Hi all,

I'm looking to buy my first espresso machine in the near future, with a budget of approx. 1,500 USD (for machine only - will budget around 500 USD for grinder).

I've had my eye on the Profitec Pro 300 for a while now as it seems to have great reviews overall. However... it is not sold in Japan, at least as far as I can tell.

Has anyone here ordered an espresso machine from overseas before, and able to recommend a vendor? I think (I haven't emailed them yet) that WLL and idrinkcoffee.com ship internationally, but would be curious to know of other vendors, preferably in the Asia Pacific region.

Frankly, buying from an overseas vendor is not my first choice since I know that if anything happens to the machine during shipment, it will be a hassle shipping back (if indeed the vendor accepts international returns). Another point of concern is that Japan has 100v outlets, but a machine ordered from the US would be 110v. I *think* this won't be an issue, but it is a point of concern as well.

The only places I've been able to see that I can order from locally in Japan are from:
http://www.espressostore.net/ or
http://www.daiichifl.com/products/list. ... egory_id=2

However, as you can see, prices are MUCH higher than they would often be elsewhere, and again, the Profitec Pro 300 is not available.
Funnily enough I have been able to find the Profitec Pro 700 on rakuten (a JP auction site), but it goes for approx 5,400 USD... even the Sette (which was the grinder I'm looking at) is going for almost 1,000 USD there. So... way WAY out of my budget.

If anyone has any experience with overseas vendors, I'd be curious to know about your experiences

Yeah, Rakuten has a really weird constituency. We used to sell on there and the only control we had over pricing Japan versus US is a *(x) multiplier, so you're rarely going to get a deal on something like this there unless it's a native Japanese seller, and if it is a native Japanese seller the level this kind of kit is at they're likely going to have their own store/website. I checked Amazon.jp but could only find a Rancilio Silvia at a reasonable (way above US) price.

We were approached by a guy once who wanted to get the R58 into Japan, but he ended up going with iDrinkCoffee for about $300 shipping I think. The Canadian sites might be a relatively good deal for this now due to the weakness of the dollar.

Thanks Chris. Yeah, amazon.jp is my first go-to for anything I buy here, but it has failed me

I even asked a barista at a local coffee place I frequented (before the shop closed) and his recommendation was one of the links I posted in my original post. So I will be stuck with buying from overseas, or buying a completely different machine at very inflated prices locally

I am still hoping that others can chime in with other vendors who also ship internationally..

It seems you have not many options since the 100/110 volts supply.
In this area, if i recall as well, only Taiwan has 110 V 60Hz, so no other vendors in this area can supply equipment compatible with Japan electric system, unless they import specifically for you
Unfortunately i have no clue of other vendors, more than you already mentioned.

For the voltage I did some googling around and mostly it seems that stuff will work "ok", but just heat less quickly. There's even a HB convo from 5-6 years ago:
Running espresso machine at lower voltage in Japan

Then a guy comes in at the very end saying different regions in Japan have different voltage(?)

EDIT-While I was googling around I saw a CPC ad for iDrinkCoffee that said "20% of select machines for Japan" but after clicking on it there was nothing about it on the landing page. Maybe ask them.

Giampiero wrote:It seems you have not many options since the 100/110 volts supply.
In this area, if i recall as well, only Taiwan has 110 V 60Hz, so no other vendors in this area can supply equipment compatible with Japan electric system, unless they import specifically for you
Unfortunately i have no clue of other vendors, more than you already mentioned.

Thanks Giampiero, appreciate your input! The search continues..

EDChris wrote:For the voltage I did some googling around and mostly it seems that stuff will work "ok", but just heat less quickly. There's even a HB convo from 5-6 years ago:
Running espresso machine at lower voltage in Japan

Then a guy comes in at the very end saying different regions in Japan have different voltage(?)

Yes, I remember reading about the different frequencies before, I wonder if this is one reason why imported electronics are so expensive.. :/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2225.html

Thanks for continuing to look into this Chris! I think I will mail idrinkcoffee next week if I haven't found anything further over the weekend..