Buying and Importing from Japan

[Cornwall Steve]

Hi members

Has anyone ventured down this route before ?

Frustrated by not being able to find the bass I'm after, I frequently come across them for sale in Japan on evilbay, quite often with a modest delivery charge for shipment to UK or even included in the price.

I understand about the import duty situation, etc however I guess my primary concern is more about taking the plunge and ordering if anything goes wrong regarding communication, language, damage or loss in transit, etc.

Has anyone actually given this a go. If so, what were your experiences. Did it go well, or were there mega problems, or did it all go smoothly and you counted yourself lucky, and wouldn't hesitate to do it all again. And did you end up being stuffed for any unexpected costs?

Many thanks in anticipation.

[police squad]

I've done it several times, from Japan, From the USA.

I've never has a problem. My wife's Fender PB70s came from Japan. £300 + duty and vat (which I can't remember exactly now) I went to Parcel Force to collect and pay the o/s amount

you have some protection with ebay as they wont release the money till the goods have been delivered etc

check the seller feedback etc

[BigRedX]

I've bought 6 instruments from Japan, and sold one of them back to someone living there when I no longer needed it, but all these transactions were prior to international shipping getting a lot more complicated. 

 

I did 4 shop sales, all buying second hand from Ishibashi. All went smoothly and I even got a discount on one bass which had sticker residue on the body that hadn't been noticeable in the original sale photos but was picked up by Ishibashi when they did their quality check before shipping. Shipping costs were very good, I wasn't able to match the price when shipping in the opposite direction as a private seller, and VAT and Import Duties were close to my guesstimates so no nasty surprises there.

 

I also brought back a new guitar on each of the two occasions that I visited Japan. The instruments I bought were all ones that were almost impossible to find for sale outside of Japan - Atlansia Solitaire Bass, Fernades Pie-zo Bass Gothic Hello Kitty Edition, Tokai Talbo Bass, Tokai Talbo Jr Guitar, Yamaha BJ-5B (a limited edition of 50 models) and a Yamaha EZ-EG. I certainly wouldn't use it just to try and save a few pounds on something that could be imported for you by a UK distributor.

 

Some Japanese shops are simply not set up to deal with foreign sales and even now in the 21st Century you'll get no reply when they realise that you are not in Japan. However if it's an eBay sale that is visible to potential buyers outside of Japan, then the seller should be set up to deal with enquiries in other languages - in this respect we have a massive advantage being English speakers - and international shipping.

 

As has been said there's a whole extra level of protection if you buy through eBay, so check the seller feedback and bid away.

 

Edit to say Japan is VERY service focused, and if anything does go wrong you can guarantee that it happen here in the UK where it is completely out of the control of the Japanese seller. 

Edited 1 hour ago by BigRedX

[Sean]

I've done it myself a few times but recently I've done it 3 times through https://www.bassjapandirect.com/index.html

 

Danny Stewart is the chap. He charges a small fee for his export services however this is the only route I'll use these days. He has a Bass Finder service but if you know what you want and where it is he reduces that to just his admin fee. 

[neepheid]

I have done it twice, once from Ishibashi - which was an excellent experience, prompt sending, well packaged, nice sturdy outer box which had no "speed holes" in it on arrival, and prompt communication throughout.  Great pics on the website, what you see is what you get.  I was delighted with the overall experience and will definitely use them again next time they have something I fancy.

 

The other time was from a private seller on Reverb.  Again, can't fault the experience - I appreciate that one transaction from one random person doesn't mean much on a statistical level, but I found a good 'un - great comms, packaged the bass well, and even put some keepsakes/nicknacks in with the bass which was cute and made me smile.

 

So, that's two from two.  But deffo, bigging up the Ishibashi here.

 

I would be wary of these "personal shopper" types on ebay - you sometimes see the same bass with the same pics being listed for varying prices.  I believe that is people speculatively listing stuff up they've seen in shops (I've seen Ishibashi's pics being nicked sometimes) and they're basically a go-between, and will list it for what the shop's selling it at plus whatever they reckon their expenses are.  But if they've got great feedback, then I guess it's fine?  I dunno, I think it's the fact that the same bass with the same pictures being listed multiple times by different ebay accounts that's putting me off, just feels a bit sus.