[MarzSyndrome]

I briefly mentioned this in my other thread about the Sega Saturn. Having seen YouTube videos of the XRGB-mini in action, I'm tempted to get one myself at some point, though the only known site to sell it - Solaris Japan - charges a total of at least £279.45 including the cheapest delivery option available. On the other hand, a YouTube user by the name of Yakumo1975 is offering to sell them at a cheaper price of 39,000 yen, which translates to £261.15 as of XE.com's current standing. Not much of a price drop sure, but bear in mind that his price is supposed to include shipping as well.

Has anyone here ever played about with one of these, or any previous XRGB models? Would it be worth my time taking the plunge on the Mini or anything similar?

[Shadow Hog]

If it's worth anything, people on NeoGAF swear by 'em.

I'm interested in one, but the USD/JPY exchange rate is a little low for my liking, and keeps declining. (It was 99.5 on the first, but 96.3-something now...) I'd probably stick with S-Video at first, and then go about upgrading everything to RGB (except the NES; that can wait until this project gets somewhere, since I'm hesitant to rip increasingly-rare PPUs out of PlayChoice-10s), but relatively slowly.

[Meat Miracle]

Yakumo has threatened people with releasing their personal info (because they gave him bad feedback), so you might want to suck up the extra cost and buy from elsewhere.

[Sodaholic]

Meat Miracle, on 11 August 2013 - 11:57 AM, said:

Yakumo has threatened people with releasing their personal info (because they gave him bad feedback)

Jesus, is that even legal?

[Andlabs]

Also is it not possible to buy XRGBs from Dempa Micomsoft themselves? Or do they only ship to Japan?

[Shadow Hog]

Even if they did, you could probably use a proxy service to ship it to the US. I've got no experience in doing so, however, and I hear you're SOL if you receive faulty hardware, while Solaris would cover you somewhat.

Even then, I'd recommend the XRGB-mini over the XRGB3; the 3 is rather finnicky, to my understanding, and the mini has English-language firmware.

And even then, if you're gonna order from a Japanese retailer, Amazon.co.jp has a good 25% markdown on the mini.

[MarzSyndrome]

Shadow Hog, on 12 August 2013 - 04:02 PM, said:

And even then, if you're gonna order from a Japanese retailer, Amazon.co.jp has a good 25% markdown on the mini.

Amazon.co.jp said:

We're sorry. This item can't be shipped to your selected destination. You may either change the shipping address or delete the item from your order by changing its quantity to 0 and clicking the update button below.

Same problem as with all Amazon stores - international shipping seems virtually non-existant.

[Meat Miracle]

I dunno, I get international shipment from Amazon all the fucking time.
Amazon.co.jp seems to be entirely different from their parent though. My normal Amazon account (which I've used in US and many European countries) didn't even log in at amazon jp.

It's probably like Yahoo japan, which is also a semi-independent subsidiary for japan only.

[MarzSyndrome]

Meat Miracle, on 12 August 2013 - 08:56 PM, said:

I dunno, I get international shipment from Amazon all the fucking time.

What sort of items do Amazon allow international shipping for then? Can't be games, that's for sure - I've always hit a brick wall whenever I come across a rare title I see available at .com but not .co.uk.

Quote

Amazon.co.jp seems to be entirely different from their parent though. My normal Amazon account (which I've used in US and many European countries) didn't even log in at amazon jp.

Yeah, had to quickly create a new account for it, hoping I'd go quite far with this order - but obviously not.

[Overlord]

I dunno, I've bought from Amazon.de (and a digital purchase at .com) without issue.

[MarzSyndrome]

Overlord, on 13 August 2013 - 01:30 PM, said:

I dunno, I've bought from Amazon.de (and a digital purchase at .com) without issue.

Granted, it is possible to purchase digital downloads from Amazon.com by using any random US address, such as one picked from this site.

[Overlord]

Actually I supplied my own UK address, so eh =P

[Shadow Hog]

MarzSyndrome, on 12 August 2013 - 08:32 PM, said:

Shadow Hog, on 12 August 2013 - 04:02 PM, said:

And even then, if you're gonna order from a Japanese retailer, Amazon.co.jp has a good 25% markdown on the mini.

Amazon.co.jp said:

We're sorry. This item can't be shipped to your selected destination. You may either change the shipping address or delete the item from your order by changing its quantity to 0 and clicking the update button below.

Same problem as with all Amazon stores - international shipping seems virtually non-existant.

I think you missed this:

Shadow Hog, on 12 August 2013 - 04:02 PM, said:

Even if they did [only ship to Japan], you could probably use a proxy service to ship it to the US. I've got no experience in doing so, however, and I hear you're SOL if you receive faulty hardware, while Solaris would cover you somewhat.

[doc eggfan]

I've ordered stuff from Amazon.co.jp without difficulty before (Blurays, DVDs, Mangas and soundtracks)

I use buyee.jp as a proxy service for YAJ with no issues, pretty sure they also work with other Japanese outlets.

[MarzSyndrome]

Okay, so I wasn't aware that proxy services for buying items existed. And Now You Know.


Just registered to one such site (after googling) - shoppingmalljapan.com - but before I could even get started it stated I will need to do a "security deposit". Quoting from their e-mail:

Shoppingmalljapan.com said:

>PAYPAL DEPOSITS: (Minimum $10.00 deposit)
To make a paypal deposit, simply send the funds to [email protected] Be sure to mention your username in
the paypal comments or the subject line. Your limit will be 5x whatever amount you decide to send. For example, a
$10.00 deposit will give you a limit of about $50.00.

>CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATIONS: (Minimum $50.00 authorization)
For Credit Card authorizations simply reply to this email including your username in the subject, and the amount you
would like to authorize. An authorization is a simple form of a credit check and no funds are actually charged to your
card. However, many banks will place a hold on the funds for a short period of time. Authorizations only get a 1x bidding
limit. So if you authorize $10.00 your limit will be $10.00. You must have supplied your credit card info when you
registered to activate an account with this option, otherwise; you will need to re-register.


>OTHER DEPOSIT INFO:
1) Most deposits are processed within 24 hours of recipt.
2) Deposit types cannot be mixed. (you can't deposit $10.00 via paypal then add a $10.00 credit authorization)
3) All deposits use a 110 yen rate to calculate your limit. So a $10.00 deposit will give you a 5,500 yen limit.
4) Once processed, you'll recieved a confirmation email letting your know your limit and a new temporary password.

If you have any questions or require assistance, feel free to reply to this email. We'll get back to you as soon
as possible.

Thank you very much for considering our service for your YHJ bidding needs!

Thanks again!
-SMJ Staff

Whuh? Limits? Ummm?

Why do I get the feeling that buying a fairly expensive piece of equipment from a foreign site like Amazon JP is going to prove to be trickier than I thought?

Any shipping rates or additional deposit bullshit is bound to nullify the effect of Amazon's price slash isn't it?