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Frequently Asked Questions
Yahoo Japan & Proxy Bidding
| What is Yahoo Japan? |
| Yahoo Japan is Yahoo's auction site located in Japan. Only Japanese speaking people are allowed to use it, and most sellers will not ship to people who do not live in Japan. |
| How do I bid on Yahoo Japan? |
| That's easy! Just sign up for an account at Rinkya!
At Rinkya, you can bid by yourself, REAL-TIME on Yahoo Japan items. Please note all Rinkya account holders must be 18 years of age and have a credit card. |
Japanese
| How do I read Japanese on my computer? |
First, you need to be able to display Japanese characters
on your computer. There are a number of pages on the net such as this one that can help you with that. For translation, you can use one of the free resources on the net. Babelfish has both
text and whole webpage translation available. For more specific help on Yahoo Japan see the Rinkya Help page. |
| Does Rinkya translate for me? |
We translate only small things for you. Please
make use of internet resources to help you in translating. A useful site with free translation engines is AltaVista's Babelfish. The online dictionary interface WWWJDIC is useful for looking up words and phrases. Rinkya also has translation services available when you use MyRinkya. Rinkya is not responsible for any mistranslations. Please use at your own risk.
If in doubt, please ask us and we may be able to help!
For an explanation of what some of the different parts of a standard Yahoo Japan auction mean, please see the Rinkya Help
Page.
Remember, Rinkya is not responsible if you misunderstand the Japanese in your auction.
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| How do I find items if I can't read Japanese? |
| Use our search engine and type in the show you are looking for in English, and our search engine will find the links on Yahoo Japan for you! |
| What should I look for regarding fakes, reproductions, etc.? |
| Please see the Rinkya Help Page. |
| The item/category I want isn't showing up in your Search Engine |
| This means that your category may not have any items
on Yahoo Japan at this time. Your category may also not be in our database, so please request that it be added by going here. |
| Why can't I just bid for myself on Yahoo Japan? |
| Japanese, on the whole, will not deal with people who do not speak Japanese, and generally will not ship outside of Japan. There is also a problem with payment, as money transfers between Japanese banks are the usual method used and accepted. |
Rinkya System
| What is the Rinkya system? |
| Rinkya houses a self-contained
bidding system where the user can sign up for a Rinkya account and bid
on their own, real-time, on Yahoo Japan. The Rinkya system is simply an
emulation of Yahoo Japan with an English bidding interface. |
| How do I sign up for an account? |
To sign up for an account at Rinkya, please go here:
- Fill out the sign-up form
- You will receive a confirmation e-mail instructing you how to register a credit card and place your deposit.
- Wait for your activation (which will happen within 24 hours) and you are ready to bid!
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| Do I need to put a deposit down to bid? |
| In order to even have an account at Rinkya, you must
put a credit card on file to place a deposit down. To read about deposits, please click here. |
| What is the exchange rate you use? |
| Please see the most recent yen rate in the News section. This rate may change at anytime. The true exchange rate at the banks is 2-3 yen below the actual published rate which is why we use our own rate. |
| How do I increase my deposit amount? |
| Please use the Add to Deposit Page. Your deposit will be added within. If you anticipate a high bid, please plan ahead for your deposit. We will try to add your deposit as soon as possible; however, we may not be able to do so in time if you wait and attempt to increase your deposit during last-minute bidding. Please keep this in mind. |
| Can I bid if I am not from the US? |
You can bid as long as you have one of the four major credit cards we accept (Visa, MC, AMEX, Discover) and a legitimate address and phone number which we can verify if
necessary.
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Payment
| What forms of payment do you accept? |
| Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, Discover. Debit or check cards that have a credit card logo (Mastercard, Visa, etc.) are also accepted. |
| When do I pay for my item? |
You must pay for your item by filling out the payment form immediately after your auction is over. (You will recieve instructions with a winning e-mail notice).
Shipping and handling to the US is paid by automatically charging your card AFTER we ship your items. We will send you an invoice.
If you do not pay for your item, by being a Rinkya account holder and agreeing to our contract and terms of service, you have already authorized us to charge your card. |
| Can I pay with a different credit card than the one I use for my deposit? |
| When filling in your payment form, you have the option
of using a different card. Enter the information for the new card in the space provided. Please note that we will use this card from now on for charging your auctions, unless you provide us with another card number
to charge at that time. |
| Do I still get charged the same commission for lower-priced items? |
| There is a minimum commission of $15 regardless of the price of your item. This is necessary because there is a minimum amount of work and overhead involved in handling a Yahoo
Japan auction, regardless of the size of the item. |
| What if I am late with my payment? |
Payment must be made within 48 hours. If you do not make your payment within 48 hours, you will receive a late notice. Afterwards you will receive a second
notice. When you receive this second late notice, you will be charged a $10 late fee. If you still do not pay, we will automatically charge your card. If we have to charge your card automatically, you will have a total late fee of $20 added to your final amount.
If you have a problem, such as being out of town when the auction ends, etc., please contact us ahead of time and let us know. We will charge your card automatically and you will not be charged a late fee. |
| Can I have a refund if my items are damaged or my seller does not send my item to Rinkya?? |
| There is Postal Insurance which covers lost, stolen or damaged goods in the mail. If your item is ruined, damaged, missing, etc., you must open it in front of a postal worker to make your insurance claim. Rinkya is not responsible for damaged, ruined, missing items. All items are insured and any incident should be taken up with the post office. Rinkya will provide you with the necessary information
to help with your claim. |
| Do you have seperate charges even if I bid on items from the same seller? |
| All auctions are treated seperately, regardless of the fact they may be from the same seller. Rinkya's system is automated and cannot recognize auctions that may be from same sellers.
We hope to provide a more intuitive system in the future that can recognize same seller auctions. |
MyRinkya
| What is MyRinkya? |
| MyRinkya is a way to save and bookmark your favorite searches on your own personal page. |
| How do I set up MyRinkya? |
| When you use Rinkya's search engine, check the boxes next to the search you wish to save. Click the Save Searches button and you will be prompted to log-in, set-up your new
account or be taken straight to your MyRinkya page you have previously set-up. Start MyRinkya set-up by searching for your favorite items! Search |
| What features does MyRinkya have? |
| With MyRinkya you can log-in anywhere to your personal account, save your searches as well as have your own watchlist that can be synchronized to whichever time zone you prefer. |
| I am having MyRinkya problems, what do I do? |
| Please e-mail our MyRinkya help desk atmyrink@rinkya.com. |
| How do I add items to my watchlist? |
| In order to add items to your watchlist, please make sure you are searching within the Rinkya search system and you will see a link at the top, upper-right hand corner that says: "Click here to watchlist this item!" (It's under "Click here to bid on this item"). Please click on the link and follow the instructions by entering a description title for your watchlist item. |
| How many searches and individual auctions can I save? |
| You can save up to 50 searches as well as 50 watchlist items. |
| Do I need to have a Rinkya account to use MyRinkya? |
| No, you do not need a Rinkya bidding account to use the MyRinkya system. MyRinkya is a free service to visitors on our site. |
| What is MyPass? |
| MyPass is an option where you can create a password account for MyRinkya should you become logged out or want to set myRinkya up on another machine, etc. Your MyPass is NOT the same password you use for bidding on Rinkya, it's wise to always use different passwords for maximum security. We may incorporate the two systems in the future for easier access, however, until then, please choose a different password. |
Combining Auctions
| Do you combine auctions from the same seller? |
| Unfortunately, Rinkya does not combine any bank fees, shipping fees or commission fees from same seller auctions. We have an automated system at this time that does not provide for this. Hopefully in the future we can extend this feature to you. |
Shipping & Handling
| How do I request shipping to me in my home country? |
Please log into your Bid History & request we ship your items that have arrived in Japan by filling out this form located here. Shipping is the actual cost at the current yen rate on our site plus a 25% handling fee.
**Please note, we insure all packages for the full value. |
| How long does it take to get my items? |
| Items will be sent within 1 week of your request. Items are marked shipped and you will receive your invoice soon afterwards. |
| How do I know if my item has arrived in Japan? |
Please log into your Bid History and view the statuses:
Items that have not arrived yet: jpseller
Items that have arrived to our warehouse in Japan: jprinkya
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| Do you ship to other countries and is the rate the same? |
| We ship all over the world and the rate may be different according to where you live. |
| Is there a size and/or weight limit? |
| Please note there is a weight and size limit. If your item
exceeds these limits, we will pick an alternative method of shipping for you that may not be inexpensive. Please do not go over the limit as we cannot ship cars, bikes, arcade game cabins, etc. Size & Weight Limits |
| Is there a difference in s+h rates for shipping heavier items? |
| Normally, s+h is $20-$25 EMS to the US for normal-sized items; however, in the case of manga, books, etc. we may use INSURED SAL service. SAL service takes 4-6 weeks to arrive and costs may vary depending on weight. To avoid the risk of damage, cels, posters, etc. cannot be shipped
together with heavy items. To view shipping options, please visit our Shipping page. |
My Account
| What do the different item statuses mean? |
On the bid history page you will find a list of all the auctions you have
won, with a status listed for each one.
If the status is "won", you have won
the item but not yet paid for it.
If the status is "paidhold" you have paid
for the item and it is awaiting shipping. Your items will wait at "paidhold"
status until they are shipped.
Items that have not arrived yet: jpseller
Items that have arrived to our warehouse in Japan: jprinkya
Please read the color-coded explanation located in your account info.
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| How do I know if my credit card has been charged for an item? |
| Your card will be charged 24-48 hours after submitting your payment form. If your item status on the bid history page is "paid don't ship", it means your card has been charged. Payment is posted up to 48 hours after you have sent it. If there is a problem, we will contact you. |
| I need to change the credit card I have on file with you. What do I do? |
| Please enter your new card number when you pay. We will use this new card number until you enter another. |
Bidding
| What if the seller doesn't ship internationally, can I still bid? |
| You can bid on any auctions on Yahoo Japan with the Rinkya system. Even ones that do not ship internationally. We take care of all that for you.. |
| Can more than one person bid on the same item? |
| As many people who have interest in an item can bid
on it at any time on the Rinkya system. This is called aninternal bid. |
| What if I already have an ID on Yahoo Japan? Can I bid myself and you take care of everything afterwards? |
| We only handle customers with Rinkya accounts. With Rinkya there are NO WORRIES about placing timely or last minute bids, because with Rinkya you have your own account where
you can bid yourself, REAL-TIME on Yahoo Japan. You are in control at all times. |
| Can I use Rinkya to bid on an auction with a buy price? |
| Yes! When you bid with Rinkya, it is just like bidding with your own account. To buy an auction out for the buy price, simply bid that price with your Rinkya account. Rinkya will take care of the rest of the transaction, just as for a normal auction. |
| How do I know if I won? |
| You will receive an e-mail notice as soon as the auction is over, telling you that you have won. This notice will also include the amount you must pay as well as instructions on how to pay. |
| How do I know if I have been outbid? |
| You will receive an outbid e-mail from Rinkya. However, due to the nature of the internet, e-mail may at times be late or not get through. It is always a good idea to check your auction status before the end of the auction by logging in to your account.
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| Do I receive any notice when I have been outbid? |
| Yes, Rinkya sends an outbid notice to your registered e-mail address. |
| How do I find out if I am the high bidder? |
| Use the Get Item Status page. This link is also available from the "Bid accepted" page, with the item URL already filled in for you. |
| What is the ID Rinkya uses on Yahoo Japan? |
| We currently use the ID "yjrinkya"; however, that changes from time to time. The best way to check if you are the high bidder is by looking at your bid history. Just because the Rinkya ID is up there, it does not mean you are necessarily the high bidder. It could be another Rinkya user! |
| How does internal bidding work? |
| Please see theRinkya Help Page for some examples concerning internal bidding (that is, when one Rinkya bidder bids against another Rinkya bidder). |
| What if the first bidder on an auction backs out and the seller contacts Rinkya,will Rinkya contact me if I am next in line to receive the item? |
| In the event that a Yahoo Japan seller contacts Rinkya about something in your interest, we will contact you. If you are second in line to receive an item on a backed out auction, you will be contacted if the seller contacts us. Please note this status does not automatically register with our system and takes a bit longer to process since it is not an automated action. |
System Problems
| I keep getting browser errors. |
| Rinkya's homepage works best when viewed with Internet Explorer. We are not fully compatible with Netscape, but you CAN use the system successfully on Netscape. You may occasionally experience errors like "Data Missing--This document resulted from a POST operation and has expired from the ache." If you wish you can repost the form data to recreate the document by pressing the reload button. Everything will be reloaded as before. |
| Rinkya says my bid is not accepted, but when I look on Yahoo Japan at my item, there is no name at all. |
| This means that the Yahoo Japan seller has a reserve on his/her auction and you have not met this reserve. If you choose to, keep bidding until you have reached the reserve. The Rinkya system will not distinguish these auctions from normal ones. So when the 'Bid Accepted' message comes up, you have the highest bid. |
| Why do I have to keep logging in? |
| Rinkya is a secure site. Having to log in separately each time increases security. In the future we may create a cookie system. |
| I lost my password, what do I do? |
| If you lost your password please go to your Personal Settings page and click on the Lost Password link. |
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