Can you buy from Yahoo Auctions?

Yes, we can purchase items from auction sites. We can accept requests for traditional bids as well as buy-it-now.

Starting June 5, to streamline operations and discourage frivolous bidding, we have implemented the following changes:

• A bidding fee of $1.25 per item will be charged whether you win or lose the auction. This fee covers the labor costs of placing and monitoring the bid.

• For Yahoo Auctions, the per-item fee has been reduced from $5.00 USD to $3.75 USD. Therefore, combined with the bidding fee, if you win the auction, there is no net change in fees.

• We will capture an auction deposit upfront, which is either 1% of the bid price or $10, whichever is greater. If you win, this deposit goes toward paying the rest of your bill. If you lose, the deposit is returned to your JPR wallet.

For traditional bidding, Japan Rabbit’s bidding system is not live or automated, so we strongly recommend inputting your maximum bid up front.

We strongly recommend you input your max bid (the maximum amount you are willing to pay) into Japan Rabbit. What you actually pay could end up being less.

Inputting a small max bid first and then asking us to change it later can cause you to lose the auction.

Yahoo Auctions are different from auctions in TV and movies. Your bid is automatically increased by a set increment, up to your maximum bid amount. Even though you enter your max bid up front, the final sale price may actually end up being lower.

Example:

1. Auction has a starting price of 10000 JPY.

2. You enter a max bid of 15000 JPY in Japan Rabbit.

3. Japan Rabbit enters this max bid for you into Yahoo Auctions. You have the current bid is 10500 JPY. This is the previous bid plus a minimum increment (see next section).

4. Another person inputs their max bid of 12000 JPY.

5. Yahoo Auctions automatically updates your bid to 12500 JPY. This is the competitor’s bid plus the minimum increment, but still below your max bid.

6. Auction closes.

7. Your final sale price for the item is 12500 JPY, plus any order fees from Japan Rabbit (storage, service, and shipping are later).

Japan Rabbit will initially charge your payment method for auction deposit plus order fees upfront. If the auction closes and you win, we will refund you the difference between your max bid and the final price (if any). If the auction closes and you lose, we will cancel the order and refund you the amount minus the bidding fee.

The automatic bidding increment depends on the current bid.

Source: Yahoo! Japan Auctions Help

• Before checkout in Japan Rabbit — You can change your max bid at any time when the item is still in your cart.

• After checkout in Japan Rabbit — If you need to change your max bid, please let us know before 6pm JST on the day the auction ends.

Sniping is a practice in online auctions where someone places a bid in the last few minutes before an auction closes. Yahoo Auctions has several protections in place to guard against this practice.

• Auto extension — If a bid is placed within 5 minutes of the auction’s end time, then the auction’s end will automatically extend another 5 minutes to allow new bids. This extension repeats if there are more new bids.

• Max bid — Your bid is automatically incremented up to the max bid that you set. See example earlier.

Some auctions have a “buy it now” option. You can identify buy-it-now auctions, as they have a dark red button labeled 今すぐ落札.

The current bid price is in orange (現在). The buy-it-now price is shown below the bid price in black (即決).

If the buy-it-now price is within your budget, we recommend setting that price to quickly secure your items. Simply enter the buy-it-now price as your max bid in Japan Rabbit.