Original Post

In this thread we all want to post cool, spectacular, noteworthy, jaw-dropping […] Virtual Boy auctions on ebay, Yahoo or any other site…

At first here are two auctions on Yahoo Japan (Always cooool stuff on there!) for the japanese Nintendo Store Display:

➡<http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/58915948>

➡<http://page3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c39350994>

KR155E

2,110 Replies

Virtual Boy Ear Buds for about $12 + shipping!

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/shopping/suruga-ya_171000108001

  • This reply was modified 10 years, 1 month ago by HoMenace.

Eyeshade NIB for about $12 + shipping.

http://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/shopping/suruga-ya_171000106001

speedyink schrieb:

bigmak wrote:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Virtual-Boy-System-Console-Store-Display-WORKING-/161437858738?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2596723bb2

Ships to Canada?!?!

*bid*

I had considered bid on this…but I must always ad shipping costs to germany 200$ plus import charges 19%.
It’s too much… 🙁

Cosmoliner wrote:
I had considered bid on this…but I must always ad shipping costs to germany 200$ plus import charges 19%.
It’s too much… 🙁

Ehh, they took the ad down and reposted it as working and with a key for another 10 days of bidding. Seems fishy to me, and pretty much sealed the deal in me not being able to afford it. Before it had like 1 or 2 days left and it was at $300. Now it has 7 days left and its already at $550. So yeah, not happening..

speedyink wrote:

Cosmoliner wrote:
I had considered bid on this…but I must always ad shipping costs to germany 200$ plus import charges 19%.
It’s too much… 🙁

Ehh, they took the ad down and reposted it as working and with a key for another 10 days of bidding. Seems fishy to me, and pretty much sealed the deal in me not being able to afford it. Before it had like 1 or 2 days left and it was at $300. Now it has 7 days left and its already at $550. So yeah, not happening..

When I was reading all the talk on here about how easy it is to open and repair it, I was already thinking that a lot more people would be interested. But I think the seller was reading along with you guys and fixed it.
That is the problem with this good community, others try and abuse the helpfulness it seems 🙁

Is there a way to make certain parts only accessible to long time and frequent posters here? That would potentially solve that problem.

Yeah the global shipping program is already becoming a huge pain in the ass – it’s not workable for me but some people insist on it – I have to stand my ground and not use it, it’s got all sorts of problems from missing packages to stupidly long wait – plus those import charges don’t necessarily go to government either – they go to the company handling the service. I’m not at all comfortable with that.

TheForce81 wrote:
When I was reading all the talk on here about how easy it is to open and repair it, I was already thinking that a lot more people would be interested. But I think the seller was reading along with you guys and fixed it.
That is the problem with this good community, others try and abuse the helpfulness it seems 🙁

Is there a way to make certain parts only accessible to long time and frequent posters here? That would potentially solve that problem.

I didn’t even think of that. Still not sure what’s up with magically finding the key. I thought the first one was a ‘fishing auction’

L___E___T wrote:
Yeah the global shipping program is already becoming a huge pain in the ass – it’s not workable for me but some people insist on it – I have to stand my ground and not use it, it’s got all sorts of problems from missing packages to stupidly long wait – plus those import charges don’t necessarily go to government either – they go to the company handling the service. I’m not at all comfortable with that.

The global shipping program seems like a cash grab to me. I usually avoid items that use it, since I’ve never once had to pay import charges when I buy items that aren’t on that program.

speedyink wrote:
I don’t know how rare this is or if the price of ok or not, but I saw the mention of Virtual Double Yakuman.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Virtual-Boy-Tsuushin-Tsushin-Magazine-Japan-Import-Virtual-Double-Yakuman-/281449624499?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4187b473b3

It is fairly rare, and it might sell for close to that amount even on Yahoo Auctions Japan, but I’d say that Yahoo Auctions Japan would be the place to look for a lower price.

Of course, since scans of every single page of the magazine already appear on the site, a lot of people tend not to buy it at all, no matter how low the price, especially if they can’t speak or read Japanese and don’t want to try to take the time to get it translated via translation software, etc.

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/articles/?s020115001

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

It is fairly rare, and it might sell for close to that amount even on Yahoo Auctions Japan, but I’d say that Yahoo Auctions Japan would be the place to look for a lower price.

Of course, since scans of every single page of the magazine already appear on the site, a lot of people tend not to buy it at all, no matter how low the price, especially if they can’t speak or read Japanese and don’t want to try to take the time to get it translated via translation software, etc.

http://www.planetvb.com/modules/articles/?s020115001

Oh awesome, I didn’t realize the while thing was on this site.

Is that an OK price for the Mario clash nfr in your opinion?

speedyink wrote:
Is that an OK price for the Mario clash nfr in your opinion?

Well, I do know that CIB Japanese Mario Clash Demo games sell on Yahoo Auctions Japan for the same price as the regular Japanese Mario Clash retail games, so for a grand total of about 40.00 to 50.00 US Dollars, which would probably even cover the proxy service fees and international shipping when all is said and done. Chances are, this Ebay seller got these copies for about that amount total and marked them up for some profit.

Thus, if you are comfortable with waiting a little bit for one to appear on Yahoo Auctions Japan and paying a total of 50.00 US Dollars or less to get a copy via a proxy service, then do that. Otherwise, if you don’t want to wait and are interested in getting one now, and this price isn’t too much higher to you than the 50.00 US Dollar price that, again, will likely include proxy fees and international shipping, then go ahead and get this one.

In general, it is always best to buy Japanese games from a Japanese site rather than Ebay, if you are looking for the best prices. This is often how Ebay sellers get their inventory stock of Japanese games in the first place, so there is no need to use the Ebay sellers as middlemen for such and put extra money into their pockets. Of course, the Ebay sellers do know very well that the same games that sell for low on the Japanese sites regularly sell for more on Ebay, which is why they continue to see success in their quick buys, markups, and reselling.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Well, I do know that CIB Japanese Mario Clash Demo games sell on Yahoo Auctions Japan for the same price as the regular Japanese Mario Clash retail games, so for a grand total of about 40.00 to 50.00 US Dollars, which would probably even cover the proxy service fees and international shipping when all is said and done. Chances are, this Ebay seller got these copies for about that amount total and marked them up for some profit.

Thus, if you are comfortable with waiting a little bit for one to appear on Yahoo Auctions Japan and paying a total of 50.00 US Dollars or less to get a copy via a proxy service, then do that. Otherwise, if you don’t want to wait and are interested in getting one now, and this price isn’t too much higher to you than the 50.00 US Dollar price that, again, will likely include proxy fees and international shipping, then go ahead and get this one.

In general, it is always best to buy Japanese games from a Japanese site rather than Ebay, if you are looking for the best prices. This is often how Ebay sellers get their inventory stock of Japanese games in the first place, so there is no need to use the Ebay sellers as middlemen for such and put extra money into their pockets. Of course, the Ebay sellers do know very well that the same games that sell for low on the Japanese sites regularly sell for more on Ebay, which is why they continue to see success in their quick buys, markups, and reselling.

Thanks for the info, Ben! It’s definitely good to know. I’ll have to look up how this proxy thing works, never purchased off of a Japanese Auction before. It definitely seems like the way to go, I’m all about saving money =P

Edit: So I looked up the Proxy service, I found spebid, is that one good or do you have a preferred one?

  • This reply was modified 10 years ago by speedyink.

speedyink wrote:
So I looked up the Proxy service, I found spebid, is that one good or do you have a preferred one?

I simply use Buyee, which is the one advertised on Yahoo Auctions Japan. They charge a fee of 500 yen or 10% of the winning auction bid, whichever is larger. Other than that, you pretty much just pay the winning auction amount and the precise shipping charges to get your items shipped from Buyee’s warehouse in Japan to your home address. I have never had a single issue with them ever, so I have always received my items in great condition, without ever having to inquire as to where my shipment is. Buyee also offers the snipe bidding service, so they won’t place your bid until about 5 minutes before an auction ends, which helps the items not be bid up so high.

I haven’t checked much into other proxy services, but if the fees for spebid are more than what Buyee charges, then definitely go with Buyee, as it is a very trustworthy proxy service. But if its fees are about the same and if it also offers snipe bidding, then it could also be a good choice.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
I simply use Buyee, which is the one advertised on Yahoo Auctions Japan. They charge a fee of 500 yen or 10% of the winning auction bid, whichever is larger. Other than that, you pretty much just pay the winning auction amount and the precise shipping charges to get your items shipped from Buyee’s warehouse in Japan to your home address. I have never had a single issue with them ever, so I have always received my items in great condition, without ever having to inquire as to where my shipment is. Buyee also offers the snipe bidding service, so they won’t place your bid until about 5 minutes before an auction ends, which helps the items not be bid up so high.

I haven’t checked much into other proxy services, but if the fees for spebid are more than what Buyee charges, then definitely go with Buyee, as it is a very trustworthy proxy service. But if its fees are about the same and if it also offers snipe bidding, then it could also be a good choice.

They charge $30 a year for unlimited buying. You’d think at that price they’d be mentioned everywhere, but when doing research I really can’t find much on them. Maybe I’ll start with buyee, as they sure do make it easy to use with yahoo japan. Thanks again Ben, you’ve been really helpful.

speedyink wrote:
Thanks again Ben, you’ve been really helpful.

You’re welcome. I assume you know how to search for all things Virtual Boy on there?

Just always do a general search with バーチャルボーイ and see what new treasures can be found. Speaking of which, there is currently a CIB copy of Mansion of Insmouse sitting at about 17 bucks, and its going to end in about 11 hours:

http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r119586154

There’s no telling how low it will sell for, so if you want to add it to your collection, it might be good to jump on. It usually sells for about $120 or more on Ebay, but it can sell for much, much less on Yahoo Auctions Japan.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
You’re welcome. I assume you know how to search for all things Virtual Boy on there?

Just always do a general search with バーチャルボーイ and see what new treasures can be found. Speaking of which, there is currently a CIB copy of Mansion of Insmouse sitting at about 17 bucks, and its going to end in about 11 hours:

http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r119586154

There’s no telling how low it will sell for, so if you want to add it to your collection, it might be good to jump on. It usually sells for about $120 or more on Ebay, but it can sell for much, much less on Yahoo Auctions Japan.

I figured out the correct katakana spelling off my VB manual, and actually, I put a snipe bid on that exact item! Someone has bid it up since then, its now sitting closer to 50 bucks.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Speaking of which, there is currently a CIB copy of Mansion of Insmouse sitting at about 17 bucks, and its going to end in about 11 hours:

http://page13.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r119586154

:O

And coincidentally(?), that game was released today 19 years ago.

Do sellers there usually ship worldwide? If yes, how much does it cost?

speedyink wrote:
I figured out the correct katakana spelling off my VB manual, and actually, I put a snipe bid on that exact item! Someone has bid it up since then, its now sitting closer to 50 bucks.

Well, keep on the lookout for other Mansion of Insmouse’s to appear in the near future. They actually appear somewhat regularly on that site at good prices.

HorvatM wrote:
Do sellers there usually ship worldwide? If yes, how much does it cost?

If you use a proxy service like Buyee, you never have to worry about whether the original seller on Yahoo Auctions Japan will ship internationally, because the proxy service will be in Japan, so the original seller will always ship to the proxy service, and then the proxy service will always ship to you.

The cost of an international shipment of one CIB Virtual Boy game from Japan to the United states is typically 10 to 15 US Dollars. It’s usually best to buy games in small lots for the best overall deals. I’ve actually gone on the United States Postal Service’s website and calculated what it should cost to ship from Japan to the USA via USPS, and I was happy to find that the calculation usually came out to what Buyee was charging me for shipping, so I was confident that they weren’t jacking up the shipping costs on me with “hidden fees” in them. I imagine that anybody should be able to use the postal service website of their country to be able to approximate what shipping charges from Japan to their country would be, based on the estimated weight of however many Virtual Boy games will be contained in the package.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Well, keep on the lookout for other Mansion of Insmouse’s to appear in the near future. They actually appear somewhat regularly on that site at good prices.

Oh I’ll keep a lookout for sure! Good to hear they do appear somewhat regularly.

speedyink wrote:

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Well, keep on the lookout for other Mansion of Insmouse’s to appear in the near future. They actually appear somewhat regularly on that site at good prices.

Oh I’ll keep a lookout for sure! Good to hear they do appear somewhat regularly.

Here is another one: http://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/f145512599

 

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