Anyone from Japan in here that knows what a AV Famicom costs locally?

[Lastcallhall]

Just curious if it would be worth having someone pick one up for me and ship it over, versus the outrageous prices on eBay.

[Guntz]

I'm not in Japan but back in July I bought an AV Famicom from Japan for about $70 (included console and two dogbone pads), shipping was around $100 but I bought another console and a bunch of games too, so shipping was subsidized a bit. In hindsight, with patience I could have gotten a NES Top loader... But most such sellers are US only.

Besides, with an AV Famicom I could get a FDS if I want.

[Moirai]

Besides, with an AV Famicom I could get a FDS if I want.

Oh you


You'd be better off buying a NGCD, Saturn, PCE, or done other console. The FDS is problematic and the discs degrade. The games aren't worth the trouble!

[Lastcallhall]

I'm not in Japan but back in July I bought an AV Famicom from Japan for about $70 (included console and two dogbone pads), shipping was around $100 but I bought another console and a bunch of games too, so shipping was subsidized a bit. In hindsight, with patience I could have gotten a NES Top loader... But most such sellers are US only.

Besides, with an AV Famicom I could get a FDS if I want.

See, that's what I'm curious about - a) whether or not the price is inflated for a US market, and b) if shipping is really that hefty on a system that can't weigh more than a few pounds.

[Guntz]

It depends on the seller and shipping method. Sometimes they'll say it's going EMS and pocket the difference from a lesser shipping method. I prefer SAL because it's cheaper and still arrives very fast.

My recommendation is to do your Japanese shopping through auctions, not buy it nows.

[Iron Lizard]

See, that's what I'm curious about - a) whether or not the price is inflated for a US market, and b) if shipping is really that hefty on a system that can't weigh more than a few pounds.

I'm not sure about coming but I bet it not much different, but anything over 4 LBS gets very expensive to ship. When I sell systems inernationally I offer to leave out the AC adaptors since they may useless are very heavy driving i tover 4 lbs..

[xelement5x]

I'm not sure about coming but I bet it not much different, but anything over 4 LBS gets very expensive to ship. When I sell systems inernationally I offer to leave out the AC adaptors since they may useless are very heavy driving i tover 4 lbs..

Yeah, SAL is a nice inexpensive method to ship from Japan, and your stuff will normally arrive in 1-2 weeks, sometimes a month at the most. However, SAL only works if the item weighs under 2000 grams, over that and EMS is required. EMS is good for what it costs though, the fact that I can get a package from Japan to my door in about a week is pretty dang nice.

Or you can go slow boat, but that normally takes like 2-4 months and is a bit too long of a wait, even for my normally patient self.

[Guntz]

I ordered a bunch of stuff worth about $200 shipped from a Japanese seller, they were nice enough to put everything in separate boxes to keep the shipping within the total (about $100).