Buying Fender Japan, from Japan

[Miza]

I'm going to be in the market soon for a Tele and am considering options. One is a MIJ TL62B-TX in 3TS.
Has anyone had much experience buying from Japan? Is Ebay a rip off? Am I better to use the Ishibashi type shops?

And what's the deal when you see the same guitar available from two different sellers? Is it still legit?
Exhibit A: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Japan-T ... 3012474987
Exhibit B: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Japan-T ... 3974949014
Same guitar from two diferent sellers.

[Reg18]

I have no experience in buying from Japan but just wanted to say.....good choice on the guitar front!

[GrantB]

Japan has a lot of middle-men, consolidating bricks n mortar shops offerings and presenting them on eBay. So yes, the same guitar might be listed by a number of people...shop carefully though, the prices can be very different.

[Terexgeek]

Japan has a lot of middle-men, consolidating bricks n mortar shops offerings and presenting them on eBay. So yes, the same guitar might be listed by a number of people...shop carefully though, the prices can be very different.

And freight prices too!

[Conway]

And freight prices too!

Holy shit, freight prices seem to be getting crazy these days! Recently I've had quotes from US sellers ranging from US$250-$850 to ship a guitar to NZ.

[Terexgeek]

And freight prices too!

Holy shit, freight prices seem to be getting crazy these days! Recently I've had quotes from US sellers ranging from US$250-$850 to ship a guitar to NZ.

I suspect a level of "margin propping" with freight and also there's a lot of third party freight providers reselling other's capacity and aggressively promoting themselves to retailers as being easier to deal with than directly to a freight company.

[StrummersOfThunder]

I used to buy a lot from Japan. But prices have gone up and the exchange rate (last time I looked ) made things less attractive.
I liked j-guitar for browsing for bargains. (The Japanese site ans use Google translate... That adds to the fun)
The other way is to use yahoo auctions (the Japan eBay basically).

[StrummersOfThunder]

The other thing, you can't bargain /haggle at all. That's just not part of the Japanese culture. The price is the price.

[Terexgeek]

I have only purchased three guitars from Japan. I spent a long time sussing price ranges and freight costs over a wide range of sellers first. There were bargains eventually.

A Yamaha SA800 I was out-bid on but got offered the instrument three weeks later for less than I was prepared to pay when original buyer turned out to not have the cash.

The Japanese service I have found to be very fast, they communicate well, even on Sundays and there's a chance you will have the instrument before it could travel from the North Island to the South Island.

[Terexgeek]

Oh yeah, and I purchased when the currency was stupidly high!

[Miza]

Yeah x-rates are not kind at present.
Just can't find what I want in NZ at the moment.
Bit worried about the rosewood boards - anyone had any hassles bringing in a guitar with RW fingerboard?

[SimonHirst]

I find some of the prices coming out of Japan can be a bit random at times. Or maybe slightly inconsistent is more what I mean. I’ve brought a few things over, and was slightly burned once (which can obviously happen anywhere) but other than that it’s been good.

[Kev77]

I’ve purchased a few jap hats via ishibashi and it’s Ubox 2nd hand online store. They’ve always used EBS for shipping.

[foal30]

I’ve purchased a few jap hats via ishibashi and it’s Ubox 2nd hand online store. They’ve always used EBS for shipping.

Kasa?
Jingasa?

[candiman]

I’ve purchased a few jap hats via ishibashi and it’s Ubox 2nd hand online store. They’ve always used EBS for shipping.

Same here. Ishibashi provided a good experience - they were great about providing additional information via email queries. Two guitars they described as used with normal wear arrived in what I would describe as new/mint condition. Speedy delivery etc. Both were a couple of years ago now so before the CITES rosewood thing.