Been lurking round these parts / Patreon for a very long time finally plucked up enough courage to post! Go easy!
Japanese cards have truly been a passion of mine for quite a while. Weather that’s promos old and new, sealed product old and new, singles old and new - you get the point.
My collection is no where near the level I want it to be at (duh) but I find myself in a constant financial paralysis around the struggles of VAT, import tax etc etc more so since brexit.
I guess more than anything I’m just after some general advice from any Japanese collectors from this little, tax grabbing island as to the most efficient way to collect Japanese without paying ridiculously over the odds.
Is it a :
[ ] suck it up and pay the markup from uk sellers with the product in hand.
[ ] Buy product from Japan sellers via eBay and incur the fees.
[ ] Buy direct from Japan via plazajapan/amiami etc and incur the fees.
[ ] Buy direct from Japan via middleman services and incur the fees.
[ ] Some kind of uk collector syndicate from buying direct from Japan distributors? If this even exists.
[ ] Any other alternative my boomer brain isn’t thinking of.
Is there a generally ‘cheaper’ option of getting Japanese product for us?
How are you getting your product?
Also conscious that this isn’t exclusively a UK issue, but it does seem magnified here in comparison to other countries.
Looking forward to your thoughts, advice, general guidance and flames from people who have a lot more experience navigating this minefield than me!
I have them delivered from Japan to a PWCC vault in the US but then you have the problem of getting them from US to the UK, but at least you can take ownership of the card then worry about getting it in hand later
That’s a great idea actually. Something I’ll definitely look into, thank you!
Can you give any insight as to what duties etc are due stateside when importing from Japan?
And I’m under the assumption if I request pwcc to ‘release’ my card to me it would naturally attract the import vat/fees I’m attempting to avoid or maybe I’m wrong?
I’ve never paid any duties when importing to the US. Maybe a US resident can give an example of an occasion they did
You’ll have to deal with the same duty issues receiving the card in the UK from PWCC, plus whatever withdrawal fee PWCC charges you to release the card, at whatever value they mark it as. They do tend to undervalue cards, so you will probably end up paying lower duty than you would originally have, though, depending on the difference between purchase price and what they value it as. Someone correct me if I’m wrong
Definitely a big reason! I remember explaining to my family in Italy what I do, and how hard-impossible it would be if I lived there instead of the US because of import duties.
Thanks will look into that - sounds like the ideal scenario really just gotta hope the package doesn’t fall out of the plane if I under declared it haha.
@greenshoots thanks for the clarity mate, really appreciate it!
@smpratte jealous is an understatement. God bless ‘merica’s import laws. Even worth dealing with the IRS as a trade off I’d imagine
Taxes/import duty to the UK do seem rougher in recent months. But still worth it for me to primarily buy the majority of my singles from Card Rush and combining them with Tenso. I often use Yahoo (Buyee) for things like promos packs and sealed promos also.
Can confirm living in the UK is terrible for this kind of thing. I don’t buy much in the way of Pokemon cards anymore but I regularly buy vinyl records from all around the world and it’s a common occurance for the cost of shipping/import fees to be around the price I paid (or even eclipse!) for the item itself. Take me back to 2006 when $1 was about £0.50 and most of these extra charges didn’t exist
My go to is currently zenmarket. Its the best way i’ve found to buy from yahoo auction since i cant create an account there and forward to somewhere like tenso. If your looking for singles you can add cards from the likes of cardrush or yuyutei to zenmarket although you’ll get charged £2 per card listing you buy. Best to order multiple cards(still only £2 if multiple of the same card) or expensive enough cards were the £2 addition to price is negligible.
For shipping i go for, FEDEX, underdeclare price, untick IOSS. I pay the £20-£30 shipping and have my parcel in as little as 3 days with no import fees.
Hope that’s helpful.
