Buying high-value watches from Japan?

[ddm27]

There’s a couple of watches in Japan at the moment that I’m quite keen on, but C24 doesn’t cover shipping to my country, and Japanese sellers seem reluctant to ship internationally.

I’ve seen a couple of middleman services but they seem to be aimed at lower-value items, presumably, with charges of ~10% of value or so (which would be outrageous on a £10k watch).

The watches in question are in the region of £8-12k.

Any advice as to how to proceed would be gratefully received!


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[ben4watches]

Book a flight!

This may or may not be helpful advice

[optix]

Book a flight!

This may or may not be helpful advice

Japan's closed right now, if it was open then I'd agree do some travel.


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[vortex89]

If the sellers are apprehensive to organise the postage, would they be happy for you to?
eg buy the postage via DHL/UPS or whoever is active in the country and forward them the postage label.

Since they aren't buying the label any issues would be yours to organise.

If you can get insurance then you're golden.

[MartynJC (UK)]

If the sellers are apprehensive to organise the postage, would they be happy for you to?
eg buy the postage via DHL/UPS or whoever is active in the country and forward them the postage label.

Since they aren't buying the label any issues would be yours to organise.

If you can get insurance then you're golden.

In the past I have tried to arrange insurance for a seller to me - but the shipper / insurance said the item had to be owned by me to be insured.

I would feel uncomfortable buying a 10k-12k item uninsured. OP Maybe place a deposit and pick up in person when flights open - factor in you’ll be paying VAT on import (I assume cayman has that?) - depends how much you want them?

[Chris_in_the_UK]

In the past I have tried to arrange insurance for a seller to me - but the shipper / insurance said the item had to be owned by me to be insured.

Had similar Martyn - ended up flying to collect (obv not a solution currently for OP).

[Kingstepper]

In the past I have tried to arrange insurance for a seller to me - but the shipper / insurance said the item had to be owned by me to be insured.

I would feel uncomfortable buying a 10k-12k item uninsured. OP Maybe place a deposit and pick up in person when flights open - factor in you’ll be paying VAT on import (I assume cayman has that?) - depends how much you want them?

Surely, once paid for, is owned by you.

[Tokyo Tokei]

Just to add, it's unlikely to be purely a shipping issue for many Japanese vendors. There is the language to consider, many shops will simply not feel comfortable doing business in English. It isn’t widely spoken, and not used at all for business unlike say, Singapore or Hong Kong.

Also, the added cost and potential for fraud and their (or their bank's) ability to detect and resolve it, for overseas transactions. The Japanese banking system uses a completely different system of money transfer than elsewhere.

And finally the issues where Japanese retail custom and laws differ from those overseas. In particular, in Japan it generally isn’t possible to return goods. There is no “distance selling” regulation, no right of return (even if bought in person in a physical shop). Some overseas customers find this out, to their cost, the hard way. Don't expect whatever your local retail laws and customs are to apply in Japan.

On the bright side, there are many large Japanese watch shops which do ship overseas and can conduct business in English.

Examples:

https://www.jackroad.co.jp/shop/page...fo_new_en.aspx
https://housekihiroba.jp/shop/c/cwatch/
https://www.rasin.co.jp/contents/global_page.html

These are all well-established physical shops in Tokyo (I've bought from all of them). Read their descriptions well. They don't sell tat and won’t hide anything, but equally, if it's not in the description, it's not included. Be particular about “maintenance” (which can mean “we polished it”) versus “overhaul” (which means what it says).

Alternatively, try Yahoo Auctions (eBay largely failed in Japan due in large part to choosing to ignore the issues noted above and pretend it was like “the West”. It isn't) and one of those forwarding services. I haven’t used them (obviously) but their fees sound about right to me for the hassle and risks in currency conversion / international shipping / insurance / dispute resolution.

Hope this helps

TT

[Glen Goyne]

Are they new watches? You could try solojapan in that case.

[MartynJC (UK)]

Surely, once paid for, is owned by you.

I am stating my experience with insurance and shippers:
I’ve not been able to insure with InfoSure etc unless shipping something I own (rather than something I am buying).