Poll: Drummania machine in North Florida. - Page 2

zorahk · 07-02-2009, 02:53 AM

I'm not going to use quotes since I don't want a massive wall of text, so pardon me.

The custom's duties shouldn't be horrible. IIRC, Arbel once told me he paid 500 on the machine he bought for 9 grand, so I am assuming mine, which I bought for 2 grand, shouldn't be very much. It's mainly the paperwork which is the headache.

I haven't actually seen the government's page, actually I'd like it if you could link me to that.
But what I do know is that through the shipping company I am using, IEC Inc, you can either use your own customs broker or have them handle customs. I am having them do it because I have no idea how to do it otherwise. Their agent in LA (their hub) contacted me yesterday and I have begun filing the paperwork he emailed me. So far I have done my end of it, but I have been back and forth on the phone with Tokyo and Los Angeles. It's just like I'm working everywhere here. The machine came from their warehouse in Osaka, my Distro's office is in Tokyo, and the boat left today from Kobe! I told Mr. Wada, the seller, to send me up all the invoices and packing lists and stuff around 4 hours go, but when I called him 1 hour ago he said IEC kobe still hasn't sent him back the documents! This is driving me crazy.

So advice #1: Get a goddamn international phone plan ASAP because you will be calling A LOT.

First off, you should deal with HE and their shipper. They will know if you need to hire a separate customs agent, but if you go IEC they have in house agents that will do it. You shouldn't worry about that until you work it out with HE.

Also, although you can get away with it on smaller items, you will not be getting away with declared value fraud on this. You can't mark it as less than it's worth just to escape customs fees because YOU are not the one filling out the invoice, your seller will fill it out based on what they sold it to you for. Besides, the penalty for fucking with customs is huge in this case, and plus they could impound or destroy the machine if you anger them.

Also, tell HE that they take pictures without a deposit if they want a sale. That is a stupid business practice.

Mr. Wada at the Tokyo office of my distro speaks English, but I feel like the only reason I have gotten so far with this is that I speak to him in Japanese. My Japanese is decent, but his English level is also only decent. He understands perfectly, but articulation skills are limited somewhat. I think you could probably work it out, but it would just be slightly confusing at times. I mean they have an english website, so they do do business abroad.

I don't think this is something too hard for you though, I mean I ordered the machine two weeks ago or so and it's going to be here on the 14th of July.

paskok2r · 07-02-2009, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Checky

Imo it's very expensive to put a DM into an American arcade because you will be changing the pads every 3-6 months just from people beating on them and destroying them.

this is off topic but it is exactly the same in japan, maintenance is not as good as you think and lots of player learned to bear it, but at least when it's unplayable they change parts

anyway this is getting interesting. i might consider buying one when i'll go back to live in france
btw if you buy a v4 machine and have the v5 or v6 discs you can make it work e-amusement less right?

RedXXX · 07-02-2009, 09:28 AM

Maybe, maybe not. I'm not going to worry about that since there's no official US support to my knowledge. And as far as I know, there's a subscription you have to pay, and not to mention the cards, which aren't cheap. So that's something I'll probably pass on.

I do hope it comes with the card reader though, the listing says it comes with e-amuse support. But I don't know if that means it comes with the hardware, or just the ability to upgrade it. I don't really care all that much about it anyways.

I can do an international calling plan. Would using a call forwarding service work? Or should I just spend the extra few bucks and pay what Verizon charges for their calling rates?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Export here's what I've been reading up on with importing, so grab a seat and a cup of coffee because there's TONS of stuff to look over.

zorahk · 07-02-2009, 02:36 PM

Oh that page, yeah I read that PDF. It talks about banned substances and stuff. I wouldn't worry too much about any of that. If you have a good shipper or customs broker, they will handle stuff for you.

Anyway, no a call forwarding service isn't good enough. You want a full on international calling plan.

I'm gonna know more on the customs end in two weeks, so I will report back here when the machine arrives.

RedXXX · 07-02-2009, 04:10 PM

Well an international calling plan seems logical. I'm just going to get a prepaid cell phone. They're cheap enough these days to buy the phone for next to nothing and call internationally for about 20 cents a minute at most. So that's an expense that's a simple and great idea. It actually looks cheaper overall to go that way instead of upgrading my current service. But it looks like you got everything I needed to know out of the way and then some. But could you possibly point me in the direction of your supplier? Just in case these guys fall through, I want something to fall back on, or maybe find something better or more economical. I'll let you know what happens later on, and so far it's a green light for me.

But let me know about what happens when it reaches the states. Just so I can know what to expect.

zorahk · 07-02-2009, 04:43 PM

20 cents a minute is actually kinda pricey. Right now using sprint long distance (my local is under ATT, I have a mixed service home phone), (which works out because I am using ATT cell service for my iPhone 3GS but my mother) (I am only 17) uses sprint), I am getting 8 cents a minute. Try to find something slightly more economical maybe.

Anyway, I am going to PM you the web address for my supplier since I don't want to expose my super cheap machine source to the entire internets.

DeusExMachina · 07-07-2009, 06:06 AM

Arcades in the US in general don't make a huge amount of money. It's just not that accepted into the culture compared to Japan. Over here some arcades have as many as 4 dm gf machines sessioned and I've even seen men and women as old as like 40 years old playing these games in their business suits.

If you buy one I'd think you're better off keeping it in your house somewhere and inviting people over to play.

zorahk · 07-17-2009, 05:56 PM

It cleared customs but I am being held hostage for 441.78

RedXXX · 07-17-2009, 07:47 PM

Oh crap. Well I guess it was expected. A bit much considering the value

AlphaConqerer · 07-17-2009, 07:54 PM

I work for a Japanese-based logistics company, NNR (Nishi Nippon Railroad) so I am a bit late into this thread however if you need anything let me know. I could certainly handle the logistics and customs brokerage if need be. Rates wise I don't know if Zorakh's references would be better, however.

Any decent freight forwarder should be able to give you a good approximation of duties and taxes up front on a piece of entertainment machinery like this.

Just PM me if interested.
Thanks,
Chris

zorahk · 07-17-2009, 08:03 PM

Well actually to speak the truth the 441.78 is not all going to the government, some of it covers the customs brokerage. The actual taxes were more in the range of 200 USD. TBH though I expected that I wasn't gonna get a "free" ride through customs, so to speak.

At least they didn't x-ray the machine to search for drugs, that would have costed me even more money! Gonna go pick it up next wednesday it seems.

Also, AlphaConqerer, I don't know if your rates or my companies rates are better, the only thing though is that my company is both the shipper and the custom's broker. It was a lot easier for me to handle it that way, because I was only dealing with one person, my agent Robert who is employed by the shipping company to take care of inbound freight.