Today’s blog is about one of our customers or rather, a friend.
At the moment, we are no longer selling on eBay.
However, we did use eBay for a period of time in the past.
The main reasons we stopped were high fees and the difficulty of setting shipping costs in advance.
For example, even for a single card:
– Around $1.8 without tracking
– Around $4.24 with tracking
When selling low-priced cards, these costs plus eBay fees make it very difficult to maintain profit.
Additionally, if a package without tracking is lost, we are required to compensate the buyer — which can easily turn into a loss.
That’s the honest reason why we stopped selling on eBay.
During that time, we met a customer from Southeastern Europe (I’ll keep the country private).
Through repeated transactions, we started having more personal conversations, and naturally became closer.
Recently, this customer visited Japan and we had the chance to meet in Fukuoka.
Today, I’d like to share that story.
In fact, this isn’t the first time we’ve met customers in person.
We’ve had coffee with some, and with others, we delivered items directly to their accommodation and had short conversations.
Of course, we don’t meet everyone.
But our business style is based on direct communication.
We mainly use WhatsApp to:
– Handle orders from a single card
– Share real product photos
– Discuss pricing
– Provide accurate shipping costs
This makes the process easier and more transparent for both sides.
Because of this, relationships naturally become closer.
We often inform customers about new releases first, and many customers casually ask us, “Can you get this?”
This particular customer had already visited Japan multiple times.
While many people choose Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto, this time they chose Fukuoka.
They said, “If it’s Fukuoka, we want to meet you,”
and we spent time together.
It was truly an honor, and honestly, we had been looking forward to it for about a month.
Since it was cherry blossom season, we first visited a park to enjoy the sakura 🌸
Then we went to Pokémon Center Fukuoka.
Each Pokémon Center in Japan has exclusive items, and it’s also a great place to buy Pokémon cards.
After that, we visited the Nintendo Store.
Even if you’re not deeply into games, Nintendo is a globally recognized brand so we wanted it to be part of their memories.
Finally, we went to Ichiran (Ichifudo / Ippudo style ramen experience).
In fact, Pokémon Center Fukuoka even sells collaboration goods with Pikachu and Ippudo that’s how popular it is.
Personally, I focused not just on guiding them, but on creating memories.
Travelers often don’t get many photos of themselves unless they ask strangers.
So instead of just landscapes, I made sure to capture them actually experiencing Japan.
All photos were shared privately via WhatsApp, not posted publicly.
This is just a part of the story there’s actually more to share, so I’ll continue in another post.
We receive new inquiries and messages from existing customers almost every day, so life is quite busy (haha).
But for us, it’s not just about making money it’s about enjoying the process.
Every customer is different, and understanding those differences is what makes this work interesting.
In business, you should never reject the customer.
We believe in accepting everything 100%, and ideally returning 120%.
That’s how trust is built.
We also learn languages through our customers,
and we try to provide accurate information about Japan so they can make better decisions.
April is here, and new One Piece releases are coming.
There are also rumors about a Pokémon 30th Anniversary Special Box.
It looks like exciting movements are coming soon.
Don’t miss the updates this month.
Instagram: @pokeshopjp
WhatsApp: Click here
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shinobu🇯🇵
HAKATA7 