tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1661976343938156682.post3991252441154166224..comments2024-01-26T17:32:20.475+09:00Comments on Kaiju Korner: Asking for discounts at Japanese toy storesandy bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15920660842290887782noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1661976343938156682.post-51865819445863368102015-05-11T21:23:24.787+09:002015-05-11T21:23:24.787+09:00There ya go. You pretty much have to approach it f...There ya go. You pretty much have to approach it from all angles and see what works best. The soft/subtle approach is good - especially knowing when to give up asking for a deal. <br /><br />As with your experience, the most important thing is having a good idea of what something is worth and then having the patience to lay off a high price. That can be tough when you really want something - sometimes gotta bite the bullet.andy bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15920660842290887782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1661976343938156682.post-65623979010252009852015-05-11T20:29:34.652+09:002015-05-11T20:29:34.652+09:00I pretty much always ask for a discount, but in a ...I pretty much always ask for a discount, but in a very small and effacing way. Basically "I know I shouldn't ask, but...". Kind of letting them know I will take a simple "ah..." or rub of the neck, as a sign to change the subject.<br /><br />I'm surprised at shows though, I've only had one straight up ZENZEN thrown at me. But seeing as they had something for ¥8,000 that I just picked up for ¥2,000, I felt it was worth the asking. One more thing on that, the booth had three dealers, one definitely hardball looking guy (who was unfortunately standing next to the item I wanted) and two nicer looking guys who I thought I had a chance with... Anyway, I picked it up and tried to walk over, but Mr. Hardball stopped me and said he could help me...<br /><br />Oh well. I picked it up on YahooAuc for the price I wanted. :BPigumonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746090334490969729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1661976343938156682.post-59777015596952524632015-05-11T15:09:46.759+09:002015-05-11T15:09:46.759+09:00Ah yes, I remember that Ueno shop well, though I w...Ah yes, I remember that Ueno shop well, though I wasn't living in Japan at the time. That was really the "Golden Age" of toy shops in Japan! In fact, there were several good vintage shops in Ueno.<br /><br />I know what you mean about the calculator as language assistant. It is a handy tool! They will sometimes even bring it out when you're speaking in Japanese. ^_^andy bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15920660842290887782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1661976343938156682.post-26393090812261384182015-05-11T15:05:19.859+09:002015-05-11T15:05:19.859+09:00Well actually since we were not speaking Japanese ...Well actually since we were not speaking Japanese and Mr Golden Age was not comfortable with English language calculator was mandatory. It was quite funny because we went there with our Japanese robots books for Popy stuff and we were showing him the images of what we were looking for. I don't know if you were already in Japan when the shop was in Ueno but it was maybe 10 times larger than the one in Akihabara. So he was the only one to know he if had the stuff or not. And sometimes it took him more than 30 minutes to tell us "no I don't have it" or bring us the box :) Actually there were rows and rows of boxes on the shelves, and each box was different than the other. We had the feeling to be miners in a gems cave LOL. Chogokin Jawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14786039367633713968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1661976343938156682.post-78946350244631629882015-05-11T14:48:57.001+09:002015-05-11T14:48:57.001+09:00Awesome story!When the calculator comes out, you k...Awesome story!When the calculator comes out, you know you have a chance! Not too many stores will give an "automatic discount" anymore, but some might. And Mr. Golden Age is in Akihabara now, but he's always in a good mood! :)andy bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15920660842290887782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1661976343938156682.post-4005068605684271872015-05-11T14:38:30.052+09:002015-05-11T14:38:30.052+09:00Nice article Andy! As a feedback I will tell you t...Nice article Andy! As a feedback I will tell you that a long time ago (2001) when Golden Age shop was in Ueno we got a discount from the owner without asking anything. After having spent literally 6 hours in the shop, when we wanted to pay the owner (a fantastic and kind guy) showed us the total on a calculator then said "discount" and typed another amount. That was pretty unexpected and really nice from him. <br />Otherwise still in 2001 we tried our luck in Madarake Osaka asking for a discount (each of us had for 50,000-60,000 yens of stuff in our baskets) but we faced a no with with X Sign with arms sowe gave up.Chogokin Jawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14786039367633713968noreply@blogger.com