Originally Posted by
Jinxed_K
I've also noticed during my trips that electronics are not always cheaper even during enyasu times.
I did ask at the Tsukumo Ex to verify and they did confirm (at least in their store) that the yen price will fluctuate with the exchange rate so more times than not it's fairly equivalent to the dollar price and waiting till I get home from my vacation to just order online or buy locally saves on the hassle of the tax free procedures and carrying it around/back with me to the US.
I can't speak for other products, but Apple prices are always stable unless they authorize a retailer (Amazon, Costco, etc) to offer a discount. Once the product is released, the global pricing is set and does not change with currency fluctuations, so the ideal situation is to hope for a high value yen at the time of the product's release, then hope for the yen to fall against the dollar by the time you're ready to buy - that creates the arbitrage opportunity.
Not massive savings, but enough of a saving in currency plus not paying any sales tax can result in a sizeable cut in cost when both opportunities are combined. I think there is a website that tracks global pricing to help consumers spot arbitrage opportunities across currencies when traveling.