Tips on purchasing watches from Rakuten

[Kevlarr]

I'm thinking of buying a watch from Japan's Rakuten's website, but never had any experience buying from them before. Has anyone bought watches from the Rakuten? How does it work, is it like eBay, or closer to Amazon? Any tips or experience to share? Thanks.

[HusH]

Rakuten now has a local website if that helps

[STT1987]

No tips from me sorry. I guess it's like ordering from Amazon.

As always, having a workmate whose dad worked at a Malaysian post office telling me all about the five fingered discounts post workers give themselves (and reading all the horror stories about the dangers of online shipping) has made me very wary of buying anything more expensive than $1000 RM through the internet.

That said though, I flipped through whats available; and they do sell high end luxury watches like Hublot and Omega. A note of caution though, Rakuten and Amazon essentially act as "gray dealers." Most probably, the watches sold are only covered by the shop warranty only. I don't know if luxury brands will respect the international warranty of their brands sold through a non-AD. It varies from brand to brand I guess.

Anyone care to enlighten?

[bezelnut]

That said though, I flipped through whats available; and they do sell high end luxury watches like Hublot and Omega.

Do they? I only see a few Pam, some Tissots & Victorinox, Seikos & Casios and others not worth mentioning.

The grey dealers thing you mentioned is very true thou.

[Everdying]

if you are worried about items going missing in the post, then order it via rakuten locally, but email them first.
you may not find it listed locally, but just copy the link from rakuten japan and send it to them, they will then create a listing locally where you can place an order.
once it arrives, IIRC they do provide an option for pick-up at their office in kelana jaya.

[Kevlarr]

I've checked Rakuten's local website, it is mostly empty...hardly any watches there.

I am guessing that most of Rakuten's watches are grey market, but I would now know for sure as most of their website is in Japanese. I did use Google translate, and it is a hit and miss. Some things that Google translate does not make sense, but most of the message can be guessed.

if you are worried about items going missing in the post, then order it via rakuten locally, but email them first.
you may not find it listed locally, but just copy the link from rakuten japan and send it to them, they will then create a listing locally where you can place an order.
once it arrives, IIRC they do provide an option for pick-up at their office in kelana jaya.

I didn't know you could do this.

Anyway, I've emailed one seller in Rakuten, his response was quite fast, unfortunately his response is in Japanese. I used google translate to read and reply back to him. I think the seller also using a translation service to read me email. But so far everything seems legit. My only problem is that they mentioned that international buyers can only pay using bank-in / wire transfer. I not keen on that, coz no protection. Which is why i dont buy from Chrono24....most sellers there only accept wire transfer too. Anyway, I read from watchuseek forum that some say you can pay using paypal (even though the seller said only via bank transfer), but will have to see how this goes. Communication is a bit tough, as this is literally ayam bercakap dengan itik.

[CKL1213]

do you mind sharing what watches you are planning to buy from Rakuten?

is the price really that good that worth all the hassle?

if you are just looking for normal japanese brand, there are some other reliable site.

[Everdying]

I've checked Rakuten's local website, it is mostly empty...hardly any watches there.

I am guessing that most of Rakuten's watches are grey market, but I would now know for sure as most of their website is in Japanese. I did use Google translate, and it is a hit and miss. Some things that Google translate does not make sense, but most of the message can be guessed.

if you are worried about items going missing in the post, then order it via rakuten locally, but email them first.
you may not find it listed locally, but just copy the link from rakuten japan and send it to them, they will then create a listing locally where you can place an order.
once it arrives, IIRC they do provide an option for pick-up at their office in kelana jaya.

I didn't know you could do this.

yes you can do it, as i've done it before for a Orient Star.
i went thru one of the local dealers on rakuten known as j-selection who handled all the dealings with their japan counterpart.

i just checked rakuten locally, the link to the watch i asked for is surprisingly still listed.
guess they never bothered to remove the link.
notice how it is the only Orient Star listed there, specially created for me

[STT1987]

Do they? I only see a few Pam, some Tissots & Victorinox, Seikos & Casios and others not worth mentioning.

I was browsing through the international site. Searched for Men's watches. Hublot and Omega was on the second page. Prices quoted in US Dollars.

[bezelnut]

I was browsing through the international site. Searched for Men's watches. Hublot and Omega was on the second page. Prices quoted in US Dollars.

I see. Sorry, I was checking the local site in MYR.

Thanks for clarifying.

[Kevlarr]

do you mind sharing what watches you are planning to buy from Rakuten?

is the price really that good that worth all the hassle?

if you are just looking for normal japanese brand, there are some other reliable site.

I was looking at a few hard to find watch models, Hamiltons and a few other brands. Price is not the main driver for choosing Rakuten, it's the fact that some models were not sold in the US or elsewhere.