Rakuten Global Market Closing

Always used this to buy JDM grips. Now it’s closing down June 1st. Anyone know of another place to purchase some JDM items that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg?

This news is upsetting. They were my source for JDM goodness.

Very bad news. Now chris tsg will charge even more for things. Luckily for jdm gurus, the usa clubs have come a long way and are almost just as good.

A lot of retailers in Japan are on eBay now. Golf Partner is there and they move a lot of equipment from various sources in Japan.

True but the prices are marked up a LOT.

Well, eBay and paypal take a combined 12 or 13% from your total. 10% off the top from eBay and 2-3% for the paypal fee.

Yes, eBay fees are ridiculous, more than twice as high from what is reasonable. More like car title loans and credit cards. What’s worse is eBay owns PayPal so they hit you twice. If a major disruptor competitor came along with total fees of no more than 5 percent, and the capital to ride it out as it grows, people would abandon eBay.

I'm really trying to justify the $180 it's going to cost me to change to NOWON grips.

Yeah but I'd see an older JDM club on Rakuten for like $60 and see a similar one on ebay for $180-$200. Much more than the 13% markup.

saw this the other day while browsing through Rakuten

i thought they're just moving the JP stuff to another website? if not, then it's a major disappointment

Sounds like you’ll have to set up some weird proxy Japan address not sure how it would all work. Certainly not as easy as it is now.

Yahoo Auctions and Buyee.

Me too!

Its not totally clear, doesnt sound good

Can someone explain the difference between existence and nothing on the NO1 grips like it shows on this page?

https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/banzaigolf/item/10000773/

Looks like they ribbed “backline” and the colors mixed up

That’s a shame, they were also a great place to by Japanese watches such as Credor/Grand Seiko.

So disappointing. I was waiting for Japan ems to start shipping again and now I can't even buy the irons I wanted. A similar set on eBay is marked up 100%

This is incredibly upsetting. It always blew my mind how much better prices were through sellers on RGM than places like eBay or TSG. The best part was how insanely fast shipping was from virtually any seller to my home. I remember when UST released "The Attas". I made the purchase on Thursday, seller installed the adapter and grip of my choice, shipped the item, and it was at my home in the USA by Saturday afternoon. Always good communication. I've had a couple sets built to spec by just ticking the boxes on Rakuten and they arrived perfect every time. On the other hand, for me, going through a proxy like Buyee was a pain in the a** after being spoiled by Rakuten. After purchasing the item, the seller has to send to the proxy who then will inspect the item and send to the buyer. That is someone else in the mix taking their cut and slowing down the process. Looks like that's the only way to do it now and I hope this changed. I know plenty of users on here that use Yahoo/Buyee and have no problems with it, but in my own experience, I paid more in fees, waited longer for my item, and communication was non-existent. I would have bought through TSG, but the savings were too good through Rakuten sellers to justify it. Are there any other options for purchasing custom JDM irons online?

It didn't seem very out of the ordinary back in 2018/19 to be able to receive a package from Japan in 2 days, but little things like RGM closing really do open my eyes to how much the pandemic is affecting the global economy.

Sorry to resurrect the thread and go on a rant, but for someone like me who loves the ease of access to JDM equipment at reasonable end prices, Rakuten Global Market closing is a tough one to stomach.

I feel the same way!

I’m not too well read on it, but it seems Rakuten bought ebates and is now using that platform with the name Rakuten for the US. Basically no longer commerce but a cash back online shopping site.

I guess, but I pay more than 10% buyers premium in all on line auctions I participate in. Usually 15 to 18, plus tax, plus a 3% fee for CC or 35 bucks for a wire. Honestly 10% is fairly cheap for the audience they put your stuff in front of.

It looks like it's somewhat closing. If I am reading it correctly, they are converting it to markets for the different countries, and then opening a forwarding service for fee so we can still order internationally. Has anyone signed up for the fwding service?

Not familiar. Do we use Buyee (and set up account there) in order to participants in Yahoo Japan auctions? TIA.

Exactly. Buyee or other services (Jauce, etc) allow you to proxy bid on Yahoo Auctions Japan. They add quite a few fees but very reliable.

Thanks!

Any update on best service to use or ways to access global market...looking for used irons for off season project.

Update: Rakuten Japan is now offering shipping to U.S. via Rakuten Global Express.  A bit of a hassle to setup an account but it's smooth after setup.  Items from Golf Partner Japan are available via Rakuten.

https://www.rakuten.co.jp/

https://globalexpress.rakuten.co.jp/

https://www.rakuten.co.jp/golfpartner/

On 12/1/2020 at 10:12 AM, jt2gt said:

Any update on best service to use or ways to access global market...looking for used irons for off season project.

Still rakuten. Not every store shipped to USA before anyways, so now you get a forwarding address that works with all stores. Before that I had to use buyee for some purchases.