What is a specialist auction sheet search?

Why this product exists

Japanese auction sheets are indexed to the chassis (frame) number. The instant lookup on SheetJP asks a live listing database first. When that database returns a strong match, you can buy the $10 report and usually see it in minutes. When it returns nothing sellable, charging $10 would be selling a report we do not have.

Some records still sit outside that live file: older lots, smaller houses, or archives a person can query after the API stops. Specialist search is that second, slower job. It is optional. It is not started automatically when the $10 path misses.

How it differs from instant verification

The $10 path does not change when we added this product. A green match still goes to instant checkout. A paid $10 order that later fails to fetch still follows the existing instant-report fallback (complete the report or full refund of that $10). Specialist search is a different order.

What you are buying

You are buying one human search for one complete chassis number. The specialist looks beyond the instant listing API and emails whatever that search actually returns — unaltered. SheetJP does not write grades, clean damage maps, or invent a sheet for a car that was never auctioned.

• Labour and archive time for that chassis, typically finished by email in 24–48 hours
• The original material if any exists: full sheet and photos, sheet only, photos only, or a usable extract (for example grade, km, house, date) that still identifies this frame
• A confirmation email as soon as you pay, so you are not left wondering whether the order landed
• If the finished search is blank: a fixed 95% refund of the amount Stripe charged (at list price $71.25 back, $3.75 kept for card fees and the time spent looking)

What you are not buying

• A guaranteed auction sheet — some cars were never listed at a Japanese auction
• A promise that older or rare models will appear in an archive
• A 100% refund product. The 5% kept on a miss is the search fee, stated before you pay
• An English translation, market valuation, or a “deeper scan” add-on
• Import, shipping, customs, or dealer paperwork
• The right to skip the instant lookup and buy $75 for a model code or a guess

Who it is for

Buyers who already ran the instant lookup on a full frame number (code, dash, serial — e.g. NZE141-6012345), received either “no sheet” or only weak matches we will not auto-sell, and still want a person to look. Typical cases: an older import, a car from a smaller house, or a chassis the live file does not index even though an auction may have happened years ago.

It is not for someone who only has NZE141, a 17-character VIN we cannot map to a Japanese frame, or a lookup that failed because the service was down. Those need a correct chassis or a retry, not a specialist invoice. How to read the plate: what is a chassis number.

Partial records

Archives are uneven. A house may keep the inspection sheet but not the lot photos, or photos and a header without a clean scan of the damage map. If the material is clearly this chassis, that is a find. We email it. There is no refund because the packet is thinner than a full modern report.

If the specialist cannot honestly tie the material to your frame — unreadable, wrong car, or nothing at all — that is treated as not found and the 95% refund applies. That call is made by the person who did the search, not by an automatic score.

Find chance — no invented percentage

SheetJP does not publish a “95% of searches succeed” claim. We do not have a public success rate to cite. Odds vary by model, age, auction house, and whether the car was auctioned in Japan at all. Later high-volume auction cars are easier. Cars 15+ years old, rare codes, regional lots, and never-auctioned exports are harder. Why the instant file misses: why a lookup finds nothing.