Buyee

I discovered Buyee through a sponsorship deal that famous YouTuber CandyEvie did with them and she claimed to have bought quite the collection of Japan-exclusive merch through the site. Out of curiosity I decided to give Buyee a try.

Buyee is a "proxy" site that allows you to buy anything from Japan have it "shipped" to your home and is a service that was "meant" to be a platform for people who want Japan-exclusive items but don't have the means to have it shipped internationally. It features goods you can "buy" from sites like Yahoo Japan Shopping, Yahoo Japan Auction, Rakuten, and a handful of others. Within moments you will realise why the entire site is nothing but a scam.

So you start by browsing through the Japanese sites and find the very item you like and pay for it. Buyee will buy it for you and bring the item to the warehouse where you have 30 days to pay for shipping so that the item gets delivered to you.

The 30 day storage timer is already counting down and all shipping methods from Japan to Canada are completely down. At this point it's beyond obvious that Buyee will pocket all that money that I spent to buy these products and sell them to someone else come what may. If you're going to count down on the timer AT LEAST give us a means to get it shipped here and NOT DEADLOCK US INTO AN UNSHIPPABLE STATE.

I would like to start out by saying that if you need an item that might sell out very fast, then buy from Janbox (which is the only similar type of service for Mercari purchases), because they are really great (great customer service, and very fast, and all around great), because they will order your Mercari item very quick, within just a few minutes. Buyee on the other hand, can take many hours to purchase your Mercari item for you (after you have paid for it), in which time, the item might sell to someone else in the meantime. I have lost out on a few items that I really wanted, due to buyee being so slow about ordering them for me. Janbox is super fast though, when it comes to Mercari, and the money can be charged to your paypal account at the time of ordering. The warehouse employees at Buyee are not very good, and not very bright, or maybe just completely uncaring, so I highly recommend that if you order from Buyee, through a Yahoo auction win for example, to choose the Light (Zero fee) plan, which does not come with insurance, or just the Insured Only plan, which does, but with those 2 options, the warehouse will NOT open or repackage your items, which is a good thing, in my opinion. If it is a very expensive item, then you should look for a much better Proxy Buying service (Maybe Zenmarket for example, though I have never used their service). Anyways, overall, I have been very happy with Buyee for the most part, other then the few items that I missed due to choosing them (instead of Janbox) to buy a Mercari item for me. Buyee is very fast at getting the item shipped though, just so you use either the Light Plan, or the Insured Only plan. If you use the Inspection plan, then it will be slower, and the package might be heavier after they repackage it, for safety during transit. On the plus side, they are willing to downsize your items, so that the shipping costs will be cheaper.

I bought three identical items on this site. Each of them cost about 12 dollars.
To each item, the seller added three types of different fees to the value of the goods.
Buyee Service Fee: 300yen
Payment Fee: 200yen
Plan fees: 500yen
The total amount of the fee is about 10 dollars.
Before buying, the seller did not indicate the cost of shipping the goods. This value could be found only after purchase. Later I found out that the shipping of each product of three items costs about $ 17-19.
The purchasing a product for $ 12.64 ultimately brought me to a total cost of $ 40. I found it very expensive and asked the seller to cancel the goods.
The seller replied that the item is yet in the warehouse and ready for shipping that is why cancellation according to their rules is not possible.
Then I asked the seller to unite all three items in one package and send it to me. The seller replied that in order to do this I must log in to my account and apply for shipping in one parcel. I logged into my account and saw that before I get information about the cost of merging parcel I have to pay a fee of 1000 yen (about 10 USD). Then I sent an email to the seller. In the email, I explained that I would like to know how expensive merging parcel is before I pay the fee of 1000 yen. The seller refused to say me the cost of merging parcel and said again to apply for merging parcel and pay at first 1000 yen.
I logged back and in the options, I saw an action called "dispose". I clicked on "dispose" and information appeared that when you select this option, the three above fees(Buyee Service Fee, Payment Fee, Plan fees) are not refundable. From the context, I assumed that in choosing this option I will get back the cost of the goods, namely US $ 12.64.
However, the seller will not refund me any cent.

To: *******@buyee.jp <*******@buyee.jp>
Subject: Re: [*******-2]Re :[ Buyee] About Shopping

I refer to your email.
Yes, I DO understand that orders, when placed, cannot be cancelled.
Please stop telling me that orders once placed, cannot be cancelled. I know.

However, as I wrote many times, we are dealing with a different issue here.
You missed the main point, the primary issue and the root cause.
It is one thing that orders placed cannot be cancelled.,
But it is s different thing (separate issue) that the order placed CANNOT be fulfilled.
Please see the distinction.

I contacted the seller. The items i purchased are out of stock INDEFINITELY.
And the supplier / manufacturer too- they have run out of inventory,
Ended their production run and have no plans in the near future.
I appreciate that, finally, you bother to get your relevant department to verify this with the seller

Again, dismissing me off superficially and glossing over by mechanically telling me orders once placed cannot be cancelled (repeatedly in view of the many times I reached out to you) is frustrating and exasperating.

I seek your understand and listening ear as a customer service associate.
Please, please please seek to understand your customer concern first, rather than jump to the conclusion and rush to be understood!

And out of all my emails written, everyone except you, Coco,
Bothered to get your purchasing department to check with the seller.

Your other associates cannot even be bothered to exercise due diligence and care in this aspect.
Mechanically, they just copied and pasted your template script telling me orders placed cannot be cancelled. At best, could not be bothered to read each ticket. At worst, it appears to anyone whether BUYEE customer or potential customer a lack of responsibility and diligence.

You might be paid on the basis of the number of customer tickets closed. But I am sure your management would be shocked that when operationalized in the field and in the trenches, what the customer associates are doing end up backfired.

Instead of providing customer service, your customer service ends up doing a dis-service to customers and eventually boomeranged back to Buyee.

PLEASE understand the root cause and the main issue.
It is NOT a simple mater of reciting the mantra that orders, once placed, cannot be cancelled.

Do NOT use Buyee service. You will regret it
Used Buyee service to purchase a $1,800 USD Hi Fi amplifier (Denon PMA 2500) off the Yahoo Japan website. It was for a brand new item (Auction Ref ID: r*******). Once the product arrived at Buyee's warehouse, I requested for a paid photo verification and this process alone took 3 days and they send me about 4 photos of the product and the contents inside the retail box. 3 days is frankly a little slow. The product was delivered safely and the outer box checked out to be in a great condition. It was a double box with very well paddings, thanks to the Yahoo auction seller. However, upon turning on the product, I noticed a major issue. The source selection dial (to change to CD / phono / Aux / etc) does NOT work. Luckily I could change the source via the included remote controller. I sent an email to Buyee and they asked for some photos proof describing the issue. After 24 hrs, they said there is nothing they can do to help me. I said it is a brand new item and at lease you guys could help me to discuss the issue with the Yahoo auction seller but they refused. I was hoping they could provide some kind of support or help me with warranty claim but the product is no longer in Japan, and Denon does not honor international warranty. So the only way to get help is to physically carry this 30kg box back to Japan and get warranty job done inside of Japan, which is almost impossible due to the fact I am in Taiwan and would not want take the risk of flying during the covid 19 outbreak. I could ship this into Japan but there is no way for me to receive the fixed / return shipment from the manufacturer. Not a good experience. As a result I have open up a chargeback or dispute with my credit card company