I’m looking at buying something ( adesktop dishwasher that can hook up to the faucet). I’ve looked on Amazon Japan and found a lot more available and for cheaper even with added shipping costs.
How does it work if you import through Amazon Japan? Is there paper work involved or is it all handled through Amazon? Anyone use this before?
shipping and customs will eat u up
But it says shipping is only 8,000 yen. Don’t know how customs works though
Anything electronic gets assessed a 30% tax!
Either go to Japan and bring it over or post it over yourself (so you can avoid taxes), or order from Taobao where the tax will be much lower (and it’s all made in China, in case you wonder).
Dishwasher is artificially expensive as heck in Taiwan for some reason.
Duty/tax. Welcome to the worldwide racket 
I checked it’s 18,000 yen for shipping and handling but there’s a 10,000 yen coupon so it’s only 8,000 yen for shipping and customs
Combined it’s 53,000 yen which is 11,000 NTD
The equivalent here for a similar product is 16,000 NTD. So it’s 5,000 NTD cheaper through Amazon (although the brands are different)
Did you check the tax brackets for the different components you are buying?
Where do I find that? Also 8,000 is more than I thought Haha oops. It’s crazy expensive
But even still it’s cheaper than what’s available here
You can buy directly from amazon and they will charge you upfront so there’s nothing unexpected (and if they don’t use it all, you get a partial refund a few months later).
Or you can use one of those shipping services that give you an address in japan and they take care of the rest. They save money on import duty by mislabeling things 
Either way it’s going to be cheaper than buying here for many things. For example I got an expensive shaver from amazon that even with all shipping included is still 50% of the price here.
Make some calls with customs. They have %s for different items. I’m not familiar with your specific import, but they do have such numbers. Brokers also lay out the costs clearly, but they cost money.
There is a reason thungs cost more here that aren’t made here. They also pay taxes/duty. Shipping fees, then shipping here, then storage , then renting retail outlets, employees etc etc. One of the advantages of buying locally if the quality matches your needs.
But…then there are middle men. The virus that plagues mankind 
Until you want a repair under warranty 
And yet, still cheaper than buying here.
I had the option of buying a large appliance in japan and taking it with me for about 9000$ (including cost of extra baggage) or buying it here for 15000$ which is still going to be shipped out from japan upon order. The seller had some sort of short term warranty (not official since the product is not sold here) and a manual in chinese. Opted for direct purchase.
Note if you’re buying in japan: typically amazon and big box stores will not have the best price. Best deals are from small vendors that maybe have one storefront in one city. You can order from them and save 10-20% if you stay at a hotel that can receive packages. Beware shipping can take 3-5 days.
I totally agree, if things don’t break it’s cheaper. If things break, I would be doubtful on covering the warranty locally. I have been left empty handed many times here doing such and paying for repairs out of pocket. The ONLY company I have had good dealings with was Canon for cameras. Bought their cameras abroad (Japan and Canada), fixed in Taiwan and they paid me the repair cost once I gave them evidence of flaw. No other situation have I been told anything other than piss off (with a smile, usually) haha.
Taiwan is like this too. Here it’s usually because they are importing unofficially. Also without factory warranty (that’s bad in Taiwan, the 3rd Larry companies are famously dog shit). I wonder if japan is the same? I am always suspect on the quality as they tend to just bargain buy wholesale, which could mean a lot of things (factory rejects, returns, display models etc etc)
Another thing is shipping damage. Those plastic dishwasher have fragile plastic that breaks, and when that happens they will just leak like a sieve.
The power supply in Japan is 100V/60hz in the south and 100V/50hz in the north and appliances sold there will be designed to run in this range. Operating Japanese appliances at 120v/60hz may result in overheating so this should be taken into consideration when importing appliances from Japan.
I always thought 100 and 120v is nearly indistinguishable, because a 10% tolerance is generally allowed.
Taiwan is 110V so mostly within safety limits. Power grids aren’t perfect, it’s normal for there to be some variation throughout the day.
But yes if you really want, you can buy a transformer. Keep in mind they’re quite big.
You often get closer to 100v even in Taiwan or the US if the cable length is long enough. In fact 120v is often used in order to compensate for voltage drop over longer distances, but originally it was supposed to be 100v. Or you could just use a dimmer switch type thing to drop the voltage down slightly (it’s actually how those smaller 220 to 110 converters work, it chops the sine wave down).
Making 110v appliance work in 220v countries is actually significantly harder, because most 220 appliance can be made to work in Taiwan just by rewiring a dedicated 220 outlet for it, but you can’t drop 220v down to 110 without using dimmer switch or transformers. That means if you got an induction motor that runs only at 110 and can’t be rewired to run at 220, transformer is the only way to fix it. If you accidentally ran a 220v appliance on 110 the worst you’d get is weak heating (if it’s a heating element based appliance), or low speed if it’s a brushed motor. This is why for example aircraft power outlet is often 110, for safety. If you run a 110 appliance on 220 you will let the magic smoke out in short order.
Out of curiosity I’ve been checking the line volage at my apartment and at my office and it’s a steady 115V whenever I’ve checked.