Do not use Buyee Mercari in Japan or lose money and guitar

[EXPcustom]

As many of you know Buyee is a Japan proxy buying service, they recently have partnered with Mercari which is Japan's version of letgo app. For a while Buyee has been having guitars stopped due to CITES issues not just Rosewood but Ebony and Mahogany as well. They(Buyee) are aware of this...

Buyee recently advertised a promo partnership with Mercari allowing you to purchase direct of Mercari from their website but the condition is you have to use international shipping. They will not ship inside Japan even if you have someone else who will provide paperwork for you to export the guitar properly.

I bought a 4k Alembic guitar and attempted to have it shipped to a domestic (in Japan) address as I have an exporter who can do the proper paperwork, they said no it has to go to me in the USA because of Buyee Mercari agreement, I went ahead and paid for shipping. Of course it is stuck in customs. I attempt to try to reach out to Buyee to provide them info if they need CITES paperwork seeing that my guitar has been stuck in customs for the last ten days or to return the guitar back to the where house and allow it to be shipped domestically Their reply was this:

Dear Customer(Edited my name),

This is the Buyee Customer Support.
Thank you for your email.

Regarding the package (Edited for privacy), we are sorry that we are not able to provide the documents in order to clear the Custom procedure as we are a proxy shopping service and we are not the manufacturer iteslf.

Also, please be informed that most of the seller in Mercari are individual seller and we do not think that he/she can provide the necessary document that you need right now. We are sorry for inconvenience caused.

The most important thing is that we are not able to ship out the Mercari items to domestic address according to the agreement between Buyee and Mercari department.

Therefore, if you want to return the package to our warehouse, we are able to accept it back but we are not able to ship it out to domestically.

Thus, we are afraid that there is nothing Buyee can do to help you in this case.

Next time, if you are planning to purchase a certain item, we sincerely recommend you to confirm with your local custom for importing process first before you place an order for it.

We are sorry for all the inconvenience caused this time.

Thank you in advance for your kind understanding and cooperation.

We will do our best to keep offering you the best service and we hope to serve you again soon.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
(edited)
Buyee Customer Support

Pretty much telling me I am out 4k plus shipping and there is nothing I can do.

So I followed up asking if I can have someone physically in Japan pickup the guitar and here was their response:

Dear (Edited),

This is the Buyee Customer Support.
Thank you for your email.

Regarding the package (Edited for privacy), we are deeply sorry for inconvenience caused.

In order to protect safety of our warehouse and other user's personal information, we are sorry that currently we do not provide the package pick-up service at our warehouse.

https://faq.buyee.jp/article/108?lang=en

Therefore, the best solution is to ship out the package to the other country where there is no document needed for Custom procedure.

We sincerely apologize for not being able to help you in this case.

We will do our best to keep offering you the best service and we hope to serve you again soon.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
(Edited for privacy)
Buyee Customer Support

I am contacting Paypal and everyone that matters at the moment to either get my guitar or my money back. This was a guitar I had dreamed of since I was in Jr. High and looks like it's just getting tossed or thrown away.

This is a new promotion between Buyee and Mercari. I just don't want anyone to lose their money along with their guitar. When you use Buyee for Yahoo auctions at least they will allow you to domestically ship it but if you buy from Mercari through Buyee and it doesn't make customs you are out everything. If mods need any other E-mails or tracking info I will provide proof but just want to warn others about Buyee's policies.

If you use Buyee and are in a country without Paypal protection or good CC chargeback policy you maybe out cost of guitar, fee and international shipping.

 

[EXPcustom]

Just want to follow up with a TL: DR
Do not use Buyee to buy Mercari items
Buyee knows a good number of instruments will not export due to CITES/customs even if Ebony not just Rosewood.
Buyee will not allow the instrument to be shipped or released in Japan, blames Mercari on "agreement"
Will not refund your payment or allow you to pick up instrument.
Buyee will not warn you about this and hopes you just go away and not do a chargeback.
People using payment methods without security will be out both money, shipping and guitar.

 

[cardinal]

Curious what you mean by stuck in customs?

 

[EXPcustom]

Curious what you mean by stuck in customs?

Now Japan is cracking down on Ebony and other woods not just Rosewood so you need CITES for ALL instruments leaving the country now. You have probably a 50/50 chance of your guitar just leaving Japan without it being held by customs but looks like they are flagging and stopping all Buyee shipments for CITES paperwork.

Buyee knows this and will not disclose this to buyers and if it gets denied export and you bought through Mercari using Buyee they will not allow the guitar to be released and will keep both your money and guitar. They say this is due to the agreement between the two companies. Make sense?

Didn't either...lol

I just want them to ship my guitar inside Japan to my people who can export it, or release it to the person that can pick it up in Tokyo. As you can see by the response they will not allow either. Totally reasonable and fair policy...

 

[jemfloral]

Any chance that customs is just slow due to what's going on in the world right now? I've purchased off of Buyee without issue before, but it did take a little bit to clear customs. Fingers crossed you can find a solution, whether that's getting your money back or getting the guitar through customs.

 

[EXPcustom]

Any chance that customs is just slow due to what's going on in the world right now? I've purchased off of Buyee without issue before, but it did take a little bit to clear customs. Fingers crossed you can find a solution, whether that's getting your money back or getting the guitar through customs.

At this point its been well over two weeks so very small chance it could be released for export but last time it took this long I had two other guitars that got denied due to Ebony and Mahogany last month but Buyee let me have those guitars shipped domestically since I did not use Mecari.

This guitar is stuck because they say Mercari will not allow them to ship or release the guitar domestically.

Regardless about my guitar it's only a matter of time before someone else's guitar ends up in the same situation as mine. Buyee and Mercari are heavily promoting their merged partnership and sale with discount but not warning instrument buyers they could be out everything if they can't export the guitar.

 

[Adieu]

What the fark?

There IS NO CITES for musical instruments. Not since November 2019. Exempted now.

 

[EXPcustom]

If anyone does not believe me and would like to speak with the post office that is stopping all these guitars due to Ebony and other woods due to CITES and can speak Japanese here is the Tokyo Customs post office number.

0120-5931-58

Actually it would be really cool if someone could speak with the customs officer and get the exact information as to why and perhaps inform them it could save a lot of people a lot of trouble and money.

 

[cardinal]

Two weeks is a long time to be in customs, but given that there world at large is having a bit of a moment, it's possible that theres just a backlog. It sounds like you don't yet have confirmation that there's a paperwork issue.

 

[Crash Dandicoot]

I bought a guitar with Rosewood via Buyee last year (pre-CITES repeal) and it was stuck in customs for three weeks - I can only imagine how long it would take now with the COVID policies in effect. Just my experience but I don't know if two weeks given the current circumstances with international anything is excessively long. Hopefully this resolves in your favor sooner rather than later.

 

[5WaySwitch]

Just to chime in, I bought a vinyl record from Japan on April 2nd and it only cleared Japanese customs this morning.

 

[Andromalia]

All international shipping is in the dumps now, I ordered a small item in the UK on the 29th of march and got it three days ago.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Another anecdote:

My giant company ordered a very special part for one of our very special pieces of equipment that shipped nearly a month ago. It's coming from Belgium and we're hoping to see it in May.

 

[EXPcustom]

I will keep you guys updated on the situation but the important thing to note is the Buyee Mercari policy.

You will lose both guitar and money if guitar fails to clear customs even if you have someone in Japan to take the guitar and export it properly.

 

[Splenetic]

Considering they dropped instruments from the CITES ruling, unless your guitar is stuffed with cocaine, there's no reason why it wouldn't clear customs.

I have a strong feeling this is a Covid-19 thing. Give it a few more weeks. Shit is messed up everywhere right now.

 

[narad]

"Now Japan is cracking down on Ebony and other woods not just Rosewood so you need CITES for ALL instruments leaving the country now."

I'm suspicious of this claim. I feel like maybe you have misunderstood something in the process, as I've spoken with one of the people in charge of clearing guitars for export, and they follow CITES guidelines. We've talked at length about ebony and rosewoods. We all what these guidelines imply about ebony these days. And I mean I had an issue when I shipped out an Aristides guitar where they phoned me up and we talked specifically about this (as "No wood" on the export form was confusing and not taken at face value).

I agree with your conclusion: don't use buyee for instruments that require complicated customs. I would go as far as to say don't use buyee for guitars. And don't use buyee now -- shipments are delayed like crazy.

 

[Dai]

I am Japanese living in Tokyo, and I think the main reason for this is definitely COVID-19.
In Japan, the government's response to COVID-19 has been slow, with a request self-restraint for work&outings only in seven major cities include Tokyo since April 7, and last week it was extended to all of Japan (the Japanese government has given it a deadline of May 6, but it will probably be extended).
Originally, Japanese people have little sense of crisis,so that most of them were commuting by rush hour train as usual until last week haha
As for international mail, it has been all stopped since April.
Japan Post claims that "only US, UK and AUS are delayed but can be sent normally" but it's a lie.
in fact, they're all returned or stopped in Japan.
I took a package addressed to the United States and sent it to the post office on March 31, and it was returned today.
Unable to respond to sudden changes in circumstances, not only the postal service, but all administrative services in Japan are in disarray.


I'm not familiar with CITES, but last December I imported a mahogany body, ebony fletboard Agile guitar from Rondo Music into Japan.

I called the Tokyo International Post Office number, but it was overloaded and didn't connected.
I am aware that I am one of the few Japanese people on this forum, if you still want to get the Alembic, you can give me tracking number,your name etc., and I may be able to explain it to the post office or Buyee's Japanese office in Japanese.

However, I think the best option is to get your money back via Paypal as soon as possible.
I believe Japan's postal service is excellent.
It's entirely possible that the shipping process will take place once this situation has calmed down, but there's no telling what will happen.

 

[Dai]

This is just my opinion as an gear geek, using Mercari to buy and sell high priced instruments is a very high risk, even for me as a Japanese.

It's hard to explain because I'm not good at English, but Mercari has a system where once you buy something, no matter how much you object, it's hard to get your money back.
In terms of uncivil, I feel that while Yahoo auctions can provide relatively honest transactions, Melcari tends to have a lot of ignorance and bad transactions.

However, there is a rare case that RG2027X of almost mint is exhibited at 400 dollars or JPM100 is exhibited at 1000 dollars or less in Mercari,,,,,

 

[EXPcustom]

"Now Japan is cracking down on Ebony and other woods not just Rosewood so you need CITES for ALL instruments leaving the country now."

I'm suspicious of this claim. I feel like maybe you have misunderstood something in the process, as I've spoken with one of the people in charge of clearing guitars for export, and they follow CITES guidelines. We've talked at length about ebony and rosewoods. We all what these guidelines imply about ebony these days. And I mean I had an issue when I shipped out an Aristides guitar where they phoned me up and we talked specifically about this (as "No wood" on the export form was confusing and not taken at face value).

I agree with your conclusion: don't use buyee for instruments that require complicated customs. I would go as far as to say don't use buyee for guitars. And don't use buyee now -- shipments are delayed like crazy.

I got a tracking number of a Ebony and Mahogany ESP that was rejected due to lack of CITES paperwork last month. I can send it to you via PM and you can call the customs office that rejected it to confirm. Madagascar Ebony is what they were looking for and a certain type of Mahogany.

 

[xzacx]

Add me to the camp that thinks this is related to Covid-19. I have something coming from Australia that's been in customs since March 30. I assume it'll get here eventually, or I'll get my money back from PayPal. I'd rather have the item since it was a great deal and something I'd been wanting for a while, but things are obviously crazy at the moment so I'm willing to be patient.