How To Buy Japanese Pen From Rakuten

[el34han]

I have purchased four pilot fountain pens from a Rakuten seller(Voice). It took me forever to make the decision buying the first one because lots of horror story I found while Google Rakuten's review. Rakuten is not an auction site like eBay. Nor is it like Amazon because Rakuten does not regulation sellers. If you deal with dishonest seller Rakuten won't even accept your complain, don't think about Rakuten will help you solve your problem. On the other hand there are honest sellers. If you can find them the benefit is great. Using Sailor 1911 MidSize(Japan called Standard size) 14k Music nib as an example, nib.com price is US$156. I paid "Voice"(the Rakuten seller) 8433JPY(US$72) plus 1500JPY(US$13) and received it in less than 72 hours. You do the math. :-)

Let me outline how to buy from Rakuten,

1. Find a honest seller. I will only buy from Voice. You will be safe if you buy from him since I already bought four Sailor 1911 from him. BTW, I have no affiliation with Voice. (feel like I have to say it). Following is link to his pen store on Rakuten.

http://global.rakuten.com/en/search/?sid=voice&tl=100926

2. Find a pen. It is almost impossible to search on Rakuten with key words. Most sellers specify the manufacture model number.

3. Make a purchase. At this point you have not committed to buy. This is so the seller can contact you and tell you the shipping cost. If you reject or not response, the deal will be off. No harm to either side.

4. Wait for seller to email you the invoice with shipping cost.

5. It is also OK to contact the seller directly and ask for pens not listed. They can buy pens from all major Japanese brands and get back to you with pricing. I purchased a bottle of Iroshizuku with the Sailor 1911 Music to save on the shipping. Voice had no problem emailing back and forth with different number of items till I finalize what I wanted.

6. Seller email you the final invoice.

7. Pay with Paypal. Do not pay with credit card directly. Paypal protect you from all fraud if you specify this is a purchase, not gift. You can get your money back if anything goes wrong. Paypal does not charge currency exchange fee nor transaction fee. These fees are usually around US$10.

8. Ask seller to confirm they've received your payment. They don't always automatically tell you they receive your money. Also, ask for EMS tracking number. Japanese EMS tracking numbers are always good, not like many Chinese tracking numbers.

 

Hope this info helps some.

[miatagrrl]

 

I have purchased four pilot fountain pens from a Rakuten seller(Voice). It took me forever to make the decision buying the first one because lots of horror story I found while Google Rakuten's review. . . .

 

Hope this info helps some.

 

Thank you -- this is helpful for future shopping. It sounds like Rakuten is only as good as its individual vendors. I wish Voice carried Platinum, but some of those Sailors are tempting. Question: What are the "points" earned with each purchase? How are they redeemed?

[KBeezie]

Thank you -- this is helpful for future shopping. It sounds like Rakuten is only as good as its individual vendors. I wish Voice carried Platinum, but some of those Sailors are tempting. Question: What are the "points" earned with each purchase? How are they redeemed?

The points are earned during each purchase (it shows near the price). During checkout on an order if you have any points you can choose to have them applied to a balance. 1,000 points = 1,000 yen (Which is roughly $10 USD). So when they had a special bonus 2,000 points a couple months ago (and I already had 79 from a purchase of a Century 3776 previously), I was able to apply 2,079 points towards my second Platinum Century 3776 saving me about $20 off my order. Every once in a while they do have bonus points.

 

For example right now until December 13th all purchases will earn 20 times the usual points (ie: instead of 80 points for an $80 order, you'd get 1,600, which is good for about $16 off your next order). Info on that current promotion. http://global.rakuten.com/en/event/point/?scid=me_ich_pcn_20141130-en-main

Edited December 1, 2014 by KBeezie

[maverink]

rakuten marketplace has these small mom and pop shops selling their wares. i have purchased pens, inks from rakuten shops of voice, horiman, bunkidou, thearticle, atn, office japan till date and used paypal and had no problems at all. they ship using EMS which is very fast and has trackking.

 

i am a satisfied customer and rakuten responds to your queries as i purchased ink bottles and due to manhandling 2 bottles got damaged i sent a photo of the parcel and the bottles and replacement bottles were arranged by bunkidou no questions asked. rakuten customer service is very prompt to clear any issues with the shops.

 

 

rakuten points/super points:

based on the value of the purchase you get loyalty points from rakuten which can be redeemed during the next purchase.

 

rakuten has these promotional activities periodically where they give free shipping, 2000 bonus points for new accounts, 20X superpoints etc

 

hope it helps

Edited December 1, 2014 by maverink

[Alex2014]

I bought from Rakuten pens, pen cases, inks and cartridges and I always was satisfied with them. Voice and Kingdom of Gifts are reliable sellers. The point system is an advantage that could result in significant discounts.

[sajiskumar]

Thank you el34han and maverink. These information could help me to purchase pens from Japan.

[maverink]

@miatagrrl i use paypal and have peace of mind.

 

@sajiskumar happy shopping on rakuten

[shawndp]

Thanks for the info - I was contemplating using Rakuten but had heard some less than wonderful things. Will take a chance with an order once I figure out what Sailor I am chasing.

[el34han]

Thanks for KBeezie's feedback about the points. I have earned quite some points but for some reason when I reach the point to use points Rakuten shows I have 0 points, checking my profile shows I have many points. I am just too lazy to figure out.

[el34han]

I didn't realize there are few people used Rakuten. I should have ask the question earlier to save some guessing work.

 

Summerize a list of Rakuten stores people had good experience. Only Voice was mentioned twice. Again, whether you get good customer service depends 100% on the shop you deal with. Choose your store wisely.

 

Voice

Kingdom of Gifts

miatagrrl

sajiskumar

horiman

bunkidou

thearticle

atn

office japan

[maverink]

el34han well kbeezie is the person who got me interested in rakuten and bunkidou shop when he bought the red 3776 for 20 dollar discount at about USD75 shipped. that was a killer deal. he posts such beautiful pictures that i kinda fall in love with the pens and my wallet gets lighter. i have bought a dozen pens from rakuten thanks to him.

 

rakuten does have auctions, its like a japanese version of ebay, rakuten regulates the sellers in the marketplace, rakuten promptly responded to my queries. since its a japanese website translated by google sometimes the interpretation is confusing but all that for getting quality japanese pens at very competitive prices. i m told these prices are better than the prices offered at brick and mortar shops in japan.

 

i am a satisfied customer of rakuten i always pay using paypal to have peace of mind.

[Algester]

There's also usagiya if I believe but I'm not sure

also a word of caution though if your buying pilot pens especially the stargazer, e90s, falcon and vanishing point, also forgot to add metropolitam do take note these pens have different local names

Stella90S, Elite 90S, Erabo, and capless, plus the cocoon are the names of these pens in Japan

http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/8989usagiya/

Here is their rakuten site ha... That lumiere eludes me so much SAILOR!!!!!

Edited December 1, 2014 by Algester

[KBeezie]

There's also usagiya if I believe but I'm not sure

also a word of caution though if your buying pilot pens especially the stargazer, e90s, falcon and vanishing point, also forgot to add metropolitam do take note these pens have different local names

Stella90S, Elite 90S, Erabo, and capless, plus the cocoon are the names of these pens in Japan

http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/8989usagiya/

Here is their rakuten site ha... That lumiere eludes me so much SAILOR!!!!!

That seller only seems to have one product listed, and it's furnished by Bunkidou. (ie: for an english friendly version of the site just stick the store name after the /store/ part in the url below, it helps to be able to search that specific store for a product since the search bar will default to searching just that store)

 

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/8989usagiya/

 

as opposed to Bunkidou

 

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/bunkidou-shop/

[Algester]

Well I dunno I have been well attuned to look at sites in japanese :X but you will miss those store exclusive inks from usagiya but thats in the JP side woopsie

[maverink]

algester we can post specific shops and items that are unique to them to help others in buying from the rakuten shop so that forum members can benifit.

[cellardoor04]

Penroom/Pen-house are good as well, I've used them. Always got back to me promptly and my item arrived within 2 days. Nagasawa for the inks, too.

[ridiculopathy]

I've used Voice and Bunkidou and had no problems with either.

[Tumbleweedtoo]

Well, I took the plunge and completed an order today. I'll share some of the details to help some of you decide if it is worth the trouble or not.

 

Based on an FPN review, I ordered a PLATINUM PTS-50000 Silver. Currently, you can order it from Japan on ebay for $371.00, plus $13.00 shipping or from Japan on ebay for $550 with Free Shipping.

 

The seller "penroom" called the pen: PLATINUM Fountain pen PLATINUM PTS-50000 Silver Innocence (50000), and you can follow the link to see the advertised pen.

 

From the e-mail I received, this is the total cost of the pen in Japanese yen:

 

Price 34953(JPY) x 1(#) = 34953(JPY) (Tax excl., Delivery Fee excl.)

Overseas corresponding fee 2796(JPY) (Tax excl.)

****************************************************************

Delivery Address 1(#)

Total Items 1(#)

Total Items Price 37749(JPY)

--------------------------------

Subtotal 37749(JPY)

Tax 0(JPY)

Delivery Fee 1500(JPY)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Total 39249(JPY)

 

Notice the additional fees:

Overseas corresponding fee 2796(JPY) (Tax excl.)

Delivery Fee 1500(JPY)

 

Since the US dollar is currently stronger than the yen at 116.74, the total cost in US dollars was $336.22. I did go ahead and order a converter, which does not come with the pen for a grand total cost of $340.54. Therefore, I saved more than $40.00 from the lowest advertised ebay price direct from Japan.

 

The pen is supposed to ship sometime after December 8, 2014. So, I can report back after that.

 

Hopefully, some of you will find this information helpful.

 

All the best,

T

[miatagrrl]

Thanks, everyone, for all of your feedback and info. The order that I placed from Rakuten/Bunkidou on Black Friday (11/28) arrived today! (Actually, it arrived yesterday, 12/3, but I wasn't home to sign for it, so I picked it up at the P.O. today.) Five days is pretty dang quick from Japan to Seattle! The pen was beautifully and carefully packaged. The price for my Pilot Custom 912 with FA nib was listed at approx. US $128.02. Including shipping (and change in exchange rate), the actual amount charged to my credit card was $131.69. I will definitely be shopping there again!

Edited December 4, 2014 by miatagrrl

[rutherfordr]

That's great!

 

Will you post a sketch you've made with it (please)?