Apparent eBay fraud — Kokufu Books

[pandacular]

I have been shopping for Kokufu albums lately, trying to start a collection for study. I noticed that there’s a huge number of sellers that are all using the exact same pictures to sell books! In particular, I see many posts purporting sell editions 55-64, with 57 and 61 missing. If you search “Kokufu set of 8” you’ll see a large number of these postings, as seen in the screenshot below.

I actually placed an order for a different set of Kokufu books, and the seller contacted me saying that they were unable to send the books due to a snowstorm, but had a different set they could sell me. I found this suspicious enough to just ask for a refund, which they granted.

Posting to warn others, as well as to ask if others have noticed this. Does anyone have sellers that they have had good experiences with?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I have noticed the same pots offered for sale by several different sellers who also list books. I have purchased a couple Tofu pots at different times from one of the sellers and each time, they arrived as shown, meticulously packaged and very quickly.

It seems that some of those sellers are brokers, reselling a listing from another source. I did not pay full price for either, but they both generated hefty tax and duty charges that arrived in the form of a FedEx bill sometimes later.

 

[Sansokuu]

I would just get them from buyee might be cheaper. I have gotten bonsai stuff off there and even with shipping costs it was cheaper. You just need to find out the Japanese words or kanji to search. They occasionally have coupons. Also, treehouse bonsai sells them too you just need to inquire. Maybe $50 each i dont remember.

 

[Fidur]

This is not a joke. Last year, I was offered my own trees in a web. I was tempted, as they were very, very cheap, but finally decided to decline because the shipping costs .

 

[pandacular]

I would just get them from buyee might be cheaper. I have gotten bonsai stuff off there and even with shipping costs it was cheaper. You just need to find out the Japanese words or kanji to search. They occasionally have coupons. Also, treehouse bonsai sells them too you just need to inquire. Maybe $50 each i dont remember.

This is helpful, I wasn't aware of Buyee. I'm definitely able to figure out enough kanji to search, and I can read numbers. 国風展, ¥ and numbers, should get me pretty far...as long as there's pictures!

 

[Sansokuu]

This is helpful, I wasn't aware of Buyee. I'm definitely able to figure out enough kanji to search, and I can read numbers. 国風展, ¥ and numbers, should get me pretty far...as long as there's pictures!

I went a little nuts with buyee purchases when i first found it, i dont recommend freight shipping as things get a little beaten up and it takes a very long time, it also costs extra to bundle things and ship overseas. Tldr give it a try with one or two things to get the feel for it.

 

[Srt8madness]

This is not a joke. Last year, I was offered my own trees in a web. I was tempted, as they were very, very cheap, but finally decided to decline because the shipping costs .

View attachment 581011

No freaking way!

 

[Glaucus]

Yeah, you can get second hand bonsai books off either https://www.kosho.or.jp or https://jp.mercari.com (both use Buyee for international shipping) relatively cheap.
Probably, people can still try to scam you. I think local brick and mortar second hand book shops use these websites to also try to sell their stuff online.
You just need to put in the Japanese characters, but just put in 国風盆栽 for that. Plenty of people with large bonsai collections have passed, or retired from bonsai and want to do away with all their books.
And they end up on those sites. More supply than demand for them.