tried to get more info. Spent 3 hours in the only chat before getting someone and they ended the chat before I could asked my question. Tried again and after 7 hours I couldn't get anyone.
Currently my money is sitting in limbo and Buyee isn't doing a thing to help.”
“Way to expensive, compared to other sites. I only use buyee to browse, but I use ZenMarket, definitely friendlier and cheaper :)
The buyee fee is too high, same goes for the package consolidation which is free in other sites, poor options of shipping and expensive compared to other sites, bad chat support and email response.
Lost one package and never ever they refund me, and it was more than 10000-20000 yen”
“FIX YOUR PACKAGE CONSOLIDATION!!
I am REALLY losing faith in Buyee because THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO CONSOLIDATE A PACKAGE. When you ask for package consolidation they take your 2 (or 3 or 4) items in the shipping boxes that they arrived in to the warehouse, don't bother to open them and just PUT THEM INSIDE A HUGE BOX!! It's just insanely lazy! The first time it happened I thought it was a fluke but it KEEPS HAPPENING!! I t is just maddening, especially right now that DHL is really the only option, and if you cross 4kg or a certain outer box dimension with DHL the cost skyrockets (which it will certainly do if it is boxes in bigger boxes)
I Had two items that shipped separately for 5000 yen each, but after consolidation the price shot up to 20,000 yen making the service "Pay 500 yen to DOUBLE your shipping cost" what a deal... I paid 300yen to request a photo to see what the heck was going on, and that is when I first discovered the idiotic way they were consolidating packages [See first pic] Yes, that is a box in a box stacked on top of another box (not pictured) The CRAZIER thing is they opened both shipping boxes to confirm items, then put them BACK in shipping boxes, like WTF After only a 3 more days of emails with customer support, they fixed this one, but others have taken 5 emails and a week to resolve. Just today they failed to fix another package the first time, taking away the external shipping boxes but leaving everything in a HUGE box that still costs 198,000 yen fortune to ship (and I know what it should cost, because I have already shipped this EXACT combination of items before, through Buyee and DHL for 69,000 yen)
If you are really persistent eventually they WILL fix the packages if you beg them enough and get lucky with a customer service agent who isn't a fool. The first mentioned above packages ultimately shipped in one reasonably sized box for 6800 yen, which cost me 500 yen and DAYS of stress to save $25 It arrived looking reasonably packaged but in still an overly large box [See second pic]
The fact that Buyee clearly CAN fix it after they do it badly in the first place, and that they KNOW HOW to pack packages correctly to save people on shipping just deepens the mystery though (and has kept me hanging on like an abused spouse believing they can change) Offering the "consolidation" service as it is makes no sense as it only makes shipping MORE expensive. Any customer with a brain can then add up the previous shipping weight and see that the new weight is MORE and figure out what Buyee did. Then they just have to go BACK and re-do the work all over again. It is just so much wasted effort for both the customer AND for Buyee.
So Buyee, I am talking to YOU. Please either change the standard way you consolidate packages to actually SAVE PEOPLE MONEY or at the very least MAKE IT AN OPTION TO DISCARD SHIPPING BOXES right when package consolidation is selected. And please do a better job of putting things in smaller boxes! Especially now with DHL as the only shipping option you can't drop the ball like this!”
“Bad business, bought and paid for an item with no warnings or issues only to later find out that they are unable to ship said item internationally (USA) to me and my only options are to ship my item domestically (Japan) or dispose of my item with no refund!?!?!”
“Bad business, bought and paid for an item with no warnings or issues only to later find out that they are unable to ship said item internationally (USA) to me and my only options are to ship my item domestically (Japan) or dispose of my item with no refund!?!?!”
“Do NOT use Buyee service. You will regret it…
Used Buyee service to purchase a $1,800 USD Hi Fi amplifier (Denon PMA 2500) off the Yahoo Japan website. It was for a brand new item (Auction Ref ID: r379264025). Once the product arrived at Buyee’s warehouse, I requested for a paid photo verification and this process alone took 3 days and they send me about 4 photos of the product and the contents inside the retail box. 3 days is frankly a little slow. The product was delivered safely and the outer box checked out to be in a great condition. It was a double box with very well paddings, thanks to the Yahoo auction seller. However, upon turning on the product, I noticed a major issue. The source selection dial (to change to CD / phono / Aux / etc…) does NOT work. Luckily I could change the source via the included remote controller. I sent an email to Buyee and they asked for some photos proof describing the issue. After 24 hrs, they said there is nothing they can do to help me. I said it is a brand new item and at lease you guys could help me to discuss the issue with the Yahoo auction seller but they refused. I was hoping they could provide some kind of support or help me with warranty claim but the product is no longer in Japan, and Denon does not honor international warranty. So the only way to get help is to physically carry this 30kg box back to Japan and get warranty job done inside of Japan, which is almost impossible due to the fact I am in Taiwan and would not want take the risk of flying during the covid 19 outbreak. I could ship this into Japan but there is no way for me to receive the fixed / return shipment from the manufacturer. Not a good experience. As a result I have open up a chargeback or dispute with my credit card company…”
