importing

[james]

after a search on the site and googling about, i couln't find what i'm looking for so i thought i'd ask here.

i'm looking for info on importing. is anyone here doing that? i currently have a good eikaiwa gig going in a small town but my wife and to a certain extent myself, are looking to start up a small import store.

i'm looking for specific information w.r.t. to what legalities / forms are involved, what's involved generally and what i need to do on the sending side (in my case canada and u.s.) when having stuff sent.

any advice, concrete information or links thereto would be appreciated.

[Mulboyne]

Can you tell us what you will be importing? I don't follow that area much but there are guys on this board who do import and export and have explained that regulations and possible taxes are very different depending on whether you are talking about food, books, jewellery etc. etc

[Steve Bildermann]

Ditto to Mulboyne. Tell us what you are going to try to import. Things vary. Food is tricky, computer parts easy, clothing expensive, guns and drugs impossible, women as sex workers not so bad but getting more difficult. It all depends.

More information needed.

[Kuang_Grade]

whoops, misread the post...I had posted some links for exporting out instead of importing in to Japan

[james]

thanks for the replies so far.

my wife has gotten a lot of compliments and interest shown on baby and kid's clothes that my mother has sent for my sons. she'd just like to start something small with a focus on clothes for babies and toddlers.

we don't plan on dealing in electronics or food for the time being though i can see where we'd expand to include children's toys at some point if things went well.

[james]

and no replies?

[Charles]

my wife has gotten a lot of compliments and interest shown on baby and kid's clothes that my mother has sent for my sons. she'd just like to start something small with a focus on clothes for babies and toddlers.

And I have gotten a lot of compliments and interest from yuubinkyokusan because I can write in legible kanji. It's just idle chit-chat, I wouldn't go rushing out to start a business based on empty flattery.

[james]

i wasn't trying to ascertain its viability, and quite frankly that's no one else's concern either. there is a market here for this stuff and i've had people go so far as to ask me to bring things back for them.

starting this up would pose either of us very little risk since we are both already gainfully employed and have the extra space to do it. what i'm looking for is information on how this would be properly done, not whether i should be doing it or not.

[Oradea]

Well James, you seem to have shot yourself in the foot there.
After first coming here to ask for help, and then getting all pissy at what comments are made.
Looks like you'll have to go out there and find the information yourself.

[james]

sorry, i'm normally an agreeable person.

all i'm saying is that i wasn't asking whether i should do it or not, but how it could be done. i don't think i was entirely off-base in my reply. quite honestly, i found the remark "And I have gotten a lot of compliments and interest from yuubinkyokusan because I can write in legible kanji." to be somewhat flip. perhaps i read too much into it.

anyway, if the information is out there to be had, i'll find it.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

Looks like you "imported" my old avatar.

[Mulboyne]

I can't help you on importing but I do know that you might want to be aware of two areas. There are likely some safety rules on babywear like material flammability etc. Don't assume that a product that is OK'd overseas automatically passes Japanese standards. Also, you might want to look at how your products are classifies. Some footwear for babies may look like a sock or a slipper but, if it gets classified as a shoe, it'll be more expensive. If your products are new to Japan, make sure you get approval for the cheaper classification or your margins could get hit.

[Taro Toporific]

... you might want to look at how your products are classifies. Some footwear for babies may look like a sock or a slipper but, if it gets classified as a shoe, it'll be more expensive. If your products are new to Japan, make sure you get approval for the cheaper classification or your margins could get hit.

Damn it Mulboyne; have you got a keylogger on my computer? I just wrote the same thing about classifications but hadn't pressed "Submit".

The key point here is to avoid ANYTHING to do with shoes unless you want to double your costs (and prices). Japan is just freaky about shoes and their assine 40% tarrif on footwear.

Also...
If I were importing baby clothing on a low-volume or market-testing basis, I'd label it "doll clothing" to avoid the material flammability issues.

[james]

@NeoNecroNomiCron - "Looks like you "imported" my old avatar." popular guy, isn't he? were you really using him as your old avatar? i'm actually laughing right now. i just had the file sitting here on my box, and said "why not?" was just going to use him until i came up with something original.

to mulboyne and taro, thanks for the heads up about shoes and the flammability/ standards issues. i have some very basic questions too. i routinely have stuff sent here, usually via surface mail to save on shipping if it's not urgent. so far though, it's only ever been for my personal use or for use in my teaching, i've never done any kind of importing for the purpose of resale before.

do i need any kind of licence to resell stuff? what do i have the sender in canada do? mark the stuff as commercial goods with full value declared and then let the post office here assess the duty? once it's in japan, what legal requirements & forms are there before i can sell it? i know these are basic questions but i've never done anything of this sort.

[Taro Toporific]

do i need any kind of licence to resell stuff? what do i have the sender in canada do? mark the stuff as commercial goods with full value declared and then let the post office here assess the duty? .

I can't think of a licence but what do I know except that my landlord's wife owns a silly dress shop.
For test marketing just throw the stuff in a box, send it surface mail and "creatively" labeled.

For real importing, ship your stuff airfreight and they will handle ALL the paperwork. When you get to point that your air-freight starts to be a expensive pain (and it my never get to that point since even big companies like Apple go that route) you'll need a freight handler.

Send the grand master FG, "Steve Bildermann," a PM to see if he has any ideas.

[james]

i think for a quick test we might just bring some stuff back in march when we visit canada next.. when you say regular airfreight, are you talking postal air mail or something like ups / dhl? having them do the paperwork for me sounds nice.

i might check into the whole saftety standards thing first to be on the safe side there though. i was talking to a drunk sarariman type guy once, a few years ago, who does some kind of standards stuff. after the routine "use chopsticks and eat japanese food" convo, when he found out i'm canadian he said that a lot of stuff that meets CSA (canadian standards association) requirements gets greenlit pretty quickly. too bad i never got his business card.

i'll definitely pm grand master FG, " Steve Bildermann as you've suggested.

cheers

[Taro Toporific]

. when you say regular airfreight, are you talking postal air mail or something like ups / dhl? having them do the paperwork for me sounds nice.

I meant private carriers like DHL, Fedex, et al. Postal mail can be cheaper but nearly all companies like Amazon that sell in Japan use airfreight such as UPS, Fedex and the like because they "drop ship" directly from the maker and the airfreight company handles the paperwork.

[Blah Pete]

FEDEX and UPS charge about a minimum os US$50 for their smallest box. I think you will have to ship by slow boat (surface mail) to make a profit.
I would go slow at first and make sure there are no "gotchas" in importing.
For example anything with leather will be charged up to 100% duty to protect the Japan leather industry as a gov. payback for sanctioned Burakumin abuse.
Had a firend order some sandals from Spain for about $35 and had to pay double for duty becasue they were leather.

[kotatsuneko]

*ah* so thats why you still get those yakuza trips around italy with groups of ex/temp ex pats shopping in the boutiques on weekly trips!

we found it a nightmare buying some souveneirs there.. never figured out how it was worth it till i saw that, Pete

[james]

i'll add leather to the list of "gotchas".

i was told the advantage of using a carrier like fedex or ups is that all the paperwork would be taken care of. of course, i'm all for saving on shipping and having stuff sent surface. if i can learn to do the paperwork myself, i wouldn't mind. it's a matter of knowing what and where.

what i'm curious to know is if the post office doesn't handle the paperwork like fedex or ups, how do i go about getting stuff cleared and properly assessed? do i have it sent somewhere other than my place of business/residence?