Yahoo Auction

[js1891 0]

Hi everyone, pleased to meet you.

This is my first post, I'll try not to make myself look like an idiot.

 

So I only have about two weeks of experience snowboarding but progressed fast thanks to my surfing and skating infused upbringing. I'm doing the whole winter in Niseko and I know (I really hope) I will improve. I am trying to source a snowboard. What is the best way to do this? I have gathered from this forum and a couple friends of mine that it is essential that boots be fitted. So despite living in Western Australia I will go to the one snowboarding shop and get them fitted. What I really wanted to do is buy my board/boards and bindings from Yahoo Auction as they had some excellent second hand and old season gear. Seriously good stuff! and shipping within Japan is cheap. I wanted to pay from Australia and have my gear arrive at my address in Hokkaido before I did (staff accommodation). Is this impossible without a Japanese credit card? I can't do a bank transfer from my Australian account to their Japanese one? Mostly looking at the popular Burton models as they are commonplace on Yahoo and I trust them.

 

I have explored the option of buying in Sapporo. I would leave my suitcase at Chitose, catch a train to Sapporo and run around for four hours like a headless chook trying to find gear, before returning to Chitose and bus-ing to Niseko. I have looked at many posts and have a series of shopping options mapped out. Of course if you have any retail/shop suggestions I would be very appreciative. I would check second hand places before I looked at the sports stores like xebio etc, Haven't heard much positive about their gear. Of course I am a little worried about this option because I risk not finding anything of quality or in my size etc.

 

Another option I have considered is ordering from America. I see it is much cheaper but the problem is getting them to ship internationally. I managed to pick my pants, jacket, gloves and goggles up from dogfunk by picking the few brands they were allowed to ship but no luck with snowboards. If you use a third party to ship your gear from the US is it expensive? Can you recommend any companies?

 

And the final option would be to buy in Niseko but I'm not a millionaire and I don't want brand new gear anyway. It doesn't come with the satisfaction of a hard found bargain. Absolute maximum I would spend on board and bindings would be about 50000 Yen but being my first board I really don't want to spend that much. A friend might, just might, have a short board for me so I'm looking at planks for the powder, maybe a fair sized sherlock or process.

 

Thanks for your time

[anything 6]

+1 for doing it right. so many times i see tourists go all out and spend $2k on a full kit, that's crap, and the never use it again anyway.

edit: tho id have to admit ive spent my fair share on junk too.

 

you're in for quite an improvement in ability. my first season I thought I was pretty shit hot for perisher's standards, but I was still able to look back and see/feel noticeable improvements every week, sometimes even day to day!

you're going to be spending a lot of time on powder, so if the board you end up with has some old edges and some some scratches on the base its not the end of the world.

there are some famous stretches of flatness tho, so make sure you don't end up with an old style extruded base.

 

if you have already someone in Niseko at your staff accom to accept a delivery then I would do it that way. Worst case you might find a forum member instead? I dont arrive in Niseko until 2nd Dec.

Wouldn't expect there to be any issue in using an Aus credit card in making the purchase. Only once have i had issues with my Aus CC in the US. I think it was with AmazonUSA actually It happens when they assume the shipping address is the same as the billing address, if you can enter both or use paypal instead you will be fine. I've also never had an issue when buying stuff online in Japan with my oz card.

 

random thought - alternate to Amazon might be Ratuken, but I don't know if they sell 2nd hand stuff at all.

 

I had considered buying my new skis on the way through Tokyo last year. However I decided it wasn't worth the risk. I wanted the longest version of the ski (which the Japanese probably dont even sell), and there was no guarantee that i'd find it in stock and for a competitive price. Turned out I was right, nobody in the whole of Japan had them. lol, so I bought Chinese made skis from USA and shipped them to Japan

 

From the USA, most ski brands seem to have limitations on international shipping. Assume this is so they can sell exclusive import rights to certain wholesalers to make more monies. But I don't see why you'd have this problem with something 2nd hand, I would assume that it has no restrictions then.

I used shipito.com twice last year for shipping something to Japan that I couldn't from a US store. They seemed a little more expensive shipping than from the online store directly, obviously slower too, but were much much cheaper than buying from Japan. There are several other alternatives that I haven't tried, shipitto were good enough for me.

 

Average Japan prices aren't bad, especially if you find a good deal. But Niseko prices are like Australian prices, roughly 2-4x compared to USA prices, I would avoid it at all costs.

[ippy 66]

Theres a shop in Tokyo on the fourth floor of the snowboard street (near Jimbocho station if i remember right - look for the bataleon sandwich board usually outside), that sells second hand snowboards. Theres also one in hirafu, though its a touch pricey iir.

Yahoo is a good option, but you can be a little scuppered by being foreign, not speaking japanese, and not having someone that can set you up with your yahoo auctions account. The lack of a japanese bank for the transfer doesnt help either. Maybe others more brave than me know a bit better, but when i used it i went through a japanese friend of mine for all the sales.

 

The advice on using a mail forwarder like bongos or shipito or whatever is sound. Lots of them offer the service, and very few companies will be all that arsey about sending gear to a known ail forwarder (and breaking their vendor agreement - grey market; burton hates it).

 

As for companies not restricting gears... lemme check dogfunks latest list... oooh, arbor now on the list as well. As is Nitro (im pretty sure they were the two big names left after capita/c3 and rome became restricted in 2011/12. There we go, thats pretty much everyone youd want. And slash, yes, jones and all the nidecker lines. Looks like theres literally nothing left from the top lines. Youve still got stepchild, technine and elan. Youve also got endeavor and honestly, their boards have gotten some love (and theyre pretty decent price point ranges as well - i sing the praise of those). And theres er, *(DISCLAIMER!!!!!! MY MATES COMPANY), thrive. Ooh and of course bataleon and lobster. Amazing how theyve almost been blanked from my mind after my riot disappointed me so

 

And theres Gozaimmas boards. Or whatever hes calling them

 

Still, get off the burton trail. No reason to be all burton. Plenty of options out there. Im rides biggest fanboy at the moment because pop walls are freaking incredible. Plus i love carbon array to shit, (so on point) and dual camber (all mtn whatevers) is the bestest evah! I used to be bataleons, and before that capita's. Lots to love and it flips the second i get on another board.

 

Plus loads of people i know directly or indirectly flooded back to camber last year. So you knows, a 2009 board, or even an uninc or custom (if youre a burton kid) is going to cheer you up no end. 2009 was kinda the last season before reverse camber took off and everyone went insane for it. Find some of those rides in your local market and someone daft enough to sell them (its off season still so prices might not be at a premium) and so long as they aint beaten to crap they should still be fun enough to ride (even if theyve lost a bit of their pop by now - but hey hey! thats the whole flat/zero craze from 2 seasons ago when everyone was hyping dinosaurs will die - oooooh! theres a label you might still be able to get).

 

So yeahs. Have a look on oz ebay and see what you can pick up. I once saw the bumblebee evil twin (ltd edition bataleon) which i DESPERATELY wanted a few seasons ago on the NZ version. Wish the auction hadnt ended and the seller got back to me. Thatd have been coolies.

[ippy 66]

ETA: if you want that post in English, just ask

[NoFakie 45]

Yeah, my kind of thread!

 

A lot of the good s/h stuff in Japan these days finds its way onto Yahoo Auctions. I just bought some s/h pow skis myself. Sugar Daddies, Free Ride +, and separately some skins. All in, it cost about 42000 shipped. That's about the Japan price of a set of new diamirs with wide brakes. The skis have arrived and there is barely a mark on them or the binders. Some older K2s, the Seth model from 2007, with older free rides went for under 35000 a week earlier but I wasn't paying attention and missed the end of the auction. It think they even came with skins.

 

Pow snowboards seem to have shrunk in length since the start of rocker and are certainly much shorter than pow skis. For that reason, getting one sent from the States mightn't be as expensive as it would be if you wanted skis. If anyone has looked into it and knows the cheapest forwarder for skis/boards, stick the info up.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I've often used hopshopgo to forward gear from the states.

 

I also have a Bataleon Omni 163 from 2011 that Im willing (hoping ) to let go for 25,000¥......been used only 5 or 6 times

 

I live in Sapporo so if u wanted to stop in for a look at it then that could be arranged

 

[nippontiger 8]

I think buying from Yahoo Auctions is gonna be tricky if you don't speak any Japanese and you don't have a Japanese bank account. It's not like buying something on ebay. When you buy stuff on YA, you usually have to communicate a few emails to the seller in Japanese to explain your delivery address and payment method and any options. Payment can usually be done with bank transfer and I guess it would be possible to do this from an Australian account, but you would probably have to pay some kind of bank charge. The other usual payment option is the Yahoo service called Kantan Kessai - this involves registering your credit card and I'm not sure you can do it with a foreign credit card. Assuming you can get someone to help you with the Japanese or that you know enough yourself, the other big problem you would have is that you cannot bid more than 4000 yen or something around that without first becoming a premium member of Yahoo Japan - this involves making a small monthly payment around 300 yen or so - again, Im not sure its possible to set that up without a Japanese bank account or credit card.. 4000 yen doesnt get you much in terms of snowboarding gear.

[Chriselle 158]

+1 to what Gary said.....I'd forget Yahoo Auctions unless you can have someone do it for you. There are services that will broker for you but their fees are pretty hefty if I recall from people who were buying guitars on Yahoo.

[NoFakie 45]

Yeah, I just wanted to say that most of the good s/h snow gear at prices you'd want to pay is at Yahoo Auctions and not Rakuten or elsewhere. I guess the reason is that there are no big second-hand retailers. It will be way easier to get on Yahoo Auctions through a Japanese person after you arrive.

 

With s/h guitars, there are shops in most of the big cities selling them and many put their stock online through digimart. You don't need to be a member to buy through it.

 

If you want to hit the snow straight away, you're best bet may be Tubby Auctions!

[seemore 66]

Hey Gary

 

What are you after? I am a bit of a gear whore and live in Perth.

I have a bit of gear and a few pair of near new boots that you could try on (depending on size). Our local retailer doesn't have much in the way of choice.

I did buy a pair in Niseko and i was able to try on a lot of pairs I just got last years model.

I wouldn't go for a Process or a Sherlock you want something to ride Pow then you need a directional board if you will be getting a shortboard.

Maybe a a Burton Custom or like TB says he has an Omni and this is the kind of board you should be looking at.

" The OMNI is an internationally acclaimed, award winning freeride cruiser because it is awesome! The REACTOR CORE facilitates the delivery of power to the edge. This makes the OMNI very stable even at the highest speeds. FREERIDE TBT features a large uplift at the board’s widest points. This gives excellent float in powder and super agile edge changes. The nose side base sections tilt at large angles to further enhance the TBT, creating super floating powder wings! With a setback stance plus BACKSEAT INSERTS you can drop your bindings all the way back on those bottomless days, reducing back leg burn and improving float. If you like freeriding, shredding the whole mountain and perhaps don’t mind a little freestyle thrown in but you demand the best and most versatile, you need to make it an OMNI!"

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Yeah, I just wanted to say that most of the good s/h snow gear at prices you'd want to pay is at Yahoo Auctions and not Rakuten or elsewhere. I guess the reason is that there are no big second-hand retailers. It will be way easier to get on Yahoo Auctions through a Japanese person after you arrive.

 

With s/h guitars, there are shops in most of the big cities selling them and many put their stock online through digimart. You don't need to be a member to buy through it.

 

If you want to hit the snow straight away, you're best bet may be Tubby Auctions!

 

Possible commission coming ur way!!

[ippy 66]

I cant help but feel something is being left up in the air that shouldnt be from a very ethical standpoint... cough cough 2011 cough.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

What's unethical? I plainly mentioned the year in my post.....I didn't cut n paste any blurb

[ippy 66]

kk, not attacking, but you know it helps everyone concerned that there be no misunderstandings.

[JellyBelly 1]

I doubt many of us know what you are going on about!

 

[Chriselle 158]

Yes...we demand insider information...!!

[Alexander L 80]

I've often used hopshopgo to forward gear from the states.

 

I also have a Bataleon Omni 163 from 2011 that Im willing (hoping ) to let go for 25,000¥......been used only 5 or 6 times

 

I live in Sapporo so if u wanted to stop in for a look at it then that could be arranged

 

This classified ad I reckon.

[Chriselle 158]

Ya, but did something magical happen in 2011?? End of classifieds section was before that surely...??

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Not that I know, I just figured that the blurb someone put probably wasn't the same blurb as they put out with he 2011 and is prob from a later model....and that's what ippy's highlighting.....I assume

[ippy 66]

The whole bataleon line got a reworking in 2012. Its not a big deal, its still the omni and its still going to feel similar. But one of the big things were the backseat inserts and the extra kick on the nose TBT. It basically tuned it SLIGHTLY away from being a good charger board into a good charger board with some tweaks for float. Its not huge, its still the omni which is why im NOT attacking for not mentioning, but it still needs to be clarified

[Chriselle 158]

All things the OP with two weeks of boarding experience is going to be concerned with.....

[ippy 66]

No misunderstandings

 

In addition can i argue that thats a side point anyway. Objectively someone with the OPs experience will be happy on just about any board that fits him because he'll be stoked as shit on japan snow and getting to grips with more tricky terrain/techniques anyway, and you can learn that on just about any board designed and manufactured in the last decade AT LEAST. Certainly within the last 7 or 8 years.

 

But thats a totally different tale and not one person on this site doesnt have their preferences and wouldnt want those preferences to be respected or brought out so they could figure out what they wanted in a snowboard (even though what they should want is pretty much a simple directional board with camber, the right size, and a nice medium flex) when they bought their first, second or third stick. Everyone knows that tech is overplayed and getting the right board doesnt magically make you a better snowboarder, then again we also know that some boards work better for what we like doing and we feel more comfortable with them. None of us after all went into a shop and grabbed the first board on the rack that measured up to our chin. And part of that is because we see it as a long term investment (and then almost always 'upgrade' it the following year anyway when we decide we want something different and our 1 year new board no longer matches what we thought we wanted to do because it hasnt magically made us a better snowboarder after all... even though we told ourselves from day 1 that it wouldnt do this (see above)). But mainly its because we have some idea of our preferences or can at least work them out after about fify or so days riding.

 

Then again, at that point we cut off things because we just kinda suck at them and so dont practice them - i suck at rails. I dont ride rails. Ergo i suck at them. So why would i want to buy a board that makes riding rails easier?

 

So when you get right down to it, you could literally do exactly what i said above. Go to a shop, pick the first board in your size range, ride it for the rest of your life, and still end up with the same results: youd be good at some things and rubbish at others.

[NoFakie 45]

Phew! I thought you were trying to muscle in on my commission there!

[Chriselle 158]

He was...!! Rather, muscle you OUT of your commission....

[Alexander L 80]

I think the essay above was saying buy a board, any board, and later buy some more.