Seller's perogative

(tags auction)

I recently ran into an online auction seller who wouldn't let me bid. At least, I could not bid and I could not ask a question, for reasons unknown, but I'm going to assume I'm on the seller's blacklist. I cannot fathom why but I must have auction snipered him sometime ago. Tee hee. Anyway, being blacklisted makes me mad and angry and frustrated and... huff puff... Acceptance. I did not see the auction item on sale. What auction? There is no auction. :-) Oh wait, I saved the item pictures. I am happy. :-)

It's kinda the same feeling I got when I read another seller's conditions: "Will not sell to foreigners." No, this is not a misreading of "will not ship to a foreign country". I got real worked up on that one but I didn't bother venting outwardly. Luckily this kind of condition is very rare. I've only seen it once in probably a thousand or more listings. Anyway, the item for sale at the time was a Xbox 360 joystick that looks like the old Atari 2600 joystick. It's currently going for 12000 yen at Game Hollywood at Akihabara. Ugh.

Yes, I've been hiding in auctions for the last two weeks. That's why this blog is so empty.

No PSP 2000 in sight (newbie's first response)

(tags PlayStation Portable, hardware, auction)

I can't be bothered to figure out how to install custom firmware on my two PSP 1000s, and yet I want to play the latest games with better hardware (more internal memory?), so I'm trying to find a PSP 2000. Sofmap only has a trickle of used PSP 2000s, and they are gone every time I recheck. Plus it doesn't help that I am finicky about the case color. I want the lavender purple, though Sofmap only seems to get the black ones. I could also go for the Monster Hunter Bronze or Value Pack Bronze (to match my Gold and Silver).

So just today I turned my auction sniping searching prowess onto this area. Whoa boy, this is a different sort of auction. The basics of auction buying, that is to say, bid, win, send money, receive, are pretty much the same. However the sheer volume of action from sellers and bidders makes me think I'm drowning in a ocean. Also, sellers add all sorts of for-pay options, which makes selecting an auction to bid a hassle.

It looks like the keywords for me are CFW (custom firmware), PSP 2000, 新品 (new not used), and LP or ラベンダー パープル (lavender purple).

How bad do you want it? "Hakkaya 73" goods (Yuiko Tokumi 2007-12 stuff, part 2)

(tags collectable, Comic Market, Yuiko Tokumi, illustrator, auction)

So I've been following the bidding on the complete Yuiko Tokumi goodies available at Comic Market 73 (2007-12-30, keywords: 「薄荷屋 73」) It's horridly crazy. I was about to put my bid down but now the bids have skyrocketed beyond my tolerance. The goods looks like this:

We are looking at a paper bag, a canvas-like tote bag, a pencil card, a calendar and two doujinshis. Ugh, it's that "Miku Hatsune" craze. But who knows, some of the bidders have a history of being Hakkaya fans. In fact there was one person that maintained the highest bid, even when they were outbid (I kept refreshing the page, you see). They really had to have it, huh.

Yes I gotta have that calendar since it's a tradition (I have 2006 and 2007 calendars) plus it's Bottle Fairy! (瓶詰妖精) I would die for Bottle Fairy. But! I wouldn't put up 2_0000+ yen just for a 1000 yen calendar.

There are some backups online as well as off. I do have Nipponbashi to explore, but the past two days indicate that its too early to check. I am going tomorrow as well, because I haven't picked up the Gamers "New Year's" Dejiko Telephone card in lovely wine red.

Gah, what a waste of time. :-(

Venturing out of my cave: "Game Show in Osaka Nipponbashi by Joshin"

(tags game, hardware, auction, Nipponbashi, Osaka, convention)

Ever since I bought a Xbox 360, started my expenses budget, and got into Rubik's Cube, I've been avoiding Osaka Nipponbashi "Den Den Town". But for some reason I am bored so I decided to at least head out in that direction. There are many things to check for:

• Dead or Alive 4 limited edition package Xbox 360 game (~3500 yen used) ::1
• Dead or Alive 4 arcade joystick by Hori (~10000 yen used!) ::1
• Ichigo Mashimaro stick poster from Dengeki 15th anniversary convention (Yahoo Auction) ::2
• Barasui cover Comic Dengeki Gakuen from Dengeki 15th anniversary convention (Yahoo Auction) ::2

::1:: check at Sofmap, A-Too shop, Big Tiger, Super Potato
::2:: check at K-Books and Mandarake

Yesterday I tried to check out the Xbox 360's joystick options. You know, the regular controller has a horrid D pad and Ikaruga (斑鳩) is coming out this month. I might as well learn how to play with a joystick. I want to get the Dead or Alive arcade stick but the Yahoo Auctions always end up greater than 1_0000 yen. This is for a "low-quality" Hori Stick! At Sofmap Kobe, the Virtual Fighter 5 Live Arena arcade stick for Xbox 360 is either all sold out (on the first day?!) or all pre-ordered (I saw all the boxes behind the register) so I couldn't get one. That's when I decided to visit Osaka.

And though I did check out that Arkanoid DS game in the shop I decided that I know what it feels like to wait for a ball and control it indirectly, remembering the first time I played Arkanoid on my Apple IIgs so long ago, so I passed on it. That Space Invaders game for the DS is on my watch list, though.

And I was reminded that Shikigami No Shiro Episode -3 (式神の城III) was coming out for the Xbox 360. It's also coming out for the Wii, huh. There's no information on if its useable with a stick or not. Still I don't know why I want to get this game because I won't play it to get my full money's worth and I haven't finished playing the second game in the series.

But on the same page, there was an announcement for the "Game Show in Osaka Nipponbashi by Joshin" (ゲームショー2007 in大阪日本橋 by Joshin 公式ホームページ) happening right now. Now I must go to Osaka. I can try out the game, I suppose, but I don't expect my opinion to change. There's plenty of new games too: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS), Patapon (PSP), as per the usual Final Fantasy stuff. Takahashi Meijin will be there for a talk show and game event. But oh no, there are game "companions" and I don't expect to actually get inside becuase they are holding it inside two Japanese-sized stores. I'll probably be waiting on the staircase for hours. :-/

Get ready now! >:-o

Auction sniping from afar: Sekaimon JP <--> USA

(tags online, auction, ECsite)

My Japanese teacher mentioned that Yahoo Auction JP and Ebay USA are teaming up to make a "worldwide" auction site called Sekaimon. Currently it's just Japan and USA only.

I remember that Yahoo Auction USA left the market this year, but Yahoo Auction JP has strong traction in Japan. The service, starting today (but currently down, ha) will allow Yahoo Auction JP users to bid on Ebay (USA only?) items. Coming next year, Ebay USA users will have the ability to bid on Yahoo Auction JP stuff. There will be a company translating the item details for each auction. Prepare for "make your time" language shenanigans.

How shipping will be done remains to be seen. Given most Yahoo Auctions I've seen are domestic only, this Sekaimon better have a shipping service that makes it easy on sellers.