JSA and Bidders auction prices vs. eBay?

[Marius]

Dear All,

 

I know that quite a few of you detest eBay for its fakes, fraudulent sellers, badly worn swords etc.. Still, I wanted to ask you a question: do you think that you can get better prices for nihonto than on eBay? I have browsed JSA and my impression is that some items are being offered at significantly lower prices than on eBay. OK, the auctions are not over, but would you find a naginata http://www.bidders.co.jp/item/100446786 in full polish w. new shirasaya being offered for $350 ??? Some entry-level swords really look like they could be a good deal...

 

What seems to have been a good deal has been discussed in another thread as well: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2673

 

What do you think?

[kanetoyo]

Hi There

 

JSA is not better price. And Bidders can bid only for the buyer of the Japan family nationality. Ebya does not ask nationality.

[Marius]

I should really leve this to Brian, our Admin here, but I am so delighted to see your first post here that I cannot help it:

 

Welcome, Hiroshi-san,

 

It is so nice to see you here :-)

[Brian]

Hiroshi-san,

 

A big welcome to you from me too. It is good to have you here. I know sometimes the discussions can be a bit controversial, but I think we would benefit from your input, and I am very happy to have you here.

 

regards,

Brian

[kanetoyo]

Dear Mariuszk san , Brian san

 

I was sometimes looking at this site. The Japanese sword collector in the world has searching for information. I will sometimes send the newest information on Japan and a Japanese sword here. About bidders, there are very many fake bids. Also JSA, An administrator is able to perform it also for JSA. Bidders has many starts from 10,000 yen. But, It can lift value by bid of many fake. And Almost all swords are dealt with at a high price. As for bidders, the system is not completed as an on-line auction.

 

Arigato gozaima shita

[Kajihei]

Here is my experience with JSA and other Japanese auctions.

 

JSA is not an open auction site like ebay. It is a business run by a sowd dealer in order to sell his swords and his customers'. I tried bidding on several items, and I think it is rigged. A sword is listed over and over without a single bid, and then as soon as I bid on it, several other bids come jumping in to push up the price. So I can never buy a sword on the first bid price, even if it was unsold for so long until I put the first bid.

 

BIDDERS is more realistic, although most of the sellers are dealers. Only problem with the sellers there is that if they don't like the price, they will cancel the auction, even just a few minutes before closing, saying, "Sorry, price is too low." Bidders let them do that without any penalty, so this is not a real auction.

 

YAHOO doesn't allow real swords but many sellers, mostly dealers, sneak one in for a short auction, hoping the auction gets a buyer before Yahoo takes it off. Like cat and mouse game. It's a good place to find non-blade items like koshirae and kodogu, but don't expect top quality items there. Lots of gunto parts and militaria stuff. :|

 

About the prices, since so many Japanese dealers now sell on ebay and Japanese shoppers buy on ebay, and at the same time so many gaijin-san shop on Yahoo and Bidders now too, I don't think there is that much of price difference. The power of the Internet has reduced the price differences, I think. It wasn't so before. In 2002 I bought an average katana in koshirae for 8-man yen (about $600 then) from sword auction. I put it on eBay and sold it for $2,500. Ah, darn good business, I thought. Doesn't happen any more. If I buy a sword on JSA and put it on eBay, I don't think I will get my money back. I tried to find a bargain on eBay and sell it in Japan, but that is not doing so well either. You get what you pay for, good or bad, whether in Japan or on eBay, I think.

 

Happy online shopping!

 

Kaj

[Ichi]

Humm... very interesting, Kajihei.