"Buyee isn’t just an option. It’s probably the most consistent way to do it right."

"This isn’t some modern, streamlined soft‑mod. This is peak late‑2000s PSP scene energy."

"The PSP isn’t just nostalgia. It’s still a genuinely great handheld."

Once you start noticing the AI artifacts, it's hard to keep interest in TFA.

Buyee is great! Bought a lot of stuff through them. Electronics, clothes, blurays, even food lol (shio kombu is still not very common outside of Japan). Never had a problem!

The only downside if you buy electronics with batteries: Buyee strictly enforces a maximum 2 batteries per package rule. So for example a Nintendo Switch would be shipped in 2 package because it has 3 batteries, 1 in the tablet, and 1 in each joycon. Have to plan around that when buying multiple electronics https://faq.buyee.jp/article/99?lang=en (look for items without battery, “unit only” etc)

The PSP homebrew scene was a blast in a time where smartphones were just getting started. Lots of communities, typical console hacking cat and mouse games, and mysterious developers. Good times.

The niche older fashion brands I used to enjoy here are no longer as accessible, in part due to these forwarding services; items are priced higher for foreign buyers who still underpay compared to their domestic supply, and items are becoming harder and harder to find at all as they no longer circulate the domestic market, they just get permanently removed from it. This is despite little change in the market price of such items in other markets/currencies.

Japan is a bargain for the dollar-holder and the market is choosing to price out local interest.

I’ve surely spent more time modding PSP than playing games. Zero regrets

I just wish I started getting into software earlier, at that time it felt something super hard for “A beautiful mind” people

After buying several used goods in Japan, my impression is that junk simply means the seller does not want to hear complaints over old items, so they sell it at a lower price. I have bought many perfectly working items sold as such.

Of course buying old stuff requires some ability to do simple repairs. That’s part of the fun.

Yup that's about the best case for buying from Japan. Also big is anime, high end fishing gear (reels and lures are perfect because they're so shippable) also golf clubs (length can be a shipping challenge). Also look into zenmarket.com for a proxy buyer / forwarder

Parted with my PSP years ago, but I still have a working Vita sitting in a drawer somewhere. Reading this made me get up, dust it off, and put it on the charger. Looks like the Vita's going to own my weekend.

I use Jauce for buying stuff from Japan, a bit more pricey, but their shipping is exceptionally good. I buy instruments, so care is a bit more important for me.

But, yeah, I found it interesting that literally all used listings in Japan are marked as "junk", I figured this must either be some translation thing, or a trick for seller to avoid returns etc.

I still have my jailbroken PSP, back from my school days. Great fun for playing emulated PS1 games. I imagine joysticks and buttons on modern handhelds are considerably better though.

I spend around $5k a month on junk through Japanese auction sites for my business. Getting a working PSP graded like this is _extremely_ lucky.

Realistically you're probably looking at an 80% chance of a console like this having some kind of fault, but usually they'll be repairable.

Every time I’ve bought something from Japan its condition is underreported. It’s always a pleasant surprise compared to US sellers that typically over promise when describing the condition. When I put things up for sale o try to do the same. I might get a little less, but hope that the buyer appreciates getting something nicer than expected.

I'm confused .. how is shipment from Japan to Australia half way around the world?

I love my PSP but even with a new battery... it dies after 24hrs off ... not sure why.

I sell stuff on Mercari a lot and people buying through Buyee are great.

I want my life to end that 2005 is "retro" now...

One can explore amazing stuff in akihabara, Japan is amazing

No such things as a "Junk" PSP, as this article clearly shows!

i'm sure they have used PSPs in australia as well...

AI thoughts

I would have gotten a Vita. It runs PSP games (especially when jailbroken), is faster, has a better screen, and also runs Vita games.

Reads like LLM wrote it.

I used to have that; it was a better GBA than a GBA itself, and I could even play Nethack on the go.

WIth a custom CFW you OFC could play Nethack at 50MHZ (With a MIPS CPU even 25MHZ would suffice), where I was more hooked than with Castlevanias...

Oh, and Scummvm, too with Broken Sword, Future Wars and the like. And ScummVM still makes releases so you can totally play Blade Runner in a PSP (and far more).

I don't know if the author just writes like this, or if the text was put through ChatGPT, but it sets off my slop alarm: "Running a PSP the way Sony intended, but with a modern jailbreak in place, feels like the best of both worlds. You keep the original hardware, the original screen, the original ergonomics, but you reduce the friction. No UMD juggling. No region limitations. No locked-down firmware. Just drag, drop, and play."

Now, downvote away.