Question for Rinkya users

I recently joined Rinkya; haven't won any bidding wars yet :lol: and I haven't sent any payments that I didn't get an item for yet :-?

just wanted to ask a very simple question of some of the more experienced Rinkya members; how satisfied are you with the service you have had with Rinkya?

thanks .............

MIJvintage said:

I recently joined Rinkya; haven't won any bidding wars yet :lol: and I haven't sent any payments that I didn't get an item for yet :-?

just wanted to ask a very simple question of some of the more experienced Rinkya members; how satisfied are you with the service you have had with Rinkya?

thanks .............

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Stupid question..... what is Rinkya? An auction site?

marcus, don't know why that is a stupid question but if you say it is stupid, then it must be ..................

I'm looking for opinions from experienced Rinkya members & what they have to say about their experience with Rinkya's service :wink:

http://www.rinkya.com/index.php

http://www.rinkya.com/services.php

I've used it for a while, but only bought one guitar (so far).

Everything about them is excellent, but the problems arise with the system for asking questions, ie communications with Japanese sellers (no surprises there).
It is also Rinkya policy to not allow you to ask for more photos, so there has been a lot of stuff I let go because I couldn't get a straight answer or any answer at all.

In fact, I always have your words ringing in my ears: If the seller doesn't satisfy your requests then walk away.
This is good advice but it will probably prevent you from buying any guitars from Japan.
With buying on Rinkya you will probably have to make a smallish leap of faith on something you want, which is what I did with my purchase.

Also, for a guitar in a case you will pay around USD $250 on top of the guitar price for shipping and fees.

We really need to hear from someone who it went wrong for, and they lost money or something like that. This would be a real test.

JVsearch said:

I've used it for a while, but only bought one guitar (so far).

Everything about them is excellent, but the problems arise with the system for asking questions, ie communications with Japanese sellers (no surprises there). It is Rinkya policy to not allow you to ask for more photos as well, so there has been a lot of stuff I let go because I couldn't get a straight answer or any answer at all.

Also, for a guitar in a case you will pay around USD $250 on top of the guitar price for shipping and fees.

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excellent reply & just what I'm looking for; info from those in the know

Keep the replies coming folks even F it is stupid ...................

marcusnieman said:

MIJvintage said:

I recently joined Rinkya; haven't won any bidding wars yet :lol: and I haven't sent any payments that I didn't get an item for yet :-?

just wanted to ask a very simple question of some of the more experienced Rinkya members; how satisfied are you with the service you have had with Rinkya?

thanks .............

Click to expand...

Stupid question..... what is Rinkya? An auction site?

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It is a service that allows you to buy direct from Japan websites and auctions. You bid and buy through Rinkya.

I'm curious how it works as well... I've thought about joining for a while. There are some great opportunitiesthere. I'm just not sure how the fees, etc work.

3pupLPC said:

I'm curious how it works as well... I've thought about joining for a while. There are some great opportunitiesthere. I'm just not sure how the fees, etc work.

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There is a flat fee of $40 USD for transactions up to 100k yen, but you will have to pay for the shipping from the seller to Rinkya, plus a handling fee of about $15 USD, and then the price of the shipping from Rinkya's Japan warehouse to you.

I basically bought a Strat for $800 AUD, and it cost me $1100 to my door. At that time $300 AUD was about $250 USD. If you're in the US it's a bit simpler because Rinkya is an American company and uses USD.

The actual buying fees or fees to use Rinkya to bid are pretty simple to work out, it's clear on their website, but there are a few extras that creep in, as I've mentioned above. I would count on always having to pay 4 lots of fees:

Rinkya system fee (varies - I paid $40 US)
Shipping from seller to Rinkya (varies)
Handling fee at Rinkya Japan (seems to be $15 US)
Shipping from Japan to you (varies due to weight, mine was $180 US)

In the end you will pay about $250 US on top of whatever you buy, so you might as well get something good. It's not worth it for cheapos I don't think. Also I don't think there's much opportunity for buying to sell for a profit, unless you get something mega cheap, like the Bacchus BST-54V that I missed out on for 25k yen. :lol:

marcusnieman said:

Stupid question..... what is Rinkya? An auction site?

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Come on Marcus, it's actually a very sensible question. I was wondering about joining Rinkya myself, but their fees do seem to rather high for what they actually do. Not much choice if you want to bid for stuff in Japan though.

Mike

I think Marcus is saying "I have a stupid question - what is Rinkya? Is it an auction site?" rather than calling the original question stupid!

It's not quite an auction site; it's an international front-end to the Japanese auction sites, allowing people to easily buy from them without having to have a Japanese bank account or address. They're a middle-man who buy the instrument and ship it off to you even if the original seller didn't ship internationally. They charge a fairly reasonable markup for this service.

AlanN said:

I think Marcus is saying "I have a stupid question - what is Rinkya? Is it an auction site?" rather than calling the original question stupid!

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Oh I see what you mean. Sorry Marcus! I read it the other way....

I have been a rinkya member for over 9 months and have brought up till now 9 guitars from yahoo.japan from them,I have 6 guitars being shipped to me right now from the land of the rising sun .
I think the fees are good value ,you wiil pay at least $55.00 in fees plus an additional $10-$20 for transportation of the item within japan to the rinkya warehouse,IMHO there is no point buying small items under $60 as the fees cost more when added.
I have had no serious problems with customer service it has always been 1st class and they always respond to e-mails within 16 hours .
I have had one guitar damaged during shipping a OBG reissue that was in mint condition picked up a chip near the binding,i have put in a claim with japan post office thru rinkya but it will take time for any compensation to come through ,If you use EMS AIR the item is insured up to 20000 yen,EMS is the quickest takes about 2-3 days to arrive at destination.
When i buy a guitar after my experience with the damage to the OBG i always buy a hard case to ship my guitars back home,this is extra expense but gives me peace of mind,REMEMBER if you buy a guitar with a hard case supplied it will push up the shipping cost.
Rinkya exchange rate from yen to dollar never goes higher than 87yen=$1.00,always use a currency convertor before bidding and calculate shipping fees ,vat ,duty before buying.

In my opinion you can save money if you buy right and keep to your budget,i have had some mega cheap bargains,on average you could save a mininum of $300 on guitar if you buy from japan compared to the prices in the west.but there is far more choice of guitars in japan to drool over!
Rinkya pack the guitars very well in a strong box with padding and think that the fees are for handing mainly and packing ,they could charge a lot more ?There are few auction sites like rinkya but i find rinkya the best and easy to use and bid on items,the others require a deposit before you can bid, with rinkya you give them a credit card deposit ,but they never charge you unless you win a auction and you have a choice of using a CC or paypal at the checkout.
I always keep a copy of the items and auctions i have won on my hard drive including the whole web page and any photos .photos album links ,this i keep as record as the condition of the item when i buy it?

It is risky buying guitars without detailed photos or a description or a serial number to work off,but that is half the fun of buying from japan,
It can be very ,very addictive

MOJO HOBO

lots of great info guys; keep 'em coming ...........

even tho' I have yet to purchase I have had some really great help with things from Elaine in Tempe, at Rinkya; she has gone above & beyond her duties

looking forward to my first purchase ............. could be any day :-? ...............

AlanN said:

I think Marcus is saying "I have a stupid question - what is Rinkya? Is it an auction site?" rather than calling the original question stupid!

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Exactly what I meant - I HAVE a stupid question. I'll make sure I type all the words next time. I simply didn't know what Rinkya was after reading all the dialog about it in this post and others.

Thanks for clarifying guys.... (that is, thanks for clarifying YOU guys)

stratman323 said:

...but their fees do seem to rather high for what they actually do. Not much choice if you want to bid for stuff in Japan though.

Mike

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I don't agree, they have people working for them in Japan as well as in the US, and there would have been quite a lot invested in the website as well. They also allow you to store things at their warehouse in Japan to enable you to ship things in one lot. Admittedly this probably isn't useful for shipping guitars, and EMS is worked out on weight, so I doubt it saves any money, but it could be useful for some buyers.

I'd be surprised if they were making a lot of money given the fees they are charging.

I am with you JVSEARCH,I think the service they provide for the little they charge is a fantastic value for money,the fees are peanuts, if i remember right ,they have two warehouses located in oppisite ends of japan.


I think they are very well organized auction site!



MOJO HOBO

I stand corrected.

stratman323 said:

I stand corrected.

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No need for the red face! I'm guessing you haven't used Rinkya for a purchase?

I have only made one purchase through them, and it really went very well. I got email messages about what was happening at various times, it was repacked at the Japan warehouse (strings were loosened as well) and then I got an EMS tracking number for me to monitor the delivery progress myself.

Definitely worth their fees, and a lot of the $250 USD I mentioned is shipping - in my case about $180, and I checked this on the EMS calculator, they weren't gouging me on shipping or anything.

JVsearch said:

No need for the red face! I'm guessing you haven't used Rinkya for a purchase?

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My TE120 was bought via Rinkya, but it's not my account, JohnA bought it for me & I paid John. So it had to be shipped to John & then he sent it to me.

I have thought about opening an account so I'm following this thread with interest.

Stratman323,
The only problem with becoming a member and opening your own account.....is you never stop GASSING ,all those lovely, lovely,TOKAIS,ORVILLES,GRECOS,
Your become MIJ ZOMBIE, an addict,never resting ,irritable,bad tempered,night sweats over guitars you have seen for auction,you will have NO PEACE ,become withdrawn.your start to make excuses for sneaking off for a quick MIJ fix on the pc.checking ,searching......


Here is what hell awaits you.a 7okai silverstar in red ss-40.never seen a red silverstar before for auction anywhere,

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED :evil:

MOJO HOBO