New Koetsu on Ebay from Japan???

Carrying small items worth less than $5K in from Japan, I don't think I was ever charged by US Customs.  Just be completely honest with them.  Shipping from Japan, I don't know.

It just demonstrates the markup on Koetsu imposed by the US distributor. Again, that was 12-13 years ago.

In Tokyo, my Urushi  cost about 40% of the then current US price, with warranty and all. So I was happy to consign a profit to the dealer who sold it to me. No problem.

As to the potential value of the factory warranty, in my case I found when I got back home in the US that my Koetsu Urushi  had a deviated cantilever. I sent it back to the dealer in Tokyo and got a new cartridge with absolutely no problem, because I had the warranty. Of course I needed the help of my son as translator, because no one at the dealership spoke any English. 12 years later, I recently had it retipped by Expert Stylus, and if anything it sounds better than ever.

The warranty would be honored via the seller if he is authorized, in which case you’d send the cartridge back to him, and he’d interface with Koetsu. So be sure the seller is a Koetsu dealer. This would be the first time I’ve ever heard of a Koetsu for sale on eBay from a Japanese source. So caveat emptor.

On the other hand, I bought my Urushi in Tokyo direct from a dealer, got a warranty document with it. When later I had an issue, the warranty was honored, no questions asked. If there’s a problem, the cartridge has to go back to japan regardless.