buying a dell usa computer from japan?

Hi everyone,
I'm sure this question has been asked before but, maybe due to my choice of search terms, I can't seem to find the answer. If you could answer any part of them again for my sake I'd be very grateful .

I need to buy a desktop with decent (and somewhat specialized) specs, something I've found quite hard to come by--and extremely over priced when I have found them, in Japan. Considering the price difference and exchange rate, it seems to me that it would be cheaper to order a computer from Dell USA and have it shipped to Japan. (1)Is this my misunderstanding? (A computer configured with similar settings from Dell Japan appears to cost around 70,000 yen more O.O)

I havent sent much stuff back and forth between Japan and the States, so I'm not to sure about postal rates for large packages... I imagined somewhere around 200$, is this figure naive?

What about customs?
(2)(a) Is it possible to have it shipped directly to Japan by dell?
(2)(b) Would there be some amount of money owed to customs or something?
(3)(a) Would it be simpler to have it shipped to a family member in the U.S. and then have them ship it to me?
(3)(b) Would there be some amount of money owed to customs or something?

Any other pros, cons, or advice you could give me?

Thanks in advance,
a7mouse

I don't know if this helps, but when I moved from US to Japan in 2007, I shipped my desk top computer (without the monitor and the keyboard)through US Postal Service. As I recall, the shipping charge was less than 100USD.

ASHIKAGA said:

I don't know if this helps, but when I moved from US to Japan in 2007, I shipped my desk top computer (without the monitor and the keyboard)through US Postal Service. As I recall, the shipping charge was less than 100USD.

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I think you probably didn't pay any customs duties since it's proven that the PC is being shipped as your own personal belonging?

If a PC is bought and shipped from a US vendor, you will have to pay duties and sales tax to receive it. I don't know how much it will cost right now.

Edit: I found customs duty for PCs is 0%, but you do have to pay consumption tax and maybe other handling charges. Cheapest if you have someone in the US buy it for you and ship it to you as a gift, though you won't be able to claim coverage for loss or breakage.
I think you already know, but don't expect any follow-up care service for products shipped from the US--that is unless Dell offers global guarantee, which I don't know. Pay attention also to packaging by the vendor, since there is possibility of breakage while in shipment.

PC is categorized as 8471 under HS Code (international code used for export/import).
According to the data from Japan Customs, no import duty for this category.

ŽÀsŠÖÅ—¦•\i2009"N1ŒŽ"Åj : à–±È–fˆÕ"Œv@Trade Statistics of Japan
ﾅｽﾃ?ﾂ行ﾅ?ﾃ鳴静??板ｦ窶｢\ 2009
http://www.customs.go.jp/tariff/2009/data/84.htm
List for "Chapter 84: Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances: parts thereof"
84.71 is "Automatic data processing machines and units thereof; magneetic or optical readers, machines for trascribing data onto data media in coded form and mechines for processing such data, not elsewhere specified or included:"

http://www.kanzei.or.jp/english/statistics/01_22table.htm
Japan's HS code table
Harmonized System - Wikipedia
About HS (Harmonized System)

Wow! Thank you all for your helpful (not to mention fast!) replies! That's just what I wanted to know.
Less than 100$? That's great! Looks like I'll be able to get this done even cheaper than I thought .

Thanks a lot
Chris

A7mouse said:

(A computer configured with similar settings from Dell Japan appears to cost around 70,000 yen more O.O)

Click to expand...

Are you sure you wrote that number right? 70,000 yen is about US$780.

Yes, thus the bulging eyeballs. O.O! I couldn't make the exact same configuration, but roughly the same, and it was slightly less than 170,000.