pkmncollectors Noppin/Y!J guide
I've seen several people on the pkmncollectors community ask about deputy services. Therefore, I decided to make a guide for the main deputy service I use, Noppin.
Please note that this guide only covers the "auction" section of Noppin. You can also use Noppin to buy from Japanese stores (such as Amazon.co.jp) by choosing "shopping" instead of "auction". However, the fees are a bit different.
WHAT IS NOPPIN?
Noppin, formerly known as Crescent Shop, is a deputy service for Yahoo! Japan (Y!J). Some of you may be wondering “What’s a deputy service?”
Say you found something that you wanted to buy on Y!J, but you don't have a Y!J account or the seller won't ship internationally. This is where deputy services come in. A deputy service will bid on the item for you, in exchange for a fee if you win the auction.
Noppin's homepage can be found here: http://www.noppin.com/
WHAT ABOUT THE FEES?
Total fees on Noppin consist of the service charge, the bank wire charge, and a handling/packing fee.
The service charge fee is determined by the ending price of the item. A chart for the fees at different cutoff prices can be found here.
In addition to the service charge, there is a standard 250 yen bank charge and a handling fee (around 3.5% of the total cost) per auction. Please note that the handling fee may increase if the items you won are large, breakable, or require special packaging.
Here is a screenshot of one of my recent purchases.
As you can see, even though I won the auction for 1500 yen, it cost 2577 yen by the time all fees and domestic shipping were considered. Since even cheap items can end up costing $15-$20 after fees, many people choose to buy larger lots and resell the extras instead of buying individual items.
WHAT ABOUT THE SHIPPING COSTS?
The domestic shipping cost (from the seller to Noppin’s warehouse in Japan) can usually be found in the auction description. (円 is the symbol for Japanese yen.) In my experience, small, light items cost 150-600 yen to ship while larger items generally cost 800-1500 yen.
International shipping varies depending on how large and how heavy your items are. Crescent ships using EMS by default, but you can request a different shipping method. Personally, I usually request "the cheapest shipping method" (generally SAL small packet) to save on shipping costs.
Here is an overview of some of the common shipping methods.
EMS: This is the fastest shipping method and one of the more expensive options. Items usually arrive within 3-6 days. It's also insured.
SAL/SAL small packet: This is the cheapest way to ship most items, but it's not insured. In my experience, SAL packages take 1.5 to 2 weeks to arrive.
Airmail: I've never used Airmail, but I believe the cost and the arrival time both fall between those of EMS and SAL.
Surface Mail: This is the cheapest and slowest shipping method for heavy items. I have only used this method once. In general, I wouldn't recommend this method if you hope to receive your items quickly. It can take 1-4 months for the package to arrive, and the slightly lower cost may not be worth the extra wait. (The one time I did use it, shipping was $27 and it took 3 months for the package to arrive.)
NAVIGATING NOPPIN
There are two main ways to navigate Noppin. The first is by clicking "My Noppin". This can be found at the top right of each page, and will take you to an overview of your account. The second is by using the left sidebar (highlighted in red), which can be found on the left side of each page.
SEARCHING FOR ITEMS
Anyone can search Y!J auctions using Noppin’s search bar, but if you want to bid on an item, you’ll need to create an account. Creating an account is free and fairly self-explanatory, so I'm going to skip that step in this guide.
To search for an item, click on the "Auction Service" tab and type your search term into the bar at the top of the page.
A common list of Pokemon search terms can be found here.
A list of Japanese Pokemon names can be found on Bulbapedia.
You can also search for a specific auction ID, auction URL, or seller by clicking on "advanced search".
Update: Noppin now lets you search using English search terms by selecting "translated" in the dropdown box. However, keep in mind that the English to Japanese translation may not always be accurate, especially for Pokemon names. If you're searching using Japanese terms, both "translated" and "original" will return the same results.
A search will pull up one or more pages of auction results, which can be sorted by price, time remaining, or number of bids.
Each listing will also have a rough English translation underneath the title. Click on the Japanese title of an auction (highlighted here in red) to go into it.
A STANDARD LISTING
The top of the listing will include the standard auction information.
The information is automatically translated by Noppin's system, and most of it is fairly self-explanatory. "Automatic Extension" is quite common on Y!J. If a person places a bid within the last 5 minutes of the auction, the auction time will automatically extend by a few minutes. This is to prevent sniping.
If you scroll down, the description is entirely in Japanese. However, you can translate it by clicking on one of the other language tabs.
ADDING A DEPOSIT
Before you bid, you’ll need to put down a deposit. To make a deposit or increase your current deposit, go to the left sidebar and click Payment Information.
As of Crescent Shop's switch to Noppin, each person now has a payment password that is tied to their account. This password makes the payment process simplier since you no longer have to log into Paypal to make payments. You'll need to enter your payment password in order to add or remove your deposit.
The next page will list your current deposit and bidding limit.
Click the blue "Add Bid Limit" button to increase your deposit. This will take the specified amount out of your Paypal account. (Don't worry, you can get it refunded when you've finished bidding on auctions.)
All deposits are made in increments of 2000 Japanese yen, and Noppin currently allows you to bid up to 3 times the amount of your deposit. For instance, if my deposit was 2000 yen, I could bid up to 6000 yen on all auctions, combined. When you bid on an auction, your bid amount is subtracted from your total bid limit.
As seen above, even though I've deposited 2000 JPY, I can only bid up to 4500 JPY. In this example, the additional 1500 JPY has not been added back into my bid limit yet because I have an auction that I have not paid for.
My bid limit will increase back to 6000 JPY in one of three ways:
1. I lose the auction. The bid limit will automatically increase after a slight processing delay.
2. The auction is still ongoing, but I have been outbid. If I don't want to bid any higher, I can choose "give up" to nullify my bids. This way I won't have to wait until the auction closes for my bid limit to increase.
3. I win the auction and pay the first invoice.
HOW TO BID ON AN AUCTION
To place a bid, click on the "bid on this item" button and enter your bid in Japanese yen. (If you have not made a deposit yet, clicking "bid on this item" will take you to the deposit screen.) The bidding system does not allow you to enter commas. Be sure to double-check the number of zeros before you place your bid.
You can also watch an item and bid on it later by clicking on the "watchlist this item" button. Either way, the item will be added to your bidding/watch list.
Note: Occasionally you will run across an auction that says"You cannot bid on this auction. The seller's ID has been blacklisted." These are sellers that Noppin refuses to do business with. You'll have to use a different deputy service if you'd like to bid on the item. However, keep in mind that there is probably a reason that the seller is blocked.
AFTER YOU BID
The status of your auctions can be found by clicking on "Auction List", under Auction Service on the left sidebar).
Each auction will list the name (specified by you when you watchlist/bid), the closing time, and the current auction status. Here is a table of all the auction status icons, taken from Noppin's website.
I WON. NOW WHAT?
You’ll receive an email after Noppin determines the first invoice amount. You must pay for an auctions within 14 days of closing or Noppin will start charging you additional fees.
Once the invoice is ready, you'll see a check box under the pay column. (The location of the check box will be within the red square.)
An orange "Pay" button will appear if any of the auctions can be paid for. Click on this to be taken to the next page, which lists the breakdown of the total cost.
Click "Pay" again to pay for the auction.
REQUESTING AND PAYING FOR SHIPPING
After you've paid for the auction, it will move to storage space. At this point you can request shipping. Many people wait until they have several packages in storage, then ship them all together to save on international shipping.
Please note that Noppin recently implemented a new policy: if you have items in their warehouse for more than 60 days, you will start being charged a 300 Y per day fee. Noppin has a countdown listed next to each of the items, so no worries if you can’t remember when you bought something.
To request shipping, click "Storage Space", which can be found on the left sidebar. Check all of the auctions that you want to ship together and click the "Send a Packing Request" button. If you don't want to use EMS, now is the time to specify a different shipping method.
"Arrival" lists whether or not the item has arrived in Crescent's warehouse. You can request shipping on items that have not yet arrived. "Limit" is the number of storage days you have remaining, counting down from 60. If a package is in storage for more than 60 days, you'll be charged a fee for every additional day.
You’ll receive an email when the shipping charge has been determined. To pay for shipping, choose "Shipping Status" on the left sidebar, check the "pay" box, scroll down, and click the submit payment button. You'll receive another email when your package has been shipped.
INCREASING/REFUNDING YOUR DEPOSIT
If you don't have any other pending auctions, you can request a refund on your deposit by going to "Payment Information" on the left sidebar and clicking Refund Request.
Please note that if you wait more than 45 days to request a refund on a Paypal deposit, you'll lose a small portion of the deposit (specifically, the Paypal fee).
You can also add a deposit or change your payment password on this page.
CONTACTING NOPPIN
If you have a question about a specific auction, you can click the "ask a question" button on the auction page and Noppin will contact the seller for you.
If you have a more general question, you can post on Noppin's discussion board by clicking "Contact Board: Auction" on the left sidebar.
Please note that this guide only covers the "auction" section of Noppin. You can also use Noppin to buy from Japanese stores (such as Amazon.co.jp) by choosing "shopping" instead of "auction". However, the fees are a bit different.
WHAT IS NOPPIN?
Noppin, formerly known as Crescent Shop, is a deputy service for Yahoo! Japan (Y!J). Some of you may be wondering “What’s a deputy service?”
Say you found something that you wanted to buy on Y!J, but you don't have a Y!J account or the seller won't ship internationally. This is where deputy services come in. A deputy service will bid on the item for you, in exchange for a fee if you win the auction.
Noppin's homepage can be found here: http://www.noppin.com/
WHAT ABOUT THE FEES?
Total fees on Noppin consist of the service charge, the bank wire charge, and a handling/packing fee.
The service charge fee is determined by the ending price of the item. A chart for the fees at different cutoff prices can be found here.
In addition to the service charge, there is a standard 250 yen bank charge and a handling fee (around 3.5% of the total cost) per auction. Please note that the handling fee may increase if the items you won are large, breakable, or require special packaging.
Here is a screenshot of one of my recent purchases.
As you can see, even though I won the auction for 1500 yen, it cost 2577 yen by the time all fees and domestic shipping were considered. Since even cheap items can end up costing $15-$20 after fees, many people choose to buy larger lots and resell the extras instead of buying individual items.
WHAT ABOUT THE SHIPPING COSTS?
The domestic shipping cost (from the seller to Noppin’s warehouse in Japan) can usually be found in the auction description. (円 is the symbol for Japanese yen.) In my experience, small, light items cost 150-600 yen to ship while larger items generally cost 800-1500 yen.
International shipping varies depending on how large and how heavy your items are. Crescent ships using EMS by default, but you can request a different shipping method. Personally, I usually request "the cheapest shipping method" (generally SAL small packet) to save on shipping costs.
Here is an overview of some of the common shipping methods.
EMS: This is the fastest shipping method and one of the more expensive options. Items usually arrive within 3-6 days. It's also insured.
SAL/SAL small packet: This is the cheapest way to ship most items, but it's not insured. In my experience, SAL packages take 1.5 to 2 weeks to arrive.
Airmail: I've never used Airmail, but I believe the cost and the arrival time both fall between those of EMS and SAL.
Surface Mail: This is the cheapest and slowest shipping method for heavy items. I have only used this method once. In general, I wouldn't recommend this method if you hope to receive your items quickly. It can take 1-4 months for the package to arrive, and the slightly lower cost may not be worth the extra wait. (The one time I did use it, shipping was $27 and it took 3 months for the package to arrive.)
NAVIGATING NOPPIN
There are two main ways to navigate Noppin. The first is by clicking "My Noppin". This can be found at the top right of each page, and will take you to an overview of your account. The second is by using the left sidebar (highlighted in red), which can be found on the left side of each page.
SEARCHING FOR ITEMS
Anyone can search Y!J auctions using Noppin’s search bar, but if you want to bid on an item, you’ll need to create an account. Creating an account is free and fairly self-explanatory, so I'm going to skip that step in this guide.
To search for an item, click on the "Auction Service" tab and type your search term into the bar at the top of the page.
A common list of Pokemon search terms can be found here.
A list of Japanese Pokemon names can be found on Bulbapedia.
You can also search for a specific auction ID, auction URL, or seller by clicking on "advanced search".
Update: Noppin now lets you search using English search terms by selecting "translated" in the dropdown box. However, keep in mind that the English to Japanese translation may not always be accurate, especially for Pokemon names. If you're searching using Japanese terms, both "translated" and "original" will return the same results.
A search will pull up one or more pages of auction results, which can be sorted by price, time remaining, or number of bids.
Each listing will also have a rough English translation underneath the title. Click on the Japanese title of an auction (highlighted here in red) to go into it.
A STANDARD LISTING
The top of the listing will include the standard auction information.
The information is automatically translated by Noppin's system, and most of it is fairly self-explanatory. "Automatic Extension" is quite common on Y!J. If a person places a bid within the last 5 minutes of the auction, the auction time will automatically extend by a few minutes. This is to prevent sniping.
If you scroll down, the description is entirely in Japanese. However, you can translate it by clicking on one of the other language tabs.
ADDING A DEPOSIT
Before you bid, you’ll need to put down a deposit. To make a deposit or increase your current deposit, go to the left sidebar and click Payment Information.
As of Crescent Shop's switch to Noppin, each person now has a payment password that is tied to their account. This password makes the payment process simplier since you no longer have to log into Paypal to make payments. You'll need to enter your payment password in order to add or remove your deposit.
The next page will list your current deposit and bidding limit.
Click the blue "Add Bid Limit" button to increase your deposit. This will take the specified amount out of your Paypal account. (Don't worry, you can get it refunded when you've finished bidding on auctions.)
All deposits are made in increments of 2000 Japanese yen, and Noppin currently allows you to bid up to 3 times the amount of your deposit. For instance, if my deposit was 2000 yen, I could bid up to 6000 yen on all auctions, combined. When you bid on an auction, your bid amount is subtracted from your total bid limit.
As seen above, even though I've deposited 2000 JPY, I can only bid up to 4500 JPY. In this example, the additional 1500 JPY has not been added back into my bid limit yet because I have an auction that I have not paid for.
My bid limit will increase back to 6000 JPY in one of three ways:
1. I lose the auction. The bid limit will automatically increase after a slight processing delay.
2. The auction is still ongoing, but I have been outbid. If I don't want to bid any higher, I can choose "give up" to nullify my bids. This way I won't have to wait until the auction closes for my bid limit to increase.
3. I win the auction and pay the first invoice.
HOW TO BID ON AN AUCTION
To place a bid, click on the "bid on this item" button and enter your bid in Japanese yen. (If you have not made a deposit yet, clicking "bid on this item" will take you to the deposit screen.) The bidding system does not allow you to enter commas. Be sure to double-check the number of zeros before you place your bid.
You can also watch an item and bid on it later by clicking on the "watchlist this item" button. Either way, the item will be added to your bidding/watch list.
Note: Occasionally you will run across an auction that says"You cannot bid on this auction. The seller's ID has been blacklisted." These are sellers that Noppin refuses to do business with. You'll have to use a different deputy service if you'd like to bid on the item. However, keep in mind that there is probably a reason that the seller is blocked.
AFTER YOU BID
The status of your auctions can be found by clicking on "Auction List", under Auction Service on the left sidebar).
Each auction will list the name (specified by you when you watchlist/bid), the closing time, and the current auction status. Here is a table of all the auction status icons, taken from Noppin's website.
I WON. NOW WHAT?
You’ll receive an email after Noppin determines the first invoice amount. You must pay for an auctions within 14 days of closing or Noppin will start charging you additional fees.
Once the invoice is ready, you'll see a check box under the pay column. (The location of the check box will be within the red square.)
An orange "Pay" button will appear if any of the auctions can be paid for. Click on this to be taken to the next page, which lists the breakdown of the total cost.
Click "Pay" again to pay for the auction.
REQUESTING AND PAYING FOR SHIPPING
After you've paid for the auction, it will move to storage space. At this point you can request shipping. Many people wait until they have several packages in storage, then ship them all together to save on international shipping.
Please note that Noppin recently implemented a new policy: if you have items in their warehouse for more than 60 days, you will start being charged a 300 Y per day fee. Noppin has a countdown listed next to each of the items, so no worries if you can’t remember when you bought something.
To request shipping, click "Storage Space", which can be found on the left sidebar. Check all of the auctions that you want to ship together and click the "Send a Packing Request" button. If you don't want to use EMS, now is the time to specify a different shipping method.
"Arrival" lists whether or not the item has arrived in Crescent's warehouse. You can request shipping on items that have not yet arrived. "Limit" is the number of storage days you have remaining, counting down from 60. If a package is in storage for more than 60 days, you'll be charged a fee for every additional day.
You’ll receive an email when the shipping charge has been determined. To pay for shipping, choose "Shipping Status" on the left sidebar, check the "pay" box, scroll down, and click the submit payment button. You'll receive another email when your package has been shipped.
INCREASING/REFUNDING YOUR DEPOSIT
If you don't have any other pending auctions, you can request a refund on your deposit by going to "Payment Information" on the left sidebar and clicking Refund Request.
Please note that if you wait more than 45 days to request a refund on a Paypal deposit, you'll lose a small portion of the deposit (specifically, the Paypal fee).
You can also add a deposit or change your payment password on this page.
CONTACTING NOPPIN
If you have a question about a specific auction, you can click the "ask a question" button on the auction page and Noppin will contact the seller for you.
If you have a more general question, you can post on Noppin's discussion board by clicking "Contact Board: Auction" on the left sidebar.