buying from Yahoo Japan/Buyee/From Japan (16th parcel?)

[Barnett]

Had a few bits from Japan but not from the auction site, interesting. On the whole I have found the sellers very efficient and well priced, Cruzin and webbike etc. Its amazing what you can get from across the globe, got nos rd125 bits from Uruguay including tacho and speedo, full z650 exhaust system from the states but took ages as it came by sea, a fuel tank from California with dregs of fuel still in it Things have tightened up a bit now it seems as to what can be sent sadly. 

[Foy(notFox)]

Had a few bits from Japan but not from the auction site, interesting. On the whole I have found the sellers very efficient and well priced, Cruzin and webbike etc. Its amazing what you can get from across the globe, got nos rd125 bits from Uruguay including tacho and speedo, full z650 exhaust system from the states but took ages as it came by sea, a fuel tank from California with dregs of fuel still in it Things have tightened up a bit now it seems as to what can be sent sadly.

I just fancied Japan as that's where our bikes came from and they aren't as prized there (yet?). Got loads of stuff from USA but there are a lot of UK/Europe parts that weren't on USA models.

Strange one about Uruguay but yes I've seen someone there selling NOS Yamaha bits for AS3 and bought some but prices were high

Interesting about the fuel-dregs as I read a thread somewhere where a guy imported a tank (507 to France iirc) and it was destroyed at airport as their machines can pick up on even traces of fumes

[Foy(notFox)]

So I'm spending more money on Japan 'Ebay'.

I think I missed out one of the recent purchases. It was a sidepanel for a YBR125 (not mine) and we couldn't find correct one in UK but there were plenty in Japan. It was about £4 but after P&P etc prob nearer £30 so once again it kinda works out same as buying a higher-priced/lower P&P item from UK.

This latest purchase was a bit folly I guess and I probably don't even need it now but I  may have mentioned the XJR1300 saga before.

I saw a cylinder-block (barrels) for the XJR1200 for a ridiculously low price on Yahoo Auction Japan. It was around £7. I didn't think they'd ship it because of all the prohibited-items business but, long story short, it was unlocked and I won the auction but was in no rush to pay for the actual shipping. I had 2nd thoughts and considered just abandoning it.

However they seem to allow a very generous 'free storage' period and eventually I  paid the £54 shipping and thought 'it'll turn up eventually and prob have customs fees to pay'

Well I was rather surprised when it arrived a few days later. Interestingly the documentation seems different this time  (more DHL than Buyee) and it wasn't packed so well.

I mentioned before about the almost clinical packing they seem to employ but this (very delicate) item was just flung in a box with some old newspapers.

It seems to have survived fine and am sure I could sell it on and break even.

The downsides are the XJR1300 engine I'm detailing is turning out fine now and I don't think we'll be dismantling it. I knew the 1200 and 1300 barrels differed (bore) but someone said they smaller ones can be bored-out to use with STD pistons on the 1300. It would look odd tho with the smaller engine size embossed on the front of the block.

I also see someone in UK is selling same thing for only £120 and it's not being snapped-up.

The main reason I jumped at this one is that XJR1300 parts seem extortionate and I've not seen any barrels for sale in the 7 years I've been looking.

Plus-points are that it shows you can get engine parts with a bit of determination.

If I can get a fuel-tank or exhaust over that wil be a major achievement.

They recently refused to unblock a shock-absorber (Honda CB125TDE Superdream) s it might explode 


My last gripe is with the address-label. Why the hell do some companies insist on printing your name twice and, in this case, missing out part of the postcode?

I'm actually surprised it got here 



my name twice and half a postcode



no paperwork this time but still the familiar little sticker



not packed as well as previous consignments




looks in good condition



XJR1300 engine part way thru cleaning & painting

[Foy(notFox)]

So I bought more bits from Japan but this time used the From Japan site. All the listings are the same as Buyee as they both link to Yahoo Auction Japan (which is very like Ebay) but someone said they were less fussy about prohibited items.

As it turns out the pieces I bought were pretty safe this is a moot point.

The interesting aspects this time I guess is that I used surface mail to save money and also they bundled certain items together for shipping but not in any logical date-purchased or size system

Also when you pick the cheaper surface mail it warns the packages are not tracked so you are taking a bit of a chance on it even arriving.

So I bought 5 listings which were all pretty small apart from a swing-arm. I paid for the items on 11th, 14th, 29th of June and they bundled the items from the 11th and 29th together in a smaller box with shipping of £35.33

I paid the shipping on that on 14th July and it arrived this week which is like 10 weeks. We are back to the immaculate packaging again so am not sure what happened with #7 with the XJR barrels flung in a box 

Each listing as 1280 Yen purchase-price which works out to almost exactly £8 depending on exchange-rate on the day.

So for my total outlay of £59.31 I got the parts below.


from From Japan Limited


car exhaust pipes clearing Customs ok





precision packing




no idea what this says




sticker on box seems to share....



....certain data with stickers on packed items





little hand-made tags on the parts




£7.99 for exhaust-pipe/header



£7.99 for pair of exhaust pipe nuts




£8 for LH handle switch


The 2nd (bigger) parcel which I paid shipping on a couple of weeks later (29th July) hasn't arrived yet but a tracking ref does show for it on the site. Perhaps over a certain cost you get a tracking ref. It certainly doesn't give daily updates when clicked but it's better than nothing I guess.

So I don't know if I'm saving that much using surface mail as the prices seem similar to before but I'm thinking the prices overall have jumped and if I choose airmail again it will be a shock.

The seller I got all the cheap CS2E bits from appears to be breaking a whole bike but has not yet listed big pieces. I'm hoping the silencers get listed as these are rather scarce. I've just bought the exhaust/header pipe so technically the bigger bit should be shippable as it would have the same carbon in it but I'm not sure they'll see it that way 

[Motty]

Graham, have you seen this post in the 250 Tech Help Section

https://www.aircooledrdclub.com/smf/index.php?topic=64830.0

A guy based in Japan has mentioned some of the sites you are interested in

Richard

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

[Foy(notFox)]

UPDATE

parcel #9 arrived and am over-the-moon about that for some reason.

It took exactly 12 weeks to come but seemed an age compared to the last one at 10 weeks. I think perhaps because this contained something more significant, and I'd paid more shipping on it, it was more of a worry.

Anyway. We've still got the immaculate packing which is identical to parcels received via Buyee so am thinking it's all coming from one warehouse.

The swingarm was covered in oil but so shouldn't really have been shipped but the word (in the listing) wouldn't trigger a 'forbidden' item such as a petrol tank, oil tank or sump? which may explain why I could bid on it but not how it got here. Perhaps the packing-staff aren't too fussed and at the docks or whatever mb it's not true that they have sniffer machines 

Looks like with the exchange-rates for these ones I paid £8.17 for each listing and the total for shipping and charges was £54.47

I'm quite happy with that as even tho the shipping is much higher than the parts I don't think I could've got the parts cheaper elsewhere. Swingarms seem to go for £30-£60 before shipping and all the nuts and bolts would cost a fortune to ship or post in dribs n drabs


quite a big box this time



From Japan from Japan


£16 spent on parts but seems odd that both items weighed the same



shipped out last day of July and arrived around 20th October




label on box again but no barcode labels on the items inside this time




quite a big gap in the sequence of the handmade tags this time. gives an idea of  amount of stuff they are sending abroad perhaps



one item was swingarm assy (CS2E)




other was all the nuts/bolts small fittings from the CS2E


Next thing to come is 2 silencers (RD125). If I get them ok I'd say you can basically ship anything from Japan apart from a fuel-tank or shock-absorber but I will try again for those 

[Foy(notFox)]

So I got another parcel in no probs. Again the shipping time was consistent - 11 weeks - for cheapest option (untracked Surface Mail)

It was 5 items this time, which cost £40.37, and the shipping was £76.12.

The shipping feels quite expensive as none of the parts were very heavy. A swing-arm for my RD125 would be the heaviest part I guess. The 'From Japan' site has very detailed information regarding weight & size of each item before you choose your shipping option and as you can leave things sitting for 45 days after you've bought them I fiddle about with various permutations before pressing the 'ship now' button.

Usually try to squeeze lots of small things in with a bigger/heavier item but am not sure how accurately their system is for packing multiple items (by weight or size).

Anyway if you add it up the total was £116.49 for the 5 items which is about £23 each so, again, it prob works out cheaper than getting stuff from Ebay.

For example the swing-arms seem to go for £30-£60 plus P&P so £23 isn't bad for that. You'd also be lucky to find some of the smaller items for £20 before P&P   

I've been pretty skint recently and when the absolute deadline for paying the shipping (before parts are discarded) comes round as well as trying to get the best value for multiple items I've also had to leave some behind due to simply not having the funds to pay for everything. Maybe not getting best value but 'it is what it is' as they say these days 

So once again everything was immaculately packed with the little tags etc and everything bar-coded. They definitely handle things with care.

This parcel had nothing 'verbotten' in it really. I said previously that next parcel due was the one with exhaust but that wasn't paid for till end of November so it'll be another month before we see that.

This parcel seems to have been opened on its way here (Customs) and has a sticker on it which I'm not sure is good or bad but I doubt they unwrapped everything and re-wrapped it so prob just a quick look 'no guns, drugs or dead animals' and it's back on its way 

Next one to pay for is a fuel tank 



latest consignment. should perhaps check the weight on label against the weights for each item per purchase history



wonder how the Glasgow arm get their cut



looks like this one was opened by Customs or similar



post customs-check label?



neat packaging. all items packed individually then wrapped together



swing-arm



wiring harness



CS2E (CS3) parts



AS3/RD125 swing-arm and fittings for £3.04




AS3 wiring loom for £12.19




CS2E yoke, handlebar clamp and exhaust pipe for £8.38 each

[Foy(notFox)]

What's it they say about a fool and his money.....?

Well yeah. I'm starting to think I've made one too many bad buys on this site now 

I think my initial thinking was 'could I get all items shipped - such as awkward ones like exhausts' so I jumped at the chance of some early RD125 exhausts/silencers and tried to maximise my 'bang for buck' on the expected heavy shipping costs by squeezing in a couple of light items.

So I have been eagerly awaiting this parcel and again it came roughly as expected in 10-12 weeks and was again very well packed. I'd bought

• an AS1 loom c/w various electrics for £11.58 
• The RD125 exhausts for £8.43 
• An RD125 handlebar switch for £18.45

Now the only part I really need or want is the RD125 switch. These seem to be listed for mental prices (NOS) on Ebay and with me having a fetish for all the handlebar options on my machines it makes sense to have duplicate switches etc so you could just unbolt one set-up and put the other one on 'plug & play' style without having to remove the fittings from each one. The £18 seemed reasonable so am happy with that.

The AS1 loom would obviously be light in weight and (hopefully) rare and I could list it on Ebay and re-coup some of my shipping costs and the exhausts would also hopefully be really in demand and with a bit of a clean-up sell for a decent price or I could use them as say-to-day items on my RD125 if I got the originals re-chromed.

So that was the idea and I am pleased with the smaller items but the exhausts are a bit of a disappointment. The were listed as 404 which seems to be the closest the Japanese market got to the 396 model (1973) I have. However they are stamped 1H7 and the undersides look very rusty.

I know 1E7 is an RD125DX model number but the 1H7 will probably put potential buyers off buying them and they might not even fit a 396 of 1E7 bike. Who knows? 

The loom also has an odd 217 model number on it. I'm familiar with 183 & 218 for the AS1 but never seen 217. The AS1 parts list shows a few 217 parts (eg high-pipe YAS1C exhausts) so I've no doubt it's correct but still looks a bit odd.

The loom is in great condition with no cuts and I also got the rectifier, flasher-relay, rear stop-switch and horn.

Anyway back to the important bit. The shipping was £99.61 

So £138.07 all-in for a used handlebar switch (worst-case scenario) 

or £138.07 less £50 for the electrics and £60 for the exhausts (best-case scenario) 



1st time I've had a fragile sticker


also 'right way up'


on outside of box but there are also individual stickers on each package inside


sticker on exhaust packing has same data as box-sticker


shrink-wrapped RD125 LH switch seems to share 'consignment number' with box-sticker


same with AS1 electrics-bundle


exhaust packaging looked promising
       

exhausts look ok from above


but not so great underneath



unfamiliar 1H7 model-number on silencers


typical broken stud(s) at mounting-brackets


switch looks good


YHA206 just visible and wiring to 4-pin plug in great condition


other wires on 4-pin plug. will check if they match my UK version


6-pin plug also looks good


AS1 loom prior to cleaning/inspection


unfamiliar 217 model-number on loom-tag

[Gr8uncleal]

Morning Graham.

Both those model codes are for the JDM bikes, as you might expect. If you can, maybe try and fit the exhausts to your own bike and see how they line up. Worse case scenario is you end up selling them as a cheap option for our DX model.

Wiring loom may well have a couple of minor differences to our bikes, particularly if the JDM bike had the red 55mph speed warning light. Would only be a pain if there were differences in the soldered connections deep within the loom.

Anorak questions now! Did the switchgear have black or silver/grey sheathing over the wires and what was the number cast on the underside - YHA205, YHA206?

[Foy(notFox)]

Gr8 post  .  Thanks Gr8uncleal

Also never seen that model-codes list before. Very useful. Only issue I have with it is for models up to 279 they only have entries for Japan but we can see models in there that were definitely sold all over the world.

Anyway we see 217 is the AS1B - which I've never heard of 

I'm agreeing with you about the exhausts. I have my 396 originals and will be able to put them side-by-side to compare differences. I don't have any DX ones but if I ever list them I could 'mark up' the pics to show measurements of where each part begins and ends (like indents for spindle etc). I actually don't think they will be that different.

I remember reading some time ago the the actual headers for the RD200 were totally unobtainable in any condition. The headers on these pipes are in fantastic condition but it seems that RD125 ones are quite common. I'll need to look back on this thread to see what state mine are in.

You obviously know your stuff regarding the warning light on the JDM speedos 

I can't imagine there would be a lot of differences in the looms but I'd need another AS1 loom to do (continuity) checks against this one. There is a 183 loom on Ebay (in USA) but it's pretty badly butchered so even if the pics were clearer it would be hard to compare connectors with what I have.

The switchgear is a black one. There are gray (AS3) ones on the site also but this one was a better price iirc so I went for that, despite also having an AS3. The number is YHA206

Anyway. I've now added most of the pics to my earlier post. There are still a few of the AS1 pieces to post but I will do that when I photograph the cleaned loom 

[Foy(notFox)]

I'll try not to go into a huge amount of detail about this one, as it's a Honda part but, unbelievably, I actually made some money on it 

I have a 1987 (E-reg) Honda CB125TD-E which used to be my girlfriend's daughter's bike. It was her first bike and had no side-stand and she was having problems getting it on the centre-stand (till I showed her how easy it actually is) and it then became clear that Honda, for some strange reason, didn't put a side-stand on the UK bikes - but did in other markets. 

This was over 10 years ago and with a bit of research I found out that the footrest bar and side-stand from the CM125 were basically the same so I bought a used assembly off Ebay for about £20, cut the footrest bits off, welded-up the worn bits and bought some new bolts to mount it under the engine - per factory spec. Worked out well and I always wondered if there was a market for these things

When I'm on the Japan auction site I always have a look at the CB125TD bits and there are usually several cheap side-stands listed.

So I thought mb someone in the UK would like one and bought one for the princely sum of £4.10, but with £22.56 shipping as I didn't squeeze it in with any other purchases. 

So the thing arrived the other week and owed me £26.66 

I figured I might just break even selling it on Ebay and listed it at £5 starting price with Buy It Now of £60

After a few days I was amazed to see it had something like 163 views and 9 watchers but more importantly the bids were up past £40 with a day or so to go.

When I got home from work last night it had sold for £84 (plus £6 P&P)   

So after Ebay/Paypal etc take their cut I may have actually made a profit of about £40-£50 which goes some way towards covering all my other shipping costs.

he thing that has really struck me is how many views the (35 yr old) CB125 part has received compared to other items listed (AS1 bits). This may be because the AS1 is such a rare machine in the modern world but at same time I have a cylinder block for the Yamaha XJR1200 (202 years old) listed and that's getting almost no views also so it's mb not just an age thing



funky Japanese graphics on the latest (parcel in a) parcel from Japan


side-stand not fitted to UK CB125TD models     

NB for some bizarre reason the Buy It Now option drops off as soon as someone bids on an EBay item which is a bit of a pain. This time, however, it worked out to my benefit and the buyers' loss


EDIT

So I got payment off Ebay - £77.68

This means I lost £12.32 in fees 

Paid £4.34 to courier to send parcel

That brings sale down to £73.34

Less cost of purchase from Japan £26.66

So profit made was £46.68.

It's not bad but basically it's a convoluted route from £4 purchase-price to £84 sale to end up back down at £46 in the black 

[Motty]

That's a very expensive side stand for someone, well done for getting a profit. Are you looking for any more side stands?

[Foy(notFox)]

That's a very expensive side stand for someone, well done for getting a profit. Are you looking for any more side stands?

Yes. I was a bit amazed by it. There is only 1 other on the site just now and it's over a tenner 

This means reduced profits next time 

(I've just updated my initial earlier post after getting Ebay payment etc)

[Gr8uncleal]

I wouldn't knock 1000% or so profit!

Well worth doing if you have the time. Also worth doing, as you have previously, is buying extra items to sell on, to make "free" use of the postage that you are paying for anyway, for the items that you do need.

[Foy(notFox)]

Yip

My thinking was to squeeze valuable small bits in with big rare old stuff.

However am thinking now that the demand for 70s Yamaha parts isn't great. I have an AS1 tank on the way (cost about £70 all-in) but there is a much better one on Ebay (in UK)  for £125 and it doesn't seem to be getting any interest