Q: What do I need to do to have Celga bid for me on Japanese auctions?
A: Our bid request process is very simple! First, if you haven't already done so, you need to (signup)sign up for a Celga account and (login)log in to it on our website.
Next, you need to find an auction you want to bid on! We have lots of (searchtags)search links to help you on each of our auction site pages.
Once you've found an auction you want to bid on, you need to send us a (bidrequest)bid request form.
If you haven't already sent us a (biddeposit)deposit, you'll need to before we process your order. If you send in your deposit before bidding, we can process your request even faster!
Once you submit your bid request, it will be emailed to our staff and a copy of your request will be emailed to you. Our staff will check it over and enter it into our system. Once we've accepted your request, it'll appear on your (myBids)my bids page in your account (and you'll receive confirmation email).
Then all you have to do is wait until the auction is over – we'll automatically place your bid close to the end of the auction.
If you do win your auction (and we hope you do!), we have lots of information about what happens later in our (afterfaq)after the auction FAQ! (There's information about what happens if you don't win, too!)
Q: How can I find the items I'm looking for on Japanese auction sites when I don't read Japanese?
A: Celga has provided a (searchtags)Search Tags system for our users. Any user may submit a link to a Japanese auction search with a corresponding English "Tag". This allows users that can't read/write Japanese to find things they are looking for.
Q: How much of a deposit do I need to make to request a bid on an auction?
A: If you are placing a bid on an auction, we require half your maximum bid amount as a deposit. For example, if your maximum bid is $50.00, we would require a deposit of $25.00. (Please feel free round your deposit down to the nearest dollar since the exchange rate changes all the time!) You can make this deposit by any of our (genpayment)available payment methods) in US dollars only.
However, if you are requesting us to buy out a "buy it now" auction, we require 100% of the buy it now price as a deposit since we know what the final purchase price will be.
Please note we have (buydeposit)different deposit requirements if you are requesting a direct purchase from a Japanese website.
Q: When do I send my deposit?
A: You may send your deposit either in advance of your bid request, or shortly after your bid request is approved. In either case, your deposit must be received before your bid is placed, so if you are making your deposit by any method other than Paypal, we suggest sending it well in advance of any bid requests so we will be sure to receive and process it in time.
Q: What happens to my deposit if I lose the auction?
A: Deposits are automatically held in your account to be used towards future bidding. You may request a refund at any time (your deposit is 100% refundable if you don't win). (contactus)Just let us know!
Q: What is your policy for accepting multiple bid requests?
A: Celga operates on a "first come, first served" policy. We commit to bidding for the first customer who requests our bidding services for any auction. However, if we have other customers who request the same auction with a higher maximum bid, we offer a (bidsecond)"second in line" service where we can bid for them if an outside bidder outbids our first customer.
Q: I want to bid on an auction, but another of your customers has already requested it. Is there still a chance you can bid for me? (What does "second in line" mean?)
A: Once we have accepted a bid request from one of our customers, we are committed to placing that bid for them. However, if your maximum is higher than theirs, we will place you "second in line". This means that if another Yahoo Japan bidder outbids our first customer, we will then bid for you up to your maximum.
Here are some examples to illustrate how this works:
Example 1:
Customer A
bids 10000 yen first
Customer B
bids 20000 yen later
We will bid for Customer A up to 10000 yen. If the item's bid price goes over 10000 yen because another bidder outside of Celga bids higher than we did, we will then bid for Customer B up to 20000 yen.
Example 2:
Customer A
bids 10000 yen first
Customer B
bids 9000 yen later
We can't bid for Customer B.
Example 3:
Customer A
bids 10000 yen first
Customer B
bids 15000 yen later
Customer A
raises his bid to 20000 yen
In this case, Customer A is both first and third in line. We will bid for Customer A up to 10000 yen. Then we will bid for Customer B up to 15000 yen. And then we will bid again for Customer A from 15001 yen to 20000 yen.
Please note: If Customer A's new maximum was not higher than Customer B's, then we could not have accepted their bid raise. This is why it's very important when requesting a bid that you send us your true maximum bid!
Second in line is not a bad place to be – we win many auctions for our second in line customers!
Q: How will I know if my bid is second in line?
A: Once your bid is accepted, if you look on your (items)items page, you'll see that the item's status is "accepted" or "in line". If it's marked as "in line", it means that there has been at least one bid request accepted before yours.
Q: What if I don't want to be second in line?
A: We expect that Celga's customers understand and agree to our "second in line" policy, but we understand that there may be rare times when you may have reason not to want to be "in line" for an item. If this is the case, please (contact us)contact us as soon as possible with your cancellation request. Your bid request will be considered cancelled only when you receive confirmation from us.
If we have already placed the bid for you, we cannot cancel your request. Should we win the item for you, you will be responsible for the auction and all costs associated with it.
Q: Can you tell me what your first customer's maximum is so I can know when you're bidding for me?
A: We're sorry, but as stated in our (privacypolicy)Privacy Policy, we hold our customer information in strictest confidence, including their maximum bid amounts.
Q: Why can't I raise my "maximum" if there is a bidder "second in line" behind me?
A: Your maximum is just that, your maximum - the most that you will want to pay for this item. When we accept a second in line bidder, who has a higher maximum, we agree to bid for them only when their maximum is above what you have told us is the very most you will pay. We can't read minds - we don't know that you might change your mind later! We strongly encourage our customers to think carefully about their maximum bids, and to make their maximum bid truly the most they are willing to pay.
Q: How does bidding on Japanese auction sites work?
A: Like many web auctions in other countries, Japanese auction sites use an automated proxy bidder system. Proxy systems accept your highest bid, then bid up to that limit for you without your intervention, automatically bidding only as high as necessary to put your bid on top until they reach your maximum.
Each auction has a bid increment, or the minimum amount that a new bid must top the old bid in order to be accepted. The bid increment goes up as the current price of an item goes up.
Here's an example of how proxy bidding works:
Opening bid: 1000 yen
Your Maximum bid: 1700 yen
Bid increment: 100 yen
When we enter your bid of 1700 yen, the auction will show us as the current high bidder with a bid of 1000 yen.
If another bidder comes along and bids 1300 yen on the auction, the proxy system will immediately raise our bid to 1400 yen (the bid increment above our competitor's bid) and we will still be the winner.
However, if our competitor bids 1900 yen, the auction will now show him as the winner at 1800 yen, or 100 yen (the bid increment) above our maximum bid.. The proxy system will not raise our bid above our maximum.
Q: You just confirmed my bid! Why haven't you placed it yet?
A: We generally place bids as close to the end of the auction as possible, because we find that it helps our customers win more often. However, if you would like your bid placed earlier, we will be happy to do so - just let us know on your (bidrequest)request form!
Q: I just sent a last minute bid - why didn't you place it?
A: While Celga does operate 7 days a week, we are not actively staffed 24 hours a day. We request 24 hours before the end of the auction to ensure we will receive your bid in time to place it.
We do try to handle as many last minute bids and changes as possible, but cannot guarantee we will be able to handle any bid request sent less than 12 hours before the end of the auction. Please use the "URGENT – less than 12 hours to end" checkbox on our (bidrequest)bid request form to help us if you've found a last minute item!
Q: If I lose this first auction, can you place a bid on a second auction for me?
A: We're sorry, but we can't accept "cascading" or "conditional" bids. We are not able to track individual auction wins quickly enough to make this feasible, and we cannot make decisions about which auctions to bid on for customers. However, you are welcome to check if you lost the first auction, and then send us another request to bid on the second auction. Please remember that we do require 24 hours notice before the end of the auction to make sure we have time to process your bid!
Q: Can I cancel my bid request?
A: When we accept a bid request, we understand that this is a commitment you have made to honor that bid and pay it and all fees promptly. We actively discourage bid cancellations; we may have turned other bidders away because we made a commitment to bid for you.
Cancellations and bid adjustments can be accepted in certain circumstances, but the more time you allow us before the auction ends the more likely we will be able to make the change in your request. If you request a cancellation, you cannot consider your bid request canceled until you have received confirmation from Celga. Bid cancellations are at the sole discretion of Celga. Under no circumstances may a bid be canceled after it has been placed on an auction.
Q: Why do Japanese auction sellers provide such sparse descriptions for their items? Ebay sellers drown us in detail!
A: This is due to a major cultural difference: Japanese sellers expect to be trusted. They almost always mention if an item is a reproduction, or if parts are missing from a kit; but if everything is in order, they generally will not mention it. They expect the buyer will understand that.
Q: Can you ask an auction seller a question for me?
A: Most of the Japanese auction sites do not provide a method for sellers and buyers to email each other. Some auction sites provide a public "Q&A" board, where you can leave a question for a seller, who may or may not see it, and who may or may not answer. Also, some of the boards (such as the only on Yahoo Japan auctions) are now private: you must be logged in to the account which asked the question in order to see any answer. Therefore, we can only offer this service selectively as our staff resources allow, so please understand if we are unable to handle your request.
Q: When will you let me know if my bid was successful?
A: We usually send out invoices a few days after the end of a successful auction. This process will take somewhat longer during times of unusually high volumes; we will do our best to let you know when those are.
We don't send announcements for unsuccessful auctions. So if you'd like to know the result of a particular auction, you can (contactus)send us email with the full URL of the auction and we'll do our best to let you know the outcome!
Q: Do I need to specify my maximum bid in yen or US dollars? Can I use another currency?
A: You may specify your maximum bid in either Japanese Yen or US dollars. We even have an easy option to select currency on our (bidrequest)Bid Request Form to make it easier for you!
Since all bids on Japanese auction sites must be placed in Japanese yen, we will convert any bids specified in US dollars to yen at the time we place the bid, using our (miscexchange)current exchange rate. As our exchange rate does change with the international currency market, this may mean your maximum bid is a little under or a little over what you had specified.
Bids specified in Japanese yen will be generally be placed as they were sent. We do round up bids sent in odd amounts to the nearest value of 10: e.g., a bid of 1117 will be placed at 1120. As a rule, Japanese sellers do not like odd bid amounts, and many say they will cancel auctions that are not an even amount. So while bidding odd amounts may work well on Ebay, it can be quite counterproductive on Japanese auction sites!
We're sorry, but we cannot accept bids in any currency other than US Dollars or Japanese yen.
Q: What are the user ids that Celga uses to bid?
A: These are user ids that we routinely use to bid on auction sites:
Yahoo Japan: celgajapan
Mbok: celgajapan
Bidders: doujin_box
We do have alternative user ids that we use in certain circumstances, but since these tend to change, we haven't listed them here. Please feel free to (contactus)contact us if you would like to ask if a bidding id is ours!
Q: Can you snipe an auction for me?
A: Sniping, or placing your bid at the very last minute in the hopes that you will have the high bid and not leave any time for any other bidder to outbid you, is a common technique used to win auctions.
Unfortunately, this technique is mostly useless on Japanese auctions, since most auctions have an auto-extend feature. If a bid is placed within the last 10 minutes of an auction, the auction is extended for another 10 minutes – and if another last minute bid comes within that time extension, the auction is extended ANOTHER 10 minutes. This will continue as long as last minute bids are placed, which makes sniping impossible.
Furthermore, most sellers reserve the right to end auctions early no matter if there are any bids or not. So there may not be any auction to snipe if you choose to wait until the very last minute!
This is why we place our customers' bids near the end of their auctions, but not at the very end, and why we do not try to snipe auctions.
Q: Why do I have to use the (bidrequest)Bid Request Form
to send you a bid request? I used to be able to just email it to you!A: Thanks to all our wonderful customers, our business has grown beyond our expectations over the last several years. Unfortunately, this means we have a much higher volume of email to handle and many more questions to answer!
We also receive an incredible amount of spam email, so we've had to put spam filters in place. Unfortunately, they also catch some of the legitimate emails, and due to the volume of transactions we handle, we were not always able to find them in time.
We needed a way to identify bid requests quickly and reliably. The bid requests we receive through our (bidrequest)web form are not affected by our spam filters. The form also ensures that all the information we require is automatically included so we can process your request as quickly as possible! For these reasons we are discontinuing the emailed bid process.
If the (bidrequest)Bid Request Form is not working for you, please make sure that you are using a (miscbrowser)supported browser and have all the necessary features enabled. If you are and it is still not working, please (contactus)contact us to report the error in our website. Please see (miscerrors)this page about what information we'll need to track your problem down!
We do still love to hear from our customers, so you can feel free to include messages in the remarks part of the (bidrequest)bid request form, or email us directly through our (contactus)Contact Us page. Please use that page for questions only; bid requests must be sent by the (bidrequest)Bid Request form.
Q: How do I know that a Japanese auction seller will be reliable and actually send the item to you?
A: We've worked with thousands of sellers over the years, and the vast majority of them have been prompt, friendly, and steadfastly reliable. The exceptions have been very few and far between.
We do encourage our customers to check out the seller's feedback before they make the decision to bid or not. On the sample pages for each of the (auctionlinks)Japanese auction sites we deal with we have labeled where to find the seller feedback information. You can get a pretty good idea of how reliable a seller has been from it!
