Hello, if anyone can answer some of my questions, it would help a lot.
I decided I want to buy a beginner’s shamisen, and I saw that there was an import tax for the shamisen in the details. How does that work? I saw the total to buy the shamisen regular nagauta type is $359 USD plus 70 dollars for shipping. So I know that I need to use PayPal, will it also add my import tax to the price? Do I need to pay that somewhere separately?
Also, I have questions about buying the strings, will I need to pay through PayPal again and also import tax?
Finally, I saw the message about how long it will take to ship overseas is like 2 months, I live in Califonia, so will it take that long?
Thank you for your time, if someone can answer me as soon a possible. I really love the sound and beauty of the shamisen, this will be the first instrument that I have so much interest in.
I can’t speak to the import tax, but I can speak to timeframe. I also ordered a beginner’s shamisen back in July and it shipped July 28. I still have not received my Shamisen and am going on 2 months and 1 week. I live in the Midwest, so there’s definitely potential it will take longer to get to me. I also noticed that tracking has not updated since it left Japan so it’s very difficult to track once it leaves Japan.
When I bought my Shamisen I was only charged $384 for the Shamisen and $70 for shipping via paypal. No import tax was added at that point as far as I can tell. Not sure if that’s something that would get added later when it enters the U.S. and I’d get charged later, or if the Shamisen doesn’t quality for import tax.
Hi there,
I ordered the beginners shamisen in May, and I wound up receiving it in July. Unfortunately it does take about 2 months since it is traveling by sea. Import duties were not requested on me either, but if you were ever charged import duties, US customs would reach out to you saying they have a package that has duties and will provide you a way to pay US customs, you would not be paying Bachido the duties since you are the one importing, not them.
thank you for answering my question, helped a lot with my doubts about buying or not. I just bought my beginner’s shamisen today. Very happy even though it will take 2 months, just in time before Christmas hopefully.
It shipped back in July. I think July 26th and it arrived by the end of September. It did take about 2 months and a couple of weeks to arrive. However, my accessories shipped Sept 29, and I am still awaiting their arrival (going on 3 months now)…I think with the holidays, shipping has become rather bottle necked. I hope this helps.
Hey Rose! I hope your Shamisen has arrived or is going to arrive soon! My accessories just arrived. It took much longer than the Shamisen (3.5 months), but I’m guessing that was due to the Holiday rush. Just wanted to keep you updated so you can gauge how long it might take for all your items to arrive.
