IndyDDR.com

Arka wrote:Game/controller bundle at $50? I must have missed something.

You missed this...assuming you are able to get it at the opening bid, of course.

O.o

This is why I need to have my searches run more often.

Anyway: The chances of getting that at the opening bid are virtually nil, given what this and this went for, and what this is going for already (though that last one contains far more than just Keyboardmania)... still, it's an impressively low opening price.

I suspect you missed the $40 shipping fee when you quoted it, though.

[/eBay nitpicking]

hey motha did you check the usb ports to see if they were functioning properly? i used the yamaha one in the top port just fine when i played using a casio keyboard

Loading Guitadora resulted in it initilizing the adapter correctly and it all working, so I'd say that's a yes...

Arka wrote:I suspect you missed the $40 shipping fee when you quoted it, though.

[/eBay nitpicking]

You are correct. I'm usually better about paying attention to that kind of thing. I'm not really actively watching KBM auctions at the moment, so I just sort of glanced at that one and thought I'd pass along the word. I didn't do my due dilligence since I wasn't intending to bid myself. I apologize for my oversight.

I guess one of the previous bundles that were recently up for auction would have been better. The opening bid price was higher, but it included more stuff and was located on this side of the ocean to facilitate more reasonable shipping options.

As a side note, I actually bought my KBM stuff secondhand from a guy in the UK. Shipping ended up costing about as much as I bid on the stuff. It was disheartening.

are there any japanese users on this board?

we should totally pool money together and make them buy us stuff on the cheap like whoa.

Yes, one of the bundles WAS better.

On the shipping costs: don't worry, I'm just a bit obsessive about pointing out said fees. So many people overlook them when making online purchases... and it's especially important on eBay, where they can be pretty substantially inflated (either because the seller is padding them or because his costs are legitimately high due to shipping from halfway around the world!).

On the UK shipping: yeah, shipping between the U.S. and the UK is surprisingly prohibitive. Blame the Boston Tea Party and the reactionary nature of shipping companies, or something.

But seriously, it's a nuisance for me too, as most of the useful import communities I'm aware of are located in the UK. (My impression is that importing is much more popular among serious gamers in the UK, since so many games hit the UK several months after becoming available in the U.S.) The shipping issue means that any good sources I find out about through them are pretty much useless.

sam wrote:are there any japanese users on this board?

we should totally pool money together and make them buy us stuff on the cheap like whoa.

That approach often isn't all that effective. While people local to Japan can get some items cheaper than importers here charge for them, overseas shipping is really expensive. This can quickly offset any savings on the items themselves.

I've also noticed that on popular items the importers often have minimal markup over base Japanese pricing. This is probably because they can ship a carton of product over and split the shipping cost out across multiple units. This works especially well for smaller items like games. I've seen many new release IIDX and pop'n titles sell through importers for essentially the same price as it would cost to purchase them over in Japan.

Ho wrote:That approach often isn't all that effective. While people local to Japan can get some items cheaper than importers here charge for them, overseas shipping is really expensive. This can quickly offset any savings on the items themselves.

Ho is dead-on correct. In addition, negotiating the customs gauntlet is very difficult (and expensive) for anyone except a moderately large or specialized business. In theory, shipments under $200 in value should be fee-free, but they'll still have to figure out how to declare them properly. And if you want more than $200 of stuff without customs fees, you'll have to split it into two shipments, so pooling a bunch of game orders together and getting them sent in one huge box is right out.

Not to mention that if they actually intend to spend the money we pay them in Japan, there are those small but nontrivial currency exchange fees, international money order fees, or similar. Fun stuff!

Ho wrote:I've also noticed that on popular items the importers often have minimal markup over base Japanese pricing. This is probably because they can ship a carton of product over and split the shipping cost out across multiple units. This works especially well for smaller items like games. I've seen many new release IIDX and pop'n titles sell through importers for essentially the same price as it would cost to purchase them over in Japan.

Yes. I've been impressed with Play-Asia.com, among others, because they seem to do this quite often. (OTTOMH, I got my copy of PNM12 after their price drop for $52 shipped.) I can't imagine a private citizen improving on their prices, except for a few specific titles. Even if we disregard the monetary worth of that person's time, it's possible to screw up your customs declarations such that you wind up paying more than the cost of the item. And then you get to go back and figure out what they misinterpreted and hopefully not get hit with large fines...

So in summary, I'm perfectly content with the current profusion of online importers who generally have regional shipping centers and other good stuff.

OTOH, if you're a member of the jet set like a few of our shall-remain-nameless members, you can just go to Japan yourself and bring games back in your luggage.

you know people say this but i don't get why. it may just be shipping from japan alone but i've gotten a *lot* of stuff from hong kong shipped EMS and the most I ever paid was $25 for shipping. that was for a honking V64 in box which is like 2 n64s put in one.

Arka wrote:(OTTOMH, I got my copy of PNM12 after their price drop for $52 shipped.)

Sorry to deviate here, what does that mean?

Off The Top Of My Head. Usu. pronounced "autumn," and occasionally spelled that way just to confuse people.

Arka wrote:Off The Top Of My Head. Usu. pronounced "autumn," and occasionally spelled that way just to confuse people.

Sorry to deviate here, what does that mean?

<*facepalm*>

Usually. Common in certain dictionaries, which is why I tend to lapse into using it when I'm defining words or phrases.

Arka wrote:<*facepalm*>

Usually. Common in certain dictionaries, which is why I tend to lapse into using it when I'm defining words or phrases.

I sort of figured that out after I posted but I figured you were already typing a response already, so I just let it be .