Correct. After some confusion recently, Rakuten has acknowledged that Japan Post EMS is/will not be considered a forwarding service.1) Japan Post EMS (which is used by Seiko 3S) is not a proxy service, correct?
I remember some talk about this but I'm not certain of the answer. Anyone?2) Paypal no longer has the option to "set your currency" and avoid their conversion fees (I believe this ended at the end of March per the Rakuten thread) even when using a CC with no international fee?
During checkout you provide your credit card information or you select that you would like to use PayPal. You will get a confirmation order from RGM after you complete checkout. In addition, you often get a second email shortly thereafter from the RGM vendor also containing order confirmation and possibly shipping fees. You then typically get another email (the shipping fee could be stated in this one) within 1-2 days from the RGM vendor with a link to pay via PayPal. This link takes you to RGM and from there to PayPal to complete the transaction. If you opted to pay with credit card, you often get an email that asks you to reply in writing that you do indeed want to complete the order and you agree to have your card charged (they already have your cc info). The emails are almost entirely in Japanese, so you'll likely find it is best to use Chrome and right-click in the text of the email and hit "translate".3) Once I've paid do I manually log into paypal to pay the seller? Will they send a link for payment?
.Seiko 3s now says they don't ship to the US
This has happened periodically. In fact it said that on their listings a few days ago. Then that notice went away the next day, so I posted a deal for latest gen Monsters and Sumos for $380ish. Then a couple days later the notice popped up again. In the past when this had happened, someone reported that they just changed the "SHIP TO:" at the top right of their screen from U.S. to Japan and ordered anyway. It worked just fine, so a number of other buyers did the same. It also worked. Who knows if it will continue to work but so far it has very consistently.
True. Unless you use Rakuten Global Express. That is the only forwarding service that qualifies for cash back.They say you can use a freight forwarder but I think that kills the Ebates/Rakuten cash back.
https://globalexpress.rakuten.co.jp/?lang=en
No they don't. I haven't seen many reviews or reports of purchases from Udedokeihompo but the few I have seen have all been positive.There is another seller (Udedokeihompo) but they don't accept Paypal.
I've not used Firefox but that's good to know.PS - the Ebates extension seems to work on Chrome (where it didn't appear to do anything on Firefox)
****Also, this has been said before but it bears repeating. A big part of buying through RGM and getting cash back from Rakuten is trial and error. There is a lot of uncertainty. Nobody will be able to answer all of your questions in the deals thread. It's different with every vendor. You have to do some translating. They are shipping expensive items from the other side of the world. Rakuten makes mistakes. They don't give you your cash back right away. And sometimes they change the rules in the middle of the game. If you are ok with some risk and some anxiety, give it a shot. You could get a killer deal that would be nearly impossible to get elsewhere. If you are risk averse, RGM is probably not the place to shop for you. No shame in that. Plenty of other places for watches and deals without all the risk.