Importing Wheels from Japan
Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2020 6:44 pm
Hi all,
Wanted to share my experience importing wheels from Japan in case others are interested in doing the same. I'm just now beginning the process and thought it would be good to document. I've been wanting to replace the appliance mesh wheels on my '69 since I got it, but it was never high on the list. I wasn't sure what I wanted and my budget wasn't too large, but I was willing to spend a bit of money on a quality set of wheels. I searched ebay, craigslist, facebook out in LA and didn't land on much in my desired style, size, or price. I'd heard about importing wheels from Japan, but never looked much into the process because it seemed difficult, confusing, and potentially riddled with fees.
I reached out to Alvin to see what he recommended and he pointed me to Jesse Streeter (https://jessestreeter.com/yahoo-auction ... g-service/) as a potential option. I had also been familiar with an LA based JDM retailer on Instagram, Jakob at @getjpn. (https://www.get-jpn.com/pages/purchasing-service). Both places offered similar services to help purchase and import items from Japan's online retailers (Yahoo Japan, UpGarage, and Buyee.jp and more). Both services took commissions - 10% at Streeter, 23% at Get-JPN - for their work. Streeter offers various shipping options with a really comprehensive break down of the process and prices. The benefit of Streeter is 1. a lower commission percentage and 2. shipping to your door at your desired freight. Jesse sent me a full quote for the 3 shipping options I requested. Get-JPN brings their imports over a few times a year in a shipping container that is delivered to their shop in Pomona, CA and needs to be picked up.
The way it works is you search the online retailers for the wheels, steering wheels, or other parts you are interested in and send the service the link. Then you determine a max bid that you're comfortable placing. The service places the bid from their account and if the bid wins, you receive an invoice for the purchase price + fees + shipping to their location in Japan + shipping to your final destination.
I found a set of 15x6.5 Watanabes with a +15 offset and placed my max bid with 1 day remaining in the auction. Compared to eBay here in the US where I like to bid in the last few minutes, this system requires you to pick your max bid and have confidence in the price. You do need to be willing to spend a bit more and be happy win or lose.
The selection on Yahoo and UpGarage are much better than what we have in the US. It takes a bit of getting used to to search, but google translate and searching offsets helps a lot. Yahoo has a proxy-specific site called Buyee.jp that will auto-translate ads into your desired language.
I ended up using Get-Jpn as I wasn't in a rush to receive the wheels and the total price (commission + shipping) was less than the quoted price from Streeter. Depending on how quickly the container fills up, the wheels should be arriving in December.
I'll be updating this thread as I go along to provide updates on the process, timing, and price. Here's a photo of my car for attention.
Wanted to share my experience importing wheels from Japan in case others are interested in doing the same. I'm just now beginning the process and thought it would be good to document. I've been wanting to replace the appliance mesh wheels on my '69 since I got it, but it was never high on the list. I wasn't sure what I wanted and my budget wasn't too large, but I was willing to spend a bit of money on a quality set of wheels. I searched ebay, craigslist, facebook out in LA and didn't land on much in my desired style, size, or price. I'd heard about importing wheels from Japan, but never looked much into the process because it seemed difficult, confusing, and potentially riddled with fees.
I reached out to Alvin to see what he recommended and he pointed me to Jesse Streeter (https://jessestreeter.com/yahoo-auction ... g-service/) as a potential option. I had also been familiar with an LA based JDM retailer on Instagram, Jakob at @getjpn. (https://www.get-jpn.com/pages/purchasing-service). Both places offered similar services to help purchase and import items from Japan's online retailers (Yahoo Japan, UpGarage, and Buyee.jp and more). Both services took commissions - 10% at Streeter, 23% at Get-JPN - for their work. Streeter offers various shipping options with a really comprehensive break down of the process and prices. The benefit of Streeter is 1. a lower commission percentage and 2. shipping to your door at your desired freight. Jesse sent me a full quote for the 3 shipping options I requested. Get-JPN brings their imports over a few times a year in a shipping container that is delivered to their shop in Pomona, CA and needs to be picked up.
The way it works is you search the online retailers for the wheels, steering wheels, or other parts you are interested in and send the service the link. Then you determine a max bid that you're comfortable placing. The service places the bid from their account and if the bid wins, you receive an invoice for the purchase price + fees + shipping to their location in Japan + shipping to your final destination.
I found a set of 15x6.5 Watanabes with a +15 offset and placed my max bid with 1 day remaining in the auction. Compared to eBay here in the US where I like to bid in the last few minutes, this system requires you to pick your max bid and have confidence in the price. You do need to be willing to spend a bit more and be happy win or lose.
The selection on Yahoo and UpGarage are much better than what we have in the US. It takes a bit of getting used to to search, but google translate and searching offsets helps a lot. Yahoo has a proxy-specific site called Buyee.jp that will auto-translate ads into your desired language.
I ended up using Get-Jpn as I wasn't in a rush to receive the wheels and the total price (commission + shipping) was less than the quoted price from Streeter. Depending on how quickly the container fills up, the wheels should be arriving in December.
I'll be updating this thread as I go along to provide updates on the process, timing, and price. Here's a photo of my car for attention.