What Is With The Outrageously Priced Guitars From Japan?!

[Wellington]

Every time I look for a particular guitar used on eBay, I see all these listings from japan priced multiple times as high. For instance I just looked up a Norman B18, which are $410 brand new in Canada (in CAD funds), and there’sa bunch of used options from japan for luges $1500..., but I see this all the time with many guitars, what’s the deal?

[jp2558]

Cost of living there is extremely high. That’s all I got.

[Jacolin]

Originally Posted by d.loseth

Every time I look for a particular guitar used on eBay, I see all these listings from japan priced multiple times as high. For instance I just looked up a Norman B18, which are $410 brand new in Canada (in CAD funds), and there’sa bunch of used options from japan for luges $1500..., but I see this all the time with many guitars, what’s the deal?

That's because the listers don't own it. They wait for a bid to buy and then use that to buy the actual item from the actual owner and pocket the difference.

[stringjunky]

Even Japanese-made stuff is not cheap, so importing to there and reselling will likely be much more expensive.

[Cameleye]

It's getting near impossible to find and buy a US based guitar off eBay due to all the (often way overpriced) listings from Japan.
I'm sure many of the listings are legitimate, it's just that I don"t want to get involved with buying from overseas.

[tadol]

You can set the search preferences to US only, North America only, or worldwide -

[ManyMartinMan]

The deal is, ask a lot of money and get it if you can. I don't care what someone asks for their guitar.

[Pnewsom]

Quality Japanese instruments can rival anything made in North America, and often exceed the quality assurance of the big major guitars makers.

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by Pnewsom

Quality Japanese instruments can rival anything made in North America, and often exceed the quality assurance of the big major guitars makers.

I cannot agree more. On quality, for sure. I guess the only aspect where they pale in comparison is on nostalgia and history for a lot of folks...The latter I could care less about. It’s all about the quality and value for money aspect of things for myself.

[M19]

Maybe, but the issue isn’t Japanese guitars. It’s Martins and Gibsons.

[Wellington]

Yes to clarify, I wasn’t referring to Japanese built guitars, I’m talking any guitar, Canadian, American etc being sold used from Japan at 3 times the cost that I can buy them brand new here at the music store

[Danley]

I always figured: Money laundering.

[619TF]

Does the term "There's a sucker born every minute" mean anything to you?

[merlin666]

Several reasons. For one, North American built guitars are more expensive there to buy new already due to high import and shipping costs. Second, the Japanese are major guitar and other instrument connoisseurs and have great pride in building and maintaining exquisite collections. So there is more demand and willingness to pay high prices. I spent several months looking for a specific type of vintage ukulele, and the only place where they could be found is Japan. So I eventually bought one from there, and had to pay unanticipated hefty customs and import tax in addition. I have no regrets though.

[Mr. Paul]

Even though we see the ads in North America, that is not the market for these guitars. The market is elsewhere in the world where Martins and Gibsons are much more scarce and much more expensive.