Buying stuff from Japan via proxy

[SuperDeadite]

I won't name names, but I actually had someone ask me to mail an FM Towns PC from Japan to the USA for $40.  If you are that ignorant, I stay far away unless the offer is so stupidly high I can't decline.

Yikes dude, I apologize. I'm still fairly new to buying stuff from Japan, I really didn't mean any offense. I was under the impression that shipping by boat was much cheaper.

You did nothing wrong.  Don't know why noobivy even told you to come to me, when I'm not really even trying to sell it lol.  It was clear to me that you are not ready for a Towns anyway, which sounds a bit harsh I know, but I'm not joking when I say there are only about 10 games that run well on an old towns that you'd actually enjoy playing.  And all of them are $200+ on ebay lol.  It's not a system you want to import without doing real research into first.

Either way, I only deal with a selected few, because they know the routine, they know the rules, and they know the prices.

[Ji-L87]

I won't name names, but I actually had someone ask me to mail an FM Towns PC from Japan to the USA for $40.  If you are that ignorant, I stay far away unless the offer is so stupidly high I can't decline.

Yikes dude, I apologize. I'm still fairly new to buying stuff from Japan, I really didn't mean any offense. I was under the impression that shipping by boat was much cheaper.

...not ready for a Towns anyway, which sounds a bit harsh I know, but I'm not joking when I say there are only about 10 games that run well on an old towns that you'd actually enjoy playing.  And all of them are $200+ on ebay lol.  It's not a system you want to import without doing real research into first.

Is it because of different hardware variations or something like that? I'm strangely interested in the Towns, maybe even more so than the X68K.

/This is me, going off-topic. Weee!

[SuperDeadite]

I won't name names, but I actually had someone ask me to mail an FM Towns PC from Japan to the USA for $40.  If you are that ignorant, I stay far away unless the offer is so stupidly high I can't decline.

Yikes dude, I apologize. I'm still fairly new to buying stuff from Japan, I really didn't mean any offense. I was under the impression that shipping by boat was much cheaper.

...not ready for a Towns anyway, which sounds a bit harsh I know, but I'm not joking when I say there are only about 10 games that run well on an old towns that you'd actually enjoy playing.  And all of them are $200+ on ebay lol.  It's not a system you want to import without doing real research into first.

Is it because of different hardware variations or something like that? I'm strangely interested in the Towns, maybe even more so than the X68K.

/This is me, going off-topic. Weee!

Very much so.  For example, here's a vid where Galaxy Force II is being played on a Marty which runs at the same speed as a basic gray Towns PC.  Notice it sucks. 

Now here's a direct recording of the same game off my Towns II Fresh, you'll notice a BIG speed difference.

If you are ever going to pay the price to import a Towns, get one with a 486 cpu minimum.  The 386 machines are a waste of money.  My Fresh is equipped with an AMD 586x133mhz Overdrive CPU and 38mbs RAM.  As opposed to the Marty/old TOwns which is a 386x16mhz and 2mbs RAM.  The Marty sold terribly because spec wise it was terribly underpowered, and only really stupid people bought one back then.

[Ji-L87]

I won't name names, but I actually had someone ask me to mail an FM Towns PC from Japan to the USA for $40.  If you are that ignorant, I stay far away unless the offer is so stupidly high I can't decline.

Yikes dude, I apologize. I'm still fairly new to buying stuff from Japan, I really didn't mean any offense. I was under the impression that shipping by boat was much cheaper.

...not ready for a Towns anyway, which sounds a bit harsh I know, but I'm not joking when I say there are only about 10 games that run well on an old towns that you'd actually enjoy playing.  And all of them are $200+ on ebay lol.  It's not a system you want to import without doing real research into first.

Is it because of different hardware variations or something like that? I'm strangely interested in the Towns, maybe even more so than the X68K.

/This is me, going off-topic. Weee!

Very much so.  For example, here's a vid where Galaxy Force II is being played on a Marty which runs at the same speed as a basic gray Towns PC.  Notice it sucks. 

Now here's a direct recording of the same game off my Towns II Fresh, you'll notice a BIG speed difference.

If you are ever going to pay the price to import a Towns, get one with a 486 cpu minimum.  The 386 machines are a waste of money.  My Fresh is equipped with an AMD 586x133mhz Overdrive CPU and 38mbs RAM.  As opposed to the Marty/old TOwns which is a 386x16mhz and 2mbs RAM.  The Marty sold terribly because spec wise it was terribly underpowered, and only really stupid people bought one back then.

Are the 486s and above also available in that sleek grey-ish case with the vertical CD-drive & "equalizer bar"? (Is that what's it called?)

[spenoza]

How much does an a Sharp X1 go for these days, anyway?

[Sadler]

I won't name names, but I actually had someone ask me to mail an FM Towns PC from Japan to the USA for $40.  If you are that ignorant, I stay far away unless the offer is so stupidly high I can't decline.

Yikes dude, I apologize. I'm still fairly new to buying stuff from Japan, I really didn't mean any offense. I was under the impression that shipping by boat was much cheaper.

You did nothing wrong.  Don't know why noobivy even told you to come to me, when I'm not really even trying to sell it lol.  It was clear to me that you are not ready for a Towns anyway, which sounds a bit harsh I know, but I'm not joking when I say there are only about 10 games that run well on an old towns that you'd actually enjoy playing.  And all of them are $200+ on ebay lol.  It's not a system you want to import without doing real research into first.

Either way, I only deal with a selected few, because they know the routine, they know the rules, and they know the prices.

No worries! I've run across some stuff on the Marty that made me curious. I asked in chat and the computer was suggested as an alternative. Rob said you had one and you hated it, so I figured if I could get it for relatively cheap it'd be fun to mess with. I didn't realize what sort of prices I was actually looking at though. Some day I'll probably hunt down one of the later computer models like you suggested, but there's a lot of other stuff I'll get first. For example, a PCFX.

[SuperDeadite]

All the Vertical tower Towns models are 386s.  There are some gray 486 desktops, but all the better units are white desktops. 

I hate my old Towns?  Lol noobivy is truly the eternal noob.

[spenoza]

The undisclosed "handling" charges are a big red flag. There should be NO undisclosed charges or fees in any transaction. Sure, some charges may depend on costs and time and whatnot, and that's understood, but I'm not sure I would do any return business with someone who doesn't tell me up front what my financial responsibilities are in a transaction.

[Ji-L87]

All the Vertical tower Towns models are 386s.  There are some gray 486 desktops, but all the better units are white desktops. 

I see, thanks! : )

...you guys may have your thread back now 

[Arkhan]

I buy from Japan via proxy all the time.

I find that I score excellent deals.

MSX Turbo R for roughly 250$, CIBler?  yes.
two MSX 2+'s boxed, for <100 each? f*ckjeauh!
CIBler Duo-R w/ 6+ games for 60$?  damn straight.

Even after shipping, these don't approach US prices.  A turbo r is typically 500+$, loose!

I've also imported tons of games. 

The trick is to plan ahead.   I just got like 15 MSX games recently, all for <=15$.   They will all be shipped together.

So what I do is ge a chunk of cash, say , 100$

then I go "OK!  I want these games, lets go go go!"

then I place bids and leave some wiggle room.


I use celga exclusively .   They've been the friendliest of all the proxies.   Their site is cut/dry.  It's to the point.  It also has a fee button, so before you even bid, you know what you'll really be paying for the items.


So I just toss in the URL, enter a bid amount, press a button and go "oh, ok thats still a nice deal!"

[arromdee]

If you do the math, that's roughly a 50% increase in price. 

The increase is roughly 50% of the *new* price, but it's a 100% increase from the old price.

[soop]

CIBler Duo-R w/ 6+ games for 60$?  damn straight.

Say WHAAAAA?!!?!?!  O____O

If you do the math, that's roughly a 50% increase in price. 

The increase is roughly 50% of the *new* price, but it's a 100% increase from the old price.

You are right - my bad

[Arkhan]

My first Duo-R was 5500 yen + shipping, CIBler

at the time, that translated to about 60$, and the fees were low since it was < 100$

[spenoza]

Holy crap. You think deals like that could possibly still exist? I need Super CD-ROM capabilities before too long or I'm gonna cry.

[Arkhan]

Considering I got this shit <= 3 years ago,

yes.