First time i purchase trough Buyee, so I need some help. I have 6 packages with 1-2 pencils each, nothing too fancy or expensive. A sort of trial run for me. They started arriving at the warehouse. What to do now?
Leave them in storage, no action until all arrive and than select package consolidation?
Shipping method is selected after package consolidation or before?
What shipping option do you recommend? I am in an EU country. Do I get a tracking number?
Thanks in advance.
Once they arrive at the warehouse you will have 30 days to consolidate and ship your package.
So the workflow is buy, pay, wait for packages to show up under “Package Info”. When all arrives, you consolidate. Then you pick shipping
For delivery to the US I have found shipping type “EMS” has the the cheapest and quickest delivery. Maybe some of our EU members can suggest something else. EMS comes with tracking.
The app has what I call a “pizza tracker”
It shows when ordered, shipped (to warehouse), arrived at warehouse, etc.
Be careful when you consolidate that everything has arrived. Sometimes there is a several hour lag between when the app says it’s arrived at the warehouse, and when it shows up in the ”Package Info” section.
If you go over 30 days, I think they charge you daily (it’s not much but it adds up)
Hope that helps
I agree with your comment - buy, pay, wait for packages to arrive at warehouse and consolidate.
I live in UK and use EMS - usually gets to UK in 2-3 days (then wait for about a week for customs/post office to confirm import duty) and finally get package delivered.
One reason why I use ZenMarket is that they’ve increased their free storage time to 60 days. I’m surprised that they don’t make any kind of size threshold. In any case, pens & pencils are so incredibly small relative to other items, it’s a nominal impact. Once you have an auction item going over 60 days, you get charged ¥0.50 a day for storage. Technically they’re supposed to begin charging at 61 days and up until the item is packed. But I’ve had a few occasions where I’ve started a parcel request and the next day one or more items have gone over 60 days storage… and I’ve not gotten charged.
One nice advantage is that if you do repeat transactions, you get a credit limit. It starts at ¥20,000 and then bumps up to ¥50,000, ¥100,000, based on the total value of your auction wins on a month-by-month basis. What’s great about this is that you can place bids without having to commit a credit card or PayPal transaction. Generally, they expect you to pay off your outstanding debt within about a month’s time of having gone negative. If you wait too long, they’ll send you a reminder to pay it off. But if you’re late a few times, your credit limit gets dropped a level.
One other advantage is that you built up “Zen Points” over time, which you can then use towards shipping costs. And lastly, on occasion, ZenMarket will run a promo code campaign for a certain percentage off shipping costs (10%, 15%, 20%). Fulfillment speed has gotten really good now. Within just about 3~4 business days from requesting a parcel, your item will be fully packed and ready to pay. From there, it’s usually about 2 to 3 days by the time it has been picked up and in the system. The best rate for reasonable shipping times is AVIA small packet. I’ve found that lately once a package has departed Japan, it’s about 1 week later when it reaches customs. It used to be 2 to 3 weeks.
I’ll add that I used to do EMS shipping but things would take forever to arrive so I do Buyee Air now which basically ends up being FedEx or DHL and arrives about 2-3 days later. You pay a little more, but I feel it’s worth it.
Here’s an example of the ZenMarket shipping calculator, with a sample of 971g for the parcel.
I’ve been choosing Avia small parcel and it’s often $15~25 cheaper than EMS, and shipping time is just about a week, maybe a couple days more.
I do not use UPS, DHL, or FedEx any longer. In most cases when I’ve used them, I’ve ended up with customs fees. UPS was particularly expensive, after crossing over a certain weight threshold. Avia has been extremely reliable. For a time I used Zen Express for cheaper, lighter packages, but above a certain weight and their costs skyrocket beyond EMS.
Oddly enough, I’ve only ever had to pay customs once on something I got from Brazil.
I selected air on my second Buyee package. It was shipped by FedEx. It got to the states very quick. Like in a day or two, then it sat in FedEx customs for three and a half weeks. I had to fill out a TSCA form and pay $80 in customs fees. Not sure if anyone else has had that problem, but ever since I switched to EMS, I’ve had no forms to complete and no customs fees to pay.
I’m glad this didn’t happen on my first package because they’re probably would not have been a second.
I got hit with $71 in fees from UPS. They claim they had to comply with 2 agencies: The EPA and the FDA. Why? INK! One item had about a dozen vintage ballpoint pens. There was absolutely no risk of environment contamination or issue with food/drug safety. The breakdown:
I mean, I can tolerate the other fees (all completley unnecessary). But the EPA and FDA being roped in somehow? I think UPS must have some kind of “silent handshake” with the US government.
In any case, when your package goes through an international carrier outside of UPS, FedEx, and DHL, and it’s relayed directly to USPS for local delivery, somehow those other customs procedures aren’t triggered. I’ve had ballpoint pens sent without any problem at all. It was UPS that was the real culprit.
Yup - I forgot to mention that a single ballpoint pen was the culprit.
With Buyee, when you arrange shipping you can edit the shipping manifest. For example you can change “pen” to “stationary”. I don’t buy pens but occasionally the manifest will be labeled as “pen” etc. so I change it to stationary or pencil.
The list of items they have to choose from is long and in no apparent order so you may need to search for something relevant.
I don’t buy stuff from Japan as much as I did a couple of years ago but
I see no point in package consolidation, contents inspection or extra packing… It just gets heavier and more costly. In the Eurozone with 0€ limit, 99% packages stop at customs. The ones that pass right through are usually tagged below ¥2000, so if you’re buying cheap pencils or pens you might get lucky.
IDK, not sure it makes a difference, you can change method at any time if I’m not mistaken
Cheapest one (air mail), remember VAT is applied over the total price including shipping so the lower the better. Tracking number is included. Air Mail usually takes 10 working days or so to get here. For light packages with 1 pencil inside + shipping from Seller to Buyer inside Japan it usually costs between 600¥-1000¥ which is around around 6€
I do expect to pay VAT regrdless of shipping type.
I didn’t choose any inspection, protective packing, etc. Got charged just with the automatic 300 yen Buyee handling fee for each package.
Shipping from seller to buyee warehouse was 0 for two items from Mercari. From yahoo japan auctions it was 0 for one package, 185 yen each for two others and 890 for one, so not excessive.
Regarding consolidation, isnt the whole point of it to pay less for shipping? Being larger and heavier it will obviously cost more than a small package, but less than 6 individual small ones?
I guess so… But if you pack too many items in one box you may not be able to use the cheaper international mail services and they will force you to use EMS or something similar…
And you never know how the seller will pack their pencils… you may have to leave something behind to not exceed some weights. I’ve received pencils in various different packages from simply wrapped in a tissue or bubble wrap and thrown inside an envelope to heavy boxes with sweets and origami inside!
I don’t think “consolidation” means they repack everything — I believe they simply put everything in a box. Repacking is another service, isn’t it? And should have extra fees… Maybe someone here that uses consolidation services could clarify, as I said I only used it once or twice many years ago, it’s not the same any more (also, I believe they don’t charge fees for consolidation now, when I did it they did charge extra.)
Another thing to keep in mind is if by any misfortune a package is lost… you lose all the pencils. That’s too much disappointment for me. I prefer shipping them to me as they arrive in the warehouse.
Not to poopoo on @ulfesharpe 's point above, but i have shipped probably 10 - 15 consolidated packages in total from Buyee and never had a lost package (fingers crossed that i don’t jinx it).
Additionally, the estimated cost for shipping one pencil to my address is usually about 25 - 30 bucks, whereas i can ship a box of 20 - 30 pencils for about 50 bucks. Ze Germans also take into account the cost of shipping when calculating the import duties i have to pay, so its always been in my best interest to minimize shipping costs (i.e consolidate) as far as possible.
That’s just my experience though.
PS: Consolidation is free, but adding protective packging is an extra fee and also increases the shipping cost since the box becomes significantly bigger.
Just to clarify, i’ve never lost a package from Japan. Japan Post works very well and has very nice rates (and I dare say our national post CTT is the same) but hypothetically a package can be lost somewhere and I rather not risk it with too many pencils inside.
Once a repeat buyer from Ebay bought 5 pencils from me and insisted in one package only. Since I always ship for free I didn’t see any advantage in that for him but I complied. A couple of days later he was emailing me saying USPS had left it at another address by mistake because tracking was showing it was delivered but he hadn’t received it. I was really worried with this because all the pencils were quite rare and I had no replacements to send him and uh uh the money was gone… so what now? Fortunately he later found the package (it was in the garbage bin, he had thrown it there by mistake thinking it was an empty box…)… long story short: there is a risk in consolidation! 
With “Air Mail” from Buyee? That is weird, bc we’re “practically” neighbours (ahah) and they ship for 800 yen here… Probably different shipping rules…
Interesting. I’ve never elected the additional protective packing. They usually do a great job as-is. When you say they use a significantly larger box, that would likely bump up to the next service level (if not already at EMS). It does seem prudent to keep packages to a modest size. Beyond a certain size, there’s likely a greater chance of a more intense customs inspection and then higher fees.
I have had Buyee send me an empty envelope in a package with my other pencils. Because I did not pay the extra money for their “insurance”, they refused to do anything about the “lost” Pentel PN3015.
Good lord. 800 yen is enough to make me want to move to Portugal 
I have never - NEVER - paid less than 30 euros for shipping. They’re bleeding me dry over here.
Ouch
