• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

I'm Choked! OverPaying for Duty + taxes + broker fees on Lens Shipped From Japan

Andrew O'Neill said:
My experience with Japanese sellers has always been positive. I find that they tend to underrate items.
Click to expand...

exactly... when ordering from a Japanese proxy site like Buyee (Mercari / Yahoo Auctions), I've purchase items that were sold as "poor" / "for parts" / "damaged", only to arrive to me in functional / near mint condition lol

When it comes to eBay sellers located in Japan, I would only buy from 100% feedback sellers.
 
mshchem said:
How many of these do you have now
Click to expand...
During the last 5 years I had none. Cameras rated excellent and many ++++ being crap and junk. So I stopped buying from Japan completely. And yes, fungus was often another problem.

In my opinion there has been a change indeed. I have bought quite some stuff years ago and those items were better than described. But these days are over and gone....
 

I haven't had that experience. Quite a number of purchases in the last several years.....Plaubel, Nikon, Pentax, Leica, .....and lenses and hard-to-find filters (40mm for Canon LTM) & Perkeo.....no issues
 

Very painful at best. I think that tariffs are most if not all of the added cost.
 
Kodachromeguy said:
Gorgeous! I saw this listing. Are you in USA and were you charged extra tariff or processing fee? Thanks
Click to expand...

No such tariffs here. Greg is from Alberta (noted under his avatar), which is a province in Canada.
 
I have another lens from Japan arriving today. This time, they charged $150 for shipping, but it's all-inclusive of tariffs/fees. Tariffs/fees would have been almost $100 of that, so shipping price was not bad for a big 6 pound box halfway around the world.
 
I've never had anything but stellar experiences with sellers from Japan.

I'm quite selective about the products that I've purchased, but with most such sellers providing:
  • excellent photographs of the actual item up for sale,
  • very good descriptions of the mechanical/optical/cosmetic characteristics,
  • free returns by many,
  • really great packaging,
  • fast dispatch,
  • faster delivery to Canada from Japan than I can ever get for anything from elsewhere (including within Canada!),
  • never having received any product that I consider to not have fully met the condition of the item as described, and
  • receiving the occasional origami and almost always, a personal note of thanks within the package...
...my default location settings for used equipment search is Japan.
 
I'm absolutely astonished by how quickly mail can get delivered these days. 28 hour delivery from Japan.

 
Granted that one time I had a bad duty charge was this thread. I just bought a $100 dollar lens from Japan, and the customs charge on it was $32. 32 Canadian for a $100 US dollar item. I wish couriers werent the only option from Japan, as they charge at least 20 dollars just to import an item.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register