Price difference in Japan?

[Jonanah]

Hi folks! My partner and I are currently saving up for an eventual trip to Japan. I know the prices of many of the Japanese-made goods we see here—The Real McCoys, Iron Heart, etc.—are inflated in the western market. I was wondering, just how much lower can I expect the prices to be in Japan? I’d be curious about the differential both for new goods and second hand available there.

Bonus question: I am aware people buy through proxies, but I don’t really know anything about the process. Do people find a lot of success there? Is it difficult?

Thanks Fedora Lounge!

 

[Marc mndt]

I was wondering, just how much lower can I expect the prices to be in Japan?

275000 jpy for a j24, that excludes tax.

Prices are on the rmc website.

https://therealmccoys.jp/category.html/1?item=JKT02

 

[cbez]

depends on the brand.

 

[Nykwil]

If you buy retail through a proxy site like onejapan, you can just link them directly to the item on the Japanese website, enter details like sizing and color, submit order, where they check to see if they can buy it for you, if they can, they will send you an invoice (turnaround time is pretty quick), you pay the market exchange rate, no tax. They will make the purchase for you and you wait for the item to arrive in their warehouse. There's status updates for all these things. Once at the warehouse, you can store it there free for 45 days to make more purchases you can consolidate for shipping or you can start shipping and they send you a second bill for shipping it you your destination and if there's any local shipping costs to the warehouse they add those in, they also take a 300 yen commission per item and charge you 300 yen if you want pictures(3).

I've not used any auction sites on it.

Caveat tho, when you buy through them, they declare your purchase to customs at the real price. Price tags are kept on. I know for the US you get up to $800 duty free, anything above that, you will be charged. I learned the hard way about that and was charged 17% duties. ~$330. Ended up being very close to the retail price had I bought the item in the States.

Dunno if you can "bypass" those fees if traveling and shopping in person, don't know what the declaration and duties situation with traveling is. I guess if you wanted to declare an $1800 leather jacket you could, maybe don't declare anything at all over 800 total and wear it out the airport? How would they know? Not telling you to do that though.

 

[jchance]

Some site (buyee) only allows you to store an item for 30 days for free.

Shipping from Japan to the US is usually $30s and up, if wait time is not an issue.

Sometimes there are 5-20% coupons on top of the JP price. If an item is not popular, waiting for a coupon is the way to go. It could be $100+ saving.

Buying second-hand items from JP is the best! I usually get them at around 67%-70% off the retail price.

 

[DamonCyclee]

If you buy retail through a proxy site like onejapan, you can just link them directly to the item on the Japanese website, enter details like sizing and color, submit order, where they check to see if they can buy it for you, if they can, they will send you an invoice (turnaround time is pretty quick), you pay the market exchange rate, no tax. They will make the purchase for you and you wait for the item to arrive in their warehouse. There's status updates for all these things. Once at the warehouse, you can store it there free for 45 days to make more purchases you can consolidate for shipping or you can start shipping and they send you a second bill for shipping it you your destination and if there's any local shipping costs to the warehouse they add those in, they also take a 300 yen commission per item and charge you 300 yen if you want pictures(3).

I've not used any auction sites on it.

Caveat tho, when you buy through them, they declare your purchase to customs at the real price. Price tags are kept on. I know for the US you get up to $800 duty free, anything above that, you will be charged. I learned the hard way about that and was charged 17% duties. ~$330. Ended up being very close to the retail price had I bought the item in the States.

Dunno if you can "bypass" those fees if traveling and shopping in person, don't know what the declaration and duties situation with traveling is. I guess if you wanted to declare an $1800 leather jacket you could, maybe don't declare anything at all over 800 total and wear it out the airport? How would they know? Not telling you to do that though.

walk through custom with brand new jacket, remove the tag, who is gonna know? Don't declare it. Win-Win, and you can get the japan consumer tax back if you are a foreigner.

 

[Nykwil]

Don’t they scan your passport? I mean in Japan it may be nothing but it would suck to come home and have your passport scanned locally and hit with a bill.

 

[DamonCyclee]

Don’t they scan your passport? I mean in Japan it may be nothing but it would suck to come home and have your passport scanned locally and hit with a bill.

yes they do, but that is not shared across countries/local customs you head back to, at least not for Canada in 2018.
Unless of course they got rid of the custom forms you have to fill out and start tracking your purchases, i'm sure there is a "Act" or w.e that the gov have to pass to allow privacy infringement

 

[Canuck Panda]

For brand new jackets, the difference is between USD 500 to 600 depending on exchange rates.

If you want to buy new, and can find the jacket in the US then it’s best to buy from the US resellers.

For used jackets, that’s where the deals are. Especially the BNWT ones. A lot of Japanese consumer also do preorders, only to find out it doesn’t fit upon arrival, they usually resell these BNWT jackets at a discount, even paying full duties on these jackets it’s still worth it.

There are also sample sales. A lot of these happen right after the brand does their “exhibition tour“ around all the stores. Like floor models, deep discounted.

If you want to check them out in Japan, be aware that a lot of the niche brands are preorders only and not always stocked in store. Ueno area has lots of niche stores you can cover a lot of brands there.

And yeah the most ideal situation is to buy the jacket when you land there, wear it for the trip, and bring it back undeclared. Bootlegging. Declare small crap like snacks and stuff.

 

[Damon141]

I was looking at a backpack the other day that was a couple hundred dollars more when it navigated me to the USA site.
If I was really wanted it I’d look into a proxy. Buyee.com has been reliable for me

 

[John Lever]

Trouble with Buyee is that they ask for your PayPal password.

 

[Canuck Panda]

If you need less declared value you need an individual guy, maybe an expat looking to make some extra cash, in Japan. Most proxies will only declare the exact purchased value.
Buyee and FromJapan are quite secure, I've not had problems with either, it depends on who has better coupons at the time.

 

[TartuWolf]

Trouble with Buyee is that they ask for your PayPal password.

Never had that happen to me.
But I'm giving Juno a shot based on your recommendation.
Seems like he can help with the value declaration as well.
Will see how it goes.

 

[long218]

Trouble with Buyee is that they ask for your PayPal password.

If you just mean like the easy Paypal log in button, that's normal. Lot of sites do that to confirm your paypal/payment is legit.

Also, choose EMS shipping (at least if you're in the Northeast) for no customs/duties (for consolidated packages above 200,000 yen, you will have to pay like $20 extra in custom to Buyee.) I've read that the other shipping options will charge you duties once the package past through customers. So even though EMS shipping option might not be the cheapest upfront, if you are buying jackets/real mccoy's/iron heart, you should choose the EMS option because duties will be way more than anything you pay for shipping. I've yet to use Buyee own shipping method (Buyee Air Delivery)

I've bought at least 5 consolidated packages with items from Mercari to 2nd Street Japan to Barnstormer to Yahoo Japan Auction to Rakuten. 2nd Street Japan has a lot of great deals on leather jacket but you can't buy it straight from them(without using Remambo which charges exorbitant fees). Buyee has an overlay or you can use Buyee chrome extension. https://shop.buyee.jp/2nd_street?lang=en.

Across my 5 packages, I spent a bit over $5500 in items and another ~$750 in shipping fee and like $45 on customs to Buyee. I have not received any surprise duties/tariff notices.

 

[Colin G]

yes they do, but that is not shared across countries/local customs you head back to, at least not for Canada in 2018.
Unless of course they got rid of the custom forms you have to fill out and start tracking your purchases, i'm sure there is a "Act" or w.e that the gov have to pass to allow privacy infringement

I've been there three times since early 2020 and have also never had passport info shared like you mentioned.

I only have my passport scanned when checking into hotels and when entering/leaving the country. I have never tracked purchases or bother keeping receipts now since no one ever asks and CBSA does not really care upon entering Canada. First time I went I bought a Rainbow Country leather jacket and just wore it on the way back and never declared it. Returning from my second trip I told the CBSA agent I would be over my $1000 CAD limit and he did not seem to care since I admitted it and was honest about it. The most recent trip, CBSA asked what I bought and I told them. Jeans, socks, some Japanese pickles, ect No one even asked for a total last month when I returned to Canada and I didn't stress about it. I saved receipts just in case but probably won't bother when I go back next fall.

OP was asking about proxy services. With Buyee I have never had to give my paypal password or log into it since I pay with Visa linked to my Buyee account. I have not tried other proxy services, but using buyee is quite easy and painless. I have purchased many items and leather jackets with zero issues. I travel to Japan about once a year now so I don't order anything any more online and just buy while I am there. I would still use Yahoo Auctions and Buyee for a leather jacket since I'm over paying for new, but I need another leather jacket like I need another hole in my head.

 

[cbez]

You do not 'give your PayPal password', you log into PayPal, like using it for any other online payment...

 

[Jonanah]

You do not 'give your PayPal password', you log into PayPal, like using it for any other online payment...

Yeah not sure what that’s about lol

 

[Colin G]

Trouble with Buyee is that they ask for your PayPal password.

You do not 'give your PayPal password', you log into PayPal, like using it for any other online payment...

That seemed strange to me about Buyee needing a personal and private password for paypal.

 

[John Lever]

They asked me for mine

 

[TartuWolf]

It could be that you don't understand how redirecting to PayPal works. Or you were you using some scam website impersonating as Buyee.