Let's do the smile!

[tikistitch]

Speaking of things that look a lot cooler once you get them in person especially when you're not exactly sure what you're buying off a Japanese auction board....

Um, weren't we?

Anyways...



Smile Snap Stitch. Say that three times fast!

We thought this was going to be a little Kubrick Lego man type piece. But, he's actually a good 4 or 5" tall.





36 various lineup! Collect them all!!! Or, we'll hit you with exclamation points!!!!!

Our friend, the naughty Boneboy, had already collected the Jack Skellington Smile Snap, and did not tell us!!! Badness level = high. We've been caught gazing fondly at Lock, Shock and Barrel. Looks like Alien Stitch will be out later this year!!!

Comments

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

Ohhh kawaiiii!! Like little Lego people.

OK, can you PLEASE give me the Japanese auction board URL? Is it eBay in Japan specifically? Onegai!!

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

It's Yahoo Japan auctions (auctions.yahoo.co.jp). I dunno if eBay is even in Japan any more--last I heard, they closed their offices. Most everyone within Japan seems to use Yahoo.

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

Waaaaahahahaha! It's in nihongo!!

Do you search with roman alphabet? Or do you copy/paste the word "su tet chi"?

Jeez, it's a good thing I can read Japanese. Question for ya: What sort of accommodations do the sellers make for you being that you live in the U.S.? Do they charge more for shipping? Have you had translation issues? Do you bid in yen? Enquiring minds wa shiritai!

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

OK, I kind of reverse-engineered it... did a search using "Stitch" (in romaji), found the category for "Toys/games > Plush > Characters > Disney > Misc" and then found a Stitch. Copied the katakana for Stitch and pasted it in the search tool bar, got the results, and bookmarked the query. I should be all set. Looks like most folks don't do thumbnails on their listings, though, so I'll have to check each one.

I must admit, I am drooling right now.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Most everybody *does* do thumbnails.

You can read auction pages three different ways--as a list, list with small thumbs, and just thumbs.

Take a look at the top of the page on your search, under where it gives you the page number (you're at page 5 of 60...). There are three options. The first gives brief descriptions and small thumbs, the second is just a list, the third is just pictures.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Most Japanese sellers DON'T ship internationally. I've heard (mostly from people who buy animation cells) that you can sometimes ask them in polite Japanese whether they'll ship to the US, and negotiate it there. You usually can't write them directly--your messages will go on the message boards.

I use an agent in Japan. It's a lot more convenient for a non Japanese speaker, but it adds to the cost.

Bidding is all in yen. Once you bid on Yahoo, you cannot retract it.

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

Looks like "The Ann" sells overseas. Her English verbiage is tucked near the bottom of her auctions.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Ann1080? I haven't tried writing them.

If you want to see everything a seller has up, just click on their name. It's a bit different from eBay.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Here's a link I read when I was getting started with Yahoo Japan auctions:

http://www.ffmusic.info/yjtutorial.html

It's mostly about cels, and it's a bit outdated now, but you might find it helpful!

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

Zowee, that person went through a lot of work to write that up -- very nice write-up!

Since I read Japanese I was able to figure most of it out... mostly my challenging was finding the right category (then I just bookmarked it). BUT I had no idea about middlemen. Interesting. Boy, a person can make a killing doing that.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Remember, when your home is completely filled up with J Stitchies, DON'T BLAME TIKISTITCH!!! ^_^

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

We're planning on a trip to Tokyo DL next spring.

I think I will need to take 5 large suitcases with me.

Do YOU know where these people are all buying the Stitches from? Are they general merchandise from the Japan Disney Stores, or is Stitch so popular they're sold everywhere?

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

The short answer is, Stitch is EVERYWHERE! Japan has Disney stores, but Stitch is also in general toy stores, plus there's the Disney resorts, and crane machines everywhere. Boneboy even found Stitch in the Japanese 7-11 stores.

The J Disney stores also do certain offers exclusively through mail order. PLUS some folks on Yahoo J apparently get items from other parts of Asia, like HK and Thailand.

[sarahpolk.livejournal.com]

My biggest disappointment was in finding a completely lack of Stitches my last two business trips to Singapore. What's wrong with them over there?

OK, is it bad to anticipate a trip because I can shop for Stitches?

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

NO STITCHES IN SINGAPORE??? Da noive.

(Though I did love Singapore.)

There's very little Stitchness in Europe either. I asked Mr. Tikistitch to check on his last trip to London, and the Disney store stock basically hadn't changed since we were last in Europe 6 months ago.