Have you identified anyone in the US who would service the units in the event you would need it? Does the seller offer a return policy? How would you pay? Does the method of payment allow a refund if you wanted to send the units back? Ebay can be a great place for purchasing at bargain prices or a nightmare. Much depends on your understanding of the deal and the seller. FWIW dealers often have higher prices because they have these arrangements with the manufacturer and distributor in place. It eliminates much of the risk of loss.... for you...the buyer.

@2psyop There are many buyers of recognize the minimal value of all the "sleep-well-at-night" issues you bring up.  The OP obviously is one of them and willing to sleep fine without a warranty.  

I can't remember the last time I made a warranty claim but I do remember frustration over the years when warranty claims were difficult or denied.  I don't even like warranties on vehicles.  I'd light money on fire before I bought an extended warranty.

@2psyop I have bought a few things from outside the US.  As a consumer, you will be liable for very little duties.  I think I paid $30 on a $4500 amp once.  The key is the code that the shipper uses from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.  Gooogle it and see how complicated it is.  Ask the seller what tariff code they use, look it up, and you'll see your import duty responsibility. That said, it may not quite match but mine was such a small number I just paid it and went on.

Jerry

Jerry

No offense, man.....but I'm not liking how this is sounding.

That being said, I would expect that if you get stuck at customs, you can probably plan on 10% of the declared value (that's about what it is for watches). I'd plan on it, actually, especially if they declare the actual value.

If you can find out the commodity code, you can figure exactly the import duties.

If you are talking about Accuphase there are dealers who convert 100v Japan units but I would be weary of that. 

I just looked it up and from what I can tell it is 6.5% + broker agent fees.

From my experience you should expect to pay up to 10% depending on the state you live in. I shipped a dac to Italy for updates/service and when it crossed the border on the way home it was reported. A few months later I received a bill from the state requesting 10% of the value I declared when shipping it.

Fortunately I had written all of this (returned for service) on the international waybill when setting up the shipment. The tax collector could have easily seen this but they prefer to make details YOUR problem. The waybill was used as a means of avoiding the tax when they came to collect. 
 

If it were me I would purchase with an American Express card to ensure there is automatic buyer protection and then contact DHL (or whoever you prefer) and arrange for the shipment yourself. At least that way you have control over the information given (declared value and replacement insurance). The carrier representing you should also be required to verify the item exists (is actually in the box) in the case the seller was planning on sending you a case of cinder blocks.

I take good price over any warranty simply because I don't believe anybody or anything.

Equipment repair is the issue today, because it's EXTREMELY hard to find knowledgeable technician. They're all either too old, dead or not found anywhere near. 

With today's level of education, unlikely there will be any new ones and you might want to travel abroad to the countries that still have politically uncompromised education

Shipping is free via Fed Ex.  The seller tells me FedEx will contact me if fees are necessary and when they are paid FedEx  will deliver to me.

Good point about who will do repairs.  I will ask my usual good fellow if he will repair.  Otherwise there is a high end sort of repair facility in the LA area.  I’m near San Francisco.

Here’s one more thing that concerns me.  Electrical voltage is different in Japan.  I will need to use a down transformer.   No big deal, people use them all the time.   However, someone made the remark that they degrade the sound slightly.  That’d be a big blow to me.  After all, the sound is why I want to buy the gear.

A quality step down transformer will make no audible difference to the sound. But as someone mentioned if the amps are Accuphase it is not difficult to convert to US voltage.  It's the same with some other non US manufacturers.

I would make sure you were dealing with an extremely reputable dealer in Japan, such as Hi-Fi Do from whom I’ve purchased in the past. In retrospect, I would be reluctant to do business with a dealer from Japan, and would find something here in the USA which will satisfy you within your budget. There are just too many things that can go wrong, Including damage from shipping internationally, customs duties, etc., and I don’t think it is worth the risk or the potential headache. Just my two cents based on years of experience,

If Aauphase no step up transformer ,they just change the taps 

my friend bought one this spring the E4000 and sounds great. From eBay 

The seller has a great feedback rating.

carlsbad2

As has been pointed out here by others there are a host of things that can go south when buying an item on ebay from Japan. I have bought and sold on ebay many times and audiogon and us audiomart. Also bought items from Japan, Russia, Japan, Poland and China. Usually bought from a dealer when purchased overseas. Good deals and bad ones. Warranty has not been an issue as much as just reliable quality repairs. I would not want to ship a preamp and amp back to japan. I am glad the OP is thinking about these things.

To me, Esoteric makes great products and would like to add their streaming dac.   The us markup compared to Japan is higher than luxman and accuphase by almost double I am tempted to make the purchase 

I have purchased a Accuphase intergrated from Japan off of ebay. My experience was supurb! The unit was sent via Fedx and they handled all the customs for me. Once the amp arrived at customs, I called a fedx agent and everything was handle by them at minimum cost, since japan is a favorite nation. The seller from ebay kept me informed all the way to delivery.The amp was shipped in 4 boxes and arrived in perfect condition.  My unit arrived with proper voltage so no transformer was needed. Accuphase is built like few others .The craftmenship was some of the best I have ever seen, so warranty was a non issue for me. I hope yout purchase was as good as mine.

@echolane -- I can understand where you are coming from, and if it is an Accuphase Amp, I find it freaking ridiculous that a person can buy a brand new, in the box, unopened Accuphase E4000 Integrated Amp in Japan for $6,190...but buy it here in the U.S. and it’s $14,000! F**k that. I don’t begrudge a U.S. business owner making a living, but if you are going to deal in a product that has that big of an upcharge, good luck.

I hope everything goes smoothly in your transaction. Please keep us updated. Best wishes.

You can expect to get an amp and preamp from a Japan seller via US eBay

Well expect it won’t sound right with our power! Transformers also won’t work with it well since it is designed to work with a hair dryer or coffee machine not an audio grade part! 
You will never have a warranty or support if something breaks.

You can’t send it in for a repair they will not send it back!
 

I hope the Audiogon Cheap community realizes grey market products have no protection or warranty and you risk your product being seized if you send it in for factory repair with no recourse of getting it back from the distributor or factory.

Also no parts will be given to 3rd party repair shops. Especially with the proprietary parts and tweaks these japanese brands make in house.

@OP. Most people are extremely reluctant to buy gear that is requires add on transformers to correct for international mains voltage differences. It's important to bear that in mind if you ever have to sell the equipment subsequently.

Regarding servicing, also bear in mind that communicating with Japan is not easy unless you speak/read Japanese.

For what it's worth, $7000 is a lot of money and you have no recourse if something goes wrong.  Even if the equipment gets to you safely, you have no warranty and can't be certain if the components are gray market or clones.  If so, the manufacturer would likely refuse to service them. IMHO, I would not purchase them. 

@allenf1963 ​Accuphase E4000 Integrated Amp in Japan for $6,190...but buy it here in the U.S. and it’s $14,000

Can you provide a link where you see this price? No I’m not EVER going to buy it as others have stated too much of a risk and besides using a step-down transformer sacrifices sonics​​​​​​. (And please not an ebay ad)

@2psyop Thanks.  I hadn't thought of that.  Where is the signup for the first rodeo?

A quick google search will get you to the Official U.S. Customs lists for Japan. I didn't look for amplifiers, I researched turn tables. It turns out that turntables/record players (and associated parts, like tone arms--- I bought a tonearm from Japan as well) are exempt from customs duties when imported from Japan. The seller I used in Japan understood this, and the customs declaration stated "Record Player". I had no problems ($'s or delay) at US customs (and the TT came in by air, but still seemed to take a couple days to transit the system). I do remember seeing other components listed, but once again, I was looking just at TT's. I am not computer savvy, but found what I needed in a jiffy, but you will have to go through a substantial list (I skipped over "Heavy Mining Equipment" and "Electrical 3 Phase Switching Apparatus". Yes you will need to step down the 120V to 100V, but both are 60 cycle. Don't skimp on the transformer. My TT performed very well with a transformer, held speed, no noise, etc. All in all the TT and the arm were painless, and a good value. Good luck

I would not send more than $100 or so out of the country.  You'll never get your money back no matter what unless _maybe_ if you use a CC that will protect you.  The risk is  10X what it is for U.S. only transactions.

No wire fraud, no U.S. postal service inspectors, no consumer protection laws across international borders...

Do you live in a house? If so, could you just have a 220-240 line installed?

@rsf507 -- No sarcasm intended at all, but please enlighten me why "No ebay Ads" is your qualifier?  Do I buy stuff off ebay?  No.  Do I know others that buy a ton of stuff off ebay?  Yes.  Would I buy an Accuphase from ANYWHERE?  No, I think it is extremely overpriced gear and I'd rather pick the money from the tree in my back yard and spend it on vintage gear like my MC-225, ARC SP-17, Dennis Had Inspire 45 and LP3.1, and some great sounding Chi-Fi products.  I found 3 or 4 ebay sites in Japan selling Accuphase gear for roughly half of the U.S. costs, and each seller has over 3,000 sold transactions and 97% or higher ratings.  Other than being in Japan, they have ebay statistics a heck of a lot higher than most other vendors, including online dealers in the U.S.

So am I a newbie at ebay?  Absolutely.  Have I heard horror stories on this site about ebay?  Absolutely.  But I've also read horror stories about Audiogon sales, U.S. Audiomart, Canuck Audiomart, etc., etc.  So I really want to know -- why does an audio dealer in Japan selling the same item for 50% off on ebay make that an automatic "No Deal" for you?  Other than the normal pitfalls of any audio transactions online, what am I missing?  Thanks in advance.

A lot of people here talk about ebay but it seems many of them have no clue about the buyer protections offered there. I've bought and sold a lot of expensive items on ebay for many years (particularly photo gear) and I've never been scammed. ebay has buyer guarantees and anyone who buys expensive anything without reviewing seller feedback has only themselves to blame. In fact many sellers gripe about how ebay tends to side with buyers before sellers. One of these days I'm going to upgrade my current Marantz Reference gear to an Accuphase E280 and I'm going to buy from a Japanese seller on ebay without a care in the world. 



 

Quite a variety of responses to my inquiry.  Warnings duly noted.  The only one I’m really worried about is the transformer.  I will want to buy something better than what the vendor proposed to send with my amp and preamp.  When I spoke with George Meyer, the high end repair company in the LA area, I learned two important things.  The first is that they will definitely repair my foreign bought gear should it be needed and are prepared to deal with the disparity in voltage.  They also suggested some better transformers for the , several of which cost thousands.  I’m prepared to deal with the lack of warranty and the reduced value of my imported gear if I should want to resell it, but I think selling it is  very unlikely.   As an elderly senior  I’ll let my heirs worry about that!  
 

eBay has some powerful buyer protection which helps.  
 

Lastly, I find it rather unsettling that there is such a disparity in pricing between Japan and the US.  That just shouldn’t be.  I do feel somewhat guilty not supporting a brick and mortar audio dealer here in the US, but the cost of being guilt free is way more than I can afford.  I wonder what accounts for the disparity?  Is it the Japanese manufacturer?  The US dealerships practicing a monopoly?  I’d like to know.

@OP. Differences in prices across territories are driven by: freight and insurance, duties - which apply to the ex-works price plus the freight and insurance, distributor margins plus distributor costs which include all the costs related to representing the brand - including advertising, dealer support and training, exhibiting at shows, and warranties/servicing work, dealer margins and sales taxes - though the latter may be lower than in Japan.

@echolane I purchased an amp from a seller in the Caribbean. it went through the customs process

When I received it, I plugged it in and sparks flew all over the place. Opened the unit, customs had Drilled holes in all 4-20,000mf caps and the power supply . Maybe you will have better luck with it coming from Japan...

For the keen eyes out there. I’m aware of the 4-20... it also happens to be my birthday....lol

This has gray market written all over it.

Be sure it is a 120 VAC and not 100V, as is common in Japan.

You won't get a warranty through the USA distributor, most likely. If anything goes wrong, you will be spending hundreds to send it back to Japan.

My last order took around 3 weeks and no unexpected charges.  All was well, but that depends on the seller.

Will take U.S. voltage anyday and would not want to use a step up/down transformer.

The EBay dealer I purchase from, had my Accuphase converted to 120VAC from the Accuphase factory. This dealer reassured me from shipping to delivery, with excellent communication. I believe my cost from FedEx, acting as my agent cost me $55 bucks. The bill was sent in the mail after delivery. Once the item reached customs, you call FedEx and they take over from there. The amp was packed superbly in 4 boxes. The amp was well protected. Once my amp arrived, I removed the top and there was not ANY evidence that the amp had been modded. Plugged it in my 120 and beautiful music came out. I own and PassLabs 250, Mac 253, hegal 390, and non of them are built with attention to detail as my Accuphase. I doubt seriously I would ever have a problem with this amp. Of course anything can happen, but the built quality is impeccable. Getting this amp at almost half price was well worth it to me. That my experience.

Bought a Luxman integrated from Japan. Listening to it now, sounds as wonderful as it should. I bought from Buyee Japan, my second purchase. Only paid about an extra $200 for shipping and import etc. A proper step down will not degrade the sound. The key is to buy one that has lots of head room and designed well. My step down is rated for 1600 watts and I had it pretty loud today and it never got up to pulling 200watts. 

+1 for “you won’t hear the difference w/ a step down transformer,”  assuming you have a transformer rated for the needs of the equipment at hand. If we think about it, every device plugs into the wall and converts the wall voltage to the voltages needed in the audio circuit. No mystery here on how this works.

If there’s a difference, I think it’s much smaller than the difference in Accuphase vs. not Accuphase within your budget. 

To give you a sense of price (few hundred $) from another thread on operating Japanese gear in the US: 

Here’s another suggestion: send it to George and have them convert the unit to 110v, and skip the transformer altogether. I suspect all the hardware is there and it’s merely a matter of using the appropriate taps on the power transformer, but it’s likely George would know and could answer whether this is a viable option over the phone.

Reply to allenf11863

@echolane -- I can understand where you are coming from, and if it is an Accuphase Amp, I find it freaking ridiculous that a person can buy a brand new, in the box, unopened Accuphase E4000 Integrated Amp in Japan for $6,190...but buy it here in the U.S. and it’s $14,000! F**k that. I don’t begrudge a U.S. business owner making a living, but if you are going to deal in a product that has that big of an upcharge, good luck.

I, too, find it freakin ridiculous to have a $7000 disparity in price between the product in Japan and the product in the US.  I don’t really understand why it should be that extreme.  It certainly opens the door for people like me to find a workaround.  I simply cannot afford to buy the product at the US price so the distributor and the vendor would never profit from my sale.  Why should Japan profit from it?  The whole thing is just all wrong.