A question for those that buy from Japan on Ebay

[Railfreak78]

Hey everyone. I have been chasing 2 kits that I want and typically only find On Ebay. Most of these listings are from Japan and I've noticed a trend lately. A lot of the sellers are listing pretty cheap shipping but they are leaving customs up to the buyer. I used to see that the seller handled all of it but the bid prices were higher. Has anyone here had to go through customs with a purchase? What does it entail? How much estimated would it cost from Japan to say western U.S.? I have no experience in this but am curious. Here are the kits ( any variation ) that I'm looking at to give an idea. These are a bit pricey to me from U.S. sellers but maybe worth it? Thanks for any feed back everyone

[jeffs396]

Don't know about Japan Brian, but I recently bought a Welly diecast Jeep (unavailable in the U.S.) from a seller in China, shipping was $15.00 and I received it in about ten days!

Edited March 8, 2011 by jeffs396

[Railfreak78]

Don't know about Japan Brian, but I recently bought a Welly diecast Jeep (unavailable in the U.S.) from a seller in China, shipping was $15.00 and I received it in about ten days!

Yeah thats not bad at all. Last week I saw one of the Nissan Pathfinder kits for under $20 with $12 shipping but they said customs and any fees from customs would be up to the buyer. Thats where I'm confused.

[bad0210]

on the pathfinder, look for one made by american satco, its the same exact kit and they always show up on ebay for U.S. i won one not long ago.

[shucky]

Brian to my knowledge, receiving a package from Asia does not entail incurring charges from customs. I've ordered dozens of packages and have never been charged nor seen mention of US Customs fees. The package will pass through customs hands upon entering the country but that's it. Think the auction you looked at is misleading.

[Ghost1]

Checked the Customs site. No tariff on scale models.

[Erik Smith]

I have purchased many kits from Japan and there is no additional charges into the US. The disclaimer is probably universal to cover countries that charge customs fees.

[Railfreak78]

Thanks everyone. That gives me the comfidence to try this one of these days soon

[shatteredsoul76]

I have yet to order anything out of the US off of Ebay but I do work at a auto parts warehouse that gets parts from alot of foreign countries and Customs can and sometimes do pull random packages, crates, pallets to the side for a closer inspection. But thats just them doing thier job and I dont see how it would have anything to do for higher shipping price or extra fee. I think it goes back to the old saying "Buyer Beware" especially on Ebay with any extra fees.

[LAV25]

As an American living in Japan, I think I know the answer. Basically, international shippers have no idea what each country may or may not charge in customs fees, and I don't think that there is any way to prepay the customs duties when you send something. There probably is for big companies that are shipping container loads of stuff, but for the an eBayer, it's probably more hassle than it's worth. I also suspect that customs passes most small packages through without even looking at the labels, so some stuff that should be taxed might not always get it. I have, on one occasion, gotten a call from Japanese customs telling me that I would have to pay about 15 bucks to receive something that was coming in internationally. Don't remember what it was though, sorry.

Hope this helps.

-val

[CAL]

Yeah thats not bad at all. Last week I saw one of the Nissan Pathfinder kits for under $20 with $12 shipping but they said customs and any fees from customs would be up to the buyer. Thats where I'm confused.

Me too, never seen that before and have got a fair amount of things from Taiwan, China and Japan. I even go a few things from Europe, OZ, and the kiwis. Never even seen that before.

[fumi]

I see that disclaimer all the time on listings from the US that ship internationally. Nothing special about it really.

While there is no tariff for scale models in the US, many countries charge duty for them. I used to get slapped with import tariffs by Canadian customs all the time, and most of the times they value the kits in their own scale, way more than I actually paid for them.