Buying an AIBO can seem daunting. If you are outside of Japan, you may find that you're having trouble even finding any listings of them - and when you do, they are extremely expensive, sometimes over $1,000. But is AIBO really worth that much? How do I know what they are worth or if I am getting scammed? On this page, I go over frequently asked questions and common concerns when buying AIBO.

The short answer is whichever one you want. If you truly want an ERS-7, you should choose that AIBO. If you want an ERS-1000, you should choose that one. While other models of AIBO can be cheaper, you should not get something you or your child will not really appreciate. Don't settle for a model you don't want simply because it is less money. I highly recommend saving up and purchasing an AIBO you will enjoy.

As of now, the only physical location that sells AIBO is the Sony Store in Ginza. They only sell the current model, the AIBO ERS-1000. Only Japanese citizens can purchase the AIBO from here since you must sign a contract. Foreigners cannot sign this contract, so they cannot buy an AIBO from this store.

This leaves many people with the only option being to buy online. If you wish to buy an AIBO ERS-1000 new from Sony, you can do so here. The AIBO is priced at around $3,000.

The number one place people outside of Japan look to buy AIBO is eBay. Generally, eBay is not a good place to buy AIBO due to a rampant dropshipping and scams problem involving the product.

Most AIBO listings on eBay are from dropshippers. "Dropshipping" is when a seller does not actually have an item in their possession, but makes a listing anyway. They steal images from a legitimate listing, use them to make their own listing, and then mark up the price so they may profit. It is like selling the item without actually having it.

Buying from dropshippers means being charged too much for the item when you could've gotten a significantly better deal. If you see an eBay listing of an AIBO and the location is Japan, it is 9 times out of 10 a dropshipping listing.

Not all eBay AIBO listings are scams, however, even if they're from Japan. Sometimes, sellers may actually have an AIBO in their possession, and they would just like to sell it from a convenient site. But how can you tell?

I recommend using reverse image search on the main picture in the listing. If you find the image has been used on a Japanese shopping site, then you can know it is an illegitimate listing.

Many people buy AIBO by importing them from Japan. It is AIBO's homeland, after all, and it is where they are the most numerous, and therefore they are frequently put up for sale on Japanese websites such as Yahoo! Auctions, JP Mercari, and Rakuma.

But if you are not in Japan, you cannot buy from these listings directly (with the exception of Mercari). So how can you buy or bid on these AIBOs?

"Proxies" are websites or services where a team or company acts as a middleman between the origin country of the item you're buying and your country. If you are in America, for instance, you cannot bid on Yahoo! Auctions listings directly from the site because they are region-locked to Japan users. This is where proxies come in; you can use a proxy to buy the item in your stead. They still use your money and may charge you a small fee.

When you buy an item using a proxy, the seller ships the item to them since they are in the same country. Then, you can easily order international shipping from the proxy's warehouse to your doorstep. International shipping is not free and it usually cannot be calculated before the item arrives at the warehouse and has been properly weighed and measured, so please keep this in mind and have extra money set aside for shipping. See "How Much Is International Shipping" for more details on what to expect the price to be.

Proxies are not scams and they are safe to use. There are many proxy services that are available. Different proxies work differently and may charge more or less for shipping than other services. To keep the lights on, proxies charge a fee for the service they provide. Sometimes the fee is a flat amount, and sometimes the fee is a percentage based on the price of the item(s). The proxy's website will provide information about the exact details of the fee.