My Jauce Experience - Use at your own risk!

[Ton of Tone]

A few years ago, I used Rinkya to get an old Yamaha LP. Even with the fees and exaggerated shipping charges, it still worked out to be a pretty good deal. Fast forward to today... I used Jauce to get another guitar, because I read their shipping charges were more realistic. That couldn't be further from the truth. Everything went fine until the actual international shipping charges and packing fees went through. Shipping and packing fees were estimated at $140. Not unreasonable for a guitar from Japan to the US. They end up charging $190. Quite a bit higher than the estimation, but I expected that. I pay the shipping fee and wait for the guitar to ship. A couple days later, I get an email stating that my account balance is negative. How can that be? I paid everything in full. I log into my account and see that they're now charging me $300 shipping (for a classical guitar that weighs less than 4 lbs). This is extortion, plain and simple and there's nothing I can do about it. My only choices are to pay the completely ridiculous shipping charge and pray that they don't add on any more, or just abandon the sale and cut my loses. Even in that case, they would probably steal more from me by charging a "disposal fee". Customer support in non-existant. This Jauce encounter has become a nightmare that just doesn't end. My experience is 100% factual and not exaggerated in any way.

 

[rockstar232007]

This is one of the reasons I will NEVER order anything directly from an overseas seller, eapecially from site owned by an overseas company.

Most of them do shit like this (change/withhold shipping charges/information) on purpose, bc they think, that most customers either won't care, or won't be willing to dispute the charges, bc it's a HUGE pita!

 

[brokentoeswalker]

Yikes !!! I found Jauce to be quite good myself. They even refunded my money on a broken headstock guitar that arrived to them. They do have ways to communicate and ive found them to be good that way. Takes them a little while to get back usually though so expect a day or so. There is a chat deal, and i'd ask them to review that shipping fee. Worse comes to worse i would change the shipping method to something cheaper like SEA.

Between Rinkya and Jauce i've shipped probably 20 guitars and have never had a problem. (Knock wood)

 

[Ton of Tone]

There is a chat deal, and i'd ask them to review that shipping fee.

Where is this "chat" feature? I can't find anything and they're not responding to "Contact us"

 

[J-Dizzle]

I've used Jauce for approx 20 guitar purchases (Japan to Australia) and never found them to be anything less than excellent.

"Theives" is literally the last word i would use to describe them.

Its highly possible that covid has caused shipping costs to skyrocket due to disruptions to global supply chains.

 

[currypowder]

I agree that $300 for shipping is crazy high. That being said, the biggest factor in shipping cost in my experience is size, weight makes little to no difference. If the original seller used a box to ship, the proxy is just going to repack that box inside another, bigger box and shipping can go through the roof. When FromJapan gives me a higher than expected shipping cost, I have always been able to get them to discard the original seller's box and repack. That will generally reduce the shipping cost substantially, sometimes as much as half.

I've never used Jauce and I stopped using Rinkya due to their 25% premium on top of shipping for packing. FromJapan has been very good for me for hundreds of purchases over the years. I can count my issues with them on one hand. I just consider that a cost, and it's been a minimal over at that.

 

[Ton of Tone]

"Theives" is literally the last word i would use to describe them. Its highly possible that covid has caused shipping costs to skyrocket due to disruptions to global supply chains.

That's because you've never had them give you an estimate of $140 , then charge you $190 after having the guitar in hand and calculating the actual shipping and packing charges, then charge you $300 with no reason given (for a guitar that weighs less than 4 lbs). Perhaps then, the word "thieves" would be on the tip of your tongue. In my business, I ship globally using FedEx, DHL and UPS. There have been no service cost increases due to Covid, only delays.

 

[brokentoeswalker]

Oh sorry, i thought they both had chat deals but i guess its just Rinkya. I use one over the other depending on the final price of things.

You can make a ticket with Jauce to dispute something i believe.

Help Desk - Submit a ticket | Jauce Shopping Service | Yahoo Japan Auctions. eBay Japan

Jauce is an auction & shopping service for buyers from outside Japan. Buy from Yahoo Japan Auctions (Japanese equivalent of eBay), Amazon Japan and Rakuten by using Jauce, and have them shipped to you internationally.

www.jauce.com

Rinkya is always a flat fee for me. $40 + whatever it is to ship (if anything to their warehouse) and sometimes the 10% tax but i really have to want something to bid on one of those auctions. I ship by SEA so maybe they don't charge that 25% extra for that ? Both have excellent packing and for $40 i think its cheap really. I don't speak Japanese. Then the actual shipping fee to Canada. The shipping from Japan is actually cheaper for me than sending a guitar across my own country though so again.... its cheap. Well cheaper lol.

 

[Ton of Tone]

I agree that $300 for shipping is crazy high. That being said, the biggest factor in shipping cost in my experience is size, weight makes little to no difference. If the original seller used a box to ship, the proxy is just going to repack that box inside another, bigger box and shipping can go through the roof.

I understand and agree with this, but they had the guitar in their possession and calculated the actual shipping cost at $190. It's not like they were estimating what size the box was going to be. They charged me $190 for the actual calculated shipping charge, then after I paid it, they charged $300 for no reason.

 

[Roxy13]

I would certainly message them to ask about this. Right now EMS is down to the US and they are using DHL. DHL is charging by box size rather than weight. But, still I spent $300 using DHL for an extra tall through neck bass plus a LP type in a case together last time I shipped any home. And they emailed me first about the extra charge for the bass and we discussed it back and forth for a couple of days first.

Jauce doesn't stick the seller's box into a new box. They completely repack it and repack it very well.

Almost everything I've bought from Japan has come through Jauce.

 

[currypowder]

I understand and agree with this, but they had the guitar in their possession and calculated the actual shipping cost at $190. It's not like they were estimating what size the box was going to be. They charged me $190 for the actual calculated shipping charge, then after I paid it, they charged $300 for no reason.

Gotcha. Like I said, I've never used Jauce and don't know their process. But I agree, I'd probably feel exactly like you do if one of the proxies did that to me

 

[Roxy13]

After looking at your attachment it does look like you purchased an expensive guitar? Ask Jauce if DHL is including your customs taxes in that shipping quote. I suspect that is what it is. Also, there is going to be a big upcharge in insurance on it and no doubt that is also part of it.

 

[Ton of Tone]

I would certainly message them to ask about this. Right now EMS is down to the US and they are using DHL. DHL is charging by box size rather than weight.

I have messaged them. No response yet. I'm don't understand what you mean about DHL charging by box size rather than weight. I ship via DHL quite often and package weight has just as much influence on the cost as size does. For example, a 1 lb express package from me to Bangkok is $130. The same size package weighing 5 lbs is $220.

 

[Roxy13]

I have messaged them. No response yet. I'm don't understand what you mean about DHL charging by box size rather than weight. I ship via DHL quite often and package weight has just as much influence on the cost as size does. For example, a 1 lb express package from me to Bangkok is $130. The same size package weighing 5 lbs is $220.

Jauce told me they also go by volume (box size). That neck through bass was a problem. I bought it after EMS was cut off, not thinking about DHL having a problem with it. Unfortunately it exceeded size for them and for shipping SEA. So they wanted a large extra fee for it, or Jauce was willing to let me keep it there until EMS resumed to the US. Now this was back in August and I knew the pandemic was going to get much worse. So I paid the extra ransom to DHL or it might have been sitting there for another year or more.

 

[Ton of Tone]

After looking at your attachment it does look like you purchased an expensive guitar? Ask Jauce if DHL is including your customs taxes in that shipping quote. I suspect that is what it is. Also, there is going to be a big upcharge in insurance on it and no doubt that is also part of it.

$2000 guitar. They had the guitar in their possession when they charged the $190 calculated charge. They knew the price, weight, size and any taxes due at that time.

 

[Roxy13]

$2000 guitar. They had the guitar in their possession when the charged the $190 calculated charge. They knew the price, weight, size and any taxes due at that time.

No, Jauce didn't know the customs taxes. Normally stuff goes EMS or SEA and ends up with USPS and going through the regular customs centers. And then you get charged any tax. Now that DHL is delivering instead they might be collecting the tax from you ahead of time because they pay it on your behalf. So I would ask Jauce to contact DHL and find out if the price jumped because of the customs tax.

 

[Roxy13]

You might also call DHL and ask them directly IF the customs tax is included in their shipping charge. If that is it, sorry, anything you buy over $800 you have to pay it. When it went EMS and through US customs and to USPS you had to pay it to get your guitar. But, DHL does pay it on your behalf so they might have already added it to the bill. That is what you need to know: is it already added or are you getting another tax bill as well.

 

[brokentoeswalker]

I think you fucked up by paying first and asking questions later. That guitar is probably already on its way to you or am i misreading this deal ??

 

[Ton of Tone]

No, Jauce didn't know the customs taxes. Normally stuff goes EMS or SEA and ends up with USPS and going through the regular customs centers. And then you get charged any tax. Now that DHL is delivering instead they might be collecting the tax from you ahead of time because they pay it on your behalf. So I would ask Jauce to contact DHL and find out if the price jumped because of the customs tax.

This makes sense and hopefully explains what is going on. I don't have a problem paying the import taxes, be it upon arrival or in advance. The thing that pisses me off is the fact that they didn't get it right the first time. If EMS to the USA has been suspended for months as you say, they certainly would have known this and would have known it would have to go DHL. Their terms of use say that they give a shipping estimate before the purchase, then charge actual shipping charges when the item arrives at their warehouse. That's what they did. I paid it. I considered the transaction complete and withdrew the excees funds from my account. Then they change the shipping charge without notice, causing me to transfer more funds from PayPal, paying inflated exchange rates and fees again.

 

[Ton of Tone]

I think you fucked up by paying first and asking questions later. That guitar is probably already on its way to you or am i misreading this deal ??

You misread this deal. The guitar has not shipped.