hi all,
I have a friend in Japan that's trying to send me some bodywork from Japan and she is having a difficult time. It seems as if they want to tax her for all kinds of stuff. Plus paypal Japan wont let her take out the money I sent her. Do any of you members residing in Japan have any insight on this matter? Maybe Jamie? The box is huge and I think they are giving her a hard time because she is not too keen as to what the parts are. All it is, is an upper and lower cowling. Can anybody please help us? i feel bad because I can tell that this is stressing her out and she was just doing me a favor.

thanks all
john
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MC21 300R w/SE bits, Rossi 2001
MC28SE Silhouette Repsol

John,

I would suggest pull your money out asap from paypal first and have your friend ship the fairings in separate boxes. That is how my family send stuff to me from Hong Kong. I bought all my gear(racing suit, aria helmet, boots...)in Hong Kong and shipped over to US.

Good Luck

SamK
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90 NSR SP

PM sent.
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Paul Herr
'88 FZR4/GSXR/YZF Frankenbike
MY BIKE PICS

John,

I had body work sent to me from Japan once by a private party.

1. Do a wire transfer to your friends bank. Much easier then PayPal internationally into Japan (for some reason).

2. Us UPS. It's expensive, but go with the cheapest shippinig they have. They will still put it on a plan no matter what to get it to the US then it will go onto a truck and make its way to you. From Japan to California (or where ever it comes in) will only take a day or two at max. The rest of standard UPS time.

3. Have her declare it as what it is. Motorcycle used parts. FRP Body work. UPS will deal with the import duties into the states, and charge you if there are any (as well as deal with customs stuff).

4. have her get the package as small as possible while protecting the body work as much as possible. They will charge extra for an "oversized" package. They go by girth of the package to determine what is oversized.
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Charles Gallant

Another way to send payment for Americans is by a US Postal International Money order, banks can't cash them in Japan, but the post office can with very small charges. Its actually better than PayPal here. Japan is so high tech when it comes almost anything except banking.

As for shipping, forget the post office, you can send each piece by itself, but it cost more. They have size limits. You can have your friend open it all up, repack it and try to cut the box down then ship it by UPS in Japan which is operated by Kuroneko or Yamato or one of those delievery companies, I shipped an upper with a seat and gas tank to Europe and it end up costing 288 USD and took 3 days to show up.

Thats why I don't bother shipping bodywork anymore, as it is just too much trouble and not really worth it. I'll just help out with a single piece like an upper fairing. For the price of shipping you can almost fly out to Japan (discount ticket in the off season) and bring the bodywork back yourself as a piece or pieces of your luggage.

If you know someone in the military stationed in japan they can send it to you very cheap. I had a frame shipped from england to the states for $28 and took 3-4 days just for reference
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To much HP is barely adequate!

Jamie wrote:

Thats why I don't bother shipping bodywork anymore, as it is just too much trouble and not really worth it..

I suppose its a matter of perspective. Your there and have access to anything available. For most of us many of these parts are unavailable. Cost can be a secondary issue sometimes if we have no other way to get the part.

Yes, you might be able to fly to Japan for $300, but once you start adding in time away from work, hotels, cabs, rental cars, and everything else, its really a $3,000 trip. I'd gladly pay the $300 for shipping.

I know most the world like bank transfers, but in the US an international bank transfer costs $50 or more, plus a percentage sometimes, (My friend has to send $100K to India a couple times a month and it takes him an hour at the bank and costs several hundred dollars) , and international bank money orders aren't any better. Many times I just risk it and send the cash. The trader usually gives me a better rate because he needs the cash to buy things in the USA.

A couple years ago I was buying RC helicopter parts from Japan. I forget if I used a credit card or Paypal, or both, but I never had any issues with paying or shipping. Everything went as smooth as if I was buying from across town.
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james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
MC21 Rothmans
RS250
RC31
CRF250X
748R
Porsche (many)
http://members.rennlist.com/j911brick/rennlist3_002.htm

well,
It looks like I may be in a bit of a bind here. My friend in Japan I still having a hell of a time trying to get the parts over here. I used to know a few guys stationed in japan but now they're all over here in the states. I guess I jumped the gun with this and thought shipping wouldn't be so difficult. So now heres my next question....Anybody stationed in Japan? I'll gladly pay extra for time and handling. i'll keep searching though.
thanks
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MC21 300R w/SE bits, Rossi 2001
MC28SE Silhouette Repsol

If you learn of any secrets, let the rest of us know. I'm sure this would be a good opportunity for a service member who wants to double his income.
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james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
MC21 Rothmans
RS250
RC31
CRF250X
748R
Porsche (many)
http://members.rennlist.com/j911brick/rennlist3_002.htm

John,

Please let us know how it turns out.

SamK
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90 NSR SP

Look at my above post and see what I am talking about....try the UPS affiliated shop, it cost a lot of money but they can handle it for you, also there is DHS I believe.....and then there is PAKMAIL but again very expensive.

As for sending payment to Japan, the cheapest way (For US residents) is the US INTERNATIONAL POSTAL MONEY ORDER which I mentioned again above, not to be cashed by banks, BUT by the Japanese post office,...bank transfers actually take about 5 days or so to go through here in Japan (Hard to believe) and service charges on both ends....I get docked 52 USD for American transfers and 102 for Non-American transfers cause they include something called a LIFTING charge which I have no idea what it is....shipping bodywork is VERY hard here in Japan, believe me I know. I am amazed how TYGA can ship those huge boxes by the Thai EMS system, thats incredible, I can not even ship packages half that size.....tell your friend to go with the Japanese UPS affiliate shipper which is either KuroNeko or Yamato, they can accpet it. But she will need to repack it cause some companies like Silhouette Japan ship each part individually even in Japan. They also don't ship overseas as well...its a lot of work, now some people might know why I don't ship their stuff (SIL. J) anymore...just not worth it to lose hours of times with repacking, running around, faxing, delievering to UPS, doing the paperwork in Japanese and English for somebody who expects me to do this for free or sometimes asks for discounts and in some cases never even says thank you....pretty funny eh

I can apprecaite your situation Jamie. If you did it I think most people would expect you to make a fair profit. It is work, and you should be compensated for your time.
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james
Its not how fast you go...Its how you go fast.
MC21 Rothmans
RS250
RC31
CRF250X
748R
Porsche (many)
http://members.rennlist.com/j911brick/rennlist3_002.htm

Yup Jamie,
Shes going to use KuroNeko to ship. Supposed to cost about $250 USD. The price we pay, eh.

Thanks for all the help you guys are giving me with all of this. If worse comes to worse I may have a friend in stationed over in Yokousuka that could help us out. He just hasn't got back to me yet.

But yeah Jamie. I can say that I really feel for you now. Shipping out and into Japan is a major beeeeyeitch!

i'll keep you guys posted.
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MC21 300R w/SE bits, Rossi 2001
MC28SE Silhouette Repsol

hey listen, i baught my rear body work from japan via one of my girl friends mum. she used ems to send it no tax no paper work and it got here in 3 days.
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feel the wind