Buying a guitar from Japan off ebay.

cardinal said:
If they ship EMS then it just arrives at your door, no issues. Not sure if EMS is up and running again (it had been suspended, thanks COVID).
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Yeah when my Edwards were shipped I never paid any imports fees or taxes.
 
Importing rules. If it is valued over 2,000 you need a Homeland Security Form filled out by you, A copy of seller invoice and a Lacey Act all in a pouch on the box. I ask for seller to claim 1990 to avoid this.
Yes, you will get billed for broker fees and possible other taxes. I found if it is valued over 2k it gets reported to your State and they will send you a bill for your State's sales/Use tax. So far on three deals under 2K I have not gotten billed by the State. DHL is the best; if they have DHL. The tracking is extremely through and they are fast. Three days from Europe. Check it out. You won't see tis from UPS or Fedex. This
is 3 days in my hands, even with a snow delay in Cleveland. They moved it out and delivered same day.

Friday, February 12, 2021 Location Time Piece
19 Delivered - Signed for by: LIPPEN WARMINSTER 17:17
1 Piece

18 With delivery courier WEST PHILADELPHIA, PA - USA 14:14
1 Piece

17 Arrived at Delivery Facility in WEST PHILADELPHIA - USA WEST PHILADELPHIA, PA - USA 12:22
1 Piece

16 Shipment on hold WEST PHILADELPHIA, PA - USA 12:18
1 Piece

15 Departed Facility in CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 09:34
1 Piece

Thursday, February 11, 2021 Location Time Piece
14 Processed at CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 23:24
1 Piece

13 Clearance processing complete at CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 23:24
1 Piece

12 Shipment on hold CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 05:55
1 Piece

11 Arrived at Sort Facility CINCINNATI HUB - USA CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 01:08
1 Piece

Wednesday, February 10, 2021 Location Time Piece
10 Departed Facility in ONTARIO SERVICE AREA - CANADA ONTARIO SERVICE AREA, ON - CANADA 23:36
1 Piece

9 Customs status updated CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA 22:31
8 Transferred through ONTARIO SERVICE AREA - CANADA ONTARIO SERVICE AREA, ON - CANADA 17:59
1 Piece

7 Departed Facility in LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 17:17
1 Piece

6 Processed at LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 08:43
1 Piece

5 Arrived at Sort Facility LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 07:03
1 Piece

Tuesday, February 09, 2021 Location Time Piece
4 Departed Facility in BRUSSELS - BELGIUM BRUSSELS - BELGIUM 18:45
1 Piece

3 Processed at BRUSSELS - BELGIUM BRUSSELS - BELGIUM 18:01
1 Piece

2 Customs status updated BRUSSELS - BELGIUM 14:52
1 Piece

1 Shipment picked up BRUSSELS - BELGIUM 16:01
1 Piece
 
From Europe is a whole other story. I imported a bluefaced VH4 from Slovakia years ago. Was a nightmare and horrifically expensive. I had to pickup forms from the broker and take them to customs to pay up and then back to the broker who then was allowed to release the box to me.

Japan via EMS just shows up at your door.
 
DHL is the best. Just don't have it shipped to a commercial address... or DHL may charge custom fees. UPS and FedEx are slower and usually charge customs/import fees. EMS is good too and usually doesn't charge custom fees or duties.
 
I've bought 3 Grecos, 1 Edwards, and a Boss GE10 and all arrived within 7 business days or less, no delays or taxes/duties. I think it matters where it actually comes through customs; all of mine came through Chicago and no delays or issues.
 
I’ve bought two guitars from Ishibashi (one via reverb, one directly from them on their site) both arrived packed really well and quickly (one I ordered on Thursday and it arrived Monday night). I’ve also bought a third on eBay (from a random seller) that was cancelled after the fact so I was refunded (more on that later). In general the condition / grading of instruments by Japanese shops is significantly more strict than GC / reverb / USA sellers. Never had any duty or taxes after the fact from either purchase.

The only thing you need to be aware of is that there are a lot of people on eBay re-listing guitars selling locally at guitar stores in Japan. The guitar isn’t in their possession - it’s at a shop (or a Japanese only auction site similar to eBay), priced lower than what the eBay seller is charging. You can also get screwed around in the sense of buying a guitar only to find out that the guitar isn’t available anymore and then you have to wait a couple days for a refund.
 
Inearthed said:
I’ve bought two guitars from Ishibashi (one via reverb, one directly from them on their site) both arrived packed really well and quickly (one I ordered on Thursday and it arrived Monday night). I’ve also bought a third on eBay (from a random seller) that was cancelled after the fact so I was refunded (more on that later). In general the condition / grading of instruments by Japanese shops is significantly more strict than GC / reverb / USA sellers. Never had any duty or taxes after the fact from either purchase.

The only thing you need to be aware of is that there are a lot of people on eBay re-listing guitars selling locally at guitar stores in Japan. The guitar isn’t in their possession - it’s at a shop (or a Japanese only auction site similar to eBay), priced lower than what the eBay seller is charging. You can also get screwed around in the sense of buying a guitar only to find out that the guitar isn’t available anymore and then you have to wait a couple days for a refund.
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Yep, you'll see the same guitar listed by 6 sellers, all at different prices. I've been lucky so far though.
 
I bought a Killer Prime ( Akira Takisaki model ) from Japan on eBay, no fees. No issues. It came quick too.
 
Inearthed said:
I’ve bought two guitars from Ishibashi (one via reverb, one directly from them on their site) both arrived packed really well and quickly (one I ordered on Thursday and it arrived Monday night). I’ve also bought a third on eBay (from a random seller) that was cancelled after the fact so I was refunded (more on that later). In general the condition / grading of instruments by Japanese shops is significantly more strict than GC / reverb / USA sellers. Never had any duty or taxes after the fact from either purchase.

The only thing you need to be aware of is that there are a lot of people on eBay re-listing guitars selling locally at guitar stores in Japan. The guitar isn’t in their possession - it’s at a shop (or a Japanese only auction site similar to eBay), priced lower than what the eBay seller is charging. You can also get screwed around in the sense of buying a guitar only to find out that the guitar isn’t available anymore and then you have to wait a couple days for a refund.
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Yeah, those guys who sell guitars they don’t own, oh boy, borders on a scam.

I remember a guy who used to do that here via secret 3 way trades.

those guys should not be allowed to list guitars they don’t own.
 
Inearthed said:
I’ve bought two guitars from Ishibashi (one via reverb, one directly from them on their site) both arrived packed really well and quickly
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How did get the one off their site? Just mash the button and pay? Then sit back and wait? I’m assuming there isn’t much chance for communication with them.

The reason I ask is they have a guitar right now I am interested in but I have never gone down this road. Thank you

9
 
thenine said:
How did get the one off their site? Just mash the button and pay? Then sit back and wait? I’m assuming there isn’t much chance for communication with them.

The reason I ask is they have a guitar right now I am interested in but I have never gone down this road. Thank you

9
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It used to be that you would fill out a form on their site and submit it then they would email you back confirming cost and answering any questions you had and then they would pull the guitar off the floor at whichever of their locations it was at, send you a PayPal request that you would pay, and they would get it back to their main place to ship it out to you. I’m not 100% how it works now since they actually have a checkout thing on their site but it looks like they just removed the email back and forth part. Maybe someone that has ordered from them recently can shed some light?

Communication was fine with them, it just was delayed since their shops were opening at nighttime my time and the window when they were open and I was awake was pretty small. If I remember correctly they were also closed two days a week?
 
mooncobra said:
Yeah, those guys who sell guitars they don’t own, oh boy, borders on a scam.

I remember a guy who used to do that here via secret 3 way trades.

those guys should not be allowed to list guitars they don’t own.
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This is very true! Some of the sellers like "East Island Crew" were notorious for this. They are probably still there just with a name change now.
 
Samhain said:
https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/wtf-is-going-on-with-shipping-from-japan.452483/
I ended up buying a 100 watt Marshall locally and not a guitar from Japan but i came close.
This thread above shows how screwed up things are right now from Japan.
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That's not anything screwed up about Japan -- that's just the buying middleman service not willing/able to deal with the appropriate customs documentation that you have to submit when moving guitars between any major international border. There's also problems shipping things out of Japan if you're an individual, but not if you're a big shop like Ikebe. From those places, it's business as usual.
 
Between the seller/Customs/middleman & shipping too high a margin of error for my interests.
Thanks for those who chimed in.
It would have cost me around $290 bucks Customs duties/import fees.
 
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