I got schooled on Ebay

[shateredsoul1979]

I sent this guy the following message on ebay because he was charging $80 for shipping a ps1 from Japan.

I initiated the conversation by sending: "$80 for shipping?"

He Responded, "It's already 35%. In Japan, asking too many discount is called "begger" thx"

then I said, "In the USA insulting a potential customer is called bad business."

Then he responded 2x in a row

"good to know. thanks" and right after that without me responding he sent "please understand, I didnt mean to insult. just joking... so sorry if you feel bad"

Now i'm not sure if it was just a cultural missunderstanding or if he insulted me and now he's patronizing me???

Either way, I thought the whole thin was funny. But man that first response stung. Ouch.

[shateredsoul1979]

harassing? I just was curious why it would cost $80 bucks to send an item.

He could have simply said that it cost a lot to safely ship something from Japan to the US.

Anyways, next time you throw away a ps1, send it to me instead 

[fallacy]

Hate buying things from Japan. Month and a half later it might show up at your door. If there is a problem with it…ya suck up the coast because it’s not worth it.

[shateredsoul1979]

yeah, i just got a ps1 from usa and will buy a swap cd or whatever came out for it. I do love buying stuff from deal extreme in China though.. 2 to 3 weeks after shipping, and I've always received every order. Great for getting Sony pro duo psp cards.

[RayB]

It's a language barrier thing. Don't read too much into it Shattered.

PS: Some ebay sellers rely on Ebay's built in shipping calculator and it often gives really f'd up results. I've seen small items the size of a cup, marked as $48.50 shipping from US to Canada.

[Dartful Dodger]

It's a cultural thing.

He wasn't trying to insult you. He was trying to be polite.

The typical American response to your question would have been to ignore it.

[Vigo]

When confused with cultural barriers, the best response is to just go Brett Favre and email the guy a photo of your junk. No matter how he interprets that message, you win.

[lilshawn]

"$80 for shipping?"

please tell me you got this PS1 for 99 cents...

if shipping seems high I always message and request a quote for actual shipping... if i think it's still high or they spit out the magical ebay shipping rate again... thpppth! see yah!

[emphatic]

For native Japanese, putting stuff on eBay is über-rare. It was surely a westerner living there, so I'd say he insulted you on purpose. 

[Mikezilla]

See! I told ya! 

[Benevolance]

I love buying stuff from Japan, but it's better to go over and pick it up rather than have it delivered.

[shateredsoul1979]

Ahh yeah, I didn't read too much into it. I didn't respond after his last response, it wasn't worth an argument. I actually sent the question because I thought it was a type since his game boys were 8.00 shipping, but then I saw his saturn and other systems, and they also in the $80 dollar realm. If that was a cultural misunderstanding, man what a cultural misunderstanding.

I saw a ps one (the small one) at a thrift store for 89.99 but they had it 50% off so it was 45, seems very high. They also had ps2 in a bin in the back for 20 with no cables , but they had a bin of cables 6 each (50 % off). Man, i could get a better deal off ebay. Then I went to this goodwill outlet called the "Bargain Bin" man that was chaos. You take a bag, and for one flat price you can take everything that fits in there. All the good stuff was being put aside for auction though. If anyone has a modded ps1 or a fat ps2 let me know, i can help take it off your hands  .

On the bright side, I was able to score a $50 Nintendo Wii of Craigslist, with Wii Sports Resort (in box complete)  and all the chords. I might mod it, or give it to my younger cousins. I'm pretty happy with that, but that still doesn't help me play Tobal 2 

[MonMotha]

I buy stuff from Japan with some frequency, usually off Yahoo Auctions, which unfortunately requires the use of a deputy service and paying through the nose in fees as a result.  Never had a problem, but then I don't try to do it on the cheap.  Everything is shipped EMS and gets here within a few days.  I once had something that hit the USA (ORD) just before noon and was delivered to me in Indiana by 4PM.  Took about 3 days total.  Downside was it cost like $40 just in shipping.

[shateredsoul1979]

$40 shipping makes more sense than $80, was it a big item?

[Cakemeister]

Do you own a Geiger counter?

[lilshawn]

Do you own a Geiger counter?

oh yah...cause of the thing...and the reactor...and the three eyed fish...

[MonMotha]

$40 shipping makes more sense than $80, was it a big item?

You should be able to ship a full size Playstation (1) for about $40 from Japan to the USA via EMS, maybe a little less, probably not much more.  However, that is just the shipping cost, and it assumes that the seller in Japan is willing to ship direct to the USA, doesn't want anything to cover shipping materials, and doesn't mark the shipping up any at all.

Also, other shipping methods (e.g. DHL) will generally cost more, though they'll also be relatively quick (probably not much quicker, though).

[Vigo]

Ok, back on topic..

I really just have to ask, what is so special about a Japanese PS1? Is there a reason to buy one? I guess I see ps1's at goodwill for $15.

[Benevolance]

Maybe it's a matter of being able to play regionally-encoded disks? But I can't entirely see the logic that, especially with the cost of shipping. I mean, you guys might not have heard of this yet, but there is this new technology called an 'emulator'. These 'emulators' can play old games, called "Rums". I think the technology is really going to catch on with retrogaming hobbyists of all dick sizes.

[MonMotha]

Other than the region coding issue, I can't think of any real differences.  There was one version of the PS1 released in Japan that was never released in the USA, but the differences were internal and largely inconsequential.

If you want to play out of region PS1 discs, just get a stealth modded PS1.  They're crazy common, at this point, and probably cheaper than importing one.  I guess if you want to be totally legit about it, you could look to import one, but that seems like a waste.

[RayB]

Does it have the RCA style audio jacks? Audiophiles pay ridiculous money for PS1's with those (only the early model had them).

[Vigo]

Does it have the RCA style audio jacks? Audiophiles pay ridiculous money for PS1's with those (only the early model had them).

Really? Huh, I didn't know that. I think I have one of those old models...I think the laser is failing though.

I do know the old ones also have that back port that you could install those cheat carts on. Pretty much did the job of a mod chip and an action reply/gameshark/game genie in one.

[MonMotha]

That's true, one of the early early model PS1s was apparently actually a really good CD player for the time.  I'm pretty sure that model was released in the USA, though.

[shateredsoul1979]

I was looking for a cheap way to play imports, the system was at a reasonable price, but then the shipping threw me off. Yes I can get a usa ps1 and the device you plug in the back to play imports, but I read somewhere that some of the later ps1 games to come out would not play using this methos because they had anti piracy methods.

[RayB]

Does it have the RCA style audio jacks? Audiophiles pay ridiculous money for PS1's with those (only the early model had them).

This is not and was not ever true.

If you're gonna shoot down one man's claim, at least back it up with evidence.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2006/11/5935.ars

http://www.destructoid.com/playstation-1-the-audiophile-s-dream--32269.phtml


Now I'm not claiming that it's TRUE that it plays CDs better, I'm claiming that there are a bunch of idiots out there who think so and pay big bucks for them.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33651

[shateredsoul1979]

that doesn't prove that it doesn't produce good sound though, it may prove that demand has gone down but it would still be interesting to know whether it does produce pretty good sound.

Anyways, is there an easy way to play imports on ps1 or ps2? I found guides and posts that are no longer relevant (the products suggested are no longer available).  If it's ps2 sounds like a fat ps2 is the way to go since it doesn't use emulation to run ps1 games.

[shateredsoul1979]

sorry guys,not interrupt your bromance 

but does anyone know of any archived guides on modding ps1s or ps2s?

[Vigo]

sorry guys,not interrupt your bromance 

but does anyone know of any archived guides on modding ps1s or ps2s?

I probably deserved that jab. 

I can't do any searching for you from behind my work filter, but what kinds of mod are you looking for? Mod chips, soft mods, PS2 Hard drive Mod, etc?

[saint]

Singing, "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere...."

[eds1275]

Now I'm not claiming that it's TRUE that it plays CDs better, I'm claiming that there are a bunch of idiots out there who think so and pay big bucks for them.

I'm going to assume that they're just fools. RCA's "supreme audio quality?" The cables aren't even balanced. Maybe it had a nice d/a converter on board? Even so I don't think people would be scrambling for the RCA outputs if they were actually audiophiles, and truly not paying $6k for them. Still, fools and their money...

[MonMotha]

The line I heard was that one particular Playstation model (NOT all of them with RCA outputs) had unusually good audio quality (SNR, jitter, etc., nothing to do with the RCA outputs themselves) for a consumer electronic device in its day.  Basically, you could get a CD player that was as good as dedicated units costing a few hundred dollars (so not "audiophile" quality,  but decent) that also doubled as a Playstation and perhaps even for a little less than the cost of a comparable dedicated component CD player.  Hence, audio enthusiast were inclined to buy them even if they might not otherwise have been overly interested in a gaming system.

I suspect that this (which may indeed be true) has been distorted over the years into "OMG $6000 awesome playstation CD player!!!!!!one".