Buying and Importing from Japan

[Cornwall Steve]

4 hours ago, Gizmo said:

 

If you can stomach the poor quality of the bevel routing....Looks like something from an Aliexpress seller! 

 

 

 

 

@Cornwall Steve You can try Zenmarket  as a 3rd parry shipper (plenty of YT reviews and How to video on importing guitars using their services) 

 

Using something like Zen can save you a few Hundred £'s over the 3rd party ebay/reverb sellers, doing so will shift the postage risk to yourself, for example using Zen and surface shipping i can get a BTB865SC laned in the UK for about £700 'ish, 3rd party reverb/ebay sellers want £700+ for the same bass without shipping/VAT/Duty inc....so buying from them would give a landed cost of about £1k...but in doing so they take the risk of it getting damaged/missing in transit...risk/reward

 

GL   

Thank you. Not heard of Zen before however someone else suggested them too so I'll check them out.

[Owen]

13 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 Fernades Pie-zo Bass Gothic Hello Kitty Edition, 

I cannot be the only person who was wondering.

 

https://jp.mercari.com/item/m49617180061?srsltid=AfmBOopwopOvwLm9ct3NXxD1-0kez0V9BMlyuIv7nFNnArr-3_c9rEAr

[Owen]

Double post

Edited 22 hours ago by Owen

[Owen]

Triple post

Edited 22 hours ago by Owen

[fergs40]

Another satisfied Ishibashi customer here - in Ireland, but the customs and taxes charges and processes are very similar to the UK. Ishibashi went above and beyond, even when An Post didn’t…

 

 

[Cornwall Steve]

12 hours ago, pete.young said:

 

Many thanks Pete

[BigRedX]

10 hours ago, Cornwall Steve said:

Thanks. There are several for sale by Japanese vendors, hence the reason for my Post 

 

Have you doubled checked that they are actually different bases and not the one on Digimart being offered by various "middlemen".

[BigRedX]

10 hours ago, Owen said:

I cannot be the only person who was wondering.

 

https://jp.mercari.com/item/m49617180061?srsltid=AfmBOopwopOvwLm9ct3NXxD1-0kez0V9BMlyuIv7nFNnArr-3_c9rEAr

 

That's the one.

 

Here are some better photos of the one I actually owned:

 

IIRC it was sold on to someone in the UK so it should still be around.

 

Fernandes do lots of limited edition models with custom graphics for both the bass and guitar versions of this. You rarely see any of them outside of Japan.

Edited 12 hours ago by BigRedX

[Gizmo]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

That's the one.

 

Here are some better photos of the one I actually owned:

 

 

Looks like a giraffe with little legs...or maybe a diplodocus talking a drink ! 

 

@Cornwall Steve Hardoff is worth taking a look @ Zen will purchase and shipp from them, Hardoff kinda seems like JP Crack converters but much less scummy.

Edited 10 hours ago by Gizmo

[Cornwall Steve]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Have you doubled checked that they are actually different bases and not the one on Digimart being offered by various "middlemen".

Yes, I've been checking carefully and after carefully comparing I've discovered several duplicates being offered by competing vendors

[NancyJohnson]

On 12/02/2026 at 07:33, Cornwall Steve said:

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.

 

Bought from Ishibashi a couple of times.  No issues.  First bass I didn't pay any duties on, the second one I did.  No idea why as values of each exceeded £800.00.  Comms were good, however I'd say that they Ishibashi do/did employ the services of someone with a decent grasp of English.

 

I wouldn't buy anything where there's a broker type thing going on, you know, those adverts on eBay where there's dozens of people in Japan 'selling' the same thing, even though this process is all supposed to be above board there (gawd knows how they navigate the minefield of multiple purchases),