Reply With QuoteLook and weep at the price differences elsewhere in the world.
If you ever wonder what deals can be had in Japan and just how much of a premium we pay in the west on Japanese products even through the grey suppliers, then this is a fun exercise, especially if you know someone in Japan or the US (as they ship to the 48 CONUS states). Also keep in mind that all of the prices listed feature the 8% VAT which foreigners don't pay, so even with our VAT added, the prices are remarkable.
It's one of my favourite places to go shopping in Tokyo and it is a simply awesome store. Their watch department alone puts most of ours to shame, but their camera department is even better.
http://www.yodobashi.com
You can right click on the page and have it translated into English. The easiest way to look up a specific brand/item is to type it into the search bar, as this is a massive store and their stock is mind boggling. For instance type in Grand Seiko, or Seiko Prospex.
Yen is currently 118.72 to £1.
And if you know someone in the US (or indeed you are there), then look at this: http://www.yodobashi.com/html/globaltop.html
Anyhow, obviously, no relation to the store, nor do I get any benefit from it, but have spent about 10 hours there last week, and just another couple of hours on line.
Look and weep at the price differences elsewhere in the world.
To be fair, it wasn't always like this as the Yen has dropped about 20% in the last two years, 10% just in the last few months alone, so it is currently quite a gap in prices. But, for instance, SBDX011 is £1432 on Ebay from Japan, which is a good price already, but it's £1122 tax free from Yodobashi (or Jack Road, where I bought my Tuna, but their site is not as friendly). That's a pretty damn good saving in anyone's book!
How would shipping to the US work? Presumably duty/VAT on arrival there and more if then forwarded to UK.
Does the store take off the 8% VAT if sent to US.
Last edited by Kingstepper; 19th December 2014 at 14:58. Reason: typo
The last time it was at 119 Yen to the pound was in January 2012. It is currently sitting at 186.4. Three years ago, the list price of a MM300 in pounds was £2100. Now it is closer to £1350 (Seiya has them on at about £1150 including postage). An awful lot more of my current shopping now is with Yahoo Japan with Ebay no longer getting a look in!Originally Posted by adigra
Martin
The tax affairs aren't something I'd like to advise anyone on. As far as Japan goes though, most big shops offer tax free shopping to anyone with a foreign passport who is exporting the goods out of Japan, but the only way to know for sure would be to send them an email.
Yep, I paid over £800 for a Tuna 015 three years ago, now it can be had for just over £400. MM300 is about £935-ish at Yodobashi without tax.
So do Yodobashi not ship to Europe?
You can also use Rakuten - http://global.rakuten.com/en/. The ordering process is not very straightforward but I picked up a SKX007 from there and it cost just over £90 in total once HMRC got their cut.
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