JPC Trade: Yahoo Auction

I guess everyone might already have known but JPC has the Yahoo Auction Agency Service. When it was started, we experienced some system troubles but now it has settled: I am sure customers will not be dissatisfied if they use the service.

The reason why we started this service was that many customers who had bought a car from us asked if we have some parts in stock. What our customers want is divided into two things: genuine parts from the manufacturer or comparatively cheap used ones.

At first, we were thinking, maybe asking different dealers, put as many genuine & used parts together on our website and let customers chose them. However, after spending a reasonable time checking individual parts dealers, we could not find any who sell both genuine & used parts widely. Most of them are specialised in particular imported parts such as tyres, batteries and other consumables. I guess when you think about business efficiency, it is easier to sell one particular type of part and some dealers had good reasons why they are only dealing with imported parts.

In selling genuine parts of Japanese manufacturers (such as car manufacturers like Toyota, tyre makers such as Bridgestone), each manufacturer has their own trade network to stabilise the prices and they are setting barriers so that nothing will be distributed outside their own network. So, new dealers cannot purchase parts directly from the manufacturer’s parts division. Because of this, there are no dealer selling genuine parts cheaper on the internet.

Understanding the system, we tied up with large manufacturer’s parts companies and not listing them on the website we decided to receive orders individually from customers. Go to the website below, enter the necessary information on your car, then list up the parts you need; we will check them individually and get back to you. Now we have about 10 of these kind of orders every month, mostly from repeat customers but we do have new people contacting us just to purchase parts only. If you want to check the availability of the parts, we have to ask you a favour: would you please give us as much accurate information as possible on your car and the parts.
http://www.jpctrade.com/parts.html

On the other hand, with used car parts, we only target Yahoo Auction, the biggest online auction market in Japan. Yahoo Auction uses the same business model as US’s “ebay” and is a free trade between individuals (C2C) or dealers & individuals (B2C). The number of the parts individuals and dealers list there cannot be compared to any other dealer shops in the country; and you can find most parts you want on the website. Although it is a free trading site, thanks to the honesty of Japanese people, the quality of the parts there is relatively high. I heard that there is always a risk of getting rubbish if you buy anything from online free auctions overseas. This is fortunately very rare at Yahoo Auction. If you check market prices of the parts you were going to bid and if you have anything you are not so sure about, ask questions before you place any bids; then you will not be ripped off: your trade should go smoothly and satisfactory. I, myself use the Yahoo Auction heavily. I have bought more than 100 items through there, but have never been ripped off. I always had good trades. As a system, it has so many items listed there, it took us a lot of time to sort them out. Also it is developed for Japanese people, so we had difficulties instantly translating bits & pieces into English / Russian from Japanese. It still gives you strange translations in the order process because it is an automatic translation, but I think you can understand the basic information. To use the Yahoo Auction Agent Service, we need to ask you to pay more than the total of the bidding cost and the freight. Now mainly customers who have bought their cars from us, are using the system continuously. If you have not yet accessed the website, please browse it to see its wide selection of items.
http://yahoo.jpctrade.com/yahoo?site=http://jpctrade.com/



★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955

Souvenir Shops in Akihabara

Akihabara is one of the most famous tourist spots in Japan that visitors from overseas cannot miss. Akihabara, commonly known as “Akiba” is not far away from JPC’s office (20 minutes from the door of the office by train) and people who visit our office drop in to Akiba after meeting us.

The other day, one of my Japanese friends came to Tokyo. He was going to Akiba and asked me to tell him what would be the best souvenir. Thinking about it, I only knew Akiba as a town famous for its electronics quarter and maid cafes. However, something for a souvenir? I could not think of anything.

So I searched on the internet and found some shops which sell figurines, T-shirts, cartoon character goods, canned Oden, etc., a bit of nerdy stuff.

Among them were, maybe mirroring the present society, things like biscuits in the shape of Japan’s politicians such as Prime Minister Mr Aso and US President Barrack Obama.
http://www.omiyage-daito.com/online.html

Also suitable for the town, when you step in, a girl dressed in a maid costume comes and says “Welcome home my lord” and offers some maid biscuits to you; seems fun!
http://www.maidclub.net/products/list.php?category_id=13

These things might be fun but they are not something especially from the area and I am not sure people would appreciate them as souvenirs.

Well, most readers of this mail magazine are not Japanese, so I checked souvenirs for them. But you may not have the same culture as Japan and may not buy presents for family and friends. I could not find many souvenirs designed for foreigners in Akiba. Although there are plans such as “Harakiri Manju”, (inside comes out if you eat it) and “Ninja Biscuit” (shaped like throwing stars), no one could see a high demand for these, so none of these went on the market.

According to JPC’s non- Japanese staff, people do not normally buy biscuits as a present, but they buy practical electrical appliances such as computers and digital cameras. If you go into the narrow lanes in Akiba, Pakistani and Chinese shop owners are selling used computers and digital cameras; you will see people from overseas checking them. I guess, Akiba is still the world number one electronics quarter for visitors from foreign countries.


★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
3B YS-Building, 1-2-2 Botan, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955