Anybody ever use services like MailOrderJapan.com or Rinkya?

[TAorama]

Just wondering if anyone had ever used these services to buy stuff off of Yahoo Japan's auction pages? Looks like a helpful service, but my paranoia keeps me from signing up. Scam or legit?

[Rich]

I can assure you that using any web translator will result in nothing dicernable when it comes to condition, and I've compared all the web translators against my human translator and you would be very surprised at how far off in true meaning they are. And the biggest drawback, you can't ask any questions of the seller. Also, the Japanese pack like crap, because they have [probably] the safest shipping there is. Unfortunately none of these forwarding places do anything but stick a label on. USPS isn't that bad but you're talking barely protected guitars in anything from crap to decent gig bags, expect trouble. Cased guitars are another story.

[TAorama]

Oh, I'd never buy a guitar through moj.com or the others, exactly because of the reasons you listed. I was thinking more like small items like collectible toys or books. Stuff where even if you get shafted, you're not out a ton. My biggest concern is in the areas of identity theft once you give these guys your info. I'd never heard of them before doing a Google search for Japanese buying services, and their websites aren't exactly devoid of spelling and grammatical errors (ie: Nigerian scam letters). I guess if you pay w/ PayPal, at least they don't have your account info. Just your name and address.

What I REALLY need is a nice, honest pen-pal in Tokyo who doesn't mind helping out the gaijin once in a while.

[ScottB]

Send and e-mail to Paul Gilbert. His wife is Japanese and he has a residence there.

[TAorama]

Oh, sure.

Dear Paul,

If you and the wife aren't too busy, would you mind buying some junk off Yahoo for me and shipping it back to the US? I promise to go out and buy five more copies of GOOMY if you'll help me out.

Thanks,
Andy

Don't see why that wouldn't work.