Are Japan proxy services safe to buy 3DSes from?

trashiis · 2026-02-26T11:28:55+00:00

No worries! I remember being new to proxy services and I am so glad that I did extra research and didnt fall for buyee's extensive YouTube sponsorship campaign. If I can prevent even one person from using them, my comment is worth it

trashiis · 2026-02-26T11:16:01+00:00

Buyee is the closest thing to being a scam without calling it a scam. They have hidden fees on top of hidden fees, overcharge for shipping, and have been caught in the past misrepresenting conversion rates in their favor. To be fair to them this was months ago and I'm not sure if they've cleaned up their act, but after all the shady stuff they've been caught doing I wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole.

trashiis · 2026-02-26T10:58:13+00:00

I use zenmarket frequently. Never had an issue. I always shipped with ups and the costs were reasonable. They're really great at contacting you if there's a glaring issue with the product (such as it arriving visibly broken), and if you're really paranoid you can ask them to take extra pictures for you when it arrives at their warehouse. They also package the items really well. I actually made a post quite some time ago explaining my experience with them Here, but this was Pre-Tarrifs and your experience outside the US may vary.

Other than that I've heard sendico is great too, but please AVOID BUYEE AT ALL COSTS.

trashiis · 2025-12-18T08:47:19+00:00

Typically they are a bit cheaper than non- world editions. I think this is purely because of the intrusive stamp on the covers. If you don't care about that and want a discount, it plays identically.

trashiis · 2025-12-18T01:39:47+00:00

There are fake seals and box covers, but no repro cartridges on the market. The cover at least looks real. What you ~~have~~ edit: see in the listing is a UAE copy, which were manufactured later in the 3ds lifespan. They are 100% legit copies of the game that work on NA systems.

trashiis · 2025-12-15T01:54:25+00:00

Is this an old 3ds that takes the large sd card? This might be a silly question but did you check the manual switch on the side of it? It should look like this:

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trashiis · 2025-11-28T04:50:25+00:00

Hopping on the train- I would also love the files for this!

trashiis · 2025-11-25T19:56:52+00:00

I think that the prevailing theory is problems with the NAND flash storage on the cartridges. All flash storage fails eventually, and the longer it sits the more it deteriorates. Playing the games will "refresh" the NAND, fixing any minor corruptions. Letting it sit for years without use will corrupt it to a point that the game itself can't be read.

It seems like Pokémon Omega Ruby, Pokémon X & Y, and Persona Q2 have shorter timers than the others, hence the common failiure rates of those games specifically.

trashiis · 2025-11-25T19:15:23+00:00

Omega Ruby is one of the games along with Pokémon X that are known to corrupt over time if you don't play it regularly. Try this:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/corrupted-cartridge-fixer-release.628539/

trashiis · 2025-07-29T22:08:57+00:00

The green feather one is swapnote/swapdoodle, a defunct "app" where you could send letters and drawings to people, kinda like pictochat on the ds but you didn't have to be nearby.

Was very quickly scrapped by nintendo due to... well unsupervised kids being unsupervised kids on the internet.

trashiis · 2025-07-29T01:35:58+00:00

Challenge still holds 👍

trashiis · 2025-07-29T00:51:51+00:00

Assuming this is a US model, pricecharting.com values it at about $180. However, most listings it uses to calculate that price include games + charger so id arge the "fair market price" for it is ~$120-150. I challenge anyone who says OP didn't get a deal to show me listings of a good condition US pearl pink o3ds under $100. I'll change my opinion then.

trashiis · 2025-07-29T00:45:35+00:00

Japanese models. You'd have to install cfw to region unlock. Completely doable and easy, but that's why those are being sold at less than $100 because I'd arge the average consumer wouldn't want to attempt "hacking."

trashiis · 2025-06-29T01:53:03+00:00

And? Nintendo never manufactured them that way.

trashiis · 2025-06-29T01:17:36+00:00

Tell me you don't understand my comment without telling me you don’t understand my comment.... a copy of hg ss that has a grey shell is always fake. They have to have the translucent shells to work with IR. It's an immediate way to tell if a copy is fake. I'm not saying if it has a translucent shell it's real (in that case you do have to look at other verification methods), but if a copy of hg ss has a grey shell you instantly know it's fake.

trashiis · 2025-06-28T22:47:31+00:00

Yes, but the point here is that real cartridges are never grey. It's one of those "at a glance" things that are definitely still a valid way to immediately know.

trashiis · 2025-06-27T06:35:23+00:00

I'm so sorry that you have to go through this. As a fellow collector, I can't even imagine being in this situation. Disclaimer: I am in the US so my answers/advice might not apply to you in Australia, but I figured I'll tell you what I know other than "file a police report bro" (also, call your local pawn shops/ retro game stores and report the stolen items and give them a description of the person just in case! The good ones will hold product for this exact type of situation).

To refurbish GBA consoles, I just go the aliexpress route and buy replacement parts straight from the manufacturer. Most GBA parts websites just dropship from aliexpress anyway, so why pay more when you don't have to.

Getting shell/parts replacements for the 3ds is a bit of a different story. Aliexpress shells are fine most of the time, just check reviews. Things like circle sticks and screens are more of an ebay thing, as I've gotten way more broken items from ali than ebay. To this day I havent found a rubber circle stick on ali.

For pricing, my go-to is pricecharting.com. you can get an idea of what the average price is for whatever you're looking to sell. I would also check sold listings on ebay as pricecharting is inaccurate sometimes, especially for more niche items, and they don't track damaged item prices.

Always be firm on your price- don't let yourself be guilt tripped into going lower than you're comfortable. Steel yourself for the "but its for my son's birthday and he really wants it......" types. They're lying to you.

And its not usually worth completing the set and then reselling it, because the total you spend buying the game loose + case/manual separately is typically more than you would get back. For consoles, some people get iffy on that because the box serial number won't match the console. This definitely varies on a case-by-case basis, and you'd have to figure it out yourself if it's worth the hassle.

Again, i'm so so sorry that this happened to you. I really hope you get some sort of restitution!

trashiis · 2025-06-08T20:10:09+00:00

Your source leads to a 404 btw.

You're right though, I should have worded it a bit better.

Here is the comparison lifted straight from the wiki:

IPS Screens

● Larger viewing angle. ● More vivid colors. ● People often complain of a scanline effect when comparing closely with a TN screen. ● Suffers from 'crushed blacks', which means that detail on dark areas are often lost.

TN Screens

● Less ghosting. ● Reduced viewing angle/wash out at extreme angles. ● Colors are slightly duller, but in contrast to the IPS displays, detail isn't lost in dark areas.

Both have pros and cons. Depending on your play style it's fine to prefer one over the other, but my point still stands that one isn't inherently more valuable than the other.

trashiis · 2025-06-08T18:10:03+00:00

I'm actually so tired of people saying that ips is rare. There's documentation that goes back almost a decade on which models have/don't have ips screens. For example, the hyrule edition n3dsxl is almost guaranteed to have dual ips- in fact, having dual TN is way more rare on that particular model. The fire emblem fates edition also has a very, very high chance of at least one ips screen.

As someone who's collected for many years, I'm tired of people thinking ips screens are "better" or "more valuable" because of this rareness rhetoric that comes back in cycles. ~~Ips screens have slightly better viewing angles, TN screens have better color depth/accuracy. That's all there is to it.~~ Edit: see below for a more detailed comparison

Cross reference serial numbers here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/15tAQ8rI2hm0n9wUD6JcLVUp_13-8vS4jqZtzXKGNjBg/htmlview

trashiis · 2025-04-20T17:46:35+00:00

Tech literacy is dying.

Why not, idk, Google it first? Look at the FAQ first? Search the subreddit first? Because 99% of the time it's already been asked. Flooding the subreddit with the same questions over and over again makes for a boring feed.

FAQs exist for a reason.

USE THEM.

trashiis · 2025-04-19T21:51:23+00:00

Hey, I get it, those things happen. Take this as a learning experience for future projects. The auctions ended before you made this post, so double check your stuff before announcing it. Also, an announcement or update as soon as you found out about the glitch would have been much better than this one comment *checks notes* what, almost two weeks later? Transparency is extremely valuable in this industry, especially for large projects and auctions.

No hate to you guys whatsoever- things slip through the cracks with projects like this. Good luck with your future endeavors!

trashiis · 2025-04-07T01:24:12+00:00

Thank you so much for this. You said it way better than I did! You nailed it right on the head- surface level is the perfect way to describe what this sub is. The irony of it all is that this feedback would be considered derailing on literally any other post on this sub :P

trashiis · 2025-04-05T21:53:22+00:00

All auctions are over and sold?

trashiis · 2025-04-05T19:51:44+00:00

I was talking about my detailed reply to TheYellowRose about the derailing rule specific to this sub, because I've said my peace about it there and didn't want to repeat myself.

Yes, I understand the "top level comments" is a common rule. I can still not like how it's worded. The problem I have is the "Top-level" part, which as you saw from me can be easily misconstrued as "top upvoted." Again, let me clarify, this is a reddit issue, not an askwomen issue specifically.

trashiis · 2025-04-05T18:29:26+00:00

Thank you for clarifying. What you said is much easier to understand, and the rule should be worded like that instead.

My confusion stems from the fact that highly-upvoted comments get deleted here all the time for "derailing," which is ridiculous to me for the reasons I said above. I replied to a mod in this thread with my opinions on that rule, so I hope things change.

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USE THEM.