A Word Of Warning About High5Japan On Ebay

[general_piffle]

If you're new to the world of nihonto be aware of the eBay seller high5japan. I can only give my personal experience as reference but it was by no means a good experience. At around the same time as finding this forum I also found a sword on eBay that I liked the look of being sold by high5japan. He listed it as the saya being a bit loose at the mouth. I asked a few questions and was satisfied with his answers that it would be a simple fix. So I bid and won.

 

When the sword arrived it was actually the tsuba, seppa, and tsuka that were loose. Very loose. As they were clearly never intended to go with that sword. The tsuba and seppa rattled around on the nakago with a good half inch of play. They literally jangled whenever the sword was moved. I got a refund through eBay's rules by opening a case but it was a difficult return that the seller made as protracted as possible - not replying to messages, delaying tactics, just really poor customer service (if any).

 

The sword was then put up for sale again. I watched it out of curiosity and a few weeks ago it sold for around the same price that I'd originally paid for it. This evening I noticed it's up for sale again, so I imagine the buyer after me also returned it. But it's up for sale now at three times the price it sold for at auction:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272074361245

 

So if you are thinking about buying from this seller I'd advise you to be very careful.

[cisco-san]

....the blade is again on eBay!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TACHI-Japanese-Samurai-Katana-Sword-Superb-Mountings-Blade-Condition-/281890719459?hash=item41a1ff06e3:g:xrcAAOSwp5JWURPt

[general_piffle]

Yes Klaus, high5japan is having another go at auctioning it. I have seen him auction some decent enough swords with recent NBTHK papers but this one really isn't listed accurately and his approach to customer service was dreadful - borderline deceitful.

 

Even after I'd returned the sword and it had been signed for (I could see from the delivery tracking) I had to wait days to get a reply from him. When he did reply he said that the mekugi peg had been crushed, insinuated this was my fault, and that it meant the tsuka was stuck. He said he was going to take the sword to an expert to get the tsuka removed and he would take this cost out of my refund.

 

Bearing in mind he also refused to pay return postage for an item that was inaccurately listed I was shocked at his attitude.

 

Fortunately it was only due to the fact that in opening the return with eBay I'd taken detailed pictures of the tsuka including the big gaps between tsuba and seppa that I was able to challenge him. As one of my pictures clearly showed the crushed / split mekugi peg had been there when the sword was delivered to me.

 

Once I pointed this out to him and spent a good deal of time on the phone to eBay he finally conceded and gave me a full refund. But talk about disingenuous. Hence my warning to others where high5japan is concerned.

[Kai-Gunto]

The auction pictures tells a lot. 4 seppas of the same type , looks switch. The look when mounted dosnt look correct. Otherwise does tsuka look like it match saya and getting a blade to fit another koshirae is difficult or impossible. Mekugi-ana on tsuka fits the placement of the mekugi-ana on the nakago. I think it once had other tsuba and seppas.

[drbvac]

I am assuming probably wrongly that you paid much more than 600 bucks for it - has to worth at least that if no Kizu or serious flaws?

[general_piffle]

  On 12/22/2015 at 8:45 PM, drbvac said:

I am assuming probably wrongly that you paid much more than 600 bucks for it - has to worth at least that if no Kizu or serious flaws?

 

It's not the outright price that's important but the way the deal was handled, or rather mishandled. Please see the previous posts for more info. Thanks.

[Alex A]

Joel, did you list the problem when you left a negative feedback for other folk to see?

 

High5 is definitely the wrong name

[general_piffle]

  On 12/24/2015 at 1:39 PM, Alex A said:

Joel, did you list the problem when you left a negative feedback for other folk to see?

 

High5 is definitely the wrong name

 

Hi Alex, I did give a brief summary (limited characters in feedback) and left negative feedback. However, high5japan had the negative feedback removed (sellers can do this a few times every 12 months I believe). Hence me posting what happened here as I think people deserve to go into any transaction with their eyes open and with people coming here to study and ask advice it seemed the appropriate place and the best I could do in the circumstances.

[Alex A]

I didn't know, I was always under the impression that a negative couldn't be removed. Anyway, thanks for the heads up.