I'm not turning Japanese, so must sell it.
January 12, 2011 7:12 PM Subscribe
What is the best way for me to sell (in the United States) an electronic device designed for the Japanese market?
As described in this post, I received an MP3 player in a family gift exchange.
It's a Sony NW-X1050 and as determined in that previous post, it is designed for the Japanese market and doesn't have any English language options. I fiddled with it a bit and realized I'm just never going to enjoy using it. So I'd like to sell it. But how?
I searched eBay and found no current or previous listings for this, so I don't know that an eBay effort would work. I've used Craigslist in the past, but this seems so oddly specific that I wonder if Craigslist would work.
I have no connections to the Japanese community, nor any other idea of how to sell it to someone who speaks Japanese. Any ideas for me?
As described in this post, I received an MP3 player in a family gift exchange.
It's a Sony NW-X1050 and as determined in that previous post, it is designed for the Japanese market and doesn't have any English language options. I fiddled with it a bit and realized I'm just never going to enjoy using it. So I'd like to sell it. But how?
I searched eBay and found no current or previous listings for this, so I don't know that an eBay effort would work. I've used Craigslist in the past, but this seems so oddly specific that I wonder if Craigslist would work.
I have no connections to the Japanese community, nor any other idea of how to sell it to someone who speaks Japanese. Any ideas for me?
Response by poster: Also, any thoughts on what a ballpark price would be? I usually rely so heavily on Google and it's completely failing me on this topic!
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:26 PM on January 12, 2011
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:26 PM on January 12, 2011
Best answer: Hmm...looks like it runs for around $350ish (￥29800) used based on this Amazon.co.jp page. And according to this guy's page it was ¥39800 new (if you care, this is the search I used to find these results, there may be other sites which are useful to you). Seems like it's out of production at this point?
posted by dubitable at 8:18 PM on January 12, 2011
posted by dubitable at 8:18 PM on January 12, 2011
Best answer: Oh, and yeah, echoing Maximian's point about you never know who could be interested. I am learning Japanese and would be interested in just such a thing if I was in the market for an MP3 player.
As it is, you could also just simply put something like "日本語" (the word for Japanese in Japanese) in your ad. If you are selling it in the U.S. then it's possible some nerd like me searching for a Japanese MP3 player may use that in a search.
posted by dubitable at 8:23 PM on January 12, 2011
As it is, you could also just simply put something like "日本語" (the word for Japanese in Japanese) in your ad. If you are selling it in the U.S. then it's possible some nerd like me searching for a Japanese MP3 player may use that in a search.
posted by dubitable at 8:23 PM on January 12, 2011
It looks like that model was sold in the US as the NWZ-X1050. When it came out, it was in the $350 range, but that series was announced at CES in 2009. The current US model is the NWZ-1061
I used to be the world's biggest Sony fan and I'd probably have one of those even if it was in Japanese had the iPhone/iPod touch not been invented. The possible buyers will be Japanese or Japanese culture enthusiasts. Since a new model in both the Japanese and US markets is out, you'll have to come down on your price from the current model prices.
There doesn't seem to be any of these for sale in the US eBay store for the US model numbers so there's no way to price it. When I try and unload things, I'll take what I'd like to get for it and realize I'll probably only going to get half of that. So if you wanted $300, you'll probably only get $150 max. If that's too little, then hold onto it (it won't go up in price, but you may try and regift it or something). So put it up on eBay, make note of the Japanese only bits and wait (hold the auction open for several days).
If you want to try and get use out of it yourself, see if Sony USA has the userguide for it. I would really be surprised if somewhere in a settings menu you can't find a way to get it to English. As it has a clone sold in English speaking countries, it makes sense to have all the supported languages on it.
posted by birdherder at 9:21 PM on January 12, 2011
I used to be the world's biggest Sony fan and I'd probably have one of those even if it was in Japanese had the iPhone/iPod touch not been invented. The possible buyers will be Japanese or Japanese culture enthusiasts. Since a new model in both the Japanese and US markets is out, you'll have to come down on your price from the current model prices.
There doesn't seem to be any of these for sale in the US eBay store for the US model numbers so there's no way to price it. When I try and unload things, I'll take what I'd like to get for it and realize I'll probably only going to get half of that. So if you wanted $300, you'll probably only get $150 max. If that's too little, then hold onto it (it won't go up in price, but you may try and regift it or something). So put it up on eBay, make note of the Japanese only bits and wait (hold the auction open for several days).
If you want to try and get use out of it yourself, see if Sony USA has the userguide for it. I would really be surprised if somewhere in a settings menu you can't find a way to get it to English. As it has a clone sold in English speaking countries, it makes sense to have all the supported languages on it.
posted by birdherder at 9:21 PM on January 12, 2011
Response by poster: A follow-up for anyone searching this question: I listed it on my local Craigslist and got no takers, so I went for ebay, using those Japanese characters above that Dubitable posted above. I listed it at $100; it's now at $250 with 2 hours left. So considering the fact that this item was basically worthless to me, I'd say it's a major win.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:58 PM on January 27, 2011
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:58 PM on January 27, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Maximian at 7:20 PM on January 12, 2011