Japanese eBay listings

John_A

anyone know why guitars in Japan appear multiple times on eBay with different prices from different sellers?

Whitecat

None of the sellers have the guitars in hand. They are all (vaguely) English-speaking brokers who find out what dealers have (or can get) and list them aimed firmly at the West with a small markup. If you buy it, they go down to the dealer, buy it from them and then ship it to you. 

Philly_Q

I don't know why, but I do know I wouldn't buy anything off them.

John_A

Whitecat said:

None of the sellers have the guitars in hand. They are all (vaguely) English-speaking brokers who find out what dealers have (or can get) and list them aimed firmly at the West with a small markup. If you buy it, they go down to the dealer, buy it from them and then ship it to you. 

Cheers, that’s what I figured.  

JezWynd

You have to wonder if it works for them. When I see a guitar or bass listed half a dozen times, all using the exact same picture, it turns me off from buying the item period.

Philly_Q

The other thing they do is say the thing you've enquired about isn't available, but they can sell you something similar....

I've never heard anything to suggest any of the dealers are actually crooked - I don't think they'd take your money then not send you anything.  But it is very frustrating seeing endless pictures of things you can't actually buy.  As soon as I see an item's in Japan I think oh well, fuck that, it doesn't exist.

It's all pretty academic anyway, the prices are ridiculous nowadays, I can't imagine anyone being prepared to pay that much.

vale

be prepared for serious import taxes if they are not included in the price.
even on little things from japan (£20ish) you will be charged a flat rate of about ten pounds for royal mail to processs that tax charge, then whatever unpaid taxes on top.

so if you buy something for £20 (about that) add £10 for royal mail and another £5 for hmrc, if taxes aren't included and prepaid then those bargains can suddely seem deeply unbargainly.

if you are talking hundreds of pounds for a guitar check tax small print and do careful maths.

John_A

Well aware of import fees, and the exchange rate means that there rarely a bargain to be found in Japan these days, bought quite a bit from there 10 years or so ago.  Was just interested in opinions on the multiple listings

Nitefly

... and then CITES will rear its ugly head if there's any rosewood involved...

brooom

I've recently imported multiple high end les pauls from Japan. Navigators, Crews, old Grecos. Cites did show it's ugly head, but I could've been lucky.

Those japanese sellers, as someone as mentioned, don't hold the guitar. So much so that I had to talk one of them out of removing an ad for a guitar, I had in my possession for at least 2 weeks.

robgilmo

Are there any websites worth checking for Japanese guitars?

Jez6345789

I have done a good few from Japan over the years. 
Tax is tax and duty is duty, you seldom avoid these and have very little room for discussion as most shippers end up with Parcel Farce as the UK end of the equation. I just make sure they are using the correct commodity code. 

For me, its usually been about getting something I want less about a cheap guitar.

A prime example was The M Series MIJ Larry Carlton Tele with Interlock neck joint 24 frets on a Gibson Scale. I got it for 600 quid after it did not sell on eBay  for 1200 found the seller via google images and a lot of searching.  The duty and 20%  pumped it up but for me it was worth every penny.  As probably the closest thing I would get to own what for many years was a guitar I coveted. 

MikeS

As has been said already, none of the sellers actually have the guitar in their possession. As Japanese bricks and mortar music shop stock is usually poorly advertised, or difficult to navigate, these 'sellers' are now listing for sale stock from a local shop for example, and if they get a buyer, they will simply go to the shop and buy it themselves. Only problem is the actual shop may have sold it already, and you see this happening alot with these Japanese ebay sellers now, unable to fulfill their side of the deal.

It's a shame, because it's literally ruined the whole buying from Japan on ebay experience. I personally have been buying 1980's Fenders from Japan for many many years from an ebay user called batfuk. Totally reliable guy, guitars as described, but stock is limited now due to all the third party drop-shippers pushing prices so high to rip the arse out of their profit. They've removed the confidence and reliability of buying from Japan now, as you just don't know who's selling what.

I wouldn't personally buy from Japan on ebay any more, due to this fact and the exorbitant prices being asked. If you do buy anything though, just add on 20%, that's the easiest way to remember, as that is what you are guaranteed to have to pay Parcelforce for the taxes and charges. I've never, ever got away with buying something from Japan and not paying charges.

*edit 27/09. Since writing this I have discovered the guy Batfuk (Bruce) that I dealt with over many years, is no longer Bruce, but a guy called Graham, who seems to have taken over the account. And I do not recommend that user name any longer.

brooom

You guys can use websites that act as proxies for yahoo japan auctions or japan stores that only communicate in japanese or sell internally to japan (there are many listed on jguitar or digimart).

One of such proxies is rinkya, you also have fromjapan or buyee, to give you a couple of examples.

As an extremely shameless plug... I'm currently selling 3 very high end japanese les pauls here on the forum.

Aidanspaghetti

Sorry for the necro bump , a few questions for guys who have experience with rinkya.... Im signed up and theyre asking me to increase my credit limit (Or some such thing iirc). Is it a case of actually BUYING credit as such and having that currency stored in Rinkya or is it a case that you pay an upfront fee to increase your spending limit?
Hope this makes sense - kids runnin around and brain not working to full capacity

brooom

@Aidanspaghetti ;


it's neither one or the other... you simply talk to their support guys on the chat and ask them to increase your cap/limit for bidding, because the items you want to bid on demand higher values then your current limit. And they just change the setting on your account for you.

It doesn't require you buying credit or paying for anything upfront.

more

I don't know anything about Japaneses Ebay . But I do know in the UK Chinese sellers  steal UK dealers photos and descriptions. They are even  able to have a UK address,. It is a known problem , but eBay don't seem too worried.    

russianbear

they are all re re re resellers from Yahoo. On the yahoo, however, be prepared for MAJOR issues on 40% of guitars, and minor issues on the remaining 60%.

brooom

that gives us a total of 100% guitars sold on yahoo auctions have issues... lol you're a funny guy!

russianbear

by my European standards yes, they all have issues. Talking of vintage and used listings.

russianbear

I would not EVER dare to resell anything from there without neck check and setup