# Do not use Buyee Mercari in Japan or lose money and guitar



## EXPcustom (Apr 20, 2020)

As many of you know Buyee is a Japan proxy buying service, they recently have partnered with Mercari which is Japan's version of letgo app. For a while Buyee has been having guitars stopped due to CITES issues not just Rosewood but Ebony and Mahogany as well. They(Buyee) are aware of this...

Buyee recently advertised a promo partnership with Mercari allowing you to purchase direct of Mercari from their website but the condition is you have to use international shipping. They will not ship inside Japan even if you have someone else who will provide paperwork for you to export the guitar properly.

I bought a 4k Alembic guitar and attempted to have it shipped to a domestic (in Japan) address as I have an exporter who can do the proper paperwork, they said no it has to go to me in the USA because of Buyee Mercari agreement, I went ahead and paid for shipping. Of course it is stuck in customs. I attempt to try to reach out to Buyee to provide them info if they need CITES paperwork seeing that my guitar has been stuck in customs for the last ten days or to return the guitar back to the where house and allow it to be shipped domestically Their reply was this:

_Dear Customer(Edited my name),

This is the Buyee Customer Support.
Thank you for your email.

Regarding the package (Edited for privacy), we are sorry that we are not able to provide the documents in order to clear the Custom procedure as we are a proxy shopping service and we are not the manufacturer iteslf.

*Also, please be informed that most of the seller in Mercari are individual seller and we do not think that he/she can provide the necessary document that you need right now. We are sorry for inconvenience caused.

The most important thing is that we are not able to ship out the Mercari items to domestic address according to the agreement between Buyee and Mercari department.

Therefore, if you want to return the package to our warehouse, we are able to accept it back but we are not able to ship it out to domestically.

Thus, we are afraid that there is nothing Buyee can do to help you in this case.

Next time, if you are planning to purchase a certain item, we sincerely recommend you to confirm with your local custom for importing process first before you place an order for it.

We are sorry for all the inconvenience caused this time.*

Thank you in advance for your kind understanding and cooperation. 

We will do our best to keep offering you the best service and we hope to serve you again soon.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
(edited)
Buyee Customer Support_

Pretty much telling me I am out 4k plus shipping and there is nothing I can do.

So I followed up asking if I can have someone physically in Japan pickup the guitar and here was their response: 

Dear (Edited),

This is the Buyee Customer Support.
Thank you for your email.

Regarding the package (Edited for privacy), we are deeply sorry for inconvenience caused.

In order to protect safety of our warehouse and other user's personal information, we are sorry that currently we do not provide the package pick-up service at our warehouse.

https://faq.buyee.jp/article/108?lang=en

Therefore, the best solution is to ship out the package to the other country where there is no document needed for Custom procedure.

We sincerely apologize for not being able to help you in this case.

We will do our best to keep offering you the best service and we hope to serve you again soon.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
(Edited for privacy)
Buyee Customer Support

I am contacting Paypal and everyone that matters at the moment to either get my guitar or my money back. This was a guitar I had dreamed of since I was in Jr. High and looks like it's just getting tossed or thrown away.

This is a new promotion between Buyee and Mercari. I just don't want anyone to lose their money along with their guitar. When you use Buyee for Yahoo auctions at least they will allow you to domestically ship it but if you buy from Mercari through Buyee and it doesn't make customs you are out everything. If mods need any other E-mails or tracking info I will provide proof but just want to warn others about Buyee's policies.

If you use Buyee and are in a country without Paypal protection or good CC chargeback policy you maybe out cost of guitar, fee and international shipping.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 20, 2020)

Just want to follow up with a TL: DR
Do not use Buyee to buy Mercari items
Buyee knows a good number of instruments will not export due to CITES/customs even if Ebony not just Rosewood.
Buyee will not allow the instrument to be shipped or released in Japan, blames Mercari on "agreement"
Will not refund your payment or allow you to pick up instrument.
Buyee will not warn you about this and hopes you just go away and not do a chargeback.
People using payment methods without security will be out both money, shipping and guitar.


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## cardinal (Apr 20, 2020)

Curious what you mean by stuck in customs?


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## EXPcustom (Apr 20, 2020)

cardinal said:


> Curious what you mean by stuck in customs?


Now Japan is cracking down on Ebony and other woods not just Rosewood so you need CITES for ALL instruments leaving the country now. You have probably a 50/50 chance of your guitar just leaving Japan without it being held by customs but looks like they are flagging and stopping all Buyee shipments for CITES paperwork.

Buyee knows this and will not disclose this to buyers and if it gets denied export and you bought through Mercari using Buyee they will not allow the guitar to be released and will keep both your money and guitar. They say this is due to the agreement between the two companies. Make sense?

Didn't either...lol

I just want them to ship my guitar inside Japan to my people who can export it, or release it to the person that can pick it up in Tokyo. As you can see by the response they will not allow either. Totally reasonable and fair policy...


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## jemfloral (Apr 20, 2020)

Any chance that customs is just slow due to what's going on in the world right now? I've purchased off of Buyee without issue before, but it did take a little bit to clear customs. Fingers crossed you can find a solution, whether that's getting your money back or getting the guitar through customs.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 20, 2020)

jemfloral said:


> Any chance that customs is just slow due to what's going on in the world right now? I've purchased off of Buyee without issue before, but it did take a little bit to clear customs. Fingers crossed you can find a solution, whether that's getting your money back or getting the guitar through customs.



At this point its been well over two weeks so very small chance it could be released for export but last time it took this long I had two other guitars that got denied due to Ebony and Mahogany last month but Buyee let me have those guitars shipped domestically since I did not use Mecari.

This guitar is stuck because they say Mercari will not allow them to ship or release the guitar domestically.

Regardless about my guitar it's only a matter of time before someone else's guitar ends up in the same situation as mine. Buyee and Mercari are heavily promoting their merged partnership and sale with discount but not warning instrument buyers they could be out everything if they can't export the guitar.


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## Adieu (Apr 20, 2020)

What the fark?

There IS NO CITES for musical instruments. Not since November 2019. Exempted now.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 20, 2020)

If anyone does not believe me and would like to speak with the post office that is stopping all these guitars due to Ebony and other woods due to CITES and can speak Japanese here is the Tokyo Customs post office number.

0120-5931-58

Actually it would be really cool if someone could speak with the customs officer and get the exact information as to why and perhaps inform them it could save a lot of people a lot of trouble and money.


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## cardinal (Apr 20, 2020)

Two weeks is a long time to be in customs, but given that there world at large is having a bit of a moment, it's possible that theres just a backlog. It sounds like you don't yet have confirmation that there's a paperwork issue.


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## Crash Dandicoot (Apr 20, 2020)

I bought a guitar with Rosewood via Buyee last year (pre-CITES repeal) and it was stuck in customs for three weeks - I can only imagine how long it would take now with the COVID policies in effect. Just my experience but I don't know if two weeks given the current circumstances with international anything is _excessively_ long. Hopefully this resolves in your favor sooner rather than later.


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## 5WaySwitch (Apr 21, 2020)

Just to chime in, I bought a vinyl record from Japan on April 2nd and it only cleared Japanese customs this morning.


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## Andromalia (Apr 21, 2020)

All international shipping is in the dumps now, I ordered a small item in the UK on the 29th of march and got it three days ago.


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## MaxOfMetal (Apr 21, 2020)

Another anecdote:

My giant company ordered a very special part for one of our very special pieces of equipment that shipped nearly a month ago. It's coming from Belgium and we're hoping to see it in May.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

I will keep you guys updated on the situation but the important thing to note is the Buyee Mercari policy.

You will lose both guitar and money if guitar fails to clear customs even if you have someone in Japan to take the guitar and export it properly.


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## Splenetic (Apr 22, 2020)

Considering they dropped instruments from the CITES ruling, unless your guitar is stuffed with cocaine, there's no reason why it wouldn't clear customs. 

I have a strong feeling this is a Covid-19 thing. Give it a few more weeks. Shit is messed up everywhere right now.


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## narad (Apr 22, 2020)

"Now Japan is cracking down on Ebony and other woods not just Rosewood so you need CITES for ALL instruments leaving the country now."

I'm suspicious of this claim. I feel like maybe you have misunderstood something in the process, as I've spoken with one of the people in charge of clearing guitars for export, and they follow CITES guidelines. We've talked at length about ebony and rosewoods. We all what these guidelines imply about ebony these days. And I mean I had an issue when I shipped out an Aristides guitar where they phoned me up and we talked specifically about this (as "No wood" on the export form was confusing and not taken at face value).

I agree with your conclusion: don't use buyee for instruments that require complicated customs. I would go as far as to say don't use buyee for guitars. And don't use buyee now -- shipments are delayed like crazy.


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## Dai (Apr 22, 2020)

I am Japanese living in Tokyo, and I think the main reason for this is definitely COVID-19.
In Japan, the government's response to COVID-19 has been slow, with a request self-restraint for work&outings only in seven major cities include Tokyo since April 7, and last week it was extended to all of Japan (the Japanese government has given it a deadline of May 6, but it will probably be extended).
Originally, Japanese people have little sense of crisis,so that most of them were commuting by rush hour train as usual until last week haha
As for international mail, it has been all stopped since April.
Japan Post claims that "only US, UK and AUS are delayed but can be sent normally" but it's a lie.
in fact, they're all returned or stopped in Japan.
I took a package addressed to the United States and sent it to the post office on March 31, and it was returned today.
Unable to respond to sudden changes in circumstances, not only the postal service, but all administrative services in Japan are in disarray.


I'm not familiar with CITES, but last December I imported a mahogany body, ebony fletboard Agile guitar from Rondo Music into Japan.

I called the Tokyo International Post Office number, but it was overloaded and didn't connected.
I am aware that I am one of the few Japanese people on this forum, if you still want to get the Alembic, you can give me tracking number,your name etc., and I may be able to explain it to the post office or Buyee's Japanese office in Japanese.

However, I think the best option is to get your money back via Paypal as soon as possible.
I believe Japan's postal service is excellent.
It's entirely possible that the shipping process will take place once this situation has calmed down, but there's no telling what will happen.


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## Dai (Apr 22, 2020)

This is just my opinion as an gear geek, using Mercari to buy and sell high priced instruments is a very high risk, even for me as a Japanese.

It's hard to explain because I'm not good at English, but Mercari has a system where once you buy something, no matter how much you object, it's hard to get your money back.
In terms of uncivil, I feel that while Yahoo auctions can provide relatively honest transactions, Melcari tends to have a lot of ignorance and bad transactions.

However, there is a rare case that RG2027X of almost mint is exhibited at 400 dollars or JPM100 is exhibited at 1000 dollars or less in Mercari,,,,,


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

narad said:


> "Now Japan is cracking down on Ebony and other woods not just Rosewood so you need CITES for ALL instruments leaving the country now."
> 
> I'm suspicious of this claim. I feel like maybe you have misunderstood something in the process, as I've spoken with one of the people in charge of clearing guitars for export, and they follow CITES guidelines. We've talked at length about ebony and rosewoods. We all what these guidelines imply about ebony these days. And I mean I had an issue when I shipped out an Aristides guitar where they phoned me up and we talked specifically about this (as "No wood" on the export form was confusing and not taken at face value).
> 
> I agree with your conclusion: don't use buyee for instruments that require complicated customs. I would go as far as to say don't use buyee for guitars. And don't use buyee now -- shipments are delayed like crazy.



I got a tracking number of a Ebony and Mahogany ESP that was rejected due to lack of CITES paperwork last month. I can send it to you via PM and you can call the customs office that rejected it to confirm. Madagascar Ebony is what they were looking for and a certain type of Mahogany.


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## xzacx (Apr 22, 2020)

Add me to the camp that thinks this is related to Covid-19. I have something coming from Australia that's been in customs since March 30. I assume it'll get here eventually, or I'll get my money back from PayPal. I'd rather have the item since it was a great deal and something I'd been wanting for a while, but things are obviously crazy at the moment so I'm willing to be patient.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

For those that doubt the Ebony Mahogany issue, had an ESP rejected in March due to Ebony... cut and paste below. Luckily Buyee allowed me to ship it domestically since it was not bought through Mercari:

It got denied by customs in Tokyo and reason was insufficient paperwork and, copy and paste excerpt from brokers message to me when they got the guitar back(edited out any info for privacy and rules compliance):

Upon confirmation of the package contents, in accordance to the Aviation Law and International Postal Regulations, the following item included in the package is prohibited from being shipped internationally using any couriers including Japan Post and UPS.

Package information:
-----------------------------------------
【xxxxxxxxxxxx】

Prohibited Item：
【Electric Guitar (Mahogany,Ebony contained)】
-----------------------------------------


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## AltecGreen (Apr 22, 2020)

EXPcustom said:


> For those that doubt the Ebony Mahogany issue, had an ESP rejected in March due to Ebony... cut and paste below. Luckily Buyee allowed me to ship it domestically since it was not bought through Mercari:
> 
> It got denied by customs in Tokyo and reason was insufficient paperwork and, copy and paste excerpt from brokers message to me when they got the guitar back(edited out any info for privacy and rules compliance):
> 
> ...




HEy EXPcustoms,

This is Altecgreen from TGP. It wasn't clear from your message to me but the current guitar is not the same as the one you received the message about insufficient paperwork? If your current guitar is just sitting in customs without any message from them, then I would assume it is Covid 19 related and not CITES. Packages coming from Japan via EMS have slowed to a crawl. We had discussion in one of my fountain pen groups but pretty much everyone who is buying stuff from Japan have seen their current packages stuck at various stages of the process for weeks. I have one package that has not moved in two weeks where normally it would have arrived three days after shipping.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

AltecGreen said:


> HEy EXPcustoms,
> 
> This is Altecgreen from TGP. It wasn't clear from your message to me but the current guitar is not the same as the one you received the message about insufficient paperwork? If your current guitar is just sitting in customs without any message from them, then I would assume it is Covid 19 related and not CITES. Packages coming from Japan via EMS have slowed to a crawl. We had discussion in one of my fountain pen groups but pretty much everyone who is buying stuff from Japan have seen their current packages stuck at various stages of the process for weeks. I have one package that has not moved in two weeks where normally it would have arrived three days after shipping.



No... prior package was an ESP that was rejected in March due to Ebony/Mahogony.

Current package is an Alembic that is just stuck in the same customs office that rejected my prior shipment for Ebony. So there is a small chance that it may still make and I will keep you guys updated.

Regarding Buyee if you purchased the guitar through Mercari using Buyee if the package is rejected you will not be able to release the package domestically to someone that can properly export it. You are out money and guitar.

If you bought through Buyee through Yahoo Auctions or Digimart and guitar doesn't make customs you have options to have it shipped domestically to someone inside Japan that can export it properly.

I think that should be pretty straight forward as to the situation.


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## cardinal (Apr 22, 2020)

Damn that sucks. Thanks for the heads up. I'm considering buying a new JDM ESP but it has an ebony board.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

cardinal said:


> Damn that sucks. Thanks for the heads up. I'm considering buying a new JDM ESP but it has an ebony board on new production guitars.


ESP and Japanese dealers should have CITES paperwork even for Ebony to export, clarify first. ESP will not provide CITES paperwork for guitars older than 2003 or for guitars they don't want getting to the USA like lawsuit shapes, MX explorers.

If someone can get clarity from ESP of Japan what paperwork they can help with and can double check I would appreciate it as I had to use an interpreter to attempt to get CITES paperwork through ESP of Japan.


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## cardinal (Apr 22, 2020)

EXPcustom said:


> ESP and Japanese dealers should have CITES paperwork even for Ebony to export, clarify first. ESP will not provide CITES paperwork for guitars older than 2003 or for guitars they don't want getting to the USA like lawsuit shapes, MX explorers.
> 
> If someone can get clarity from ESP of Japan what paperwork they can help with and can double check I would appreciate it as I had to use an interpreter to attempt to get CITES paperwork through ESP of Japan.



ok, that's interesting. Yeah, I'd be buying from one of the larger dealers, so maybe they can provide the necessary papers from ESP.


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## narad (Apr 22, 2020)

EXPcustom said:


> I got a tracking number of a Ebony and Mahogany ESP that was rejected due to lack of CITES paperwork last month. I can send it to you via PM and you can call the customs office that rejected it to confirm. Madagascar Ebony is what they were looking for and a certain type of Mahogany.



I mean, apart from their actual policy, if you had a guitar rejected due to lack of CITES paperwork last month, why on earth would you buy another this month knowing that you didn't have the paperwork?


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

narad said:


> I mean, apart from their actual policy, if you had a guitar rejected due to lack of CITES paperwork last month, why on earth would you buy another this month knowing that you didn't have the paperwork?


As I stated in my post I have someone in Japan that can properly export the guitar but he needs to get possession of it which Buyee is not allowing because they say it's Buyee Mercari policy. Which is why I started this thread. Buyee did not disclose this policy before I purchased and paid for the guitar.


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## narad (Apr 22, 2020)

I don't know man. When I last saw you mentioning Japan cracking down on mahogany and ebony, it was in the context of a for sale thread for an ESP guitar. You're basically warning people while simultaneously saying, "You should buy this guitar I already imported", and then continuing to import despite your own warning. If you're going to be importing these frequently for arbitrage/resale and can't speak to the post guys, this kind of stuff is going to happen.

That said, I still forwarded this on to my friend at Mercari in case someone there is overseeing issues related to the Mercari/Buyee pairing. Obviously not being able to redirect domestically sounds like illogical red tape. But you know, Japan. I had to have a lunch once in a restaurant with 3 of us at one table, and 1 of us at a different table, because the rule was "no pulling up chairs". The restaurant was essentially empty.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

@narad

First of all in the threads I am warning people I am not selling anything. In fact when it first happened and I posted about it on TGP I did not even mention the brand of the guitar because I did not want it perceived as spam in anyway. I do not even use this username on my Reverb (which has a whopping two guitars listed) or other online stores. As I stated I have someone in Japan who can import these guitars for me properly, most people will not have this option and can end up without guitar and money.

You continued to post here doubting my claims and I have offered you proof and your posts in this thread come off as you want to start some argument with me. If I am taking your posts the wrong way I apologize and thank you for contacting Mercari and letting them know of this thread.

Edited to add, in the interest of full disclosure this guitar I am trying to get from Japan is not for resale, it's for my personal collection.


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## narad (Apr 22, 2020)

EXPcustom said:


> @narad
> 
> First of all in the threads I am warning people I am not selling anything. In fact when it first happened and I posted about it on TGP I did not even mention the brand of the guitar because I did not want it perceived as spam in anyway. I do not even use this username on my Reverb (which has a whopping two guitars listed) or other online stores. As I stated I have someone in Japan who can import these guitars for me properly, most people will not have this option and can end up without guitar and money.
> 
> ...



Obviously I'm not trying to start a fight -- the recommendation to not use a proxy buying service for buying guitars from Japan is generally sensible advice. It's just kind of obvious that you knew the risks, and advertised these risks in the context of your ads selling guitars from Japan, and it's kind of not surprising to get burned here. 

I'm not sure what happened to your previous shipment. What we know is that these are not CITES-protected woods, and Japan policy is CITES policy. They don't have some sort of special more-restricted set of export rules. Simultaneously I'm not surprised that some shipment would get held up under some interpretation of CITES policy (ebony/mahogany). Whose fault that is, I don't know. It's all a gamble. I hate selling guitars outside of Japan, but sadly the used market inside Japan is not very good. The problem is approaching it like it's not a gamble, or that ultimately logic prevails in Japan. This is not an exaggeration:


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## EXPcustom (Apr 22, 2020)

I just need to clarify for anyone reading this thread who isn't following my ads or listings or guitars I may or may not have purchased months ago. I have a Reverb store and it's under a different username which I have not publicly posted here or on TGP, I am not some high volume guitar dealer let alone low volume, I have sold a whopping one guitar in all of 2020 according to my Reverb feedback and have two guitars listed. I only put the warning in one listing of a guitar I have for sale regarding CITES issues with Japanese customs. 

In fact I find it flattering borderline creepy that someone is following my purchases so closely.


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## Avedas (Apr 22, 2020)

narad said:


>



With one of my banks if I do a _5 year_ time deposit I can get a whole *0.02%* interest. I get 5 free transfers per month online but if I do it in person it costs money.

I also had a similar restaurant experience last year. We went at off-peak hours and it was almost empty, but it was a fairly expensive place (you know, 4 dollar signs on Google Maps). They decided to sit us down at a table right beside the toilets and frankly it just smelled bad, so we asked to move to another table. Apparently it was impossible because there was a rule of "no changing tables", so we ended up walking out.


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## narad (Apr 22, 2020)

EXPcustom said:


> I just need to clarify for anyone reading this thread who isn't following my ads or listings or guitars I may or may not have purchased months ago. I have a Reverb store and it's under a different username which I have not publicly posted here or on TGP, I am not some high volume guitar dealer let alone low volume, I have sold a whopping one guitar in all of 2020 according to my Reverb feedback and have two guitars listed. I only put the warning in one listing of a guitar I have for sale regarding CITES issues with Japanese customs.
> 
> In fact I find it flattering borderline creepy that someone is following my purchases so closely.



It's not a conspiracy theory dude. I received a Reverb message last month with a quotation asking if it was a problem (in regard to a guitar I was selling from my shop), the quotation being:

"You can end up like my friend who has two ESP MX explorers stuck in Japan because he doesn't have CITES paperwork for his guitar and ESP will not provide it for older guitars. Japan is not just cracking down on rosewood but Ebony, making sure it's not Madagascar Ebony, along with Mahogany as well. So now he has two guitars stuck in Japan he bought from a Japan third party on an auction website or a third party importer. I won't say the name but some of these companies will not refund your payment if it gets stuck in CITES Limbo hell. I know some people had luck doing a charge back with their credit card companies but most lose their money and guitar."

Which I searched in Google and found your listing there and rigtalk. "My friend" lol. So I've known about "the guy" talking about a Japan crackdown on ebony and mahogany for a while...it gets around when you're in Japan selling guitars.

Sympathies if the Alembic was something you really wanted etc., and I imagine it'll still probably work out (just, super slow on this COVID schedule) but like...that quote is you...giving to everyone the advice that you yourself should be following. It's a risk. It's a risk you knew about. It's a risk even if someone is helping you out. That's all I'm saying. And that it's disingenuous to give such advice when it works in your favor (when you're selling the guitar) and then continuing to disregard it otherwise.


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## AltecGreen (Apr 23, 2020)

New update. Japan Post is stopping most forms of shipments (including EMS) to the US starting April 24th due to the lack of planes. They basically are too backed up on existing packages to accept anymore. Furthermore, they said that based on current plane capacity, that packages that have already been accepted may take up to FOUR MONTHS to arrive. They did mention to contact the originating post office to retrieve your package as an option. This maybe difficult depending on where the package is in the shipping process.

Here is the announcement by Japan Post
https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2020/0423_03.html

I have one package that has been stuck in Osaka for a few weeks and I just sent a message to Zenmarket to see if they can retrieve the package and send it via a different service like FedEx or DHL. Both of those companies have their own fleet of planes. My package is in the shipment acceptance stage so retrieval should not be too difficult.


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## cardinal (Apr 23, 2020)

AltecGreen said:


> New update. Japan Post is stopping most forms of shipments (including EMS) to the US starting April 24th due to the lack of planes. They basically are too backed up on existing packages to accept anymore. Furthermore, they said that based on current plane capacity, that packages that have already been accepted may take up to FOUR MONTHS to arrive. They did mention to contact the originating post office to retrieve your package as an option. This maybe difficult depending on where the package is in the shipping process.
> 
> Here is the announcement by Japan Post
> https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2020/0423_03.html
> ...



Wow huge thanks for that heads up.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 23, 2020)

My guitar is cleared for shipping according to a member here but bad news is I will have to wait for four months. Also it is CITES cleared as well, I want to thank Mica at Alembic who actually gave me a letterhead to send to the customs office, not sure if it got there or not.

I still want to let people know of the customs issues in Japan as well.


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## cardinal (Apr 23, 2020)

Yeah I don't know what's going on in the rest of this thread but thanks @EXPcustom for the heads up that even ebony and mahogany can be an export issue and thanks @AltecGreen for the heads up that I guess pretty much anything is going to be an issue for a while.

I've had nothing but smooth EMS shipping from Japan but now I guess we have to really watch out.


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## EXPcustom (Apr 23, 2020)

narad said:


> It's not a conspiracy theory dude. I received a Reverb message last month with a quotation asking if it was a problem (in regard to a guitar I was selling from my shop), the quotation being:
> 
> "You can end up like my friend who has two ESP MX explorers stuck in Japan because he doesn't have CITES paperwork for his guitar and ESP will not provide it for older guitars. Japan is not just cracking down on rosewood but Ebony, making sure it's not Madagascar Ebony, along with Mahogany as well. So now he has two guitars stuck in Japan he bought from a Japan third party on an auction website or a third party importer. I won't say the name but some of these companies will not refund your payment if it gets stuck in CITES Limbo hell. I know some people had luck doing a charge back with their credit card companies but most lose their money and guitar."
> 
> ...



Yes my friend does have two MX explorers stuck in customs as well like I stated in the message, me and a few guys on the ESP forums stay in touch and talk about the Metallica guitars that end up listed on the international sales sites. One was an MX220 in grey sparkle with rosewood board and I am attempting to help him with the export though my contact in Japan, if he did not have that he could be out a guitar and money.

Seams as though you have sour grapes over my listing as I have provided proof of everything I have said.

Honestly I did not recognize your username and then I realized you posted a serial number of one of the guitars I was selling on a forum when you can clearly see that I hide the serial number for multiple reasons including fraud. Could of been handled with a private message.

Honestly it's weirding me out and seems stalkerish. I am not some big time "importer arbitrage" dealer. I buy guitars for my personal collection and sometimes if the guitar doesn't fit with what I am looking for I will resell it.

I see guitars sell all the time that I want but don't really follow around the buyer to see what the serial number is of the guitar he is selling especially if it's the same one. I could care less especially something common like a black MX explorer.
Link:
https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=209787


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## narad (Apr 23, 2020)

AltecGreen said:


> up to FOUR MONTHS to arrive. They did mention to contact the originating post office to retrieve your package as an option. This maybe difficult depending on where the package is in the shipping process.
> 
> Here is the announcement by Japan Post
> https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2020/0423_03.html



Damn, I talked to them literally 2 days ago and they didn't mention anything of this sort, now this announcement. Super glad the guitar I shipped yesterday via UPS for once, but I have one package in the EMS queue.



EXPcustom said:


> Honestly it's weirding me out and seems stalkerish. I am not some big time "importer arbitrage" dealer. I buy guitars for my personal collection and sometimes if the guitar doesn't fit with what I am looking for I will resell it.
> 
> I see guitars sell all the time that I want but don't really follow around the buyer to see what the serial number is of the guitar he is selling especially if it's the same one. I could care less especially something common like a black MX explorer.
> Link:
> https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=209787




Look, I don't care about your importing/reselling venture or the ad hominem type insinuations here. I just care if you're spreading misinformation about Japan export policy. 

Rules, are actually stated and are set to international CITES standards. In your listings *you make Japan sound like a place with its own CITES policies*, and that's not true. There are always going to be exceptions, and my advice: if you lack the ability to communicate with the Japanese export office, don't do business that involves the Japanese export office. Because it's necessary sometimes. Even though it's their job, CITES as it applies to all item classes, apart from just instruments, is really unnecessarily complicated and changes more frequently than it should. Sometimes mistakes happen. I've had to talk to them on numerous occasions. I haven't had a package denied once. They basically all have ebony and mahogany.

As a guy whose tiny Tokyo apartment looks like a music store and yet still wants to get down below ten guitars somehow, false information about Japan export policy probably definitely affects my life on some level.


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## sunnyd88 (Apr 24, 2020)

EXPcustom said:


> Now Japan is cracking down on Ebony and other woods not just Rosewood so you need CITES for ALL instruments leaving the country now. You have probably a 50/50 chance of your guitar just leaving Japan without it being held by customs but looks like they are flagging and stopping all Buyee shipments for CITES paperwork.
> 
> Buyee knows this and will not disclose this to buyers and if it gets denied export and you bought through Mercari using Buyee they will not allow the guitar to be released and will keep both your money and guitar. They say this is due to the agreement between the two companies. Make sense?
> 
> ...


I dunno, last August I shipped an ESP Edwards Horizon that has an ebony board that I bought at Big Boss Kyoto back home to the US using JP Post/EMS. Got here super quick and was not held back because of CITES. I've never had any trouble buying guitars from Japan online and getting them shipped over either.


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## benny (Apr 24, 2020)

This thread has been a wild ride of misinformation and misunderstanding


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