These guys:  http://www.abidko.com/

They're the only people I can find that have a service for Y!Taiwan and HK auctions.  Anyone have any experience?

Yeah, just sent them my first payment for three items. They used to reply in hours but from the moment I paid, they STILL HAVEN'T replied - and I'm afraid I'll never see my items after giving them over 300$. About 10 days and many mails sent, still nothing.

Anyone?

Ironically, having originally posted this thread, I am now answering it

They're slow with thtier emails, and I had my doubt (esp since thier Taiwan branch isn't nearly as popular as thier Japan branch), but after a long wait (added on by Taiwan customs) I received my game as promised.  Just email them if they don't respond for a few days, they seem quite busy.

Its not quite as easy as working with Jerold or other middlemen, but no one I know can use Y!A Taiwan (well that I knew at the time) so I def. recommend sticking with them.

Thanks for the message. I really hope they're just slow, because it took them two days to point out I had not paid the invoice, but two weeks to reply to a f***ing mail...

Dear LuxKiller65 and CSK,

Just seen the unhappiness caused on you guys. T T
i am glad to have find your feedbacks here.

I agree with you that communication is very important
in this line and as our Taiwan and Hong kong operations are still Abidko's growing babes, it definitely have lots of room to improve on.

As for the invoicing part, the system is programmed to automate in sending emails for late payment. My sincere apologies there

Thanks guys, it really kiss my ass to work on the efficiency.

m(__)m

Thanks
Michael
Abidko

Well, it was my first time using your services - that's why I grabbed the occasion to leave a message here about my doubts.

I guess there's no place to hide on the Internet anymore anyway... especially when using always the same nickname like me.

Michael,

For me the problem was mostly because of issues with Taiwan's postal service.  So overall I am very happy with Abidko ^^

You google "abidko" and this page is the second result!

Anyone having troubles contacting them? Over 10 days and 2 mails but no reply.

:-/

Hi Enrico,

sorry that you emails has being replied late T T
as i am busy preparing for my wedding and
it;s well over.

I am ready for more and
your patience is deeply appreciated.

Cheers,
Michael
Abidko President

I understand, but over 3 weeks and still no reply to my 3 mails. I'd rather fly to Hong Kong next time...

You've still got my money AND my items, I'd appreciate going through the order, it's the second time it takes so long. Thanks!

hello everyone!

So I tried Abidko recently, and this service is surprisingly fast to send invoices requesting money but it's another story for replying to questions or shipping requests.
And just like Luxkiller65 Abidko has my money and my item.

I'm really looking forward to hearing from you Michael because you need to know that people are starting to worry when they send money away and get no reply in return.

be back soon...

Still no reply to my last four mails. I really don't know what to do; there's no point paying a wrong checkout, so I'll just wait...

You'd think that business would be slow as a result, so this guy would have plenty of time to respond to e-mail.

But no, and I don't get it. I paid my wrong invoice in order to have them do something - I don't know, ship the damn packages maybe, I'll ask for a refund later. Over two months and getting in touch with someone from Abidko seems impossible to me.

Any news?

Maybe his wedding honeymoon plan was to skip town...

And drop customers like this? This is weird, I just hope he'll be able to get in touch with us soon, because I'd really like to know if my items have been shipped and everything is all right with him.

update: my package arrived and it's all good, I think it is important to me mention it

Over two months for a mail and over three months for a package supposedly recently shipped via EMS, and still not received.

Rubbish. Will ask for a refund of all EMS I paid and fees too.

I gonna tell u about my experience about ABIDKO, this ugly company with a fraudulaus website. 
If u call it like a company,lol ,one man's job actually, the "Michael" man is the only one likely contacting u as "president".

After buying a dvd item from Yahoo Auction Hong Kong, I must say I payed WAY OVER THE NORMAL RATES for ABIDKO.
My item of was only $10 USD for it, they charged me around $ 20 USD for only the fee rates of bank transfer costs, transport transfer costs and yahoo auction fees or whatever they name it to charge, they do charge u with it. Bad idea I guess to let them "help" buying an item for me.
I did payed $ 50 USD to them in the first place to give this as "credit" statement to let them help me "buy" an item on the website of Yahoo Auction Hong Kong.

What about shipping? Well... if u try to contact them around 4 or 5 times at least, then perhaps u may get an email out from them. After a last mail warning, they actually finally send the item I asked for. This is a period from over 2 month's at least to get your item.
The most negative point of all from this ABIDKO website is: U DO NOT GET YOUR MONEY BACK from what's is left over from your credit!
The "EMS" shipping rates as they charged for me costing $ 25 USD to send to Europe. (this is only for one dvd item I ordered, so even ebay is cheaper than that)
Well, that seems fair I guess, but noooo, when this item finally arrived me: I saw the cost on the package, was costing me only HKD 154.00 for it, that's around 15.4 USD. SO WHERE IS THE REST OF MY MONEY ABIDKO? I SURE LIKE U TO HEAR ON MY FEEDBACK!

Summary of my experience of Abidko:
Negative points:
-Overcharging bank fees (there is none actually, they just do a phone call to the one who has to receive and get the damn item)
-Overcharging other things (u name it, they come up with it, u don't believe me? Go try to buy something then with their "help")
-Overcharging shipping fees (EMS standard shipping yes, but... where is the rest of my credit u didn't USED? OH RIGHT, IN YOUR OWN DAMN POCKETS!!!)
-No emails returns in 24 hours like promised saying on the website itself (even when they say in 24 hours, expect at least from 3 days to 2 weeks)
-Very slow handling
-Rates of their conversion of money are ridiculous (so when the value of the item is higher, u pay also more, yay! Happy bidding there! (sarcastic))
-Website is not having a good overall feedback of customers too... I saw this in many forums... If u are really desperate for an item, expect to pay 5 times the normal price for your item then. And yes u are being ripped off.
-No return of credit. (So if u are wanting to pay them, do not pay more than u want to, because u know it is a goner there, they are hiding it with shipping charges and whatsoever to get ALL your money, this is a no joker there, u can believe me on this one.)
-Takes over 2 months or longer to get your item from TAIWAN/ HONG KONG/ JAPAN to Europe... with angry emails included...

Positive points:
-packaging is using bubblewrapping for dvd with envelop in it. So a green card for this one...
-WOW... I did actually received my item. When I mailed u several times... yes, several times asking where my item is.
I want to get this website shut down for good, just wanting to avoid other people being a victim of this website too. That's why I am posting this.

What to do when u want to buy things again from Yahoo Auction HK with the help of Abidko? Well... from my point of view: too much trouble and too much money u got to pay for it: better buy a plain ticket to Hong Kong instead of letting someone from Abidko do this for u.... U can't rely on these guys for 100%.

Thanks for your feedback and for confirming the truth.

As you can see, this is exactly what happened to me too, everytime I relied on him.

It's pretty easy to see how Michael handles his business: he simply posts messages on various Asian forums, asking for people who live in a certain country. Through Google I found two old messages from Michael on a forum where he was looking for contacts in Hong Kong. Once he has his contacts, he pays them to receive the items, repack them and send them to the customers. I'm not sure if it's Michael who handles the bidding process or the contacts themselves on their own (but I think it's Michael). I wonder what percentage of the fees they get - or maybe they get a fixed fee per item, who knows.

So it's basically a guy who bids on items and sends them to people he's probably never seen nor spoken to on the telephone; and these guys receive the items and send them to the customers (mainly European and American people of course).

Other funny facts from my experience:

1) He will reply lightningly fast if you're a new customer, sometimes in less than five hours.

2) He keeps on calling me "bro" even after he ripped me off hundreds of dollars and received dozens of mails to which he never bothered replying since last year.

3) He didn't say anything when I told him he should revise his fees.

4) But he sure asked me the name of the persons I had contacted and who were also dissatisfied with his non-service. You don't do that man.

5) And of course he asked me which other Asian services I used when I told him he was the most expensive out of over three services I used and still use and that are a thousand times better - in all ways. You don't do that either.

He has three fees:

- Transfer fee

- Admin fee

- Commission

For each item, the transfer fee is around 3,50$, the admin fee around 5,10$ and the commission depends on the ending price of the item (you're most likely to pay around 6$ or 10$). An item priced and won at 1$ will therefore never cost you less than 15$ in fees.

You will have to add to this the hidden fees he makes you pay for shipping... see liquid_ninja's message.

But check this out: the last item they bid on for me ended on November 13, 2008. Guess when I received it? March 10, 2009. I have sent him over six messages since last December - he replied to me in February saying he had been ill and was really sorry for the delay. Two months to reply to an effing mail after having received my money and probably already spent it? He didn't even offer a single shipping or a cut in the fees for making me wait over two months with no contact at all - nothing. Had I not added him to MSN Messenger, he would have never said he was sorry, because I doubt he really is. And did I mention that several times, he would appear offline right after I had sent him a message?

If you need more evidence just let me know; I have an Excel file that will show you how much money he makes out of every item you buy. And I sent him 15$ that were unneeded since I had already paid all costs, but he won't refund me even though it's pure theft and he knows it.

He will also never tell you the EMS number of your package unless you insist like crazy. Guess when and where he told me the EMS number of my last package? After I had received it and using PayPal's controversy system. You rock. And you can google a bit to find other people who'll repeat what we just said - I already found some.

Please give us our money back Michael. We the rich white people aren't as rich and dumb as you wished we were.

From ABIDKO in Hong Kong, better contact this person directly (or annoy), as this address was posted to me:
Alice Wong
---edit---
---edit---
Sheung Shui
Tel: ---edit---

Yeah, I do want to post this address because to prevent victims like me being ripped off again.  If u try to contact Michael "the president" and trying to buy directly from Hong Kong, why not directly post the contact person in Hong Kong inself, instead of smurging around about bank/yahoo/repackaging/post/administration/commision/ems fees u are naming it all on the billing pdf file. This is a bad experience for me and as u can see for others too already...

So twice as many middlemen isn't doubly awesome?

Undoubtedly. The only problem is that the same pockets pay for all. You know, we're not whining at the high fees per se, but overcharging people on all fronts, not replying to mails in months and sending packages months after the payments have been received is just fraudulent business. And I hope more and more people will find this post through Google.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to post that address though - she surely did nothing wrong, just followed Michael's instructions about when and where to resend packages and nothing more.

Hi Enrico,

I understand your concern over the lousy purchase recently with Abidko and since i read this forum, i'd better wake up and reply dutifully else i lose more.

To those reading this forum, i do understand that the recent delay has caused huge uproar on your confidence with Abidko and i take this chance to apologise for that.

Enrico, your parcel has already been shipped from Taiwan already.
The reason why, i have noted in paypal.

Again, i will reply to all the replies here so as to show that i am not running off and disappear.

Lastly, i will definitely deliver the products that my customers have bought and the delay that was caused, i hereby do a public apology to those who suffered under this period.

m(__)m

Hi Matteo, i believe you have received your parcel already. And i think you have not make the payment for my shipping invoice.

Thanks