from what I know about it is that they are expensive to get full containers shipped. But A friend of mine is looking at getting into the business of shipping arcade games from Japan. Once he gets started on it I will be happy to pass his info along to people.
IIRC the last few buys did not turn out well, it is the reason why people do not do it anymore. It wasn't just the cost, but also relating to the quality of what had arrived.
Having worked at a place where we were shipping about 5-7 containers a year of pinball tables, the overwhelming advice I would give is to be there when the container is loaded up. It might cost you a bit more but at least you can inspect what's going in isn't a pile of garbage.
He is located in Japan, myself I am in Michigan and hope to be able to get games from him also. I would hope that he would provide pictures of each game that he will be selling. I know when he sells consoles and games he is very good at providing nice pictures of everything
In my experience, it's not uncommon for the seller to provide images of different machines than the ones loaded into the container or to take parts out of each machine after they've taken a picture of them working. Once the container lands, it'll be very hard for you to get any compensation for any issues that might arise, unless the seller wants some kind of ongoing relationship with you. Considering the amount of money involved, a return ticket from Michigan to Tokyo shouldn't eat into the budget too much.
The problem is that it's nothing like buying a console on the Internet. You need to find a supplier, then a person over there who'll sort out getting them into a container (which you have to buy) and filling out the paperwork. The shipping and customs fees are a LOT. Then you need similar at the dock on your end. And transportation to you. At that point, you'll discover you've bought a bunch of shit. There will be repairs needed. A lot of them.
