Possibly Lost $2,700 from a YJA! Auction through Buyee

General
1

Well, this might be the biggest mistake of my life (so far).

I won this Flareon Play Promo thru Buyee for $2699 via Yahoo Japan Auctions on FEB 28.

In my haste, I didn’t quite understand the seller’s description. They stated:
“When the above person bids, please give us a word from the question column. If you bid without contacting us, we will ship another card.”“Please note that if you do not contact us even after 48 hours have passed since you made a successful bid and you cannot confirm the payment, we will cancel the successful bid due to the circumstances of the highest bidder.”

I didn’t have Buyee message this seller during the auction, (even though I obviously paid in full already) they sent Buyee This(currently at the warehouse in Japan):

Am I completely screwed out of this Money?. I’ve asked Buyee to contact the seller to request the correct card be shipped. This seems almost like a targeted auction to screw over a foreigner. The Seller has good feedback for other high end cards also. I’m obviously pretty sick about all of this. Has this happened to anyone before?

-jindough

2

Well, buyee won’t refund you and I don’t imagine the seller will send you the play flareon either. The seller fulfilled exactly what their auction description said

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I got the images fixed for you.
This is probably a question for Buyee. Worst case you could potentially chargeback and lose your buyee account. Not a great solution but I’d be sympathetic to it.

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This really sucks. Sorry to hear it. Not too long ago a forum member also got scammed, and while it’s notoriously difficult to get problems resolved, they actually were able to get a refund (as in, Buyee refunded them). Don’t know how likely it is, but maybe a starting point if you want to pursue this. Whatever happens try not to let it affect you too much, though that’s easy to say when it’s not you.

www.elitefourum.com/t/the-giant-japanese-market-thread/31400/2540

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Thanks. Yeah I figured out I had to sign into IMGur first. Yeah, I might have to go that route. Which sucks because I have some other cards there I need to ship to myself still. I’m hoping Buyee can at least ask them to send the card pictured once and see what happens.

6

Some people are just super scummy

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On a purchase this large I would highly recommend people select the insurance and pictures options; don’t let the item get shipped
to you before buyee sends you a picture of the item in hand. Once its in your hands it seems they no longer give AF.

8

This is the unfortunate reality of Japanese websites. Always tough to read this type of stuff. Typically buyee or any middleman won’t provide coverage, especially if this was a purposeful scam.

As mentioned by others, the nuclear option is filing a chargeback and losing your account. I personally eat the loss in these situations, since I am constantly buying overseas, but that is entirely a personal choice. Hopefully if you explain the situation to buyee they can potentially provide a solution.

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I did chose that option thankfully. Hopefully the seller just wanted verification first? I’m obviously ignorant to how the Japanese payment system works but I can’t imagine they are somehow scamming eachother left and right and sending fake payments to warrant such requirements on an auction.

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Yeah, I agree. I might just have to eat it, and hope finding deals down the road will pay for that loss over time.

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I haven’t seen this kind of clause on a sale before, usually it’s “If you do not contact us for more than 2 days after it makes a successful bid, or if payment cannot be confirmed, we will cancel it due to the circumstances of the highest bidder.” Or a variation on that. I gather that they also meant contacting/paying within 2 days after you win the auction (not contact before the auction is over, that is usually reserved for new accounts). Simply because you gave Buyee the funds does not mean that Buyee paid the seller within that timeframe.

It definitely seems sketchy to just send a different, valueless card, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it indeed was meant as a foreigner trap. Ofcourse the clause is ridiculous, but YJ! is a wild west of sorts, with limited accountability, especially if you’re a foreigner. I wouldn’t expect to get any help regarding issues with the cards I receive. Furthermore, I’ve noticed forwarding services tend to leave positive feedback regardless of your experience, any seller can accrue reasonably high amounts of positive feedback despite having scammed many people already.

Best of luck getting it resolved!

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I would get in contact with Buyee, and be firm. 24 hour contact is common enough that any proxy should be doing this as a default, insurance options aside.

I agree with @pkmnflyingmaster that a chargeback may be in order if they refuse. There are too many Japanese proxies out there to care about the loss of Buyee over the loss of $2,600.

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so scummy…

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Sorry to hear that. Keeping Buyee isn’t worth losing $2.7K. You can always use another proxy service.

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If Buyee doesn’t help make this right, do a chargeback 100%. If you just eat the loss, you are showing Buyee and the Yahoo Japan seller that these scams are easy to get away with. The only way to stop this behavior is to have someone pay the consequences for it.

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Since you bought the insurance option through buyee, you should be good for a refund. They can clearly see the card pictured if different from what they sent you.

If you do end up going the nuclear option because buyee won’t refund, make sure to have them ship your other cards to you first or you likely won’t end up with those either.

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I bought a scam booster box listing at the end of last year for £1600. It was a Team Rocket box and they sent an obviously fake imitation box. Buyee don’t refund you for fake/inauthentic items so I thought I was toast. I argued that the box they received was the wrong dimensions and weight, and surprisingly I got refunded.

That item description is 100% aimed at international middlemen buyers.

If you used the standard plan or inspection, I think you should ok as it looks like a straight ‘item not as described’ case.

faq.buyee.jp/article/55?lang=en

*"[For items purchased with Standard Plan or Inspection Plan]
If Buyee determines that an incorrect item was sent, you will be refunded.

Please log in to Buyee and send an inquiry through our Contact Form. Please make sure to include package numbers and item information to your message.

[For items bought with Insured Delivery Plan or Lite Plan]
Your item is NOT viable for a refund, even if the item you received is incorrect."*

faq.buyee.jp/article/36?lang=en

*"For items ordered with Standard Plan or Inspection Plan

When we found that an store has sent a wrong item, we will cancel your order and make a refund to your payment method.

For items ordered with Insured Delivery Plan or Lite Plan

Inspection service is not included to these plans’ service, therefore your item is NOT viable for a refund, even it is an incorrect item."*

Send them a message saying the item you were sent is wrong, they are clearly different cards, that it should be a card contained within original sealed plastic packaging. I wouldn’t mention the item description at all, even though its scummy and probably violates yahoo, it doesn’t help your case.

Use simple, plain, polite language.

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Yeah I’m going to chargeback if this doesn’t get resolved. But first I need my other 1.5k in cards won to be shipped to me. I have to be strategic or I risk losing even more money in legitimate cards I bought.

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Except the seller wouldn’t be paying any consequences either way. Or is he suffering a loss somewhere I can’t see? Maybe he’d get kicked off YJ? Or Buyee?

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Yes either kicked off YJ or blocked by Buyee would be my guess