Buying a guitar via Ebay from Japan

BackstreetCrawler

Has anyone done this ..? the site is "SPP international " they have a lot of positive reviews ..the guitar is £2100 with free postage , i know with Customs Vat and duty its going to be around £2625 at a guess ..which is bloody steep , but what else can you do if the guitar is no longer available in the UK ..? They stock it in France but they now refuse to deliver to the UK because of Brexit ..even then the customs charge still applies ...

Bennyboy-UK

Nope - most of the eBay guitar sellers don’t own the stock they are advertising (not every one, granted).

Very often they list an item which is for sale in Japan with a hefty mark up added.

If someone say in the UK buys through eBay, they will then go and attempt to buy the guitar from the seller - store or individual- and then ship it to you.

The trick is when you find a guitar you like on eBay ostensibly for sale, is to go and find where it’s really for sale in Japan, not too tricky these days - digimart, Zenmarket, Mercari JP, Buyee etc.

Then buy using a proxy purchase and shipping company such as ZenMarket or Buyee who will handle that for you with a very low service cost to do it.

You still pay customs and VAT on the total upon entry to the UK, but typically the all up purchase price is a lot lower.

The EBay sellers win because it’s very convenient for buyers to just do it through EBay, and not have to go through the above process.

Lots of other fretboarders have done this as well as me, and there was a recent thread on the subject - if I can find it I’ll post it here for you.

Cheers,
Ben.

Pete.R

SPP-international is just a broker who doesn't own what's offered

you can get the same guitar without their premium pricehike via proxy-services like ZenMarket

there is another thread with lots of information about buying directly from Japan

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/265846/anyone-bought-a-guitar-from-japan/p1

Bennyboy-UK

PM me the guitar you are looking at and I’ll see if I can find it for you if you want.

BackstreetCrawler

i have just tried Zen market , buyee ...no luck 

BackstreetCrawler

ok i have got it on "Digimart" .....its all in japanese ..i set it to English which takes me back to the home page ..search for the guitar and it goes back to japanese  

BackstreetCrawler

Think i am better sticking to Ebay ..yes its cheaper on Digimart but i can not understand a single word ...the translation only works on the home page ..once you do a search it resorts back to Japanese again.

BackstreetCrawler

ok this is all new to me .. i have got it on Zenmarket ..it states "Being checked by Zenmarket " You can purchase the items only after confirmation." ..............10 minutes have gone buy and still waiting for conformation .....?

BackstreetCrawler

ahh message ......We will now check the item's availability, price, and other details. We will get back to you with a quote as soon as possible.
Please be aware, some items are checked automatically but others need to be checked manually, so it might take a while. You will get an email as soon as we have checked your item.

Bennyboy-UK

sent you the shop link - they look well versed at doing export and removing JP sales tax etc..

Cheers,
Ben.

daisie_guitar

BackstreetCrawler said:

 They stock it in France but they now refuse to deliver to the UK because of Brexit

Have you considered getting a cheap ryanair/wizz air ticket and bringing it home yourself? Should also be able to reclaim the EU VAT...

BackstreetCrawler

Bennyboy-UK said:

sent you the shop link - they look well versed at doing export and removing JP sales tax etc..

Cheers,Bennyboy-UK said:

sent you the shop link - they look well versed at doing export and removing JP sales tax etc..

Cheers,
Ben.

Ben...............Thanks

Pete.R

BackstreetCrawler said:

ok this is all new to me .. i have got it on Zenmarket ..it states "Being checked by Zenmarket " You can purchase the items only after confirmation." ..............10 minutes have gone buy and still waiting for conformation .....?

It is/was 'Golden Week' in Japan, they might not work on Saturday

How much did you save by using Zenmarket vs eBay ?

BackstreetCrawler

Pete.R said:

BackstreetCrawler said:

ok this is all new to me .. i have got it on Zenmarket ..it states "Being checked by Zenmarket " You can purchase the items only after confirmation." ..............10 minutes have gone buy and still waiting for conformation .....?

It is/was 'Golden Week' in Japan, they might not work on Saturday

How much did you save by using Zenmarket vs eBay ?

in the uk the same guitar sold for £2128 ......the exact same guitar from a shop n Japan via Zenmarket is selling at a "Sale" price for just "£1337 .....so paying shipping and VAT will not be so bad considering how much cheaper it is than the UK

Pete.R

BackstreetCrawler said:

Pete.R said:

BackstreetCrawler said:

ok this is all new to me .. i have got it on Zenmarket ..it states "Being checked by Zenmarket " You can purchase the items only after confirmation." ..............10 minutes have gone buy and still waiting for conformation .....?

It is/was 'Golden Week' in Japan, they might not work on Saturday

How much did you save by using Zenmarket vs eBay ?

in the uk the same guitar sold for £2128 ......the exact same guitar from a shop n Japan via Zenmarket is selling at a "Sale" price for just "£1337 .....so paying shipping and VAT will not be so bad considering how much cheaper it is than the UK

I've got a FGN Expert-Rise via Zen-Market (used, condition like new), which sells here in Europe for €2400-2500 new

for less than half - incl. shipping & Tax/VAT