Japanese eBay sellers

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I think they are agents rather than resellers, correct? They don’t actually have the watch and they facilitate the transaction once they get a sale. This is why you may see the same watch in multiple listings. Also, there is a disclaimer that it “needs to be acquired.”
Incorrect IMO, they are individuals that simply steal their pics/descriptions from their sites and relist on eBay. There's a decent amount of ppl here that do not want to deal with overseas customers due to language barrier, fears of fraud, and because in the eyes of some Japanese (mainly older generations) gaikoku scary/shady.
 
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Incorrect IMO, they are individuals that simply steal their pics/descriptions from their sites and relist on eBay. There's a decent amount of ppl here that do not want to deal with overseas customers due to language barrier, fears of fraud, and because in the eyes of some Japanese (mainly older generations) gaikoku scary/shady.
I was under the impression that it could be both. Some act as an agent where they will purchase the watch from the store hence why the listings state " watch to be aquired"
 
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it is that exact watch and much cheaper

Has anyone purchased via rakuten?
The store had its own online shop, which was somewhat cheaper without Rakuten Ichiba's commission.
https://kanteikyoku-web.jp/shop/products/detail/109497

Usually, if you want to buy from a store that does not ship outside Japan, you can use a proxy purchasing service like Buyee.

The price on eBay includes both the dealer's commission and the fee the dealer pays to eBay. However, buying on eBay allows you to rely on eBay's strong buyer protection in case of any issues.

If you use a proxy purchasing service, the total price you pay will likely be lower than on eBay. However, in the event of a problem, such as an initial defect, resolving the issue will be much more difficult.
 
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I was under the impression that it could be both. Some act as an agent where they will purchase the watch from the store hence why the listings state " watch to be aquired"
Yeah, I was gonna say it's kind of a difference w/o a distinction and it could be either, but at the end of the day it doesn't much matter and you are dealing with a 3rd party.
 
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The store had its own online shop, which was somewhat cheaper without Rakuten Ichiba's commission.
https://kanteikyoku-web.jp/shop/products/detail/109497

Usually, if you want to buy from a store that does not ship outside Japan, you can use a proxy purchasing service like Buyee.

The price on eBay includes both the dealer's commission and the fee the dealer pays to eBay. However, buying on eBay allows you to rely on eBay's strong buyer protection in case of any issues.

If you use a proxy purchasing service, the total price you pay will likely be lower than on eBay. However, in the event of a problem, such as an initial defect, resolving the issue will be much more difficult.
you make a good point. there's a rough price increase of around £200 with using ebay but will it give greater piece of mind.
 
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My experience buying from Japan has included 2 independent watch sellers buying about 6 watches, and several other accessories like buckles and boxes.
The 2 eBay sellers were Japan-watch and nonkun0508. Both were excellent and the first one sourced a beautiful King Seiko at my request from a private Japanese collector. And he added a 15mm gold vintage KS buckle at nominal cost.


nonkun0508 sold me several including a great KS 5625 which was serviced. Very smooth rapid shipping with return option


I joined proxy service FromJapan and bought several vintage GS boxes and transactions were very smooth with prompt shipping. I am eyeing purchase of vintage GS watch from Yahoo Japan as they show up there but haven’t done that yet. Returns are tricky with YahooJapan using proxy. You need to know why you’re looking for it’s not for new collectors. And some sellers refuse to accept bids from proxy bidders and will just cancel your bid with no explanation so be aware that’s how it goes. Also if seller is unhappy with price realized they may just cancel the sale. It’s different. And if the watch has an exotic strap they will not ship to US or other places with limitations of such straps, and I have heard to cases where they refused to remove the strap and just send watch head and it was a mess. So using eBay is less stressful but yahoojapan offered more options for a savvy (and brave) buyer.

And several vintage Omega boxes from Japanese eBay sellers- I bought one beat up Red Speedy box just for the insert to use in another box. The seller felt bad he was sending me a beat up box so he added a second nice Speedy box no charge and apologized to me! I had not complained he just felt bad about it.

Closer has decent reputation but you need to check condition carefully. I have not bought from them it is a big operation but they do offer some watches through Rakuten on certain days I can’t recall Tues or Wed, where you may find a watch you have been following at a discounted price and you can buy it through a proxy service.

So my experiences, while not extensive, have been uniformly positive dipping my toe in several available buying options.
 
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The store had its own online shop, which was somewhat cheaper without Rakuten Ichiba's commission.
https://kanteikyoku-web.jp/shop/products/detail/109497

Usually, if you want to buy from a store that does not ship outside Japan, you can use a proxy purchasing service like Buyee.

The price on eBay includes both the dealer's commission and the fee the dealer pays to eBay. However, buying on eBay allows you to rely on eBay's strong buyer protection in case of any issues.

If you use a proxy purchasing service, the total price you pay will likely be lower than on eBay. However, in the event of a problem, such as an initial defect, resolving the issue will be much more difficult.
If you use a local shipment agent, don`t forget it is an inside Japan Sale and that is subject to an extra 10% Tax.
 
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If you use a local shipment agent, don`t forget it is an inside Japan Sale and that is subject to an extra 10% Tax.
That's right. However, in Japan, the total price including tax is required to be displayed for products. In rare cases, both the tax-excluded price and the tax-included price are listed, so please be cautious in such cases.
 
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Anyone has link to closer web site. Don’t pop up on googling it. Thank you for the elady link.
 
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Anyone has link to closer web site. Don’t pop up on googling it. Thank you for the elady link.
Closer does not have its own website.
It sells through various Japanese e-commerce sites.

https://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/closer0510/bbfeb7d7.html
https://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/closer01/
https://fril.jp/shop/closer?srsltid=AfmBOoo89j_ecc9YbmeSZ7r4tP6C133xzJd2vx0yIVRDlgib1BGYH2wZ
https://mercari-shops.com/shops/7M468pfWS6SDbASHSpKN4m

https://www.ebay.com/str/closer0924?_fcid=1
https://www.chrono24.com/dealer/closer/index.htm?SETLANG=en_US&SETCURR=USD&goal_change_domain=1

The watches sold by Closer outside Japan are cheaper on Chrono24 than on eBay, even for the same model. (Maybe Chrono24 has lower selling fees than eBay?)
The prices of Closer's watches are not much different between domestic sales in Japan and international sales.

Job listings for Closer and eBay's Japan-specific information introducing Closer.
https://doda.jp/DodaFront/View/JobSearchDetail/j_jid__3012262394/
https://www.ebay.co.jp/success-story/ss04/
Edited:
 
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