Thread: Importing japanese tools

Put me on the list for chisels.

Originally Posted by Schtoo

When I got married, I had a document form births, deaths and marriages that said I was not married to the best of their knowledge.

Not good enough for here though, because it was not the 'proper' document.

What they wanted was a glorified statuatory declaration that I had to go to the consulate for.

Schtoo,

I got married in Japan and took the route of getting a document from the NZ embassy saying I was not previously married. Its a P in the A but it generally makes things go a alot smoother. The only hiccup I had was down at the local city council office where we rocked up for the "official" marriage but forgot to bring a witness. We ended up going to the pub and getting tanked and went back next day with brother in law in tow as a witness.

Something else worth getting is an english translation of your Japanese marriage certificate from the Aussie embassy..handy if you come back to Oz and want to bring back your Japanese wife with you.

Cheers Martin

Good job, Martin, sounds like a classic Vegas wedding


Cheers....................Sean, til death do us part

Any possibility of bringing in Max Nailguns? They're very overpriced in this country, but are the best nail gun can buy.

Hi

Originally Posted by EMistral

We would import first japanese tools like chisels, handsaws, etc...
To give you an idea, my friend brought me back a japanese tenon saw that is sold for $85 at carbatec (same model , brand, etc...)
I paid 3200 yens which at that time was around $35
Other examples are the economy chisels carbatec is selling.
$30 on average here compared to $10 or even less
they are the same products
since it will be a legitimate business with running costs, the price will be a bit higher of course but nothing compared to australian prices when it comes to japanese tools
It seems that everything with the word japanese in it is an excuse to inflate prices

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm or your idea, but in business the price the retailer pays is not just for the tool. There are many more overheads that need to be considered.

While realistically you may be able to sell tools cheaper than Carbatec et al, is it worth your frustrations and headaches.

How are you (your Japanese friend) going to set up the deals? How is the trip to Japan going to be paid for? What about accomodation? visiting the manufacturers? negotiating deals?

Who is going to set up the web page? Who is going to MAINTAIN the web site? What if an order is wrong? what if the stock is not available? What if there is a broken tool? WHo will handle these problems?

To deal with Japanese companies you normally need to PAY IN ADVANCE, wire transfer, letter of authority etc, etc.

You will need to order large quantities to make a better price, how can you do this if your orders are in one's and two's?

The cost of catering for the above and many more "circumstances" cannot be taken lightly. WHile there is every chance you can pursue your idea, be aware that it is not soooo simple.

If your thoughts are to accept orders for driect shipment from Japan to "your" customer, then why shouldn't "your" customer order directly from Japan themselves??

Unless *YOU* buy from the maunfacturer, you will gain nothing from being an "order taker" except the frustration of dealling with people. (No offence to the local members here of course).

I essence and in real terms, WITHOUT doing this in a BIGGER way than you currently seem to think, you will be unlikely to provide the price differences that you THINK you can because of all of the "business" needs and problems. You will want to be rewarded for your efforts, to gain this reward you *WILL* have to have prices MUCH closer than you think, to the people like Carbatec.

You will NOT be able to (realistically) deal with Japanese manufacturers WITHOUT dealing in person. You WILL need to put some money up front. You will need to cater for the fluctuations in currency, etc, etc.

This is why Carbatec and their ilk charge more for the products they sell.

I wish you well in your venture, just be aware that it may not be as easy or as cheap as you may initially think.... Good luck

Originally Posted by MrFixIt

If your thoughts are to accept orders for driect shipment from Japan to "your" customer, then why shouldn't "your" customer order directly from Japan themselves??

3 'alphabets', for a start. I can order in Japan online, all by myself even. I'll bet all the money I have that 99% of the folks reading this can't do that.

Originally Posted by MrFixIt

I wish you well in your venture, just be aware that it may not be as easy or as cheap as you may initially think.... Good luck

Here's the thing, as I have outlined a few times before.

It's not going to be easy, but the opportunity to have these tools priced cheaper is, from where I sit, about as easy as cutting your finger with one of the chisels.

I have yet to see a price for something online (and outside of Japan) that I can't buy locally for around half the overseas price, and often much more expensive. If you could keep this in a small scale for a small bunch of guys, it would work.

I'd do it myself, but right now the cash exchange isn't easy to accomplish. That might change in the very near future. There are other problems I can't afford to deal with right now either, so I'm out.

For now.



I greatly dislike price gouging, and for the most part, that's what I see. Any way to circumvent it is something I will help out with if I can.

With any luck, it might make the greedy link in the chain see the light.

Or maybe not.

Originally Posted by MrFixIt

Hi

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm or your idea...
[..]

How are you (your Japanese friend) going to set up the deals?
How, What, visiting, negotiating [..]

Who,Who,What,what, What, WHo. [..]

You will NOT be able to (realistically) deal with Japanese manufacturers WITHOUT dealing in person. You WILL need to put some money up front. You will need to cater for the fluctuations in currency, etc, etc. [..]

Steady on, many of the assumptions you seem to have made wouldn't apply to this little business that has been proposed between people in different countries sharing like interests.

As I see it, we have one person in Japan, who speaks the lingo, and can buy tools in low volumes at a retail price, mark it up, ship it to Australia, and still save the woodworker money over the local asking price.

I really doubt anyone will get rich doing this, but there is nothing to stop people doing it, and it is happening all over the planet in this and other fields anyway. I buy electronic parts from similar people in the US for exactly these reasons, and some of the parts I get are just not available to hobbyists here, the rest are at substantial savings under Australian Retail.

woodbe.
[edit: Grammar]

Hi all,

I can see that my post is bringing attention. To answer some of the questions:
- there is one japanese native based in japan who will deal with the retailers, manufacturers, will buy the tools, negociate the deals, etc.....
so there is no trip plan to go there
And if there is one, it will not be me but my friend and that will be a good reason for him to take some holidays and visit his relatives
In fact there are 3 people involved in this business (if it takes off). Myself - non japanese - and 2 other japanese natives. One over there, one here. My friend leaving here migrated 2-3 years ago so he knows pretty well the Japanese system. He's not a japanese born and grown in Australia. Second, we are prepared to put some money in to build a small stock for a start. Since we are planning to have a different price range (from economy to expensive), expensive items will be not stock for a start. The website will have a sort of indication for each item regarding the availability. A bit like amazon.com in which in item has an availability information. common item whill be 1-2 days for instance while "luxury"ones could be 1 week
We don't know yet but something similar
The shipping will be priced a bit like amazon. If all the items are not available, the customer will be able to either wait for all items to be available or have the ones available shipped first then the rest later.

For the website, I'll will design a website. Being an electronics hardware and software engineer, that will not be hard. The only think I might lack is the time
But that can be managed

Also with my friend's help, I have tried to order tools directly from Japan and most of the companies do not ship overseas. I am sure some do but the majority I have found do not
Then there is the language and alphabet barrier !
Again a small number of these websites have an "english" version. So unless you can read Japanese, these websites are useless
If a tool is broken and under warranty, then the customer will ship it back to the company in Australia and we will deal with Japan directly

I never said it will be easy or a way to earn lots of $$$$$
But if I can do it, at least I know that some woodworkers will not have to pay $$$$$$ to get decent tools. And I will also be able to build my handtools collection at a fair price

I have always found frustrating when you buy something that is broken and that the customer has to pay the shipping to send it back
That's why I hope I will be able to put something in place where the company will pay for the shipping - well that's if it is possible.

The investment is minimum since hosting a website does not cost much, no costs are involved for designing the website, no rent to pay for a shop, etc...

As for someone suggesting the nail guns, why not
We are currently looking on the net to find out the different brands in hand tools so that we can contact them as well as the different products
We have found a couple of interesting ones I have not seen here yet

I'll be in for some stuff.

G'dau EMistral,

Like I said at the start I'll buy from you. You've put some homework into it and look forward to seeing it up and running.

An example of pricing (price gouging?)that defies logic. Max nail guns are designed & made in Japan & the Framing nailgun SN890CH34 to purchase here in Australia costs $865. The same gun costs US$299 in America, & if imported from there to Australia costs, after exchange rate conversion & shipping cost A$515. How does it go from Japan to America to Australia for $350 less than coming directly from Japan?

Carpenter

There are basically 2 methods of setting the price (with infinite numbers of minor strategies) but still the main two.

You are thinking of the cost plus method. IE it costs $100 to build plus amortised research costs of $50. We want 150% margin so we set an RRP of $700 allowing for retailer, distrib and warranty etc.

Alternatively the 'at market' method says ' we reckon the punter will pay $900 for this gizmo, so working back, deducting the above mentioned margins and cost, we (the manufacturer) will wholesale for $500

The above is very rough and doesn't take into account economies of scale, market size, advertising etc etc, but it should roughly explain the different RRP's in different areas.

Our biggest problem, doing business in Australia is our small market size and remoteness. That is also our biggest opportunity.

Funny old world!

Hi there, to all you woodies interested in Japanese Tools,
I am In Japan now and am selling some nice tools on ebay My seller ID is Samurai186s but if you search for japanese chisels on Ebay,you will find my stuff.

As stated in my adds I am actually a landscaper who just has a bit of a quality tool addiction. I am here studdying traditional garden design and cant get a job as i am studdying a lot and don't really speak the language very well. Need for an income of some sort led me to my current Ebay listings, I have been selling Japanese chisels for over a month now and am getting very positive feedback.
I stumbled across a little tool shop in a rural area of japan selling Suminagashi Chisels (Damascus/ Folded/woodgrained) they were on special so i bought two sets. One for me and one to try on ebay.
I have sold over 20 sets of these now and am having more ordered in. I also sell good quality planes, some hammers (not so hot) but different. Natural whetstones etc etc.
I am always on the lookout too, new items listed every couple of days.
Anyway, take a look if interested,