Buying reels from Japan

[bulldog1935]

On 10/22/2024 at 4:39 PM, bulldog1935 said:

... The JDM vendors marketing to US have bulk shipping contracts - we don't.  ...

This is for a minimum-size/weight parcel.  

It's more cost-effective to buy another reel than to send one to Japan.  The only person I know of who received a defective JDM Alphas Air (frame was missing spool guide on one side), Asian Portal e-mailed him will-call return shipping.  

 

There's more than one way to buy JDM reels, some more cost-effective than others.  While there are bogus Asian websites that google up with ridiculously low prices and pretend to be Japan, you won't find an actual JDM scam website or a bad vendor.  Their integrity is so much a part of their culture, they're all good and conscientious vendors.  

 

When I was shipping to Japan, Priority Mail International to Japan or UK was $30.  

At that same time Royal Air Mail from UK to US was $12.  

'20 worldwide postal crash wiped that out, and EU post and courier is still nuts, though EU vendors combine ground across Europe with expedited transatlantic (contract) to ship to us for $30.  

[woolleyfooley]

22 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

This is for a minimum-size/weight parcel.  

It's more cost-effective to buy another reel than to send one to Japan.  The only person I know of who received a defective JDM Alphas Air (frame was missing spool guide on one side), Asian Portal e-mailed him will-call return shipping.  

 

There's more than one way to buy JDM reels, some more cost-effective than others.  While there are bogus Asian websites that google up with ridiculously low prices and pretend to be Japan, you won't find an actual JDM scam website or a bad vendor.  Their integrity is so much a part of their culture, they're all good and conscientious vendors.  

 

When I was shipping to Japan, Priority Mail International to Japan or UK was $30.  

At that same time Royal Air Mail from UK to US was $12.  

'20 worldwide postal crash wiped that out, and EU post and courier is still nuts, though EU vendors combine ground across Europe with expedited transatlantic (contract) to ship to us for $30.  

I guess Jun at Japantackle must use his account for shipping reels back to him. He told me it would cost $20. Like you said, honesty and integrity is a big part of their culture. If he says it’s 20 bucks, I believe him.

 

Edit: just checked my correspondence and he actually said $40 to ship the reel to him. Still much cheaper than the 143 quoted by ups.

[bulldog1935]

My F-150 so far had 2 warranty claims - both window lifts - hey, it's a Ford, window lifts are their worst thing.  

Otherwise, a warranty on a fishing reel just hasn't been a concern for me.  

I do think my '77 Ambassadeurs are probably out of warranty.  

 

But that's OK, there's no postal charge to send them back to my bench.  

 

I'm not sure why a single and only JDM purchase requires so much repeated affirmation as the only sensible way to do this.  I've been buying from Japan for 20 years, since before any JDM vendors were able to sell to US, and buying in Japan required a broker for the language barrier, for the vendor to receive payment, and to broker shipping.  From the current shops marketing to US, I've bought rods and reels from Asian Portal, Digitaka, Plat, Japan Tackle, Japan Angler, FishingShop.kiwi, Hedgehog Studio, Amazon.jp, Amazon Prime, Yahoo, along with Many brick and mortar shops across the 99% rest of Japan using my broker.  Any of these routes allows warranty return for a defective product.  While I've heard of exactly a couple, I've never received a defective JDM product.  

[woolleyfooley]

On 10/25/2024 at 6:06 PM, bulldog1935 said:

My F-150 so far had 2 warranty claims - both window lifts - hey, it's a Ford, window lifts are their worst thing.  

Otherwise, a warranty on a fishing reel just hasn't been a concern for me.  

I do think my '77 Ambassadeurs are probably out of warranty.  

 

But that's OK, there's no postal charge to send them back to my bench.  

 

I'm not sure why a single and only JDM purchase requires so much repeated affirmation as the only sensible way to do this.  I've been buying from Japan for 20 years, since before any JDM vendors were able to sell to US, and buying in Japan required a broker for the language barrier, for the vendor to receive payment, and to broker shipping.  From the current shops marketing to US, I've bought rods and reels from Asian Portal, Digitaka, Plat, Japan Tackle, Japan Angler, FishingShop.kiwi, Hedgehog Studio, Amazon.jp, Amazon Prime, Yahoo, along with Many brick and mortar shops across the 99% rest of Japan using my broker.  Any of these routes allows warranty return for a defective product.  While I've heard of exactly a couple, I've never received a defective JDM product.  

I wouldn’t expect to have any issues either. Japantackle also has a contracted repair shop in the US so you can have repairs done stateside if you need it. I was mainly just pointing out the fact that Japantackle can handle sending a reel to the manufacturer for warranty work if you so wish.

 

P.S. those are some beautiful reels!

[bulldog1935]

Thanks.  

Guess I envision the guy sitting at bench H-g committing seppuku if this reel comes back to his bench.  

it was jokes

Back to '20 world postal crash.  Both JDM vendors and the couriers responded to make the world a smaller place.  While supply chains stretched in US, it became evidently cheaper and much, much quicker to buy from Japan - 44 hours from Japan v. 2-3 weeks from a US vendor, along with saving 40-50%.  Both Jun at JT and my broker Masamichi at noppin began using courier services at my recommendation.