Ebay TV-stuff from Japan: How can you find it?

[MIPS]

I have also found a lot of listings are Yahoo Auctions.
For large stuff like televisions however I've found it's far too expensive to ship. The slightly more practical way is to find a friend who is going to import a car from Japan, arrange delivery to the car importer and most will cram the boxes in the car for a fee but then the weight is accumulated onto the freight to ship the car which has a lower per-pound shipping rate.

[Tim R.]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I have also found a lot of listings are Yahoo Auctions.
For large stuff like televisions however I've found it's far too expensive to ship. The slightly more practical way is to find a friend who is going to import a car from Japan, arrange delivery to the car importer and most will cram the boxes in the car for a fee but then the weight is accumulated onto the freight to ship the car which has a lower per-pound shipping rate.

Doesn't Canada have some pretty lax importation laws when it comes to vehicles? Like they don't have to meet Canada's safety standards to be driven, or something?

I know it's far more complex to do here. If I recall, the only practical way to bring a car over is if it's a classic. Which means it has to be at least 30 years old to count.

[colorfixer]

Originally Posted by Tim R.

Doesn't Canada have some pretty lax importation laws when it comes to vehicles? Like they don't have to meet Canada's safety standards to be driven, or something?

I know it's far more complex to do here. If I recall, the only practical way to bring a car over is if it's a classic. Which means it has to be at least 30 years old to count.

Canada has a 15 year rule on cars. Car must still meet provincial safety inspection standards (DOT approved lighting, tires, tempered glass).

[vts1134]

I can tell you from first hand experience that exporting televisions out of Russia and Japan are EXTREMELY difficult. It took me over a year to get a television out of Russia and would not have been able to do it without the incredibly selfless help of two different collectors in Moscow. Japan is even harder. I can tell you there is no real ebay japan, but the auction site to follow is auctions.yahoo.co.jp . This is by far the most used site in Japan. As mentioned here already there are services that will buy from yahoo on your behalf and ship to you, but televisions can be tricky so be careful and make sure you can actually get the set to you before you go forward. If in the end you do end up finding a way to get something out of Japan please let me know how you did it as I would love to have a National 7T-5310 for my collection.

Good luck!

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by MIPS

I have also found a lot of listings are Yahoo Auctions.
For large stuff like televisions however I've found it's far too expensive to ship. The slightly more practical way is to find a friend who is going to import a car from Japan, arrange delivery to the car importer and most will cram the boxes in the car for a fee but then the weight is accumulated onto the freight to ship the car which has a lower per-pound shipping rate.

I doubt shipping is insanely expensive given the right carrier. I see right-hand drive Japanese cars and those little cabover trucks with short, shallow beds semi-regularly. Considering that some of them end up in this region, most people in the rest of the country should be able to import large items without putting a huge dent in their wallets.