JDM Tackle Heaven - What has been your experience buying a rod from them ?

[WaskaCrank12]

I am considering purchasing a JDM rod from JDM Tackle Heaven. I am looking to see what experiences people here have had with purchasing a rod through this company. I have looked back through older threads and have not seen JDM Tackle Heaven mentioned very often.

My singular experience with purchasing a JDM product from Japan was a reel from JapanLureShop and it was a positive experience.

@bulldog1935  and others who have extensive JDM purchasing experiences:

-  Have you found a particular time of year better, in terms of exchange rate, to purchase from Japan ?

- How have you tracked the exchange rate ? (ie, just checking each day ? looking at exchange rate forecasts ?)

Thank you in advance for your time and expertise.

[Bigbox99]

Great.  I got my Super Destruction from them.  They were able to beat the price of local sellers even with the shipping cost.  I'm also eyeing their used Tomahawks at the moment.  I have a thing for early Megabass rods.  They have also purchased items and shipped then to me that were on Tackleberry and listed as not available to foreign customers.  

[bulldog1935]

I like JDM Tackle Heaven's website, but I've never bought a rod from them. 

They pretty much list everything, whether in stock or Preorder (OOS- never do this, it will tie up your money).  

I've managed to find better prices elsewhere. - Digitaka is a great deal, though they don't replenish inventory like others.  

I've bought most rods from fishingshop.kiwi, prices normally discounted.  Kirill is in Miami and fields US business from there.  They're a drop-shipper without inventory, who receive from all Japan distributors - if it's in production or a distributor's warehouse, they have it listed as In Stock.  Your order doesn't transfer money - Kirill will send you a paypal invoice when Japan verifies the distributor, and will include shipping cost for a rod - if you don't like it, reply thanks but no thanks - he understands.  

I've bought rods from Asian Portal and Plat.  

The old way of buying from Japan is a broker (6% brokerage fee).  I've always found the best prices from vendors who don't ship to US, but will ship free to my long-time broker Masamichi (noppin.com).  I then pay UPS Express cost from his shipping charge.  This includes Yahoo vendors, small shops, Naturum, which is kinda like Japan Academy store.  The nicest thing about the broker is building up a cache from 4 or 5 small vendors across Japan and shipping it all together.  

Most recent Evergreen came from Yahoo vendor Shimaya Fishing Shop (discounted 22%) using my broker, vs JDM Tackle Heaven retail: 

https://jdmtackleheaven.com/products/evergreen-zephyr-avantgarde-zags-91ul-l-sweep-master-91

I also got a better price using the broker to buy a Transcendence from Hedgehog Japan website than buying from their US$ website.  

I also use noppin to bid for me on Yahoo auctions.  We go back to 2007, I've recived 45 shipments - out of that, Masamichi made 2 mistakes, and ate the cost to correct both.  

At current JY155/ US$, consider all of Japan to be 30% off.  Each side of the 2010 recession, we considered anything over JY100 / US$ to be worth Japan shopping.  The Dollar is at its all-time strongest against the Yen.  The trick is buying before new models come out with new inflated list prices - inflation is bad in Japan.  This is why '21 Zillion/ '22 HD is such a steal at current prices - you won't get the next one for $200/ $240.  

[WaskaCrank12]

@bulldog1935 - thank you for the thoughtful, informative and thorough reply.

I will search the suggestions you posted, thank you ! 

It appears this would be a good time to purchase (ie, strong US dollar vs. Yen at the moment). The rod I am looking at is an older version (I believe 2021 was the last refresh) so it may be best to purchase it prior to a newer version coming out so I don't get caught with an inflated price. Thank you for that heads up.

Thank you !