The man ordered the knife on Ebay...

[Vladimir]

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/65771/yamawaku-gyuto-chef-knife-my-story-with-the-ebay-vendor-please-read

 

[oivind_dahle]

And this is the reason I only buy from well known members of KF or from The smiths themselves

 

[Lefty]

And why I waited so long to buy a Yamawaku! I just couldn't go with an unknown vendor, even though I've heard great things about the knives. I found one used, and it's in the mail.
However, if it's as good of a blade as people have claimed, I might have to order a LH yanagi, or another gyuto.
I wish there was another way to get Yamawaku knives.....

 

[Seb]

You have to factor in the registered and insured shipping into the cost. I have ordered at least three knives from him and it all went fine. But I had heard about the issues so I never cheap out on the extra shipping.

 

[Wagstaff]

Looks like the seller didn't believe the first knife didn't get there. Or something. Absolutely never cheap out on the extra shipping if it's something that costs more than the insurance! That's a really depressing picture he posted.

 

[Lefty]

I won't bash the guy, because he could very well be a great vendor. I'll just take this as a warning and food for thought.
It's good to read that there are sales that go the way we would all hope, so thanks for showing the other side.

 

[Josh]

I've bought several knives from this vendor over the years, and always purchased EMS shipping.... had some English to Japanese email communication / perspective frustrations but the vendor took the time to work with me and get things right. That impressed me... I was ready to walk away, but rather than getting mad/frustrated, they brought in someone that was better with English and solved the problem.

 

[RobinW]

I have purchased 2 knives from the same vendor, and while checkout was a drag and shipping time even worse, he did do right in the end.
Recognize the substandard packing.... One of my boxes was mangled, but knife was ok.
Knives are cheap and handles barely usable, but at least the my blades are good. In fact it is the wifes favorite.

 

[mainaman]

is that from 330mate?

 

[goodchef1]

the strange thing is that with the costs of todays Jnats, if that is what those are, that guy may have got a better deal then the knife he ordered.

 

[bprescot]

Yep. I've never had issues with him in the past. I think I've gotten four or five knives from him in the past. I once even paid for a knife and mistakenly included the wrong Paypal mailing address. I emailed him and he explained that he would only ship to the address on the paypal payment for liability reasons, but the next day sent me an invoice for $.01 and asked that I pay via paypal and use my updated address. Knife arrive 5 days later no problem.

 

[Lefty]

Since this involves the vendor we are discussing, in a way, I have a question that I have been trying to get to the bottom of, but can't seem to do.
"Who is Yamwaku, and why does nobody seem to have any info/way to contact the guy"? "Is he even a real guy, or just a marketing gimmick"?
I know that seems excessive, but seriously, I can't find anything....
I've been interested in Yamawaku knives for quite a while, but with everything being so unknown, I stayed away, until a knife that I wouldn't have to deal with the all of the confusion popped up.

 

[ecchef]

I bought a Yamawaku nakiri when they first started showing up to replace my wife's aging Kiya santoku (yeah...I know). It has a lot of good points; excellent burr formation and removal, acceptable thickness, decent edge retention, & seems to be impervious to rust. I got the burnt chestnut handle which is kinda nice, but it has a nasty-ass plastic ferrule. At the time it was cheap as hell.

 

[JohnnyChance]

I have bought from 330mate before and just used the standard free shipping. It took like 5 weeks or so to get it, but it arrived no problems.

I like the buyer's concern that the rocks are from a nuclear plant.

 

[ptolemy]

When you ship international, if seller does include rocks, like in this case, as long as tracking says delivery, paypal will not do anything. The *only* time they will if you make a police report (they will want a copy of it). Since it's international, likely no one has jurisdiction, so in the end, no one going to do anything.

 

[NO ChoP!]

I apologize, but I find this to be hilarious!!! My guess is the Japanese seller probably felt disrespected, and this was his "F--- You!!!!"

 

[olpappy]

No, I believe there was a mix-up and this guy received someone else's order of stones. Too bad he wasn't a member of one of these kitchen knife forums, he would have gotten a lot of helpful advice and possibly even avoided this mess.

 

[Andrew H]

No, I believe there was a mix-up and this guy received someone else's order of stones. Too bad he wasn't a member of one of these kitchen knife forums, he would have gotten a lot of helpful advice and possibly even avoided this mess.

Even more likely he'd be happy with the stones :laugh:

 

[EdipisReks]

No, I believe there was a mix-up and this guy received someone else's order of stones. Too bad he wasn't a member of one of these kitchen knife forums, he would have gotten a lot of helpful advice and possibly even avoided this mess.

i think that's what happened, too.

i've ordered a couple things from that vendor and they have taken forever to arrive, but arrive they did. packaging just barely adequate, but barely adequate is still adequate.