Brave Auto Auction Search Changes
Hey everyone, I purchased and imported a Toyota Aristo from Mark at Brave Auto back in 2015. Best experience ever. Lately I have got that itch to import another vehicle that I wanted to scratch. I went to brave auto website and noticed they changed the auction search site and I could no longer access it. So I emailed them to gain access to the new site and I was sent this email…
Hello Everyone.
There are some changes to the USS Ninja Auction Search site that will take affect from the 1st April 2023, the new changes will apply to all customers.
As you may not know, each USS Auction member such as we are can only obtain 50 USS Ninja Auction Search spots and we must pay a monthly fee to USS for the service “per spot”.
Recently Brave Auto International started a second registered business here in Japan and applied for a second full USS membership with the goal of increasing our limited 50 USS Ninja Auction Search site spots to 100 in total.
However, as mentioned, we must pay USS a monthly fee per spot and USS have increased the cost this year.
Taking this into account and the fact the costs involved in setting up a second company and maintaining it just to obtain the extra 50 spots we can no longer offer the USS Ninja Search site membership for free unless the customer is purchasing vehicle/s from the auction.
We have many different types of customers from customers who purchase vehicles weekly, monthly, yearly and some whom have paid a bidding deposit but have never purchased a vehicle but still want access to the site, 3-5+ years on. We also realise that some customers never have intent of purchasing a vehicle via us but still want access to our USS Ninja Search site.
From 1st April 2023 we will be charging 10,000yen per month USS Ninja subscription fee with a minimum of 6 months access (60,000yen per 6 months), this will apply to all customers, new and old.
However, if you purchase a vehicle within your 6-month subscription period you will be refunded your USS Ninja Search site subscription fee in full. If you fail to purchase a vehicle within the 6-month subscription period, your access will cease at the end of 6 months unless you purchase another 6 months subscription and so on.
Past Customers (who have purchased a vehicle from us in the past).
If you are a past customer and have not purchased a vehicle within the past six months or are a past customer who has purchased a vehicle during the last 6 months, you will no longer have access to the site unless you take out a 6-month subscription fee.
Please remember, if you purchase a vehicle within 6 months after paying your subscription fee, your subscription fee will be refunded in full.
New Customers.
If you are a new customer and would like access to the USS Ninja Search Platform you will first need to arrange your subscription fee as mentioned above.
We will allow you one week access so you can decide whether to pay your subscription fee.
Please understand, your subscription fee is not a bidding deposit, if you would like us to translate auction inspection sheets, copy extra photos from the USS main site and bid on a vehicle for you, you will first need to arrange your bidding deposit.
Bidding Deposit Amount.
Please see note below - (refundable at any time if suitable vehicle is not secured for you or you decide to buy something locally prior to a vehicle being secured for you). There is no time limit, you decide.
if you are looking at spending under 1.5m yen - you must arrange a 50,000yen deposit.
if you are looking at spending above 1.5m then your deposit will need to be 10% of the amount you plan on spending. For example, if you are looking at spending 3m yen then your deposit would need to be 300,000yen.
When we bid on a vehicle at auction and secure it for you, we own the vehicle from that point on and must pay the auction within 5 working days without fail. We cannot cancel the vehicle the following day due to a customer changing their mind (wants a different make/model) or a new vehicle has been listed for an upcoming auction that they prefer. Hence, this is the reason why we request a deposit.
Subscription Fee & Bidding Deposit
Can be paid via International Bank Transfer or Crypto Currency, please contact Mark at mark@braveautointernational.jp before arranging your payment or to discuss further.
Below are some important and key features of USS Auction group that many customers may not realise including the highly important “Correction Notice”.
Vehicle Listings
USS Ninja Search Site – is an auction search site owned by USS Auction group.
Third-Party Auction Search Sites – are auction search sites owned by Russian IT companies (normally hosted out of Russia due to legal issues) that crawl through other auction groups websites at a certain time of the day and place all the vehicles being auctioned around Japan onto one website. Your auction agent will then subscribe to them and obtain membership spots at which point they will let you join the site via your own login/password although your auction agent as the main subscriber is the controller.
The reason the sites are hosted out of Russia is due to the fact it is illegal within Japan to copy auction information to be made public.
USS Ninja Auction Search site is very different to third-party auction search sites. USS Ninja Search site is almost in real time, when a vehicle is listed on the main USS auction site (which we use in house), it will shortly also be updated to the USS Ninja Search site. All other third-party search sites have a 12-24hr delay before the vehicle is displayed.
USS Ninja Search site is not owned or controlled by us or any auction agent/exporter, it is owned and controlled by USS Auction Group, and we cannot change any information displayed on the site, the only access we have is who we give membership to.
Other third-party auction search sites are very different in this area, the owner of the site/subscription is the controller and is normally your auction agent. They can control what you see on the third-party site, they can control/adjust the prices, control which vehicles you as the customer can view and so on.
Auction Photos
Most auctions will supply 2-6 basic photos of the vehicle being auctioned along with the auction inspection sheet.
Example of USS Ninja Auction Photos & Inspection Sheet – please click here.
C-PAS Photos
Besides the normal 4-6 photos taken by the auction, the seller of the vehicle can also upload his/her own photos which are called C-PAS photos.
CPAS photos are only viewable on the USS Ninja Search site or main USS site (that we use in house), they are not viewable via other third-party auction search sites.
Example of C-PAS photos – please click here.
Please note, not all sellers will use this feature, but many do and sometimes it can take a day or two before the seller uploads their C-PAS photos so please check back to see if the seller has in fact uploaded extra photos.
Underbody Photo
The seller of the vehicle can pay extra for USS to take a HD full underbody photo and we must admit, the photo is rather impressive and detailed. However, underbody photos are only viewable on the main USS membership site, they cannot be viewed on the USS Ninja Search site.
When a customer requests for an auction sheet translation I then check the main USS site, if there is an underbody photo, I will always include it with my auction sheet translation reply if available.
Example of Underbody photo – please click here.
Please note, due to the size of the Underbody, Wheel/Tyre and the 360 Degree Interior photo (converted into HD video format), you will need to view or download from Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage.
Wheel/Tyre Photo
The seller can also pay USS to take photos of each wheel and tyre.
As with the underbody photo, these are only viewable via the main USS site, once again, I will also include the photo with my translation if available.
Example of Wheel/Tyre photo – please click here.
Please note, due to the size of the Underbody, Wheel/Tyre and the 360 Degree Interior photo (converted into HD video format), you will need to view or download from Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage.
360 Degree Interior Photo – Best thing since sliced bread.
The seller can also pay USS to take a full HD 360-degree interior photo which is very handy as you get a better idea of the vehicle interior condition and features. However, as with the underbody and wheel photo, this 360-degree photo can only be viewed on the main USS site.
Because it is a 360-degree photo, we therefore video screen shot the photo and we will upload it to a site for you to view, the video will be 1-2 minutes long. Once again, I will be included this with the auction inspection sheet translation if available.
Example of 360 Degree Interior photo – please click here.
Please note, due to the size of the Underbody, Wheel/Tyre and the 360 Degree Interior photo (converted into HD video format), you will need to view or download from Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage.
Correction Notice (very important)
Once a vehicle has been delivered to the auction, the onsite auction inspectors will carry out a vehicle condition report known as the Auction Inspection and an inspection sheet will be uploaded with the standard auction photos.
The next step is that the auction will carry out a mileage (km) check against government shaken inspection records.
If the vehicle was booked into the auction showing 98,000km’s on the speedo BUT in the year 2020 the vehicle was presented for government shaken inspection with 100,000km’s, a “Correction Notice” will be issued by the auction and the vehicle listing is highlighted in red to advise there is a correction notice issued.
Correction notice will normally read something like “Warning, Km’s not real, year 2020 vehicle had 100,000km’s”.
A correction notice is not just solely for false km’s, it can also include something like an “engine warning light on” or something else that can be a major red flag.
A very common correction notice is where a vehicles condition grade has changed, and this can be due to something being missed during the first internal condition inspection.
A correction notice is only visible on the USS main auction site and the USS Ninja Search site, other third-party auction sites will not display a correction notice. This is a very important feature of USS auctions and a very important feature for you as the buyer. A vehicle with a correction notice “will sell cheaper than normal” on one hand cheaper may seem good but on the other hand “would of you still requested your auction agent to bid if you had known about the problem”, probably not.
Some auction agents are honest and will advise you of a correction notice before they bid but there are unfortunately many auction agents that will not.
This mainly comes down to the agent’s fee, some auction agents are only interested in their agent’s fee and they want you to buy the vehicle.
Another question you must ask yourself, how come my auction agent does not have the USS Ninja Auction Search site available to their customers.
maybe – they do not have USS Auction membership and are bidding on the vehicle through someone else who in return is bidding through someone else and so on.
maybe – I just answered this question under the heading “Correction Notice”, with USS Ninja Auction Search site you as the customer would see there is a correction.
Below is a very important example of a vehicle with a correction notice displayed on a third-party auction site vs USS Ninja Auction Search site.
Via third-party (non USS) auction search sites, you will notice there is no correction notice displayed – click here.
Via USS Ninja (USS auction) search site, you will notice the correction notice is displayed and you as the customer would see it – click here.
For more information about auction inspection sheets - click here.
Inspection Service
USS auction group offer an independent vehicle inspection service for a fee depending on what you would like checked and photographed of the vehicle. The service is not free, and it will cost us/you between 3,000 – 8,000yen per vehicle.
Do we (our customers) use this service and the answer is, sometimes, it all depends on the vehicle etc.
Where the service is helpful is when we want to know something about the vehicle such as “does it have cruise control” or “does it have electric rear seats” for example. We also use it if the auction sheet says, “Drivers Seat has Tear”, if we cannot see the tear in the photos the customer may ask for a photo of the tear to be taken so they can judge the size and location.
However, bear in mind that the service costs 3,000 – 8,000yen per vehicle, 20 vehicles later it can soon add up.
Have you ever come across an Auction Agent who claims to have staff at all the auctions checking vehicles for their customers. Has the penny now dropped with the above service. There are over 100 auction houses around Japan, 5-10+ auctions a day and they have staff at them all……lol.
USS Auction Group
As you may be aware, there are many different auction groups within Japan where USS auction group is the most advanced therefore the largest and strictly only accessible by licensed motor vehicle dealers, Jo public cannot purchase vehicles from USS auctions.
HAA, JAA are also owned by USS auction group and are also listed on the USS Ninja Search site.
Important Information - Other Auctions
Besides USS auction group there are many other auction groups such as JU, CAA, TAA, Hero etc.
Some auction groups or auction houses own a percentage of the vehicles that are been auctioned and this has been going on for a while now. It is very hard to tell which vehicle/s being auctioned are in fact owned by the auction therefore we find this a conflict of interest, especially when it comes to the auction inspection and auction grade score. In October 2021, we decided to cancel our auction membership/s to many auctions due to this as we were finding it was very hit and miss on the auction inspections and auction score and seemed to be getting worse during the last few years to the point prior to October 2021, we could no longer trust these auction houses.
Cancelling our memberships to certain auction houses in October 2021 may affect our business since we no longer offer coverage to all the auctions around Japan.
But it has always been our goal during the last 30yrs of being an auction and export agent to protect our customers interests no matter what.
As you may know, every auction agent in Japan charges an “agents fee” if they manage to secure a vehicle for their customer. Some agents put the agents fee first before customers interest and are happy to buy out of any auction no matter what.
USS auction group do not own any of the vehicles that are being auctioned along with some other auction houses such as JAA and HAA which we are still holding membership to.
Finally, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read the above, I hope you may have learned some important points.
If you have any questions, please feel free in reaching out to me.
Regards
Mark.
The pricing of the auction site seems very steep. I just want to browse through the auctions to see what the current market is like and the vehicles that are now available. Anyone know any good auction search sites where I can start my journey to import for free before I start paying brave auto the subscription? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
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