deskthority

Hello chaps

My out-laws are in Japan for two weeks. I'm after a HHKB bt. What do you think? Will it be much cheaper? I'm keen to avoid the import duties, naturally.


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Yes, they generally are cheaper. You can get 5% off for showing your passport and another 3% off at places that offer a Visa discount (I know Sofmap Akiba does).

I find that electronics are not, generally, much cheaper in Japan, though. The same thing applies to China, interestingly, even though many of the devices we use & love are made there. I guess it's the brand names.

If Amazon.co.jp is anything like physical shops than the HHKB bt is about ￥ 29,700 = ~£220 in Japan. Compare that to the prices it's listed for on eBay, and the cheapest I could find is £275 + customs of about 20% = £330 (not including courier fees).
I don't know I would say that that is a lot cheaper!

PS: if you do end up getting one, let me know where you buy it from and how much it is. I'm thinking about picking up one when I head over to Japan later this year.

Thanks for the replies. I'm minded to order one via Amazon Japan. Can I use my usual Amazon UK login?


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Stabilized wrote: ↑If Amazon.co.jp is anything like physical shops than the HHKB bt is about ￥ 29,700 = ~£220 in Japan. Compare that to the prices it's listed for on eBay, and the cheapest I could find is £275 + customs of about 20% = £330 (not including courier fees).
I don't know I would say that that is a lot cheaper!

PS: if you do end up getting one, let me know where you buy it from and how much it is. I'm thinking about picking up one when I head over to Japan later this year.

I went around akihabara looking for the hhkb bt but none of the shops stocked it at the time.
Ended up ordering off amazon JP and had it sent to a local familymart. It was ready for collection the next day, pretty fast and painless.

I think you need to register with amazon.co.jp, but you can easily do that and buy with a japanese address and foreign CC.
Even if you end up paying VAT in the end you still save shipping + VAT.

I just see this post. I was in Tokyo in in late April and bought HHKB Pro 2 for myself and Realforce HiPro for my mum. I have to say they are very cheap. Much cheaper than what I found online and local store. As I remember I got HHKB for 22,xxx Yen and HiPro for 25,xxx Yen. Both got 8% tax free and another 5% VISA discount from Yodobashi Camera, that made it 19,xxx and 21,xxx. At the time VISA billed me which was like 2-3 weeks later it would converted to 6,6xx and 7,3xx Thai Baht. Convert to USD at that time would be something like 180 and 200 Dollars. So if you have someone who is going to Japan and is willing to carry one for you, please ask him/her to do it for you. But you might have to ask the person to look around different stores because I went to Bic Camera, Yodobashi Camera, Softmap, Tsukumo in various location (Akihabara and Shinjuku) and found that Yodobashi had lowest price but some branches only had HHKB in blank and Hipro in JP layout. I ended up getting both keyboards from two different Yodobashi branches. Even local dudes were amazed to see the price of Topre KB so high when compare to other MX boards.

PS, I didn't see HHKB bt in any store I visited and I went to 7-8 electronics stores. Guess it would be a while before they restock.