Thread: Jnat from 330mate?????

I think the stones he eBays are stones he feels he will get more money on eBay for than if he listed at his site.... on average.

Browsing his site seems to confirm this.

Stones that meet his listing standards can be had for listing price or less, but usually sell fast (often quite a bit less than eBay price), more often you find equal or better (rated) stones that are quite a bit larger for similar or slightly more available.

A bit more that I know about him.

His STARTING ebay price is what he wants for the stone. Everything else is gravy for him. I get Second chances any time I bid opening bid on his auctions. You figure, ebay, paypal, shipping all taking a cut. He's seeing what, 75% of that price. I'd say if you can make heads or tails of his webpage, it's by far the best way to get a stone from him. There's a reason the eBay stones aren't listed individually, while he has listed some $10 Iyo's individually on his website. He's putting less effort into these stones because they are worth less to him. I THINK that's what that email you posted was trying to convey. The reason he lists the eBay stones for what he does is because he's not testing them much, grading them, sorting out cracks or looking very hard for detrimental inclusions. He slaps them with some steel, see's that they're "Good enough" to list under the approximate ratings his eBay auctions give, then ships them out. When you're asking him to handpick a stone he see's maybe $30-50 of the cost of not considering what the stone actually costs him (my guess is not very much), you're asking a lot of the guy. If he was going to test them and find what you're asking for, he'd do that and list it on his site for $150.

Cordiallity has a tendancy to get lost in translation.

Ian, Hi_Bud_GL, and others,

You are all correct. This guy is very smart and is just trying to make a living like the rest of us. You get what you pay for. He is trying to make money and will not give things away. He is a very busy man and probably very frustrated by people wasting his time with no intentions to buy. He is a wholesaler and would rather sell large quantiies than one stone. There are things that come across wrong because of a languare barrier but his english is very good and much better than my Japanese My exchanges have been good and I have taken great care to make sure I am concise, polite, and brief. He had alot to do. There is a lot of work involved in mining, selecting, and grading these rare stones. Chances are he may even be reading this thread. I am sure the other sellers here are too I am not hiding anything here. He is cheaper because of the gamble involved and you have to decide if you are willing to take it. I think I would rather spend a premium and buy a stone that will serve me well for the rest of my life. I hope this is not taken wrong. Just wanted to help others in the future.

An update: I promise this will be my last word on this, but I am telling the truth. Take it for what it's worth.

Based on my most recent communication today, it turns out there is in fact no language or cultural barrier, after all! In perfect English I was asked to pay the equivalent of $35 USD to even see a picture of a specific stone he had described.

That got through loud and clear, no misunderstanding. I responded in clear English, as well. Now I know.

As I said earlier- "premiums" require "handing" which costs $$$.
I paid 150%ish for mine for handing though, and its a great deal- $110 instead of $70, but I got a great finisher out of it that was hand selected and could see the picture. So while it is a slap in the face to pay $40 for pictures and other small things, it goes a long way with reassurance when buying and is cheaper than the $500-$1000 you'd pay somewhere else. Though, if I had the money, I probably would have bought from O_S or Alex or the others. Much friendlier and better customer service. But as Nakaoka-san (330mate) says, if you want handing, go to retailer.

Karl

Originally Posted by FatboySlim

An update: I promise this will be my last word on this, but I am telling the truth. Take it for what it's worth.

Based on my most recent communication today, it turns out there is in fact no language or cultural barrier, after all! In perfect English I was asked to pay the equivalent of $35 USD to even see a picture of a specific stone he had described.

That got through loud and clear, no misunderstanding. I responded in clear English, as well. Now I know.

One of the things I think is pretty cool on his site is the map of the whetstone mines:
天然ç¥çŸ³ç”£åœ°MAP - 天然ç¥çŸ³ ä¼Šäºˆç¥ æ£æœ¬å±± å±±åŸŽéŠ˜ç¥ ç™½é·¹åŒ…ä¸� 玄ç¿� 鉋 é‘¿

It is easier to navigate if you run the page through a translation program.

What I have done is used the map to find stones from particular mines on his site. For instance, to find stones he has labeled as Nakayama, you enter 中山 (the symbol from the map for Nakayama) into his search bar and you get :

天然ç¥çŸ³ ä¼Šäºˆç¥ æ£æœ¬å±± å±±åŸŽéŠ˜ç¥ ç™½é·¹åŒ…ä¸� 玄ç¿� 鉋 é‘¿

Originally Posted by FatboySlim

In perfect English I was asked to pay the equivalent of $35 USD to even see a picture of a specific stone he had described.

This does not sound like a sales effort - it sounds like a ransom demand in a hostage situation. Not acceptable business practice IMHO.

I just received my first purchase from 330mate.I purchased my stone through his Dutch Auction which is on his web site. The stone was well packaged. I selected the expedited shipping as recommended and the stone arrived without any problems.

I am still learning how to use his web site. The more I explore the site, the better I like it. At first I was having trouble using the site. Once I registered and accessed with Internet Explorer, the translation automatically kicks in. Without the translation I was lost. Now I can easily view the stones he is offering and I communicate more easily with any questions I may have.

I do like his rating system as a guide. I appreciate the fact that at least he is willing to provide information regarding his evaluation of the stones he is selling. It may not be the most accurate guide but I find it helpful.

I was looking at some stones today for the first time. Didn't realize that was there. Still pretty confusing. Couldn't get it to register me either. Seemed like a phone number problem..... couldn't tell. Will just stick to who I can talk to for now.

Originally Posted by FatboySlim

An update: I promise this will be my last word on this, but I am telling the truth. Take it for what it's worth.

Based on my most recent communication today, it turns out there is in fact no language or cultural barrier, after all! In perfect English I was asked to pay the equivalent of $35 USD to even see a picture of a specific stone he had described.

That got through loud and clear, no misunderstanding. I responded in clear English, as well. Now I know.

FWIW, I've done some wholesaling in the past. Sales for individual pieces are not worth the effort, really. I'd rather sell 20 pieces in one sale than 20 pieces in 20 sales. Back when I was doing this work, I would consider conducting a single sale to be a personal favor just because of how time consuming the sale was (or could be). In all honesty, selling one piece to a finicky buyer can take hours of my time as the buyer sifts through my sale items. No offense, of course ... but natural razor hones are a finicky business by nature (hardy har har).

Almost every sale I conducted like this I remember being relieved (mild statement) when the customer finally left. After some time in this field, I developed a similar approach to the single sale buyer.

Not that I am defending the guy or anything ... just sayin'. As the kids say today : I feel this guy.

But knowing that there is little to no money in a single sale like eBay or something similar ... I have to wonder why he would be open to conducting such sales.

When you buy retail, it costs more. A lot of that is because you get (or should get) personalized attention.

I suspect that because I am registered on his site and have purchased several stones from him. I have moved to a different category.

I also use IE to browse his site and am really getting to find the search function useful.

Since he describes in English which stones he feels are suitable for razors, one can search for "Razor" in English and browse those. I usually feel the Google translation makes more sense to me. If I find a stone that interests me, I also use the Babelfish translation to ask questions.

BTW, he gets a little annoyed when one asks about a stone that has already sold. [N/A] means it has already sold. I think it must happen a lot.