I'm considering buying a synthesizer from a Japanese seller on eBay. He says he'll cover the shipping costs, but that I might be hit with additional costs from Customs. Has anyone any experience with buying a product from another country?

Is the item less than $800?

Most of the time, items less than that are not assessed customs duty from Japan.

US Customs duties may be assessed on any item imported into the country. The seller is merely advising you that this is outside his control and any duties or fees imposed are not his responsibility. Entirely reasonable.

More importantly, what is the seller's history and feedback on eBay? What, if any, recourse will you have in the event that the item never arrives, or arrives damaged, or is not as advertised or described?

There are sharks in those waters so be careful when you jump in. One of the oldest scams in the book is sending an empty box with delivery confirmation to prove that the order has been filled.

I work in the shipping department at my company and the question of what it costs to ship to Japan came up just today. I don’t know that they’ll have the answer to stuff coming from Japan, but I can ask tomorrow.

I looked into this a while ago because I was thinking about buying an expensive guitar from the UK.

You can find import duties in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Musical instruments are Chapter 92.

https://hts.usitc.gov/view/Chapter%2092

Synthesizers normally are tariffed at 5.4% of the sale price but synthesizers coming from Japan are tariffed at a special rate of 2.7%.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: maladat,