Yahoo auctions question! Help please

[Mr Doricar]

Hi,

I've got a few things that I'm uncertain of. I'm after buying a car for road and trackday use. I'm looking at Silvia's and Skylines but I'm not sure how to tell if the car has a valid shaken, how long it has left on the Shaken, and importantly WHERE the vehicle is located.

Use this as an example.

http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m40261151

Where should I be looking for the information I need?

Thanks in advance

James

p.s. I've only learned Katakana so far so if it's in kanji/hiragana could you just write it the word for Shaken here for me please! Muchos gracias!

[james]

p.s. I've only learned Katakana so far so if it's in kanji/hiragana could you just write it the word for Shaken here for me please! Muchos gracias!

if you do a search right here on fg, there are sites and browser plugins that will put up the readings (furigana) for all of the kanji for you whilst displaying the actual website you are visiting. you may find them useful. jim breen's site is also useful for looking up both the readings and english meanings of kanji compounds.

i'd put up the characters for shaken for ya, but i'm currently visiting my folks back in canada and can't be arsed to install the japanese ime on their machine.

[FG Lurker]

One of the rules of Yahoo Auctions is that you *must* be able to read/write Japanese in order to buy there. Unless the seller has specifically stated otherwise (generally by putting up an English description) your bids will not be welcome and the seller will very likely cancel the auction when they discover they can not communicate with you. In the very least you should ask the seller a question in English first to see if they will work with you without Japanese ability.

If you have a Japanese friend who will help you with this then that is great, you can ask them about where on the page the items you seek are.

One other point, Yahoo has as many scammers as eBay, and they are sometimes very hard to spot. Further, used car dealers can be just as unscrupulous here as anywhere... Buying sight-unseen, especially without the language skills to discuss any unexpected problems, is not a particularly great idea, IMO.

[FG Lurker]

Here is a link to the rules of Yahoo Auctions. They even have an English bit about the Japanese requirement:

http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/html/guidelines.html

[GomiGirl]

James - I just sent you a PM with the emails of some friends of mine who are car dealers here - they go direct to the auctions every day, have access to the databases and know what they are doing. They do a heap of international exports but also they sell locally. My boyfriend used to work there before he went back to study so I know them really well. Great guys and they all speak English.

Japan Auto Direct

Tell them what you want, your budget etc and let them find what you want. They sell a heap of Skyline GTR's and Silvias so they know what is out there and what price you should be paying for different models.

Give the auctions a miss as you really don't know who you are buying from and what condition it is in.

[madfuku]

[FG Lurker]

You just need enough Japanese to complete the transaction without annoying the seller, as well as to deal with any problems that might come up post-sale if the item is worth enough to bother quibbling about. Beyond that Yahoo doesn't care, they just want their auction fees.

[Mr Doricar]

Thanks guys,

A certain lady has given me a great contact for buying a car so I'm hopefully sorted.

If anyone can be bothered please type shaken for me!

Thanks again

[madfuku]

[omae mona]

[Mr Doricar]

James Bond, bad guy, full bath, electric fan:

Shaaaaaaaaken