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 7 hours 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.

[Cornwall Steve]

1 hour ago, police squad said:

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

Hi

That's very useful info. Appreciate you replying.

Thank you very much 👍

[Cornwall Steve]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

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. 

Hi BigRedx

Thank you very much for your comprehensive reply. A good read and sharing a lot of useful info, especially regarding beware of the 'Middlemen'.

Seeing basses repeatedly advertised by the same seller at different prices and juggling the photos around has always made me feel more than a bit suspicious of these adverts on ebay and I'm guessing these are, more often than not, the middle men at play.

As little as I know about Japanese commercial culture I'd always hoped that there more so than anywhere else in the business World they still trade with honour and honesty probably more so than most other Countries.

That said, there will of course always be a few rotten apples in the barrel.

Cheers

[Cornwall Steve]

1 hour ago, Sean said:

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. 

Hi Sean

Thank you very much for your reply especially for the link.

I've just taken a quick look and will investigate a bit closer tonight.

Cheers

[Cornwall Steve]

23 minutes ago, neepheid said:

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.

Hi Neepheid

Thank you very much for replying and for sharing your experiences.

I've taken a quick look at Ishibashi web page (thank you for the link) and will take a closer look tonight. Definitely worth checking out.

As for the 'Middle Men' personal shopper types thank you for flagging these characters up. On ebay in particular their adverts with different prices and juggled around photos are a bit of red flag are a bit of a giveaway so me thinks I'll steer clear of these ones. Just don't want the risk (almost as bad as other stuff advertised on evilbay where the seller claims 'UK based seller' but 2-3 weeks, or more, after ordering the goods eventually arrive and you know damn well they've come from abroad - usually PRC

[BigRedX]

Sometimes you need a middleman as many Japanese shops are simply not prepared to deal with foreign sales. The two instruments I bought in person came from shops that would never have considered selling to me had I not been there in person with a native Japanese speaker to help out.

 

As others have said Ishibashi are great, but they have people specifically there to deal with enquiries and sales outside of Japan. The only disadvantage is that as a foreign buyer you will need to deal with them through email and due to time differences and the fact that the instruments are also be on display in one of their shops, you can sometimes lose out to a local sale that occurs between receiving and replying to your enquiry. 

[Shaggy]

Bass-wise I've only bought Luminlay inlays from Japan, but have bought a fair bit of vintage camera gear from there with very positive experiences every time; they seem to take communication and customer satisfaction very seriously 

[Cornwall Steve]

3 hours ago, Shaggy said:

Bass-wise I've only bought Luminlay inlays from Japan, but have bought a fair bit of vintage camera gear from there with very positive experiences every time; they seem to take communication and customer satisfaction very seriously 

That's good to hear.

Thank you

[Cornwall Steve]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Sometimes you need a middleman as many Japanese shops are simply not prepared to deal with foreign sales. The two instruments I bought in person came from shops that would never have considered selling to me had I not been there in person with a native Japanese speaker to help out.

 

As others have said Ishibashi are great, but they have people specifically there to deal with enquiries and sales outside of Japan. The only disadvantage is that as a foreign buyer you will need to deal with them through email and due to time differences and the fact that the instruments are also be on display in one of their shops, you can sometimes lose out to a local sale that occurs between receiving and replying to your enquiry. 

And who can blame them. I wonder what the reaction would be if a Japanese consumer emailed a guitar shop in this Country enquiring in their own language too.

I've had a look at the Ishibashi website. Looks okay though much of course is in their own dialect. They don't have specifically what I'm looking for however easy to see they're geared up to trading with overseas buyers 

[Burns-bass]

This should help:

 

https://gadgetsnow.indiatimes.com/how-to/how-to-copy-text-from-photos-on-android/articleshow/92228680.cms

[BlueMoon]

Yes, I’ve personally imported many instruments (> 20 basses) over the years. My dealings with the Japanese, either via a large corporate entities ((like Ishibashi, Ikebbe, Shimamura), bass specialists (Geek-in-box, BassDirect Japan) and individual sales on  Digimart have been generally hassle-free. Certainly, the Japanese end of the transactions have been smooth. Sadly, not the case with couriers or Customs at this end though. This is a tale of delays and expense that needs to be factored in if you decide to purchase. These concerns are not unique to purchases form Japan, however.

 

I would recommend, as a first trial, to engage with Ishibashi via their English-language site. Ask questions about an instrument you are interested in and gauge their level of responsiveness, speed of reply, and overall level of customer service. Compare with your average Joe in Europe. You might be surprised.

 

Good luck!………but it comes with a wallet warning about how easy it might become.