The import versus domestic G-Shock situation on Amazon gets confusing

U.S. sellers have been adding themselves to the seller list of products on Amazon.com that were typically associated as being imported items from Japan-based sellers. For example, there is a listing for the Mudmaster “GWG-B1000-1AJF” and the “JF” (or sometimes “JR”) indicates that this model was intended for release in Japan. Such a listing is typically associated as being an import from Japan and sold by Japan-based sellers. In the U.S., the model name is “GWGB1000-1A” and we would usually wait for this model to be added to Amazon with U.S. sellers (as U.S. releases usually come later than Japan), and then it would be easily distinguishable from the Japanese import. However, there is no GWGB1000-1A listing on Amazon, and there are several U.S. sellers (including authorized ones such as Altivo Timepieces and AZFINETIME) that have been added to the GWG-B1000-1AJF listing and are presumably selling the GWGB1000-1A U.S. release. This model was released nearly a year ago, so it doesn’t look like there will be a “GWGB1000-1A” listing or there would have been one by now. We don’t know why this is, whether it’s by the sellers’ choice, or if something at Amazon is preventing new U.S. listings and forcing them to use the Japanese listing. We are also seeing this with some other G-Shock models in other series.

If U.S. sellers are mixed with Japanese sellers in Japanese listings, it may not always be clear which is which if the customer is not familiar with the sellers, and customers who are not accustomed to this may assume that there are no U.S. sellers in Japanese listings, as these listings often have descriptions like “Japan Import” in the title. It also makes it difficult to check if there are any U.S. sellers, as another click (and possible scrolling) is required to see all the sellers on a product page. As Amazon.com is primarily aimed at American customers, allowing Japanese import releases to be listed should not lead to U.S. releases being excluded from getting their own listings. Also, there’s a reason why Casio has subsidiaries and distributors in different countries, as the Japanese releases are meant to be sold in Japan, and exported products are meant to be distributed through the proper channels. We know that it’s tempting to order imports because of the weak yen now, but by doing so, Americans forgo having a Casio warranty that is valid in the U.S. and are not supporting Casio America and its dedicated dealers. If you need to claim a warranty on a model purchased by a U.S. seller that was listed as the Japanese release, you may have some explaining to do, although the seller is listed on the Amazon invoice. (We suggest also keeping the tags from the watch which will identify it as a Japan or non-Japan/export release.)

There are recent cases where the U.S. releases are still being listed in addition to the Japanese ones, such as with the Gravitymaster GRB300 series, so hopefully this will continue. Fortunately, there aren’t a huge amount of listings with sellers of mixed origin, but it’s unfortunate that some major series like the GWGB1000 and GW9500 are affected in this way. When it comes to our curated Amazon collections, we typically stick to listing only the U.S. releases (except for Japan-specific collections). We’ve compiled all of the Japanese listings we’ve found with U.S. sellers in our new “G-Shock Listings With Both U.S.A. and Japan Sellers” collection (amazon.com affiliate link that may earn us a commission). Before buying from these listings, we suggest contacting the seller first to confirm that you will receive the U.S. release.

Update: Sometimes the U.S. releases are added under their full (export-designated) model names, such as the recently added “GX-56TU-1A5CR” (a.k.a. GX56TU-1A5) and the other Two Tone Utility Color models.