Craftsmanship in Wood

I just inquired about a smoothing plane from Pro Shop Hokuto, http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~ttoishi/sub4.htm, and was quoted a service fee of 3300 yen in addition to the cost of the plane and shipping. As this is my first purchase of any tool directly from a Japanese business, I was wondering if anyone who has ordered either from this business or any others has had to pay a service fee? Is this standard practice?

Did they provide you with any special service/advice that required an English translator?

Depending on the shipping agent there may be customs brokerage fees as well (though Stu at TFJ just included those fees in the shipping quote).

On their How to order page, they state:
　　*Total amount of the payment is
　　　　Goods cost(Commodity fee) + Shipping cost(Postage) + 8% Office work commission.

This exact fee does not appear to be on the japanese language page. My guess is that it covers things like additional packaging costs for overseas shipping, paperwork, currency conversion fees, and greater inconvenience.

durbien wrote:Did they provide you with any special service/advice that required an English translator?

No special service (that I'm aware of), which is why I was a bit surprised by the extra fee.

djwong wrote:On their How to order page, they state:
　　*Total amount of the payment is
　　　　Goods cost(Commodity fee) + Shipping cost(Postage) + 8% Office work commission.

I didn't notice this when I first read their order page, thanks for pointing it out.

I've paid a commission, it's fine with me I think they're just showing through the cost breakdown rather than putting it all into the markup.

I went ahead with the order, now I have to patiently wait for my new plane to arrive!