# Anyone use 'From Japan' or have experience buying gear from Japan ?



## WinnipegTechGuy (Sep 22, 2020)

Been browsing what's on the other side of the ocean, seeing lots of cool stuff, and in some cases stuff that can be cheaper than here. Amazing how many ebay ads are just middle men selling stuff that isn't even their own stuff !

Anyways, curious if anyone has any experience with this, and have any tips. EMS is still down, so Fedex/DHL are the only Japan options right now for shipping.

For those curious, these stores sell direct that I've found:

Ishibashi

TC Gakki

From Japan / Yahoo Auctions (Proxy service that translates and allows for bidding)


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## StevieMac (Mar 4, 2006)

My guess is that @knight_yyz is in the best position to provide the info you're after....


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## crann (May 10, 2014)

Never bought from Ishibashi but they have lots of stuff on reverb. Just remember when you use FedEx/DHL etc for international shipping, you're going to pay a LOT in duties, brokerage costs. Especially for something made in Japan. I bought a mij White falcon for a steal way back when. Once UPS added all their additional fees, which don't always get charged on delivery, it wasn't nearly as good a deal.


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

I bought a used Music Man Silhouette from Ishibashi two years ago. If I recall correctly they shipped via the postal system. I fully expected to have to pay the taxes upon delivery however to my surprise Canada Post just delivered it with no questions asked. The entire customs declaration form was in Japanese so I'm not sure if they just couldn't be bothered to figure it out or what.

As for Ishibashi, they are top notch. They're actually a chain there that has 3 or 4 physical stores in Japan. The guitar was packed perfectly and I kid you not I think the guitar was on my doorstep about 5 days after the purchase. It took less time to get to Winnipeg from Japan than it does to get a parcel from Toronto to here. Also I was able to haggle the price a bit with them though the "make offer" thing on Reverb. Good seller. They've been around a long time.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

My advice. EMS is first choice for shipping. Second is DHL because they have the lowest brokerage fees. Find a service that allows you to store things for about a month or more. It might cost 150 to ship 1 guitar but only 200 to ship 2. Watch out for fees from the sites as well. Some charge to consolidate others do not. Watch out when it says free shipping. It is never free. The seller ships to a warehouse so it needs a tracking number. Tracking is never free. Rinkya is the number 1 site to use but there is a waiting list. Don't use a site like Rinkya to buy from a store like Ishibashi... The site will charge a commission. Buy direct if possible. 
Don't buy items for a dollar. They usually have exorbitant shipping fees. 
Search Yahoo Japan for your item and find the best service with the best fees. Not sure who that is right now. I've used Rinkya and Buyee. I prefer Rinkya because they know how to pack a guitar properly. I never bought a guitar through Buyee. They have lower commission but high consolidation fees.
Some places want you to deposit money before you bid. Some will wait until after bid. Some want you to sign a 3 way contract between you and the site and PayPal.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

I've bought about 20 from different proxy bidders. Always be aware of the extra fees. I found Fedex to be the best follow closely by EMS. I found the best seller in Japan to be Wulfman


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## WinnipegTechGuy (Sep 22, 2020)

knight_yyz said:


> My advice. EMS is first choice for shipping. Second is DHL because they have the lowest brokerage fees. Find a service that allows you to store things for about a month or more. It might cost 150 to ship 1 guitar but only 200 to ship 2. Watch out for fees from the sites as well. Some charge to consolidate others do not. Watch out when it says free shipping. It is never free. The seller ships to a warehouse so it needs a tracking number. Tracking is never free. Rinkya is the number 1 site to use but there is a waiting list. Don't use a site like Rinkya to buy from a store like Ishibashi... The site will charge a commission. Buy direct if possible.
> Don't buy items for a dollar. They usually have exorbitant shipping fees.
> Search Yahoo Japan for your item and find the best service with the best fees. Not sure who that is right now. I've used Rinkya and Buyee. I prefer Rinkya because they know how to pack a guitar properly. I never bought a guitar through Buyee. They have lower commission but high consolidation fees.
> Some places want you to deposit money before you bid. Some will wait until after bid. Some want you to sign a 3 way contract between you and the site and PayPal.


EMS is unfortunately out right now, so its all Fedex and DHL. 

I didn't even know about Rinkya and Buyee, I was just trying FromJapan... which do want to do a deposit/refund on paypal to confirm you have money. I'll check those 2 out, but it sounds like I may be the guinea pig for FromJapan 😅


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i buy all my jdm stuff from here:






DIGITAKA! - Japan Fishing Tackle Store


Japan Fishing Tackle Store DIGITAKA!




www.digitaka.com


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

I’ve bought from Ishibashi off of Reverb-I bought one of my holy grail Japanese made delays there-it arrived in less than a week, but as previously mentioned it came DHL and there was some duty/tax to pay. The company was reliable and quick to ship.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

WinnipegTechGuy said:


> EMS is unfortunately out right now, so its all Fedex and DHL.
> 
> I didn't even know about Rinkya and Buyee, I was just trying FromJapan... which do want to do a deposit/refund on paypal to confirm you have money. I'll check those 2 out, but it sounds like I may be the guinea pig for FromJapan 😅


I used Rinkya. They're more expensive but the packaging is second to none.


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## Choo5440 (Oct 24, 2020)

I picked up a guitar early this year from a Japanese dealer on reverb. Got it on a smoking deal, with shipping, but after the duties, it ended up being right in line with what was around locally.

It did arrive 3 days after the order was finalized, packed super well.


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## tonewoody (Mar 29, 2017)

Good experience with Ishibashi. 
If you are looking for MIJ guitars, it is a solid option.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

tonewoody said:


> Good experience with Ishibashi.
> If you are looking for MIJ guitars, it is a solid option.


I've been looking at that site for 6 months now.. prices after shipping are surprisingly almost the same as local, but the selection is huge.


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## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

knight_yyz said:


> Search Yahoo Japan for your item and find the best service with the best fees. Not sure who that is right now. I've used Rinkya and Buyee.


I haven't purchased anything from Japan yet, but I have looked into it for a while and am part of some groups where a lot of people have. I heard some bad stories about Buyee, with poor communication or bad packaging. A lot of people have recommended Zenmarket with great packaging and relatively low fees. It's search doesn't seem to be the best, but any of these proxies can buy for Yahoo Japan auctions. So you could do a broad search on Buyee for example, and then find the same item you want on Zenmarket to purchase.


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## tonewoody (Mar 29, 2017)

You often see different japanese sellers listing the exact same used guitar on ebay. Not sure if Reverb is the same.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

i used Buyee 4 times. The first 3 times no problem, but the 4th they burned me. Item clearly stated free shipping, but it wasn't free. I refused to pay for the order and the shipping, they took the money anyway. I filed a paypal dispute and got my money back. They burned me on the free shipping by charging me 3000 yen when they advertise the average price is 500 Yen.
I've also used Jauce, their interface sucks rocks but they have decent shipping prices. Hunt on Buyee and then use the item number to search it on jauce to pay for it


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

tomee2 said:


> I've been looking at that site for 6 months now.. prices after shipping are surprisingly almost the same as local, but the selection is huge.


Ishibashi has been around as long as I can remember. They were once the go to when you wanted to get ahold of any of the MIJ exclusive models as they were willing to ship to N America. Now they've got everything on eBay and Reverb so no more trying to figure out what's what on their site when it was all in Japanese.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

I can't imagine buying from Ishibashi without the English website, or at least Google translate!


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## tonewoody (Mar 29, 2017)

tomee2 said:


> I can't imagine buying from Ishibashi without the English website, or at least Google translate!


I used to buy guitars from Japan fairly often. That was 5-10 years ago, so my info is somewhat dated. Ishibashi had an english version of their site back then. I mostly was buying through ebay but used Ishibashi a couple of times.

Ebay used to be a good option for interesting MIJ guitars and there were several reputable Japanese sellers. If you kept your eyes open and knew about Fender Custom Editions, Greco Super Real, Navigator, Tokai etc., they were available fairly regularly. No question, ebay is totally different now. I don't even look.

In general, with any Japanese/English item description, the language barrier is something you have to factor in and interpret. "Flet height, 7 mountain..." etc. If you have an issue, resolving will be tricky. You kind of need to evaluate the sellers rep, potential omissions, loopholes and middlemen involved. If you don't consider all the details, including your knowledge of MIJ guitars, the potential oversights may bite you in the ass.

That said, my MIJ guitar buying experience was really good. 25+ guitars. I used Ishibashi once or twice, they were professional, communicated in english, air shipping price was actually about the same as the same service from USA.

Essentially, if you are looking for higher end MIJ or vintage MIJ, dealing directly with Japanese sellers who are tapped in with their market is going to provide you with the most options. If you want a consumer MIJ guitar, check out something locally in Canada that you can play and decide. They are not that rare. 

Don't bother looking in Japan for a USA Fender or Gibson!

The Japanese have a long history of quality instrument craftsmanship. In general, they totally knock it out of the park on the "high end" and consistently deliver quality in the middle. These days, the middle is represented with many options worldwide. 
If you are going to Japan for guitars, I suggest you bring back their best efforts.


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## Wucan (Apr 30, 2021)

There's a guitar I really want that Ishibashi has. But EMS is out of commission right now - I know DHL will take me to the cleaners. Would I be able to get the guitar delivered at a port of entry so I can just pick it up myself? I refuse to pay "handling fees" when I'm already on the hook for $300 in shipping, plus HST and import taxes.


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## Hendo (Jun 19, 2021)

I recently purchased a really cool MIJ custom tele from Kinko in Japan. Not only is it an amazing guitar, I ordered and purchase through reverb on a Friday and it was at my door on Tuesday. Paid minimal shipping and duties. I was shocked at how fast and cheap it was to get here. Would highly recommend kinko


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## Wucan (Apr 30, 2021)

Hendo said:


> I recently purchased a really cool MIJ custom tele from Kinko in Japan. Not only is it an amazing guitar, I ordered and purchase through reverb on a Friday and it was at my door on Tuesday. Paid minimal shipping and duties. I was shocked at how fast and cheap it was to get here. Would highly recommend kinko


Did Kinko use DHL or EMS?


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## Hendo (Jun 19, 2021)

Wucan said:


> Did Kinko use DHL or EMS?


DHL, shipping was $170


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## Wucan (Apr 30, 2021)

Hendo said:


> DHL, shipping was $170


Hm, interesting. Ishibashi is charging $300+ just for the DHL shipping alone...


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

DHL is flat rate 14.95 brokerage. You'll pay the tax and duty whether you skip their broker or not.


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## warplanegrey (Jan 3, 2007)

For all you guys concerned with brokerage fees, why aren’t you clearing the items through customs yourself? With FedEx, it’s a phone call and an email once you get the tracking number, and then you just pay the taxes/duty yourself at your local CBSA office. I do it for all international shipments to me, and it saves huge money.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Wucan said:


> Hm, interesting. Ishibashi is charging $300+ just for the DHL shipping alone...


A few months ago they had DHL as an option at about $170 to $200. But now shipping seems to be $300+ .. must be a covid related issue?


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## Vally (Aug 18, 2016)

Hendo said:


> I recently purchased a really cool MIJ custom tele from Kinko in Japan. Not only is it an amazing guitar, I ordered and purchase through reverb on a Friday and it was at my door on Tuesday. Paid minimal shipping and duties. I was shocked at how fast and cheap it was to get here. Would highly recommend kinko


What shipping company was used? I have an item on the way and it’s being shipped fedex.


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## Hendo (Jun 19, 2021)

Vally said:


> What shipping company was used? I have an item on the way and it’s being shipped fedex.


DHL Express


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## Vally (Aug 18, 2016)

Hendo said:


> DHL Express


I’m gonna try @warplanegrey idea of self clearing, hopefully it’s a smooth transaction


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## kelowna (Dec 22, 2010)

I bought a guitar from a dealer in Tokyo and the process was seamless. I don't know what courier was used on their end but Canada Post took over in Richmond. Only setback was that it was in the midst of Covid and it took a week before it even left Tokyo. It flew across the Pacific and languished for nearly another week in order to be cleared by Canada Border Agency. Canada Post send me an email with the cost of the sales tax and I was able pay it online.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

It was EMS if Canada Post dropped it at your door. The best service because IF it gets dinged it's only 8 bucks plus the taxes.


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## DrumBob (Aug 17, 2014)

I once bought a Les Paul copy from a Japanese seller and when it arrived, I was horrified to see it had a bolt-on neck. That's not what I ordered. I emailed the seller and he agreed to take it back and refund my money, but I had to ship it back on my dime. Once he got the guitar back, he made good on his word, but I have been against buying anything from Japan ever since. I always immediately check off North American Only when looking for guitars on Ebay. I wouldn't consider a Japanese purchase at this point with the crazy prices and exorbitant shipping costs.


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