Buying BC gear and getting it sent to Japan

[woywoy 0]

I am buying some BC Gear from a site in the states and they said they will write down the value of the gear to 50% for customs purposes etc. I think the total amount is around 400USD. I wondered if anyone had had experience in importing this kind of stuff and if the customs/duties are significant ... Thanks in advance.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

NPM depends on the gear - I got hit with taxes on my new mountain bike, but not with my pontoons, arcteryx jacket and fleece, goggles, sunnies, pants, etc. I have no idea how they decide what gets hit or not. I thought my skis and arcteryx stuff for sure, since the skis are new and arcteryx stuff cant be shipped stateside to Japan, but none of that was hit. Even at 400 bucks it might only be like a thousand yen or two. My mtn bike was like 6000 yen and it was quite expensive and in a huuge box too.

[SerreChe 2]

CB is right, it's a bit random.

I think you should not have to pay more than 2000 yen if total order is 400 dollars. I think they charge 5% or something like that except for some items that get hit with high duties (leather or something like that?). BC gear should be ok.

[bellavista 0]

These few links might help.

 

Full list of import tariffs - http://www.customs.go.jp/english/tariff/2007_4/index.htm

 

Explanation of tariffs - http://www.customs.go.jp/english/summary/tariff.htm

 

 

You can look up pretty well everything. It would seem to me that your mountainbike should have been duty free(so maybe there are other vagaries).

 

Skis and bindings - no duty. Ski boots are taxed.

Transceivers - no duty. Clothing /backpacks - variable. Shovels -no duty. Probes - no duty ( I think)

[Fattwins 0]

Depends on the day and the service used. Post items usally get through untaxed. UPS stuff usally gets dinged every time. Whichever you wont break your bank account if you arre hit with a tiny bit of tax.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

thanks for the info bella thats good to know It always felt like russian roulette when ordering stuff. Cheers again for the links!

[woywoy 0]

Thanks guys. All great feedback. Cheers

 

The guy reckoned they would put the value on the invoice as half the real value so then it would only be 200 bucks. Looks like it will turn out to be a good deal.