kakaku shop that does 5% gaijin discount

Hi,

I will be visiting Osaka and Tokyo in a weeks time, and am keen in purchasing a Canon 7D DSLR.

I've been reading the posts in this forum and also looking at prices from kakaku.

Does anyone know if any of the shops listed in kakaku that does the 5% gaijin discount and/or creditcard payment?

thanks,
jtjan08

As I browse Kakaku.com's price listing, no, unfortunately not many accept credit card payment (they will try to avoid credit card merchant fee, thus are able to offer better prices, at least on the internet); for duty free, you will need to go to the shop anyway, so it might be better if you looked around in Akihabara?

hi AK, thanks for your reply

so the shops listed in kakaku will do the 5% gaijin discount?
any experience on which shops does this?

i've tried contacting a few of the shop through email to ask about this.
unfortunately email was in english, as i can't type japanese.

only 1 shop replied (pc-bomber in osaka) and they said they don't do the 5% discount

i know there are bigger shops (yodobashi, etc) that does the 5%, but the prices of the camera itself is a lot pricier.
any chance they will price match if i bring a print out of the kakaku search result?? :)

I'm a resident in Tokyo so I don't have first-hand experiences with duty free.

Shops that get listed on Kakaku.com tend to compete only on pricing, and they may not be the best in terms of catering to different payment modes, non-Japanese shoppers, etc. If you think about it, since many don't accept credit card, the buyers have to wire transfer the money (banking fees needed) or pay via cash-on-delivery (again fees required), so that the net amount you are paying might not be the best anyway.

I might try asking at places like Bic Camera if they match price, but they might say that they only price match with other retailers' in-shop (physical shop) prices, not with online shopping with different conditions.

I think it would be best for you if you set yourself a budget amount in your mind, then walk around in Akihabara and ask :) Enjoy shopping!

Alot of those sites compete on price alone, there are shops in Akihabara that don't do the tax duty for visitors but their prices are Already much cheaper then you would get at a "normal" retail establishment, that offering an additional tax break is a bit too much. Sorta like Nozomi with a JR Pass.

Only licensed stores are able to process duty free transactions. As you found out these tend to be the larger chain stores. Also, it has been my experience that the chain stores do not price match, and since the discount that you get at the smaller shops is often better than a 5% tax savings you can assume that the best price listed on kakaku will be the best price available.

Is the Op talking about duty free, or the current "Yokoso Japan" tourism promotion where some stores are offering a 5% discount to foreign customers? I think it may be the latter rather than duty free, but the OP will have to come back and confirm.

Sira,

Do you have a link to the Yokoso Japan discount that you mention? I can't find info on it anywhere.