dazed
12-27-2012, 01:29 PM
I recently wanted to get some coilovers. I usually buy things new, I know it's not smart to cheap out on coilovers, or get some heavily used ones. This will my 3rd set. Megans that came with the car broke, KTS's don't go as low as I'd like, and something might be wrong with one of them.
Zilvia is cool and all for used stuff but honestly I've really found that Yahoo Auctions are a GOLD mine. It really all depends on what you want though, some things aren't worth importing unless you have a container connection (aero, hoods, engines, ect). Coils are pretty heavy the Silk Road's I bought ended up being 51 pounds (shipping weight).
So anyway I picked out some coils like I usually do, figured shipping wouldn't be TOO bad (I've already priced out an intercooler, I've had LOTS of stuff shipped over from Japan, rear valence, seat, ect).
I found some nice MINTY Silk Road RM/A8's only 16k Kilometers on them. There were already like 10 bids on it so I knew some dudes in Japan wanted it. I wanted it more though, and ended up winning it for 23,500 yen (about $300 USD).
Bidding was all done through Rinkya. They're new website layout is pretty nice and ergonomic. The only reason I went through Rinkya is because Jesse Streeter was away for the holidays. He's a rad dude, I've bought all my grail parts from him.
So I win the auction, Rinkya asks me to pay for shipping to the U.S. when it's gets to their warehouse. Only one small problem: they wanted like $380 to ship it...... I instantly put in a support ticket saying that I have experience importing stuff and that price is BULLSHIT and why would they ship Fed-Ex, I told them my dude always ships EMS or Sea Post.
Literally 5 minutes of me putting that help ticket in, I get a new shipping price of $260.
I asked for a status report of what is going on.......
>> Hi Brad,
>>
>> Thank you for your email.
>>
>> $364.71 is actually a SAL price at 23050yen x(.25) +23050yen/79
>> current exchange, not Rinkya Prime. We apologized for the confusion .
>> We would have refunded you immediately. We have a new trainee now due
>> to my going out of town for the holidays and i apologize.
>>
>> The quote you received next is Rinkya Prime at $250.37. I personally
>> put this cost in last night to update/fix the correct amount..
>> $263.03 is the total amount owed on the auction due to shipping with
>> in Japan being extra on these items. So this $250 is actually the
>> same quote as the second email email you received. If you take a look
>> at your invoice, you will see the same amount with the charge
>> explained.
>>
>> If you have any other questions please let me know.
Basically dude tells me HE is the one who instantly fixed that horribly fucked up shipping price instantly, yet it was a "new trainee" that was responsible for the huge error in price. He says that if I had paid that price they would have refunded me instantly, but who really knows?
Regardless like I said I'm just getting really paranoid at this point and trying not to get screwed. I tell them just give me the cheapest shipping option which was somehow Fed-Ex at $260......
Got here really quick, no issues there.
So all in all, I was somewhat disappointed with them. Not to the point where I regret the whole transaction, but I really can't stress how cheap and good Jesse Streeter is. I'm still very much a YAJ believer.
Another negative thing is:
"Won bid amount 23500¥ ($297.47) Commission $39.00 Handling Fees $15.00 Paid $351.47 "
Commission is probably twice what Jesse would ask for. Handling fee's are for the item to get shipped to them, which I guess is understandable.
But then after all that, they still hit me with a "Extra Charge" of $12.68, so the grand total was like $520 or something.
Still TOTALLY worth it for some almost BNIB Silk Road's, but I just would have rather gone with Jesse Streeter.
I actually asked him what he would have charged for this item, I'm waiting on a response from him.
Some random pics:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/zarin_photos/73BFCDA8-C0C2-4C86-A1CD-677E7A8B4408-578-00000093DE17854C.jpg?t=1356639806
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/zarin_photos/4BBBF0C8-2102-4948-85E6-F346C9A1A748-578-00000093605C3AC9.jpg?t=1356639801
I would be happy to answer questions. I didn't see many extensive review's on Rinkya which is why I put this up, and to also let people know they're expensive.
Zilvia is cool and all for used stuff but honestly I've really found that Yahoo Auctions are a GOLD mine. It really all depends on what you want though, some things aren't worth importing unless you have a container connection (aero, hoods, engines, ect). Coils are pretty heavy the Silk Road's I bought ended up being 51 pounds (shipping weight).
So anyway I picked out some coils like I usually do, figured shipping wouldn't be TOO bad (I've already priced out an intercooler, I've had LOTS of stuff shipped over from Japan, rear valence, seat, ect).
I found some nice MINTY Silk Road RM/A8's only 16k Kilometers on them. There were already like 10 bids on it so I knew some dudes in Japan wanted it. I wanted it more though, and ended up winning it for 23,500 yen (about $300 USD).
Bidding was all done through Rinkya. They're new website layout is pretty nice and ergonomic. The only reason I went through Rinkya is because Jesse Streeter was away for the holidays. He's a rad dude, I've bought all my grail parts from him.
So I win the auction, Rinkya asks me to pay for shipping to the U.S. when it's gets to their warehouse. Only one small problem: they wanted like $380 to ship it...... I instantly put in a support ticket saying that I have experience importing stuff and that price is BULLSHIT and why would they ship Fed-Ex, I told them my dude always ships EMS or Sea Post.
Literally 5 minutes of me putting that help ticket in, I get a new shipping price of $260.
I asked for a status report of what is going on.......
>> Hi Brad,
>>
>> Thank you for your email.
>>
>> $364.71 is actually a SAL price at 23050yen x(.25) +23050yen/79
>> current exchange, not Rinkya Prime. We apologized for the confusion .
>> We would have refunded you immediately. We have a new trainee now due
>> to my going out of town for the holidays and i apologize.
>>
>> The quote you received next is Rinkya Prime at $250.37. I personally
>> put this cost in last night to update/fix the correct amount..
>> $263.03 is the total amount owed on the auction due to shipping with
>> in Japan being extra on these items. So this $250 is actually the
>> same quote as the second email email you received. If you take a look
>> at your invoice, you will see the same amount with the charge
>> explained.
>>
>> If you have any other questions please let me know.
Basically dude tells me HE is the one who instantly fixed that horribly fucked up shipping price instantly, yet it was a "new trainee" that was responsible for the huge error in price. He says that if I had paid that price they would have refunded me instantly, but who really knows?
Regardless like I said I'm just getting really paranoid at this point and trying not to get screwed. I tell them just give me the cheapest shipping option which was somehow Fed-Ex at $260......
Got here really quick, no issues there.
So all in all, I was somewhat disappointed with them. Not to the point where I regret the whole transaction, but I really can't stress how cheap and good Jesse Streeter is. I'm still very much a YAJ believer.
Another negative thing is:
"Won bid amount 23500¥ ($297.47) Commission $39.00 Handling Fees $15.00 Paid $351.47 "
Commission is probably twice what Jesse would ask for. Handling fee's are for the item to get shipped to them, which I guess is understandable.
But then after all that, they still hit me with a "Extra Charge" of $12.68, so the grand total was like $520 or something.
Still TOTALLY worth it for some almost BNIB Silk Road's, but I just would have rather gone with Jesse Streeter.
I actually asked him what he would have charged for this item, I'm waiting on a response from him.
Some random pics:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/zarin_photos/73BFCDA8-C0C2-4C86-A1CD-677E7A8B4408-578-00000093DE17854C.jpg?t=1356639806
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i136/zarin_photos/4BBBF0C8-2102-4948-85E6-F346C9A1A748-578-00000093605C3AC9.jpg?t=1356639801
I would be happy to answer questions. I didn't see many extensive review's on Rinkya which is why I put this up, and to also let people know they're expensive.