Help

Managing Your Requests and Offers

• Where can I find my Requests?
• Can I edit my Requests after placing them?
• Can I delete my Requests after placing them?
• How do I accept an offer?
• How do I decline an offer?
• Can I change to a different offer after accepting one?
• I want to accept multiple offers
• Why am I not getting any offers?
• Why are some offers so expensive?
• How does the Friend decide on the prices they offer me?
• Example of how charges are calculated
• I requested a certain item but I keep getting offers for different items
• I get offers but without pictures / only online pictures
• Leaving comments on your Requests
• Can I contact the Friend during an Errand?
• Why am I seeing discounts on some offers?

Where can I find my Requests?

You can see all the Requests you have made by going to My Page.

On the browser version of Otsukai, you can access your My Page by clicking on your icon in the top-right corner.

On the app, tap on My Page at the bottom of the screen.

Can I edit my Requests after placing them?

You can edit a Request at any time as long as you haven’t accepted any offers made on it.
Just go to the Request you want to edit and click on the Edit Request button.

1. Navigate to your My Page.
2. Choose the Request you would like to edit in your Requested items list.
3. Click on Edit Request and make the changes you need.
4. Don’t forget to click on Update and then on Submit in order to save your changes.

Please note that in order to change or add a picture to an existing Request, you will need to make a new Request.

Can I delete my Requests after placing them?

You can delete your Request by going to Edit Request then scrolling down to Delete Request. You will be asked to confirm this action before the Request is deleted.

How do I accept an offer?

Choose the offer you like the most by clicking on See more and pressing the Buy Now button. This will redirect you to the PayPal screen so that you can pay for the item and accept the offer.

If you cannot see a Buy Now button on an offer made on your Request, it may be because the offer has expired.

You can post a comment on the Request to ask the Friend if they can possibly reupload their offer.

How do I decline an offer?

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

Can I change to a different offer after accepting one?

You cannot change which offer you have accepted. Please check the offer’s details very carefully before you accept an offer.

I want to accept multiple offers

You can accept only one offer per Request. If you would like to accept multiple offers, you can either:

Please note that items can only be combined into one package if they are from the same Friend.

Why am I not getting any offers?

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

・Your Request is too vague.

・You have specified a budget which is too low for the item you have asked for.

・The item you have requested is simply unavailable.

・The Friends feel your Requests are spam

We find that the most common case for a lack of offers is that the item is simply not available.

You should not receive any offers if the items you are requesting are prohibited on Otsukai. The Otsukai team may also delete these types of Requests without any notice. Please carefully read What to Request or Not Request before uploading any Requests.

Why are some offers so expensive?

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 highly-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.

・The item you Requested requires entry into an event or incurs high travel costs

Don’t forget that the price written in the offer is already the final price and includes shipping and services charges. Feel free to leave a comment if you like to ask the Friend to include a breakdown of the total cost.

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

The price that the Friend offers you on Otsukai is the final price that you will pay.

The price offered to you includes the following:

As per article 10.4 of our Terms of Use, any potential customs charges are entirely the responsibility of you, the buyer, Otsukai can accept no responsibility for customs duties incurred, and we will not accept requests for refunds in the case that you do not collect your package from customs.

Example of how charges are calculated

Here is 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 ePacket 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 a very unreasonable offer, we will give them an official warning.

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

Sometimes the item you have requested is unavailable or is out of the price range you may have indicated. In this case, the Friend may offer you a different item instead. The item may be of the same character or series that you have requested.
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 so in your Request description or leave a comment on your Request saying so. 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 sample pictures from online stores etc, it usually means the Friend does not own this item and is using photos from an online store or marketplace listing.
For example:

・The item they are offering and its picture are exactly the same as your Request, so they did not include a picture.

・The item has not been released yet, so there are only sample photographs available.

・The item is from an online store or online marketplace listing and not something your Friend owns, so they can only include the images provided.

Please remember that in the vast majority of cases the Friend will get hold of the item AFTER you have accepted their offer, unless they happened to own it in the first place. This would mean that they do not have the item in front of them when they make the offer and cannot take extra photographs.

Leaving comments on your Requests

You can leave and receive comments on your own Requests, as long as you have not yet accepted any offers on that Request. Please use this feature to ask the Friends any questions you have about their offers. You can also add additional information regarding your Request.
Please make sure your comments are in English or Japanese only and refrain from writing any personal contact details or impolite comments. The Otsukai admin team reserves the right to delete any comment at any time.
You may also delete your own comments by clicking on the trash can icon next to the comment.
Whenever you leave a comment on your Request, all Friends who have made an offer on that Request will receive an email notification!
Comments may not be made on Requests after you have accepted an offer. Be sure to conduct all correspondence with the Friends before accepting an offer.

The comment feature is not currently available on the Otsukai smartphone app.
Although you will receive an email notification whenever you receive a comment, you can only respond on the browser version of Otsukai. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

Can I contact the Friend during an Errand?

It is possible for you and the Friend to exchange messages while an order is in progress. You can do so by going to the Errand Page for your order on the browser version of Otsukai and scrolling down to the Errand Messages section.

Examples of situations for which this feature may be useful include:

・The Friend would like to tell you that the item is to be shipped later than expected.

・You want to inform the Friend that you are getting your address changed on the Otsukai database (do not write the actual address here).

You may NOT use the Errand Messages to do the following:

・Share personal contact details such as email addresses, Twitter/Discord handles etc

・Give Friends an address that is different to the one on the Otsukai database. (You MUST contact the Otsukai support team if you need to change your address. The Friends must ship to the exact address registered to our database, no matter what you tell them in the Errand messages.)

Please be very mindful that the Friends may not be very confident in their English abilities. Please only use SIMPLE English and do not bother the Friends with unnecessary messages. If anything in the messages is unclear then please do not hesitate to contact the Otsukai support team at any point.

All Errand Messages are monitored by Otsukai and messages may be removed at any time without warning.

Please also note that Errand Messages are not yet available on the Otsukai app. If you would like to use this feature, please check the browser version of Otsukai.

Why am I seeing discounts on some offers?

There is a chance you may see some offers on Otsukai with '10% off' in the offered price.
This means the Friend (i.e. the user in Japan) has joined Otsukai within the last 30 days, and therefore their offers will not have the 10% Otsukai service fee added on to it.
Otsukai have implemented this feature to make it easier for Friends to make their first sales, so don't hesitate to snap up one of these offers if you receive one.