I haven’t used a proxy to buy from Japan before but I am curious to start using one and would like to hear what y’all’s experience has been with the multitude of different proxy services available.
Discussion Questions:
Which proxies have the best user experience?
Which proxies provide buyer protection or refunds?
Which proxies are the most cost-effective?
How often are items damaged in transit?
Are there unique features that you like about a certain proxy? i.e. Buyee let’s you collate all of your items at the warehouse over the course of a month so that you can take advantage of combined shipping.
I’ve been primarily using Buyee since 2019 or so, and still prefer it.
I’ve also voted Other, since I’ve used Noppin for a few years in 2017-2019, until they’ve completely revamped their website just before the pandemic. Haven’t used Noppin since.
After that I’ve used both FromJapan and Buyee a few times, but then settled for Buyee as my primarily Japanese middleman service. I have used FromJapan every now and then for those listings where the seller had blocked Buyee explicitly.
PS: Mercari recently added auctions instead of just buyouts, similar to Yahoo Japan. I noticed neither Buyee not FromJapan support those yet, so I might try JapanRabbit for the first time soon, which have already adjusted their website and are supporting auctions for Mercari. That is, if I come across a Mercari auction again - since the item I wanted to buy was already sold before I heard about JapanRabbit.
EDIT: Oh, and I’ve also used a private middleman 2-3 times; before I knew Buyee had an option to also buy things from random Japanese websites, instead of the default integrated ones.
I’ve been using ZenMarket since 2023. For me it’s very easy to use and offers shippings to my country (Peru).
They can keep your items for 60 days for free (after that is ¥50 per each day the package is there) and ship everything in 1 package … which is extremely helpful for me …
About Auctions in ZenMarket:
You have to have enough balance to make a bid, otherwise, system won’t let you participate
If you don’t win, your balance is returned to your account. You can also return it to where it came from (bank account, etc) by messaging support and giving them very specific information.
ZenMarket doesn’t allow you to purchase products from sellers who have a lot of negative ↓ or with less than 5 ↑ (this applies to auctions as well)
The only thing I don’t like about ZenMarket is the ¥500 tax per article … and that they charge 5% to load balance from my bank account to my ZenMarket account … after that, everything is perfect imo.
I’ve never tried Buyee … It’s kinda confusing for me. I don’t know how to use it and if they offer shippings to Peru … I might try it soon … I do not discard it …
For the proxy services, I’ve only really used Buyee and Japan Rabbit. I use Tenso and Blackship for warehouses so I can purchase directly from Japanese sites and have them ship to me.
Buyee is probably the one most people here are familiar with. Its simple and the fees are negligible if you are buying higher value items (but can add up quickly if you’re buying a lot of cheap cards individually). The main drawbacks is they do not let you self-declare the value of an item and you’re kind of boned if you do get scammed making a purchase.
I used JapanRabbit a couple times in the past. They are definitely more expensive than Buyee because they charge in USD and their fees are higher. On the plus side, they do let you self-declare the value of an item and their customer service is more responsive. They would message me to confirm the item they were about to purchase is the one I wanted, and also would message me when the item arrived and the condition it was in.
I’ve relied on Buyee for all of my overseas shopping in Japan. Generally, I like the platform a lot. My only two gripes are: 1) they have very few protections for buyers so you can get scammed easily, and 2) their shipping can get very expensive if you are ordering items that aren’t light.
this sounds amazing. So you ship all packages from buyee and JapanRabbit, then blackship consolidates and are you able to send it as a gift with a specific value?
yup, got that notice once I changed the address to Blackship. I assume if I consolidate something from mercari + something from another store then I should be able to ship it to blackship?
I’ve only used Buyee (mainly because of the coupons) and never had anything bad to say about them. Shipping to the US seems reasonable.
I did have one crappy purchase where the seller bait and switched me on a Masaki Gengar 2 years back. The listing was for a great looking one…priced correctly for the condition. When I received my card, it was clearly switched with a lesser condition Masaki. It’s part of the game unfortunately.
