Importing Guitars from Japan?

Bsinnott

Hi everyone,

So I am very close to ordering a guitar on ebay.ie. It is a Japanese Fender Jazzmaster JM66. I have never ordered a guitar from a different country online and was wondering if anyone had any advice on the topic? I know it is probably extremely safe but I just wanted to check if anyone has had any positive/negative experiences with this?

Thanks!

biketard

I ordered an 80's Burny Les Paul from one of the well known Japanese sellers on ebay a year or two ago and it it was a very smooth transaction (seller's name in my case was "chingo123").

I'd have a look at your seller's feedback and see what other customers think of him/her.

Rigsby

I ordered two basses from abroad on EBay with no problems at all. As "biketard" says, check the sellers feedback. Paying via "Paypal" gives you some comeback if anything were to go wrong.

Also be aware that you should add on around 30% of the price of the item (on top of the shipping cost) to cover import duty and taxes.

Alanstrainor

Rigsby wrote: »

Also be aware that you should add on around 30% of the price of the item (on top of the shipping cost) to cover import duty and taxes.

Yup, this is the most important point. It was possible years ago that you could get away with this, and not get caught for customs, but these days that is very rare.

Ravelleman

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Yup, this is the most important point. It was possible years ago that you could get away with this, and not get caught for customs, but these days that is very rare.

As always, it depends on who you ship it with.

Be aware that companies like UPS and FedEx will charge a ludicrous brokerage fee in addition to relatively accurate customs figures.

Bsinnott

Thanks everyone. That's really helpful. I didn't know the import fee was so high!

So just to be straight - the charges for guitar would be:

Guitar 1000
Original Shipping 150
Import fee (roughly 30% of 1000) 300

Overall Price 1450

Am I right in adding those up?

Thanks in advance again

Rigsby

Looks about right to me.

Dord

Bsinnott wrote: »

Thanks everyone. That's really helpful. I didn't know the import fee was so high!

So just to be straight - the charges for guitar would be:

Guitar 1000
Original Shipping 150
Import fee (roughly 30% of 1000) 300

Overall Price 1450

Am I right in adding those up?

Thanks in advance again

You should be adding VAT on top of the guitar price including shipping.
So, it would be 1150 + 30%~. I'd budget 400 for customs, import fees, and handling charges.

If it's being sent by EMS then you should have that cash handy where you will get it delivered. An Post won't take cards, so cash or cheque if I recall.

One point though, that guitar seems excessively expensive. Ishibashi have a sunburst MIJ 66 Jazzmaster for the equiv. of €570.

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/e/select.php?cd=11-316427308



Look at the price in black, not red. As you won't have to pay japanese tax.
So...
78,519JPY
20,000JPY shipping (just a guess...quite a few years since I used them and it was 16K then)
3000JPY handling fee (from Ishibashi for intl. order)
101,519JPY

equiv. €735
+ 30% €220
€955 approx

You should get that guitar for around a grand I'd say.

I've bought 2 basses and a guitar from Ishibashi so far and find them to be top notch. No issues at all!

Bsinnott

Thanks @Dord

I think the reason the one I am looking at (it's actually only €876 I just put in €1000 to simplify the maths of tax etc) is more expensive is that it is new. This one that you posted is actually second hand but it is beautiful! Have you purchased second hand from Ishibashi before? I actually prefer this to the one I was looking at but am worried about the item description (Many scratches,dents and chips can be seen in the body. Signs of use are noticeable.)

Thanks,
B

Dord

Bsinnott wrote: »

Thanks @Dord

I think the reason the one I am looking at (it's actually only €876 I just put in €1000 to simplify the maths of tax etc) is more expensive is that it is new. This one that you posted is actually second hand but it is beautiful! Have you purchased second hand from Ishibashi before? I actually prefer this to the one I was looking at but am worried about the item description (Many scratches,dents and chips can be seen in the body. Signs of use are noticeable.)

Thanks,
B

All three that I've bought from them were used. Two of the instruments were from the 80's, and one was a few months old. They really go into detail on the wear, and even tiny blemishes that could easily be on a brand new guitar are mentioned.

One of the older guitars I bought, the sales rep had it shipped to his office from the store (they have multiple) so he could inspect in detail and be confident I would be happy.

Perhaps you could ask for an additional picture or some additional explanation of the wear?

Bsinnott

I requested additional photos and they were sent on promptly. From the photos I could see clearly where the 'scratches' and 'chips' were as they had highlighted them in the photos. They are not bad at all so I have now ordered and am waiting very impatiently to get my hands on it!

Thanks everyone for your help on this.

Dord

Excellent! don't forget to post pictures in the "show your gear" thread when you get it.
It usually takes around 7-10 days for delivery. Once it hits Ireland you can track it on anpost.ie also.

Alanstrainor

Savage! I''ve been mooching around for a new guit overt the last few weeks....GAS is back...