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Business idea - Good or Bad?


chownc

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Hi guys,

 

I've been looking at the Yahoo auctions Japan site (http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/) a fair bit lately as I have a friend who was living over there for a while and I'd noticed a few nice parts for my Z. Turns out that most of the Japanese sellers won't ship internationally. :rolleyesg

 

My idea would be to act as a proxy bidder and international forwarding service for anyone wanting to buy from Yahoo auctions Japan. On a customer's request I would place the bid, win the auction and have the item received locally in Japan. Then it could be forwarded anywhere in the world. I know there are some people out there doing this already (mailorderjapan, etc) but perhaps I could specialise in hard-to-get, JDM or just *nice* parts for Z's.

 

Or maybe this is just a dumb idea?!?!? Are there people on this site doing this sort of thing already? Is there enough demand for these items and would people be willing to pay a premium to get them? I'm not sure if I'd be allowed to advertise on hybridz or any other forums either... not sure how I'd go about marketing the business and keeping the runnning costs down.

 

These are all just VERY VERY noisy thoughts. Check out the links below and let me know what you think of my idea. I've included some pics from various items on the site.

 

Thanks, Chris

 

 

S30Z - 240Z, 260Z, 280Z

asunaro_hasegawa-img600x450-1218031597ah9xau9241.jpg

http://page16.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u30558542

 

toyosima4113-img600x450-12271742301aethj68521.jpg

http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k105618190

 

S130Z - 280ZX

poilkpoikl-img600x450-1228306527m36gln86558.jpg

http://page2.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/b92365074

(Not sure why this shows up under S130Z... but anyhoo)

 

Z31 - 300ZX (83-89)

te71ae86-img600x450-12282333045x4x468095.jpg

http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e83413056

 

Z32 - 300ZX (89-96)

600x450-2008071200002.jpg

 

 

Z33 - 350Z

550x325-2008100800507.jpg

http://page3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c184727372

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Interesting idea. I think shipping charges could put a huge damper on your idea. You are talking about shipping to Australia first or having your friend in Japan ship from there (more "locally") to the recipient in the US or Canada?

 

Davy

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There are a few people doing this sort of thing in AU for the local market, some of them sponsor a forum and in return get their own advertising sub site on the forum. Seems to work OK, I'm guessing some of the smarter ones do pretty well $ wise.

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I would think the better move would be to have your buddy go out and buy parts cheaply and then put them on ebay. Otherwise you and your friend are splitting whatever kind of finder's fee type of charge you can justify. Maybe I missed something, but that's how I read it...

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There are several places that offer parts on EBay AU but drop-ship directly from Japan.

The shipping is not as outrageous as one might think (to the west coast at least) and the Japanese EMS post has courrier requirements in the USA---they end up sending a supervisor in his own vehicle out to deliver the parts to my place!

 

I wish our post office was as effcient as Japan Post... I sent cash through the mail there routinely with nary a problem.

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Thanks for the feedback guys. Tony, interesting about the Ebay AU drop-ship guys.

 

My friend in Japan is a very good one but unfortunately he knows little about cars and car parts!! The idea would be that he would simply receive goods locally in Japan and then ship them on to their respective buyers.

 

Jon (jmortensen), yes you're right - I think it would be good to go out and buy parts to put up on ebay. Unfortunately, I don't think my friend would be capable of this - just don't think he'd know what to look for. He might be able to negotiate with suppliers of new parts if I guided him... ie. given a Manufacturer and Part #'s

 

This is where I started to think of Yahoo Auctions Japan... This lets me "view" and read about items remotely and even have my friend ask follow-up questions to the sellers in Japanese asynchronously. I guess it also lets him take ownership of that part of the supply chain.

 

The question of fees is still a concern - I guess it's the age-old business conundrum... How to provide an attractively priced service but still manage to make enough profit to make it worthwhile!!?

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I would say that if you wanted to make this a truly successful idea you would need to also include other cars. Honda and Toyota fans generally pay a nice chunk of money just for "JDM street cred," which means that they would be more likely to utilize your services more often than Z fans.

 

All in all it sounds like a good idea, I just wonder if the premium you would be forced to charge would be worth it in the long run.

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I would say that if you wanted to make this a truly successful idea you would need to also include other cars. Honda and Toyota fans generally pay a nice chunk of money just for "JDM street cred," which means that they would be more likely to utilize your services more often than Z fans.

All in all it sounds like a good idea, I just wonder if the premium you would be forced to charge would be worth it in the long run.

 

 

Agreed. Z car guys tend to just want to go fast, we don't really care where the parts come from ;)

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One problem now is the value of the AU dollar, aka, pacific peso. Its down against most others eg not so long ago it was ~95c against the greenback, now its ~65c.

 

Makes no sense to me but there it is, purchases from the US on hold :(

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That's true... I think the currency conversion rates and fees may cause some headaches for this business too.

 

From what I understood, the US dollar is quite strong at the moment because recently many investors have sold their investments for cash. Because the US$ was the most convenient this pushed it's demand and price up. Although, I may have this totally wrong!

 

I wonder if this means that people in the US are getting a good deal on imports from Japan & Australia at the moment?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi guys,

 

Then it could be forwarded anywhere in the world. I know there are some people out there doing this already (mailorderjapan, etc) but perhaps I could specialise in hard-to-get, JDM or just *nice* parts for Z's.

 

My first post and a friend of mine gave me this link. Believe it or not, its a lot of work. Friends are great and they will go a long way for you but when the going gets real tough, it gets very hard to keep the business running. If you are personally unable to be on the ground in Japan to arrange the parts and manage the shipments, it would be impossible to sustain the business in the long run. For a hobby and a few orders a month, you will be fine but for the long term, you definitely would need a warehouse and a dedicated person to place the orders and make proper arrangements so that your customers do not get upset.

 

I have been doing this for over 5 years now. I started very small and grew up along with my customers. I personally know all my customers very well and they know me very well too. Now, we are able to arrange to a couple containers a month and a very large number of smaller shipments but believe me, its not easy to manage. It was alot more difficult when I was the EVERYTHING. Personally, I wouldnt depend on friends for doing all the hard and dirty for me for the long term but thats me.

 

My only advice would be to make a good plan and see where you would stand in 6 months.

 

My best wishes

 

Azuma

mailorderjapan

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