Sunday's bizarreness + Goody-Japan (review) updated again

It seems that I always experience something bizarre on Sundays. Nope, this week is not about another stranger approaching me for lunch again. Haha.. On the bus today, I overheard a guy having heart-to-heart talk to his friend about his relationship problems. It was not that I deliberately wanted to eavesdrop but the guy was talking a bit too loudly. His girlfriend just told him that he is not man enough. Ouch.. I guess "not man enough" is something that every male will take offense with. He also mentioned how his girlfriend refused to tell another guy who was getting closer to her that she is already attached. Hooo.. Hearing this things make me think again on finding a girlfriend and getting into a relationship. Haiz.. Girls and relationships are soo troublesome.

Intentionally or not, eavesdropping is never a good thing so I got my dose of karma not too long after I alighted the bus. On the escalator down to Orchard Road, on the few steps below, I saw this guy putting his arm around his friend's waist. Hmm.. I thought this was suspicious but let's not assume. They might be friends or brothers. Reality check! When they walked away, they held hands and they kissed! O M G. I am never comfortable witnessing PDA (public display of affection) but seeing that from a gay couple is more uncomfortable than from a straight couple. I thought I am quite open to gays in the sense that I am not a homophobe.. But seeing a guy on guy action live like that is still weird.

As of yesterday, Goody-Japan revised their proxy fees/commissions and it becomes a viable alternative to FromJapan. Previously, Goody-Japan has a tier-ed fees which is rather expensive and non-user friendly. They changed, simplified, and lowered their fees now with 200 JPY + 8% of item price for auctions and 400 JPY + 7% of item price for shopping. The minimum fee will be 500 JPY while the maximum will be 5000 JPY.

For cheap items, Goody-Japan is still more expensive than FromJapan. However, for medium-priced items, it is now a viable choice as they don't charge 150 JPY for checking the items. And depending on the size and weight of the item, the extra 5% from shipping fees that FromJapan charges can make a difference. For expensive items, Goody-Japan wins hands down now! I have not been using Goody-Japan lately so I cannot comment on their customer service nowadays. I hope the lowering of the fees is not coupled with lowering customer service standard.

So in summary:

So with all the changes, the pros of Goody-Japan are:

-Will help you to contact the original seller for more details of the items***

-Automatic email confirmation for your deposit and your bidding

-Able to help with return of damaged item***
-Great initiative to notify buyer about damaged item on arrival***

-Great packaging

-Idiot-proof and informative webpage

-Competitive proxy fee for medium-price items and a maximum 5000 JPY fee for expensive items

While the cons:

-No manual control of bidding

-No "search function" and no "translation function"
-Relatively pricey proxy fee for cheaper items
-Lazy customer service which does not respond to customer's enquiry***

I am unable to confirm those points I indicated with *** above as I have not used them for the past many months.