Cheapest proxy service from Japan to Singapore

The same order — ¥10,000 of goods, roughly 1kg packed, EMS to Singapore — priced through all four services, from each of the seven places a proxy can buy from. Buyee is cheapest wherever you buy — and at ¥15,534 the marketplace makes no difference to the total.

Cheapest service for each marketplace

Where you buyCheapestTotalThe other three
Yahoo! Auctions Buyee ¥15,534 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 · Neokyo ¥15,884 · ZenMarket ¥16,365
Mercari Japan Buyee ¥15,534 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 · Neokyo ¥15,884 · ZenMarket ¥16,365
Rakuten Rakuma Buyee ¥15,534 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 · Neokyo ¥15,884 · ZenMarket ¥16,054
Amazon.co.jp Buyee ¥15,534 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 · Neokyo ¥15,884 · ZenMarket ¥16,054
Rakuten Ichiba Buyee ¥15,534 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 · Neokyo ¥15,884 · ZenMarket ¥16,054
a ZenMarket recommended store Buyee ¥15,534 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 · ZenMarket ¥15,847 · Neokyo ¥15,884
any Japanese online shop Buyee ¥15,534 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 · Neokyo ¥15,884 · ZenMarket ¥16,054

The cheapest total is ¥15,534 from every marketplace on this list. Buyee charges one flat service fee regardless of where it buys, so on a single-item order the marketplace changes nothing. It starts to matter once you order more than one item, or once a service that charges per order rather than per item becomes the cheapest — the table below shows where the ranking actually moves.

What happens when you buy more than one thing

Service fees are not charged on the same unit, so the ranking above is only the answer for a single item. Here is the same Yahoo! Auctions order at one item, at three separate items, and at three items bought from the same shop:

Service1 item3 items3 from one shop
Buyee¥500¥1,500same
FROM JAPAN¥500¥1,500same
Neokyo¥350¥1,050same
ZenMarket¥800¥2,400same

Buyee stays cheapest at three items (¥16,534 in total). Buying several things at once also shares one parcel and one lot of postage between them, which usually matters more than the service fee does.

What the cheapest total is made of

Buyee's ¥15,534 on a Yahoo! Auctions order breaks down as proxy service fee ¥500, domestic shipping in japan ¥700, international shipping ¥3,150, on top of the ¥10,000 item itself, plus ¥1,184 of import tax when it arrives. The item is 64% of what you actually spend — the rest is the cost of getting it out of Japan and through customs.

#ServicePay the proxyPay on deliveryTotalTax
1 Buyee ¥14,350 ¥1,184 ¥15,534 On delivery
2 FROM JAPAN ¥15,642 ¥0 ¥15,642 Prepaid
3 Neokyo ¥14,700 ¥1,184 ¥15,884 On delivery
4 ZenMarket ¥16,365 ¥0 ¥16,365 Prepaid

You may not need a proxy at all

The Amazon, Rakuten, recommended-shop and other-store rows above are places selling new, in-stock goods. For those a proxy is often unnecessary: some Japanese shops ship overseas themselves, and the proxy fees in that table — from ¥4,350 on this order, on top of the item price — disappear entirely.

This does not apply to Yahoo! Auctions, Mercari or Rakuma. Those listings are second-hand or one-off, and no direct shop stocks the same item.

Solaris Japan — figures, anime goods and model kits

Shipping availability and postage differ by store and by country. Check on the store's own site before ordering.

What we could not confirm

Buyee pre-collects GST for SG but does not publish the rate