Confusing user experience for bidding and lack of outbid updates
L
Lloyd
As someone who regularly uses bidding and proxy services for Japanese items (eBay, ZenMarket, etc.), I found the Japan Rabbit bidding process extremely rigid and manual — it doesn’t feel user-friendly. I received no updates by email or otherwise that I’d been outbid, so I had no opportunity to track progress or adjust my bid.
There’s also no automatic bidding like on other auction sites. Instead, I have to email and pay again each time I want to increase my bid, rather than simply setting a maximum upfront and letting the system incrementally bid on my behalf. This feels especially frustrating given the $8 service fee, which doesn’t currently include key features like automatic bidding or live status updates. (For comparison, ZenMarket charges only JP¥500 and includes all of these features.)
Without this functionality, users are left to either:
* Overpay by guessing what the seller might accept, or
* Have their card charged multiple times for bid increases — often without clarity on whether they’ve actually won.
At the moment, my card has been charged for something I didn’t win, and there’s nothing in the platform indicating where that money is or what the next step is.
The automated emails are also confusing — they say “We received your order” and include an “Estimated time of arrival”, which makes it seem like I’ve won the auction when I haven’t. The order status also shows “Processing” even though the Mercari listing now shows SOLD, suggesting the systems aren’t in sync.
Overall, the process feels far too manual and slow. I think Japan Rabbit could be much more user-friendly if:
* I could add or update my top bid amount directly in the platform
* The platform automatically and incrementally bids up to my maximum
* I received automatic notifications when I’m outbid
* The system’s emails and status language reflected what’s actually happening in the auction flow
I do like that you offer access to items that can’t be bid on through ZenMarket — that’s a real advantage — but the overall process feels confusing and slow.
A
Andrew Kozak
Hello, Lloyd! Fellow user here. Have you reached out to customer service regarding your specific situation? This forum is for more general feedback on the website. The customer service email address is help@japanrabbit.com and can be found again by clicking "Contact Support" on your "Home" page when logged in.
The Japan Rabbit UI has a modal window that asks for the user's maximum bid (actual message: "Enter the maximum amount you are willing to pay. You may end up paying less!") and it has been my experience that "[the] platform automatically and incrementally bids up to my maximum" as you stated.
I hope you are able to resolve your situation without more trouble. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here!
L
Lloyd
Andrew Kozak Hey! Thanks for your message. I have and received a reply now thanks. RE: incremental bidding...Perhaps I misunderstood that part of their platform. I thought a previous customer service rep explained it differently to me. Had I known that I would have added a much higher max bid. Looking back, I was told they don't offer sniper bidding (bidding in the last few minutes).
Next time I'll try a larger max bid and see if Japan Rabbit incrementally bid up to that amount.
C
CK
Lloyd As far as I know, on YJA it does set a maximum bid and the current bid gets automatically incremented (depending on the value, the higher the bid, the larger the increments) but on Mercari, the maximum bid sets the current bid to that amount. This is how it is explained in the Help section: https://help.japanrabbit.com/en/articles/6070337. So I agree that Mercari auctions are currently very difficult, if not impossible to win using Japan Rabbit.