I don't use YJ too often, but I can see why 
people would want to refrain from international 
sales, just like many US Ebayers stick to 
US/Canada, or stick in a caveat saying to contact 
privately before bidding if you're not from the 
US or Canada.

A big part of it is probably language. The US 
isn't the only non-Japanese country with cel 
collectors. The person with the most money might 
live in Timbuktoo, for all I know. While many of 
us have enough skeleton Japanese to pick a fight, 
I think that a very few of us have a fluent 
enough command of the language to pull off an 
auction singlehandedly or deal with any 
unforeseen bumps. They don't know the nationality 
of whoever's going to win... they might be French-
speaking, Italian-speaking, German-speaking, etc. 
Not to mention the shipping. They don't know if 
they're going to be expected to ship to the US, 
or Belgium, or whatnot.

So by limiting it to Japan-only, it makes life 
much more easier on the seller by making it that 
much more predictable, even though it's not 
exactly fair. On our end, we can get around it by 
using the technicality of a dep service, but I 
can still see the seller's POV. If someone in 
Mongolia won a cel from me, and had me ship it to 
their brother's cousin's best friend in San 
Francisco, and it got lost somewhere along the 
way... I'd be very uncomfy. I'd expect to deal 
directly and exclusively with the winner of my 
auction-- even if the winner is technically a dep 
service-- and let them deal with ferrying the 
merchandise after that. If someone wants to bring 
a third party into things, they should clear it 
before bidding.

-Cres