Most buyers of used Japanese machinery do not lose money on the machine. They lose it on the route. The machine might come from a seller who cannot export it. It might be priced ex-works with nobody booked to dismantle it. Or it is paid for before anyone checks whether the buyer’s own country will let it in. Each of those can be found out in Japan, in the order below, before a deposit leaves your account.
This guide is the whole route from overseas. Two steps have their own detailed articles, and this one hands off to them rather than repeating them: the condition checks on the machine itself, and the Vietnamese import file.
💬 Looking at a used machine in Japan from overseas? Send us the listing and the nameplate photos, and we will tell you plainly what is missing before you commit. Tell us about the machine.
Where used machines in Japan actually come from
A used machine in Japan reaches you through one of four channels: a specialist used-machinery dealer, a factory selling its own equipment directly, an industrial auction, or a trading company searching on your behalf. Each one changes who you can ask questions of and who will handle the export.
The channel matters more than the listing price. It decides whether anyone will run the machine for you, whether the seller has ever exported anything, and who signs the invoice that Japan Customs will see.
| Channel | What you usually get | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist used-machinery dealer | Stock that has been cleaned and sometimes reconditioned, photos, a sales sheet | The sales sheet is the dealer’s description, not the maker’s. Some dealers sell only domestically and have never exported |
| Factory selling its own equipment | Direct access to the people who ran the machine, often with its maintenance history | The factory is not in the export business. Dismantling, packing and the export declaration have to be arranged by someone else |
| Industrial auction | Wide choice, fast turnover | Inspection windows are short and the lot is sold as it stands. Many auctions admit only registered members, so first ask whether you can bid at all |
| Trading company searching for you | One counterparty for search, checks, export and shipping | You pay for the service. Ask whether it searches across channels or only sells its own stock |
Listings are written in Japanese first. The terms that matter on a Japanese sales sheet are the maker and model (メーカー・型式), the year of manufacture (年式 or 製造年), the condition statement (現状 means “as is”, with no warranty), and whether the machine is still installed (設置中) or already removed and in storage (保管中). A machine that is still installed can usually be run for you. One already in a warehouse often cannot.
Is the seller a real business? Check in Japan, not on the website
Ask any Japanese dealer for its secondhand dealer permit number and which Prefectural Public Safety Commission issued it, but know that large fixed or heavy machines fall outside that permit system, so a missing permit is a question to ask, not automatically a red flag.
Japan’s Secondhand Articles Dealer Act (古物営業法) requires anyone who trades in used goods as a business to hold a permit from a Prefectural Public Safety Commission (Article 3). The dealer must display a sign at each place of business (Article 12(1)). A dealer that trades online must publish its name, the issuing commission and its permit number on its website (Article 12(2)). This is the quickest identity check an overseas buyer can make. The permit number on the website should match the company name on the invoice.
What overseas guides miss is the exclusion. The Act takes certain “large machinery” out of the definition of secondhand goods. Its Cabinet Order (Article 2) lists, among other things:
- machines over one tonne that are fixed to land or a building by concrete embedding, welding, anchor bolts or an equally strong method, so they cannot easily be removed; and
- other machines over five tonnes that are neither self-propelled nor fitted for towing.
So a dealer that handles only large presses or heavy machine tools may legitimately operate without this permit for those items. In that case, check the company another way. Ask for its registered company name and address, and match them to the bank account named on the invoice.
Checked against the texts of the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act and its Cabinet Order on 19 October 2026.
Checking condition from overseas
Before any deposit, confirm the serial number against the maker’s records, get the maintenance history, and see the machine complete a real cycle, in person or on a timestamped video with the serial plate in view.
These checks are set out step by step, with what each level of evidence does and does not prove, in what to check before buying used equipment in Japan. Read that before you shortlist. For an overseas buyer, three points come up again and again:
- Run it while it is still connected. Once a machine is disconnected and moved to a warehouse, a test run usually means re-wiring it to a temporary supply. Many sellers will not do that. Ask for the run before removal is scheduled.
- Check the electrics against your supply, not Japan’s. A machine that ran perfectly in Japan can still be wrong for your factory. Japan uses two mains frequencies and its own standard voltages. What that means for motors, transformers and your country’s conformity marks is covered in running Japanese machinery on overseas power.
- Get the year in Western-calendar terms, in writing. Nameplates often give the year in the Japanese era, and age rules at your border are counted from it.
Before you pay: check your own country’s rules first
Many importing countries restrict used machinery by age, condition, purpose or certification, and the rules differ widely, so confirm the current rule for your country and your machine’s HS code before you pay. This is the step most often done last, and it should be done first.
Typical questions to put to your customs broker or the authority at home:
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Is used machinery under this HS code allowed in at all, and is there an age limit? | Some countries set age limits by heading. A delayed arrival can push a machine over the limit |
| Does it need a certificate from the maker, an inspection certificate, or a pre-shipment inspection? | Each one is produced in Japan, by a different party, and some must be dated close to shipment |
| Can a trading company import it, or only the factory that will use it? | Some regimes allow used machinery only for the importer’s own production |
| Does it need a local safety or conformity mark before it can be put into service? | A machine may clear customs and still be unusable until it is certified |
| Are there documents that must be legalised or apostilled in Japan? | A notarised maker’s certificate with an apostille takes time in Japan and should be started early |
We do not try to summarise every country’s rule here, because they change and a wrong row would cost you more than a missing one. For Vietnam, where we work at both ends, the full file under Circular 56/2026 is set out in importing used Japanese machinery into Vietnam. That includes the age limits by heading, the maker’s certificate or inspection route, and every document by who produces it.
💬 Not sure what your country requires for a used machine from Japan? Send us the HS code and the nameplate, and we will set out which documents have to be produced on the Japan side. Ask about the export file.
Getting the machine out of Japan
Agree four things in writing before the machine is disconnected: who dismantles and packs it, who files the export declaration, who answers the export-control questions, and which Incoterms rule applies.
A used machine is not a box on a shelf. It has to come off its foundation, often in sections, and travel in a way that lets it be put back together. Each of the four points has an owner elsewhere on this site:
- Dismantling and packing. Who does it, to what level, with what labelling of connections and fasteners. See the dismantling section of the pre-purchase inspection guide.
- The export declaration. It is filed in Japanese, through Japan Customs’ NACCS system, by the exporter or its customs broker. An ex-works purchase from a factory that has never exported leaves this to your forwarder. The sequence of documents is set out in how a purchase in Japan becomes a shipment.
- Export control. Machine tools and some industrial machinery sit close to Japan’s list-control boundary. A used machine is checked on what it can do, not on its age. Expect end-use questions, and see Japan’s catch-all export check for what the exporter will ask you.
- The Incoterms rule. FOB or FCA from a Japanese port usually puts the export side with a party that can work in Japanese. EXW looks cheaper and leaves the hardest part to you.
The costs a used-machine quotation leaves out
A dealer’s price is usually for the machine where it stands. The lines that turn it into a landed cost are often quoted separately or not at all. Ask for each one as its own line before you compare offers:
| Cost line | Usually included in the dealer’s price? | Ask |
|---|---|---|
| Machine as it stands | Yes | Is the price “as is” (現状), or after reconditioning? |
| Test run before removal | Sometimes | Can it be run under power before disconnection? |
| Disconnection and dismantling | Often not | Who does it, and is the rigging crew insured? |
| Export packing (crating, rust protection, shoring) | Often not | Is packing designed for sea freight and for your destination’s timber rules? |
| Inland transport to the port | Depends on the Incoterms rule | Which port, and is a permit needed for an oversize load? |
| Export declaration and documents | Depends on the Incoterms rule | Who files, and in whose name? |
| Maker’s certificate or inspection certificate | No | Who applies, and who pays for notarisation and apostille? |
Paying a seller you have never met
Pay in stages tied to things you can verify, such as the serial-number check, the test run and the bill of lading, not in one transfer to an account you cannot match to the company.
A used machine is a single, unrepeatable item. If it is sold to someone else while your money is in transit, there is no identical second unit. Three habits remove most of the risk:
- Match the bank account to the company. The beneficiary on the invoice should be the same legal entity as the seller you checked. A request to pay a different company, or a personal account, is a reason to stop and confirm by phone through a number you found independently.
- Hold the machine in writing. A short reservation agreement stating the serial number, the price, the deposit and the date the hold expires is worth more than an email saying “reserved for you”.
- Link the balance to a document. Balance against the bill of lading, or against packing photos showing the serial plate, is a common structure. It ties the payment to the machine actually leaving.
Installation, parts and the first year
A used machine with no parts route and no one to commission it is a project, not a purchase, so settle installation, commissioning and a starting stock of spares before you pay the balance.
Ask the maker, not only the dealer, whether parts for the model are still produced. Ask which wear parts fail first. Decide who will commission the machine at your site. What to put in writing is covered in installing Japanese machinery abroad. For buying replacement parts from Japan later, including discontinued parts and successor part numbers, see sourcing genuine Japanese industrial parts.
💬 Want one counterparty in Japan for the search, the checks, the export and the parts? Sunsho Trade sources machinery from Japan and reads the seller’s papers in Japanese. Contact us about sourcing from Japan.
Frequently asked questions
1. Can I bid at a Japanese machinery auction from overseas?
Check each auction’s membership rules first. Many admit only registered members, and the inspection window is short. An overseas buyer usually works through a Japan-based company that can inspect the lot, bid and then handle the export.
2. How do I check that a Japanese used-machinery dealer is genuine?
Ask for its secondhand dealer permit number and the issuing Prefectural Public Safety Commission. Online dealers must publish both under Article 12(2) of the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act. Very large fixed or heavy machines fall outside that permit system, so for those dealers match the registered company name and address to the bank account on the invoice.
3. Who handles the export declaration when I buy from a Japanese factory?
Agree it in writing before the purchase. A factory selling its own machine has usually never exported. On an ex-works basis the declaration falls to your forwarder or a customs broker in Japan, and it is filed in Japanese.
4. Does my country allow used machinery from Japan?
That depends on your country, the HS code and the machine’s age and purpose. Confirm the current rule with your customs broker or authority before you pay. For Vietnam, see our guide to Circular 56/2026.
5. Should I pay the full price to reserve the machine?
No. Pay a deposit against a written reservation that names the serial number. Tie the balance to something you can verify, such as the test run, the packing photos or the bill of lading.
Sources: Secondhand Articles Dealer Act (Act No. 108 of 1949), Articles 2(1), 3 and 12, Japanese Law Translation database; Order for Enforcement of the Secondhand Articles Dealer Act (Cabinet Order No. 326 of 1995), Article 2, e-Gov law search. Checked on 19 October 2026.
More industrial sourcing guides: Japanese Machinery on Overseas Power: Volts, Hz and Marks · Buying New Japanese Machine Tools from Overseas, Step by Step · Buying Japanese Injection Moulding Machines and Presses. All guides by category are on the industrial sourcing page.