Fees & payment
What sourcing costs
Short answer
JPY 30,000 to open a brief, JPY 60,000 to inspect, then a buying commission that starts at 18% and falls as the price rises — minimum JPY 99,000 including tax, which is exactly what those two earlier payments come to, so they are paid on account of it rather than on top. On any watch under about JPY 550,000 the fee stays at that minimum. We act as your buying agent: we take no title to the watch and add nothing to its price, so you see what the seller is actually paid. Shipping, insurance and optional servicing are charged at cost with receipts attached. Import duty and tax in your country are yours to pay on arrival (DAP). Minimum order value JPY 400,000. The only way a search costs you money is if we show you a watch and you decide against it — if we find you nothing that meets the essential conditions of your brief, the retainer comes back.
| Item | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation and market read | Free once per brief | From your first enquiry through the market read. Nothing is charged up to this point |
| Search retainer, per brief | JPY 30,000 pays for the searching | When you have read the market report and tell us to start searching. Not on enquiry, and not for the market read. Credited against commission |
| Inspection and condition report | JPY 60,000 pays for handling the watch. Once per brief, however many we examine | When you ask us to inspect a candidate we have shown you. Not charged if you never ask for one |
| Watch purchase price | At cost, no markup | After your written approval |
| Buying commission | 18% / 13% / 10% / 8% by band minimum JPY 99,000 — see the bands below | Invoiced with the purchase price |
| Negotiation success fee | 25% of the reduction achieved | Only if the price actually comes down |
| Watchmaker overhaul (optional) | Quoted per movement | Only with your approval |
| International shipping, insurance, packing | At cost, receipts attached | With the final invoice |
| Bank transfer fees | Your bank's charges are yours | — |
| Import duty, VAT, GST, brokerage | Paid by you (DAP) | Billed by the carrier on arrival |
| Minimum order value | JPY 400,000 (watch price) a guide, not a refusal — below it the fee is a flat JPY 90,000 and out of proportion to the watch, but we will still take the brief if you want it knowing that. The free market read has no minimum. | — |
What each fee actually buys
- Search retainer, JPY 30,000
- This pays for the searching. Working dealer stock, auctions, collector networks and inventory that is never listed, until we have a candidate that fits the brief and a line open to the seller. Payable when you have read the market report and tell us to go ahead — not when you enquire, and not for the market read itself.
- Inspection fee, JPY 60,000
- This pays for handling the watch. Getting the individual piece in front of us, opening the case, checking the dial under magnification and writing the photographed condition report. Once per brief, however many candidates we examine. It becomes due, and non-refundable, the moment you ask us to inspect one of the candidates we have shown you.
- Buying commission
- This pays for the buying. Negotiation, the transaction with the seller, checking the paperwork, arranging export. It arises only on a purchase you have approved.
What you lose if you do not buy
First, though: nothing at all is charged for the enquiry or the market read. If you read our honest assessment and decide against the whole idea, you owe us nothing. What follows applies once you have told us to start searching.
| How far it got | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| We never put a candidate in front of you | Nothing. The retainer is refunded in full and the inspection fee was never charged |
| We showed you candidates but you asked for no inspection | JPY 30,000. The retainer only; no inspection fee arose |
| You asked us to inspect one, then decided against it | JPY 90,000. Neither is refunded, because the searching and the inspection actually happened |
| You bought | Nothing extra. The JPY 90,000 was paid on account of the commission |
So your exposure only grows when you decide to take the next step. If we find nothing, the brief costs you nothing. If you look at what we found and walk away, it costs the retainer. The inspection fee arises only when you point at one watch and say: go and look at that.
The commission bands
The commission is calculated on the watch price excluding Japanese consumption tax, and it is marginal: each rate applies only to the part of the price that falls inside its own band. There is no cliff — a more expensive watch can never produce a smaller total fee than a cheaper one.
| Portion of the price (excluding consumption tax) | Rate on that portion |
|---|---|
| Up to JPY 1,000,000 | 18% |
| JPY 1,000,001 – 3,000,000 | 13% |
| JPY 3,000,001 – 6,000,000 | 10% |
| Above JPY 6,000,000 | 8% |
So a watch at JPY 1,500,000 including tax has a body price of JPY 1,363,636. The first million is charged at 18% and the remaining JPY 363,636 at 13%, giving JPY 227,273 — an effective 16.7%, not 13%.
The credit cannot exceed the commission. The retainer and the inspection fee are applied against the buying commission, but only up to the amount of that commission. Above roughly JPY 550,000 the whole JPY 90,000 is absorbed and the question never arises.
Below that, the fee is a flat JPY 90,000 however cheap the watch is (JPY 99,000 including tax). The commission stops following the price once 18% of the body price drops under that floor, and from there down it sits on it. You have already paid exactly that amount, so there is nothing further to pay at purchase.
The retainer and the inspection fee buy the work, not a deposit held against a purchase. That is why they are not refunded once the searching or the inspection has happened. If you choose not to have a watch inspected, the inspection fee never arises and the floor is JPY 33,000 instead — you are never charged for work we did not do.
This applies below the JPY 400,000 minimum order value as well, and it is the whole reason that minimum is printed. On a JPY 100,000 watch the fee is most of what you pay. We will still take the brief — see the minimum order value row above — but you should see that arithmetic before you decide, not after.
Multiple briefs. If you want us hunting three references at once, each is a separate brief with its own retainer. Standing briefs — "any honest 6105-8110 under ¥600,000, whenever it appears" — are billed as one retainer and stay open for six months.
Every quotation is valid for 14 days from the date we issue it. That window is the same for every client. It is long enough to think and short enough that the dealer's price and the exchange rate have not moved underneath it. We cannot reserve a watch during it — a dealer can sell to someone else at any time.
Worked examples
Everything is invoiced in Japanese yen, because yen is what we pay sellers. We do not print a dollar conversion here: any rate we typed would be stale within days, and a stale number on a fee page is worse than no number. Convert at your own bank's rate on the day you transfer.
| Line | Example A | Example B | Example C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watch price, as the dealer invoices it | JPY 600,000 | JPY 1,500,000 | JPY 3,480,000 |
| Body price, excluding consumption tax | JPY 545,455 | JPY 1,363,636 | JPY 3,163,636 |
| Japanese consumption tax inside that price (not reclaimable) | JPY 54,545 | JPY 136,364 | JPY 316,364 |
| Buying commission | JPY 98,182 | JPY 227,273 | JPY 456,364 |
| Effective rate on the body price | 18.0% | 16.7% | 14.4% |
| Retainer and inspection already paid (on account of the commission) | JPY 90,000 | JPY 90,000 | JPY 90,000 |
| International shipping & insurance (at cost, estimate) | ≈ JPY 15,000 | ≈ JPY 26,000 | ≈ JPY 52,000 |
| Total paid to us across the brief | JPY 713,182 | JPY 1,753,273 | JPY 3,988,364 |
| Negotiation success fee | Not included above. It applies only where we get the asking price down, at 25% of the reduction — so it never appears unless you are already paying less than you would have. | ||
| Then, on arrival | Import duty, VAT or GST and carrier brokerage, per your country's rules, under DAP terms. See shipping and import. | ||
How to pay
- International bank transfer (SWIFT) to our Japanese account, in JPY.
- Wise — usually cheaper and faster for amounts under about JPY 1,000,000.
- Credit card is available for the retainer, and for other payments by arrangement — what is possible depends on the amount and the route, so ask rather than assume. A card surcharge applies either way and is shown to you before you pay.
We do not accept cash, cryptocurrency, or third-party payments from an account in a different name than the client. Two payments per brief: the retainer, then the balance after approval.
Currency and exchange risk
Everything is invoiced in Japanese yen because that is what we pay sellers. If the yen moves between your approval and your transfer, the yen amount stands. Every quotation is valid for 14 days from the date we issue it — the same window for every client.
Cancellation, returns and what happens if it goes wrong
Before approval
Cancel any time. You lose only what you have already paid — the retainer, and the inspection fee if we have already inspected. If you cancel before an inspection, the inspection fee has not been charged and your exposure is the JPY 30,000 retainer.
After approval
After approval, the watch has been purchased and is yours. We cannot buy it back or resell it on your behalf. If you no longer want it we will help you find a route to sell, but the purchase price is not refundable by us.
If the watch does not match the report
Tell us within 7 days of delivery. If the watch materially differs from the condition report, we refund our commission and success fee in full, pay for return shipping, and take up the discrepancy with the dealer on your behalf. The purchase price sits with the dealer, so we cannot promise to refund it — but the error would be ours and we will act as if it were.
If we find nothing
At the end of the agreed window you can extend, relax a requirement, or close the brief. The retainer is not refunded — but if we accepted a brief and never put a single candidate meeting the essential conditions of your brief in front of you, it is.
Fee questions
- How much does it cost in total?
A JPY 30,000 search retainer per brief and a JPY 60,000 inspection fee, both paid on account of the buying commission. The commission runs from 18% down to 8% by band on the body price, with a minimum of JPY 99,000 including tax, which is exactly what those two payments come to. If you decide not to have a watch inspected, the inspection fee never arises and the minimum falls to JPY 33,000. The minimum order value is JPY 400,000. Where we get the price down, a success fee of 25% of the reduction applies and you keep 75%. Shipping, insurance and any servicing are at cost with receipts. Import duty and tax in your country are yours to pay on arrival.
- Is the search retainer refundable?
It is paid on account of the commission when you buy. If the search ends without a purchase, the retainer is not refunded, because it pays for the work of searching. If we accept a brief and then fail to put a single candidate meeting the essential conditions of your brief in front of you, we refund it.
- Do you mark up the price of the watch?
No. The invoice shows the price the seller is actually paid, and our commission on a separate line. If we negotiate the price down, you keep 75% of the saving and we take 25% as a success fee. You are never worse off than the asking price, and the saving is worth more than it looks: reducing the watch price also reduces the duty and VAT calculated on it.
- Why charge a retainer and an inspection fee separately?
Because they are two different pieces of work, and either can happen without the other. Searching means calls, visits and negotiation before anyone knows whether a purchase will follow. Inspecting means getting the individual watch in front of us, opening it and writing the report. If we find nothing, the inspection fee never arises, and if we examine four candidates it is still charged once. Both are paid on account of the commission when you buy, so paying them early never adds to your total.
- Does the rate really drop as the watch gets more expensive?
Yes, and it drops by band rather than all at once. Each rate applies only to the portion of the body price inside its band, so an expensive watch is charged 18% on its first million exactly like a cheap one. That is why the effective rate falls gradually — 18.0% at JPY 600,000, 16.7% at 1,500,000, 14.4% at 3,480,000 — and why a higher price can never produce a lower total fee.
- Are there any fees you have not listed?
No. If a cost appears that is not on this page — an auction house buyer's premium, a domestic courier charge to bring a watch in for inspection — it is shown to you before you approve, at cost, with the receipt.
- Do you charge Japanese consumption tax?
-
The watch price includes Japanese consumption tax at 10%, and it cannot be reclaimed. The export exemption attaches to a sale made by the exporter. Our service is structured as a buying agency: we hold no stock and do not take title, so we are not the seller and the exemption is not ours to apply. The tax-free-shop scheme is a separate provision that requires a non-resident to buy in person, and does not apply to a purchase made on your behalf.
Our own fees — commission, success fee, inspection — are invoiced without Japanese consumption tax as services to a non-resident.
Where a dealer is willing to invoice on export terms, the watch price is quoted net of the tax and you save the 10%. We ask every time. Most Japanese dealers decline, so assume the tax applies unless we tell you otherwise.
- How long is a quotation good for?
Every quotation is valid for 14 days from the date we issue it. That window is the same for every client. It is long enough to think and short enough that the dealer's price and the exchange rate have not moved underneath it. We cannot reserve a watch during it — a dealer can sell to someone else at any time.
Page last reviewed 8 September 2026. Fees may change; the figures agreed in your brief confirmation are the ones that bind.
Get a quote before you commit anything
Send the brief. We will confirm the fee in writing along with an honest read on whether the watch is findable at your number.