I totally agree, especially when it comes with high shipping fee. I am lucky that I only buy magazines which have seto and shirota in it, although seto is everywhere these days.
I use Yahoo Auction a lot. I don't speak Japanese although. I use American agency to do auctions for me. It's very easy to use. But the commission and shipping fee is not cheap at all. I usually use YJA to buy some special stuffs which can not buy from Amazon or other sites.