Buying Winning Gear in Japan

[GoatyP]

I understand America Ya has some great prices especially with the current USD/YEN rate. However, is it cheaper to buy in Japan?

I plan on going to Japan for vacation and hope to buy some Winning gloves and headgear there. Do you guys recommend any specific stores (Tokyo, Osaka, etc.)?

Thanks

 

[goldennboy]

Not really, just you won't have to pay for shipping.

 

[Marbig]

I think Rakuten sells winning products at japan price. Just +10% handling fee and shipping.

 

[LPCM]

I think Rakuten sells winning products at japan price. Just +10% handling fee and shipping.

+1

Also, not sure if there's much of a haggling culture in Japan but maybe worth asking for a deal if you are buying a set of gear?

 

[bringbacklife]

tell us how you go!

 

[shihtzu]

Unlike Reyes which retail well over 200 dollars in the U.K. and below 100 in Mexico there is no such difference in case of Winning. Winning, again unlike Reyes, are very expensive to make, so the price is always high and you are not going to get a "deal" like 20-30% off unless there is some defect (rarely appears).

Moreover America-Ya has some of the cheapest prices in Japan, so locally you can easily end paying more for the gear itself than Mitani charges for the gear, shipping and handling.

Also, with all respect, Japan isn't an easy country for a foreigner. Even if you get some address it might take you several hours to get there and find it. All in order to save (and that if you are lucky) like 10-20 dollars. Does it worth you?

So I would advise, if you accidentally reach some boxing gear store, go inside and check the stuff, but keep in mind America-Ya prices. Other than that it is a waste of time.

Also, I would like to remind that we do not buy Winning gear from rakuten, we buy it from America-Ya store. There are thousands of independant stores on rakuten, America-Ya is just one of them. Also rakuten itself (unlike amazon) doesn't stock anything.

 

[GoatyP]

Thanks for all the advice. I guess it makes sense to just order it than to go on a potential wild goose chase. It will also a pain to lug gear around while on vacation.

I checked around rakuten's JPN website and couldn't find a better deal so I placed an order with America Ya for a blue FG-2900 right now!

I bought two new gloves over Thanksgiving so I can't really justify a pair of Winning gloves yet. I figure head protection comes first because I've been using a rock hard Twins headgear for the past two years.

 

[GoatyP]

Just an update- America Ya's website is slightly misleading as I read it to understand that shipping and handling are a combined 10% of product cost. Actually, it is 10% for handling and additional for shipping. In total, $200, not including credit card FX fees.

Still cheaper than Winning USA but I was expecting to pay around $185. lol

 

[shihtzu]

Winning USA is 250 + 20 for shipping appx.
So is is about 35% more expensive than America-Ya.

Moreover waiting with Hayashi (Kazumichi) is easily over 6 weeks in case of standard colours gear.

 

[RGAmsterdam]

Hi,

Fwiw, I got my Winning 16 ounce velcro sparring gloves from Rakuten shop Koubudo last month. They did not charge 10% handling fee. This is what they billed me.

Total item amount : 25.436JPY (178.31 EUR or 242.91 USD at the current rates)
International Shipping : 3.000JPY (to the Netherlands)
Total amount billed : 28.436JPY

Kind rgds,
RG

 

[shihtzu]

Hi,

Fwiw, I got my Winning 16 ounce velcro sparring gloves from Rakuten shop Koubudo last month. They did not charge 10% handling fee. This is what they billed me.

Total item amount : 25.436JPY (178.31 EUR or 242.91 USD at the current rates)
International Shipping : 3.000JPY (to the Netherlands)
Total amount billed : 28.436JPY

Kind rgds,
RG

You forgot to mention you had to pay 21% import VAT of those 28.436JPY because you ordered from Koubudo, didn't you?

So it cost you 34.408JPY total while from America-Ya it would cost you 30.530JPY total. So you paid 40 dollars more than it would cost from America-Ya.

 

[RGAmsterdam]

Hi Shihtzu,

You are correct I did not include our local import fees because they are not part of the product price and different per country.

Forgive my ignorance but how would ordering form America-Ya (rakuten shop Boxing I assume) avoid paying the import fees? When it comes from Japan it will go through dutch customs.

Both Koubudo and Boxing list the gloves around the same price only Boxing also mentions a 10% handling charge.

Or am I missing something here?

Kind rgds,
RG

 

[shihtzu]

You are absolutely correct. Or actually you would be if the owner or America-Ya store wasn't let we say... an open-minded man.

If and when PM for details, as is actually said on the 1st page of the Winning thread here.

 

[RGAmsterdam]

No further explanation necessary. I know what you are getting at.

In that case, yes I overpaid.

 

[shihtzu]

But not that horribly, in the end of the day 40 dollars ins't that much and still much, much cheaper than from Winning USA (it would be appx. 350 EUR total from them, Kazumichi isn't open minded at all ).

In case of Koubudo or the others I have no idea whether or not they would be that helpful.
As for America-Ya there is another huge advantage, they know the stuff and have great relations with Winning for decades, hence they can arrange many things (like a wide strap for velcro gloves at almost no additional cost).

 

[GoatyP]

Insane... Two days since I recieved confirmation and it is already at my doorstep. Tokyo to NYC in 2 days. Wow.

 

[MEGAhorse]

Insane... Two days since I recieved confirmation and it is already at my doorstep. Tokyo to NYC in 2 days. Wow.

I live in Florida and it's the same for me. I get the shipping notice and 2 days later the package is here. Great, isn't it?

 

[RAMB0]

you forgot to mention you had to pay 21% import vat of those 28.436jpy because you ordered from koubudo, didn't you?

So it cost you 34.408jpy total while from america-ya it would cost you 30.530jpy total. So you paid 40 dollars more than it would cost from america-ya.

so i recently purchased some gear from rakuten kobudo shop, total came out to $608 usd and some change including shipping, now i noticed they dont charge the 10% handling fee that america-ya charges. So i was wondering is there is another charge once the package makes it to us customs? (ive heard america-ya sends pckgs as gifts to avoid such charges)

well the purchase ended up falling thru since kobudo shop was out of stock on the items i ordered. Ended up ordering thru america-ya there total for the same items came out to $653 and change usd. The 10% handling fee was about 54.00 us shipping was about 40.00

so overall america-ya was $45.00 more but thats assuming theres no more duty or import taxes from kobudo. Just want to compare the two for future purchases.

 

[GoatyP]

So, I'm going next month for 2 weeks. Anyone know where the America-ya store is? I have some free time to kill so I figure to stop by. Any other good MT/Boxing stores worth browsing (Osaka/Tokyo)? The yen is at 108 so I figure it would be good to save on shipping fees.

 

[makedansure]

so i recently purchased some gear from rakuten kobudo shop, total came out to $608 usd and some change including shipping, now i noticed they dont charge the 10% handling fee that america-ya charges. So i was wondering is there is another charge once the package makes it to us customs? (ive heard america-ya sends pckgs as gifts to avoid such charges)

well the purchase ended up falling thru since kobudo shop was out of stock on the items i ordered. Ended up ordering thru america-ya there total for the same items came out to $653 and change usd. The 10% handling fee was about 54.00 us shipping was about 40.00

so overall america-ya was $45.00 more but thats assuming theres no more duty or import taxes from kobudo. Just want to compare the two for future purchases.

so I've ordered from Koubudo, and they told me that they'd do the same. I haven't gotten hit with a fee. But that's cause they were a gift, right?