[News & Questions] Commission fee introduced to FromJapan + looking for other proxy options

[psanon]

It's a bit general, but considering the amount of Hetalia fans who use FromJapan, I thought it would be relevant to post up information on the new commission price introduced to FromJapan shopping's service as it will affect quite a few members. So I hope this is okay! Please tell me if I should delete/move this elsewhere.

For those who have already

Comments

[alexon_charm]

I got the email as well even though I've never personally used them before so I'm not exactly sure how their pricing works. Still is 200 yen that bad? I buy a lot of items(okay doujinshi OTL) and my commission is always 500 yen per auction(I use noppin) so I'm kind of used to paying a lot already for single items I guess. I still think FJ is the cheapest though. Maybe someone will have someone cheaper but I've never seen such a low commission rate. Unless they mean per item in a single auction, because then yeah that's crazy. Especially for those group buys and all.

Did they seriously not charge anything before though? I thought there was a box fee or something like that I can't remember where it was mentioned. How did they make their money then? Well in any case it always sucks when prices go up especially considering how many other fees besides commission there already are. :/ I'm hoping the fandom might have some more life when Season 5 comes around just to see more people around, even though I'm not really in it I have noticed the drop though on tumblr it's pretty active.

[psanon]

FJ was the cheapest for a while, but before them I used to have private SS/proxies who charged less so I'm used to lower rates. But sadly, they aren't active anymore/left Japan and so I mostly use FJ and well, with the new prices, needless to say I'm not very happy with it and in a general also since well, no one likes price increases //Could just be me, I'm used to low rates :c

I'm sure they charged something to profit, but they had the whole 'No commission fee' per item thing before. They probably charged something for a box fee, but not per item.

I'm hoping the fandom will come back to life to with S5, but I highly doubt it will get back to where it used to be. Even the APH fandom on Tumblr is starting to die. Tumblr may seem much more active especially in comparison to livejournal, but I'm a really old fan and I've been on LJ/Tumblr/various sites so I've noticed the decrease all around. For example, Tumblr used to be much much much more active and whilst it is still active nowadays, it has suffered a large drop also.

[alexon_charm]

No I'm sure that a lot of people would be upset by it, I mean when you are used to paying something any increase hurts especially if you buy several items, those fees always add up. Then there is the nightmare that international shipping can be. :/

Oh yeah that must have been it then. Sad I never got around to using them.

Ahh it's probably because I stay away from most of fandom that I don't see it. Plus since I'm into the fairly popular side of it probably seems less. It's sad to hear nonetheless. :( I know it won't return to how it was, but I'd be happy with just the level it was when I entered it. A lot of people did move to other fandoms though.

[psanon]

Yeah. Especially when the items are less than 500 yen each or so and you buy a few. Those will really start to add up "Orz Then yeah, with all the other fees.... Sighs, if only there were cheaper options or well, maybe one day I really might just up and move to Japan for a few months and start up a small proxy service, ahaha.

I just got an email from them! The new fees won't be in until the 26th so if you want anything before then, better to start ordering/paying before they start adding in the fees "orz

Ahh, yeah. That would make sense. I'm in the general fandom and in the indie APH Tumblr RPing crowd, so I've been noticing the decrease in activity level all around :c (so many RPers have left or are not as active anymore. We used to get 100+ notifications on new posts every few minutes during peak hour last year, now it's more like 100+ every half hour or so). Same here, fingers crossed and hope that season 5 will work its magic;;

[alexon_charm]

Those are the worst purchases for sure. Especially if it's like a coaster because then yeah that's going to be a high price for one. :/ Like for a cafe event I can't imagine buying all those badges by themselves like that. O_O;; Oh and I've daydreamed of doing that, I honestly think it might be plausible there is a lot of demand for an affordable proxy. XD

Now if only I had money for that. ;; Have to save it for comiket though, gah.

Well the USUK side from what I see is still fairly active on tumblr, shipping is always the last to go though. >.< Wow that's a lot of notifications for that time. Finding a good RPer is difficult enough as it is too. ;; Well I guess it is sort of like how many posts the main comm used to get. :( Yeah I've seen a couple of new faces coming in, so hopefully there will be some more people becoming intrigued especially with the better animation and hopefully cute merch to go along with it to keep people wanting. :)

[psanon]

Yeah, that would be ridiculous. Guh, money. @_@;;

Oh man-- good luck with that! I have pretty much stopped collecting doujinshi because most of my favourite circles don't draw for APH anymore;; //and wow, it just used to kill my wallet too much. You would just spend hundreds and hundreds on comiket doujinshi and stuff;;

Yeah, that one is going to be active for a while. Though even I have noticed activity has dropped a bit for them D: But yeah fjdkgldf the main comm used to be so active and it took ages just to catch up to everything and nowadays, it can be frozen for quite a while :c Yes, fingers crossed hard for new faces and new merch and a bit of a revival to the fandom ;v;)/

[alexon_charm]

Aww that's too bad, I've had some fave circles leave too, but my top two are still hanging in there and since it's USUK there is always new ones popping up, but you're telling me summer comiket and the books that came after 500 dollars(I'm not sure how I let myself spend this much in such a short period of time). Let me tell you that exchange rate kills me though.

I don't know what I would do if it dropped off completely so I'm really hoping that won't happen or that at least it won't for a long while. All fandoms do drop off at some point though I still have hope for new people even if others leave. The main comm is definitely the saddest for me, I really couldn't keep up with it before. I'm truly hoping for that it would be so great. :')

[psanon]

Ahh, lucky you! My two top fav have left and now there are a few I like here and there but not my absolute favourites;; And ufhjgkdf ugh, that just reminds me of me. That's a pretty decent price actually, I normally end up spending more like the idiot I am x'D (but doujinshi's are just so hard to resist;;) and oh god yeah, exchange rate. Like, if it weren't for the exchange rate, I wouldn't exactly mind my invoices/totals as much but with the rates as low as they are... welp.

Me too. It'll be too sad to see it go. But thankfully they did pitch in for a season 5 so yeah, all fingers crossed our wishes and hopes come true ;v;

[alexon_charm]

Is it though? Well I do spend a lot on doujinshi, but not at once so those weeks were pretty glaring, it felt like I was spending left and right. I think initially it was around 300+ but then I had to go buy the books that I missed(why do some circles release their info a day before the event ;^;) and just yes near the end it was 500-something so yeah it's nice to know others have done the same. X'D Exactly, it doesn't seem that bad and then bam hit in the gut when you send it.

[osoroshia]

It's different when they're high priced items to start-- it's a beautifully small commission on say a pillow or plush or really rare doujin, so your response makes total sense.

When you want to buy things like 10-yen cards or such, though, 200 yen is freaking overkill. D:
With the bank fee and domestic shipping you're suddenly paying near $6 each before international.
And we all know how well those resell for anything more than $1...

:/ Basically it's going to drive up item costs in general, and with the dying fandom, it's possible nothing will ever sell high enough for profit again.

[alexon_charm]

Yeah I realized that like with a coaster. I think it's because the only merch I would buy would already be expensive so trying to get a less popular item and then having that commission I can see how that would be a pain and blow.

I didn't even think about cards either, yikes that would be too much.
Yeah the only thing I can think of is the auctions with several bits of merchandise, but those always end up going high anyway.

[osoroshia]

Yeah, expensive/popular things, commissions feel like nothing. Ordering something that's 5000 yen? $73's really not that much worse than the $70 it already was.
But then when you look at items like these...
.___. 80 yen's suddenly jumped from $1.10 to $3.80. And it stacks per listing, regardless of whether it's the same seller. That's where it's going to hurt.