Smallfloor
Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2023
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 7
I'm not exactly a "newbie" eBay user and so far I've been able to find and buy almost anything I wanted without any problems. But when I tried to find Explorer models from any Japanese manufacturer (Edwards, Tokai or Burny) I ran into a big problem. Namely, it happened that one and the same guitar was sold by several stores under different eBay orders (and prices), and at the same time they sold it in the store's premises, and even on Reverb! besides, the descriptions are very short, if they exist at all, so it is very difficult to shell out 900 ÷ 1200 US$ for a guitar of which you do not know the condition of the frets, neck, truss rod or electronics. Sometimes the seller says "ask what you are interested in", but the answer takes seven or more days, and sometimes it never comes. That's not business IMO.
Having failed on eBay, I began a general Internet search for Japanese web stores. Although the browser offers the translation of Japanese into any other language, it cannot do this with the buttons, but soon you "get into the trick". Then again trouble: you found a guitar but you can't buy it because your country is not in the menu (Japan Only) or it is suggested that you first check via email if it is in stock and how much it will cost to send it to your country! Sometimes the dealer answers, sometimes not. And by the time you get all that done, the guitar is sold in the meantime! Hand on heart, I can't really say that the prices are favorable because the prices have skyrocketed in the past year. There were really good chances at the auctions, but they were reserved only for Japanese people, and to participate I would have to find a middleman, but I wasn't used to such an agreement, so I gave up.
It would really be great if, in addition to eBay, the buyer had the opportunity to safely search, negotiate and pay for Japanese guitars... maybe something like that will happen in the near future to the joy of fans of Japanese music products.
Having failed on eBay, I began a general Internet search for Japanese web stores. Although the browser offers the translation of Japanese into any other language, it cannot do this with the buttons, but soon you "get into the trick". Then again trouble: you found a guitar but you can't buy it because your country is not in the menu (Japan Only) or it is suggested that you first check via email if it is in stock and how much it will cost to send it to your country! Sometimes the dealer answers, sometimes not. And by the time you get all that done, the guitar is sold in the meantime! Hand on heart, I can't really say that the prices are favorable because the prices have skyrocketed in the past year. There were really good chances at the auctions, but they were reserved only for Japanese people, and to participate I would have to find a middleman, but I wasn't used to such an agreement, so I gave up.
It would really be great if, in addition to eBay, the buyer had the opportunity to safely search, negotiate and pay for Japanese guitars... maybe something like that will happen in the near future to the joy of fans of Japanese music products.