It goes without saying that Yamiya made a huge impact on the "sandcast restorer" especially with three items in particular. Exhaust, seat and side covers. Since those early days his inventory has grown in leaps and bounds. Yes, I confess in years past I've been critical of Yamiya and his prices and sometimes quality/accuracy of their reproductions, and I suspect I will also continue to comment if I believe it's warranted. In this post though, I want to give Yamiya an accolade.
Let me begin by saying that in Australia finding new or good quality replacement parts is like looking for Kim Kardashian's relevance, ie: a tough ask. So I, like many, find we have to go International to get most things, including getting items at a reasonable price. I source 95% of my stuff from the US, Europe, Canada and Japan. In all those markets there are many sellers and getting a bargain is still possible, however there are also some very expensive sellers. In Japan we have several sellers including MRS, WebBike and of course Yamiya to name a the big ones.
So back to the reason for this post. In the last 6 months or so I've been talking with a few busy restorers here and most source their parts from Yamiya. The reason they give, is that as a general rule, Yamiya has the cheapest genuine and NOS parts, and usually high quality repop or aftermarket parts. I've recently done 2 engines and other work and found this to be true 95% of the time. US sourced genuine and NOS parts certainly can compete but the US postage has blown out and our Government has seen fit to legislate that eBay and Pay Pal charge 10% goods tax on anything we buy, even a $4 item. It becomes fairly clear that the playing field has certainly shifted back to Yamiya IMHO. I've found that of most items I've bought, Yamiya has been the cheapest and in many cases by a large margin. MRS sell the same repop stuff and can no way compete with Yamiya and MRS don't carry the genuine parts as Yamiya does.
Getting back to the reason for my post. This new/old kid is Andy Cepok selling out of Germany. Well let me tell you I've had dealings with this dude and last item I bought was some wire looms that were advertised and sold as genuine Honda. No misread of the description either. Well they were certainly not genuine or even later made barcode parts. I've avoided this seller ever since. Like some other sellers he uses a ruse to sell some of his stuff. What he does is places a part on genuine Honda packaging leaving the buyer with the impression it's a genuine Honda part. I note that now days he buries in his descriptions that parts and not genuine. But, he still uses a part number in his description the intent of which is to give a misdirected impression.
I've noticed in recent months that this seller is targeting US eBay to sell his wares and he still uses the same selling techniques. Well I've done some homework on the stuff he sells and without doubt he sells at a much higher premium than does Yamiya. I suspect he is sourcing his inventory from Japan
Here is but one item I checked at random listed under the a Honda Sandcast search I generally do
Taillight mounting rubber listed by Mr Cepok and using that same method of listing ie: honda packaging and part number (he now uses the word comparison in his p/n description)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-CB-750-Four-K0-Sandcast-Rubber-Rear-Fender-Number-Plate-Bracket-New/362762879752?epid=1036744856&hash=item54765a4308:g:bngAAMXQHPFRhH8IHis price - US$42.71 + $15.44 shipping Total US$58.15
Yamiya for the same part - US$25.90 plus $18.50 shipping Total US$44.40 Note. Yamiya charges a flat rate shipping so if you buy other items the shipping is fixed to around 1/2 to 1kg If you add a taillight lens, cord and wiring the rates is the same
So you see there is a big difference.
I'm posting this to let you guys know. Don't get sucked in and don't overpay for your parts. Shop around
I'll give you a better example of a ruse in another post. Enjoy your week