Becoming a Member of an Auction Site

by Christopher Ntyangiri
(Kawasaki City, Japan)

Are you looking for the information regarding how to become a member of a prestigious auction site?

What kinds of documents are required for submission during the membership registration process?

Then you are reading the right article.
This article will give you a brief but precise explanation about that whole process. In order to be brief and avoid repetition I have not included some information that can be found in other articles within this site. I have a firm belief that at the time you are reading this article, you have already read other articles in this site and become very familiar with some terms related to buying used car in Japan.

Enough with the rambling, back to the topic at hand…

So, you have been wondering… How can you become one of those few who are capable of buying cars directly at the auction site? And you don’t know where to go to get information. There is a lot of information out there but most of it is in Japanese. So I won’t blame you if you couldn’t find any.

To make it easier for you, I’ll pick one auction site as a model. Most of these auction sites are similar so the difference between one auction site to another will be minimal. For reference purposes I'm going to use: Auto Server Corp., popularly known as ASNET.

You can join Auto Server as a
<1> Full Member, or
<2>Associate Member

Joining Conditions
To join as a full-fledged member, you must fulfill the following conditions:
■ You must have a permanent car shop which is actively operating.
■ (1) Your company or the representative must own a real estate, or
(2) You must have a certificate or approval of the designated factory or store or car yard.

To join as an Associate Member:
■ You must have a permanent car shop which is actively operating.


Terms and Conditions of Use
For Full Members:
■ Payment deadline of the successful bid price is within 7 days including the successful bid day.


For Associate Members:
■ Payment deadline of successful bid price is within three days, including the successful bid day.
■ Regardless of vehicle price, vehicle will be delivered after payment confirmation.
■ Delivery of successful bid vehicles will be done by logistic companies automatically designated by ASNET.


Required Documents for Registration

■ Membership registration form
■ Antique(Second Hand Equipment) permit (copy)
※ address, etc. which has not been updated will not be accepted
■ More than 3 shop(store) photos
(Such as stores, signage inside the store, store panoramic view can be used)
For Full Members Only: Refer to Joining Conditions above.
■ A Copy of the registration of real estate owned by a representative or company(original)
OR certification or approval of designated factory (copy)
For Associate Members Only: Refer to Joining Conditions above.
■ Written consent for for Associate Member’s conditions.
■ Guarantor’s certificate of seal. (For Individuals)
■ Certificate of seal (popularly known as INKAN in Japanese) (original)
For individual, if the address of a store differs from that mentioned in
representative's certificate of seal
■ Copy of the registration or copy of store real estate lease agreement

For Companies/Corporate
■ Corporate certificate of seal (original)
■ Copy of the company registration (including the company history certificate)- (original)
■ Representative’s personal certificate of seal (original)

For Non-Japanese Nationals
■ Passport Cover and identification page (color copy)
■ Photo taken within one month.


Not very easy huuh…
Yes… Only those who are very seriously involved in car business are welcomed to be members.

One more thing, the registration fee is FREE. Monthly membership fee is also free. Yes, free as in free beer, meaning you pay Zero(0) Yen for both.

I hope this helps you to understand the world of auction sites membership.