Buying from Japan

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StevepageStevepage Frets: 3037
There’s a rather nice Yamaha that’s for sale on EBay but it’s from a shop in Japan. Has any one had any experiences from buying from Japan? What should I expect in terms of extra charges?
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  • TransferWire have a guide on how to do the calculation:
    https://transferwise.com/gb/import-duty/#calculate

    Don't forget to include any duties charged by the shipment company as opposed to customs.

    It can work out to be fairly expensive, but they have a lot of choice over there that we don't always get!

    Bye!

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  • DavusPGDavusPG Frets: 446
    I've been tempted many times due to the stuff they have that we don't as @WiresDreamDisasters said. Never actually went through with it though which is daft really as it's probably no different to buying from the States and I did that loads back when the £ was so strong 
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  • StevepageStevepage Frets: 3037
    Puts a spanner in the works unfortunately. All the extra costs wouldn’t make it worth it. 

    It’s a Yamaha RGX821DMR. The ultimate 90s Japanese Shred guitar

    https://img.aucfree.com/u215537195.1.jpg
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  • Stevepage said:
    Puts a spanner in the works unfortunately. All the extra costs wouldn’t make it worth it. 

    It’s a Yamaha RGX821DMR. The ultimate 90s Japanese Shred guitar

    https://img.aucfree.com/u215537195.1.jpg

    Wow! Love the weird half-scallop, what a cool thing. 
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  • From memory it's about 23% on top of the price of the item and the shipping then an extra tenner(ish) handling.

    Ishibashi were always great, I used to buy from them a fair bit.
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • jeztone2jeztone2 Frets: 2160
    edited February 2021
    This is what I’ve done four times.

    Take the cost of item
    Then add the cost of courier

    Add 23% to the total.

    That’s your legally landed figure.

    So if you buy a guitar for £500 and the courier is £140.

    Add 23% to the total of £640. Which will be £787.20

    That’s your legally landed figure. Some in here will try to over complicate it. But I’ve done it loads of times and that formula always works. You might have £25-30 for currency fees on top of the transaction. But that’s it. 
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  • StevepageStevepage Frets: 3037
    jeztone2 said:
    This is what I’ve done four times.

    Take the cost of item
    Then add the cost of courier

    Add 23% to the total.

    That’s your legally landed figure.

    So if you buy a guitar for £500 and the courier is £140.

    Add 23% to the total of £640. Which will be £787.20

    That’s your legally landed figure. Some in here will try to over complicate it. But I’ve done it loads of times and that formula always works. You might have £25-30 for currency fees on top of the transaction. But that’s it. 
    Thanks Jez that's what my head concluded. It's a lovely looking guitar but I just don't think it's worth near £800
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