Managing Your Requests and Offers

Managing Your Requests and Offers

Where can I find my Requests?

You can find your Requests on My Page (you can find this by clicking on the icon in the upper right corner), titled as Requested items.

Can I edit my Requests after placing them?

  1. You can edit the details of the items you have requested on My Page.
  2. Choose the Request you would like to edit in your Requested items list.
  3. If there were no offers made, you can change all details. By clicking on Edit request, you can edit Title, Reference image and Reference Url.
  4. Don’t forget to click on Update and then on Submit in order to save your changes.
  5. You can change the price and the condition of the item (i.e. New or secondhand).
  6. Don’t forget to save your changes by clicking on Update item details.

Can I delete my Requests after placing them?

  1. Yes, you can delete your Requests after placing and also after receiving offers. Please visit the item’s page, and click on Edit request.
  2. Choose the button that says Delete request and click on Submit, if you are sure you wish to delete your Request.

How do I accept an offer?

  1. Choose the offer made on your Request that satisfies your conditions by clicking on See more to see all the details and pictures the Friend has included into their offer.
  2. If the offer is still available you will see the Buy now button. You will then be redirected to PayPal.
  3. Follow the instructions on PayPal.
  4. Congratulations! You have purchased an offer and sent the Friend on a errand.
  5. Now all you have to do is wait for the item to be shipped.

How do I decline an offer?

You don’t have to decline offers. Just choose the best one for you and ignore the rest.

Can I change to a different offer after accepting one?

Unfortunately you cannot change which offer you have accepted. Please check very carefully before you accept an offer.

I want to accept multiple offers

Currently you can only accept one offer per Request. If you want to accept multiple offers, you can try to:

  • Accept one offer then make a new Request with the second item you want to buy, or
  • Edit your description and state which items you would like to purchase.

Please note that you can only get a combined shipment of items offered by the same Friend.

Why am I not getting any offers?

There are a few possible reasons why your Request is not getting any offers:

  • Your Request is too vague.
  • Your Request is not at a reasonable price.
  • The item you have requested is simply unavailable.
  • The item you have requested is not an officially-licensed product.
  • The item you have requested is not a Japanese product.
  • You have made many Requests on Otsukai and have received many reasonable offers without accepting them. In this case the Friends may feel they are wasting their time and refuse to search for items for you. If you are worried this is the case for you, please feel free to contact us to explain the situation.

We find that the most common case for a lack of offers is that the item is simply not available.
Make sure you check out the section about What Makes a Good Request under section 2 of our FAQ: Placing a Request.

I entered a budget when I made a Request. Why are the offers so expensive?

The most common reason for this is that the budget you have made is unfortunately not reasonable. Friends will try to find the item you want at the cheapest price, but it may sadly be much higher than you were expecting. Common reasons for high-priced offers are:

  • The item you requested is very popular and therefore hard to get hold of.
  • The item you requested was originally a pre-order item and is now much higher than the original price.
  • The item you requested is very old, and now costs much more than the original price.

How does the Friend decide on their prices they offer me?

The price that the Friend offers you on Otsukai is the final price that you will pay. (Note that this price does not include any customs tax you may be charged. Customs duties are the total responsibility of the buyer)

The price offered to you includes the following:

☆ The price the Friend needs to pay for the item and, if applicable, the packaging

☆ The international shipping charges (+ domestic shipping charges if the Friend buys the item online)

☆ A PayPal charge of 8% and a service charge of 10%

Example of how charges are calculated

Let us give you a quick rundown of how the Friend calculates the prices using an example.
Let’s imagine you are an anime fan in California who wants a plushie of your favorite character!

  1. You really want to buy a certain plushie so you make a Request on Otsukai! As you saw that the plushie was originally sold online for ¥1500, you make a Request with a $20 budget.
  2. The Otsukai Friends search every corner of the internet and local anime stores and one of them finds the plushie. They discover that it went on sale last year, so it’s completely sold out. It is sold on some second-hand websites, but as it’s a popular item, the cheapest they can find it for is ¥3000.
  3. The Friend guesses that the plushie and box will weigh about 200g, so they calculate the shipping. Shipping via e-packet light (the cheapest method) would cost ¥620.
  4. So we now know that the plushie plus shipping is ¥3620 yen, but the Friend needs to buy packaging materials and will also need to travel to the Post Office. Let’s imagine they round up the price to ¥3800 to make up for these costs.
  5. The Friend enters ¥3800 when they make the offer. A PayPal charge of 8% and system charge of 10% are automatically added, and the price is converted into United States Dollars.
  6. You now have an offer for the plushie you want for a total of $43.37. It's now up to you to decide whether you are willing to go over your original budget and purchase the item.

If the price is well-over your budget and you don’t want to accept it, simply ignore the offer. If you are lucky, somebody may find the item at a cheaper price!

If, after considering the shipping and system charges, you think the Friend has offered an item for a ridiculously high price, then please contact the Otsukai support team. One of our staff members will research the item and let you know if the price is reasonable or not. If the Friend has made an unfair price, we will give them a warning or suspend their account.

I requested a certain item but I keep getting offers for different items

Sometimes the item you have requested will not be available for your budget. In this case, the Friend may offer you a different item (sometimes for a lower price). The item may be of the same character or series that you have requested. In other cases, the item you have requested is simply not available, so the Friend offered something else they could find.
If the offers are for an item different to your Request, it doesn't mean that the Friend hasn't properly read your Request, it simply means that they wanted to show you something different to consider. If you are NOT willing to consider other offers, please write in your Request description. If a Friend offers you an item different to your Request, it is up to you whether or not you want to accept it. However, it is entirely the responsibility of the buyer to carefully check the offer that they have received. You are only entitled to a refund if the Friend sends you a different item to the one they offered, even if it differs to your original Request.

I get offers but without pictures / only online pictures

When you get offers without pictures or only example pictures from online stores etc. it's very likely that there are no further pictures to show you.
For example:

  • The item is exactly the same as you asked for.
  • The item is from an online store and not something your Friend owns.

Please remember that in the vast majority of cases, the Friend purchases the item online / from the store AFTER you have accepted their offer. This means that they do not have the item in front of them when they make the offer and cannot take extra photographs.